Who Do You Rely On?

Don’t Rely on Washington…

Now, I don’t normally get all political on things, and I haven’t yet before today in this blog. Yet, I have to get this off my chest as it’s been sitting there for awhile now: Don’t rely on the government to solve your problems. They have no idea what is best for you, and frankly they don’t care about you that much (unless you haven’t paid your taxes recently!)

Do you want an example? Let’s look at the math on this brilliant Cash for Clunkers Program they just had to shut down because so many Americans thought it was so wonderful:

-Your car must be a 1984 or later model and get less than 19 miles to the gallon
-You have to go to a dealership who gives you the discount, and then the government repays them and we all win, right?

Let’s look at the math for a moment:

Car Price: 25,000
CARS discount 4,500
---------------------------------------
Total Cost = 20,500

That brand new car you just bought in 4 years time will depreciate to roughly a value of 8,000. More than likely during that time you’ll be making payments of 450 a month. So, not including taxes / interest and all you’ll have that car paid for in around 46-50 months. Or you could say 3.8 – 4.2 years.

Now, let’s say that instead you paid yourself that 450 car payment for 20 months. Guess what, you could have the cash in hand to buy a car worth 9000 much faster! In fact, you could do that twice in the time it took you to pay for that brand new car you just bought!

So, if this program wasn’t great for you and I, then who was it good for you may ask? The credit companies were the biggest benefactors. Some would say the dealerships because they got product off their lots, but the program also took away a number of people who would have bought cars and kept them going for a longer period of time. The companies that gave everyone the credit are the ones making that difference between what you could have bought and did buy if you took part in the program.

The reason I mention this is two fold. First is to help you start thinking like a millionaire. I hate to tell you this, but most millionaires drive used cars. Many will tell you that over and over again. Sure, they have nice cars, but they also aren’t brand new. Secondly, I say this to tell you not to rely on the government to make your life better. There is only one person looking out for your well being. That person isn’t even on the Earth but instead is your Heavenly Father. He cares for us and has the best plans and programs for our lives. When we get inpatient and try these programs because we can’t wait for His timing we get ourselves into things that benefit others instead of ourselves. God wants all of us to prosper and knows how you’re going to do that in the future. When we start relying on Him to help us instead of the government we will become more prosperous than we can ever imagine.

-CARS example was mostly gathered from the Dave Ramsey newsletter. As always, I put my own little spin on it all.