About

Why Modest Money Guide?

I believe money is an important though not all important part of life. Money can buy physical things and to be sure a certain amount of happiness (the research shows around $75,000 of income is ideal). But money cannot buy ultimate happiness. There are many people who have more money they can spend but still are not happy with life. I was motivated to start writing this blog after I found myself answering money related questions to some of my friends and those at church. I figured since I didn't want to keep repeating myself (DRY), why not just write my thoughts down on a blog and put this content out there.

Modest

I don't claim to have all the answers. I don't even claim that I have the best answer. I’m merely sharing what I’ve done and what has worked for me but I don't claim that it is the best nor it will work for you. Everyone is different. Everyone's circumstances are different. So there may not even be technically a "best" answer as it is so highly dependent on your situation. For example, to take investing as an example - a 95/5% stock portfolio might be right for me because I can handle a 50% drawdown. But it might not be for you since you have never owned stocks before and will be tempted to sell out of the market once you experience your first bear market. The best portfolio is the one that you can stay in.

This is also my first foray into writing and writing online. My modest goal is to grow as a writer by writing about financial topics.

Money

This blog will feature posts about money and money-related concepts. I plan to write about topics like investing, budgeting, giving, career/income, spending, credit cards, insurance and write book reviews about financial books.

Guide

My goal is not necessarily to be prescriptive but to point you in the right direction. I believe each person has to develop their own convictions about what is appropriate for them. There are financial tools (e.g. specific financial products or apps), financial principles (e.g. compound interest) and the motivation and principles guiding our financial decisions. My plan is to write about all 3 of these arenas. I plan to provide recommendations for financial tools that I’ve found helpful. I would also like to cover important financial principles and the principles that guide me in how I think about money. Getting these ideas “out in the wild” will be an interesting experiment and I look forward to getting feedback and growing as well.

Audience

Though the following recommendations and posts will probably be helpful to many people, I do have Christians in mind when writing. For Christians, the Bible is our main source of authority and, money is such an important topic that the Bible speaks quite a bit about:

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1 Tim 6:10)

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

These verses speak to how money itself is not evil, but loving it and idolizing is what leads to problems. Being content and appreciating what you have is crucial too as it is always possible to desire more and more while forgetting about all the blessings you currently have. And for the believer, the goal of life is to serve God. The Bible says we cannot serve both God and money. May we glorify God in how we live, especially in the practical decisions concerning money.