Category Archives: Money & Stewardship

Money & Stewardship

Why I Have Not Bought a House

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Sometime in the next couple months my wife and I will likely purchase our first home. As a friend of a friend said concerning that and my values which I clearly convey on here about money and community, she said:

“Isn’t that Hypocritical?”

The honest truth is, it might be. For the next few days though, I want to try and articulate some of what has gone into the decision and where we hope to go in the future. In hopes that even friends of friends will continue to hold me to the values I acknowledge and convictions I have.

In our current culture, I think it’s probably important to start with why I have not bought a house before I even begin to discuss our decision to buy. I’m not sure how many reasons I’ll list so I’ll just use some bullet points.

  • Debt is a Bad Thing. In our consumer driven, credit-card swiping society, I think this statement is becoming more and more uncommon. As the value of your almighty ‘credit score’ increases people are becoming more and more convinced that debt is good (not ridiculous debt of course, but where do you draw the line?). In my journey of questioning our culture and continually checking my faith to Scripture rather then society I feel the statement above is quite obvious.
    [sidenote: Did you know the quote, “The borrower is slave to the lender” is actually by Benjamin Franklin? (update: actually proverbs 22:7 is pretty close)]
  • Renting Makes Sense. People tend to talk about buying a house like it’s a no-brainer and that renting is ‘throwing away your money.’ First of all, buying a house causes you to ‘throw away’ money on closing cost, interest, mortgage insurance, taxes, and more. In the same way that insurance can sometimes make sense because it transfers the risk to the insurance company for a small fee, renting put’s the risk of house problems and cost into the hands of your landlord (Which has been a might good idea in my opinion).
  • A House is a part of the ‘American Dream.’ And, as you know, I’m quite skeptical of the U.S.A. Dream. I do know too many young people who have stepped into home ownership, with the support of friends and family and church members, and gotten in way over their heads. That dream forced them into jobs and hours they didn’t want, projects and expenses they hadn’t planned on, and ultimately consumed much of their lives.
  • Home Ownership is available to the privileged. Many in the world do not have the resources to own a home, why should I? Why participate in a profit driven, redlining discrimination, capitalist market, that only some can afford to be a part of?

I think there are more reasons but we’ll leave it at that. Here’s the honest, but possibly hypocritical part of this. I think at this stage buying a home is the wisest decision for my family and for building community, but I recognize that it’s entirely possible I’m twisting my values to justify my selfish behavior (I don’t think I am, but I recognize I’m not a purely righteous person). Therefore, I leave it up to you, friends and readers, to challenge me, converse with me, and help me think through this decision while keeping with my values and trying to follow.

Money & Stewardship

Josh Experiments: Challenging Excess, Eating on $1 a Day

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Josh BrownExperiments in living that step us out of our normal life experience can be invaluable tools. I think they are the sorts of things that begin to help us question our current lifestyle. One Josh writes:

It’s a shame that as a culture we are so used to excess that we don’t even recognize it anymore.

And it’s a shame that I’ll probably wrestle with this decision for another month. The entire time talking about ethics and Jesus and taking the moral high road. Feel good about myself. And then break down and buy it.

I’m a hypocrite.

It’s an honest struggle and these words connect with a lot of us, as they are things we rarely even dare to think out loud or acknowledge. For Josh, it’s this sort of pondering that led him to give up this. I am so happy to see Josh make a decision like this because I really believe it will free him up to focus on and be willing to challenge other areas of his life and choices. I am excited about were this new freedom and balance will take him.

Eikons

Another Josh, contemplated this:

I remember reading somewhere a few years ago about someone who tried to eat off of a dollar a day in order to gain some type of understanding of what (I’ll say a majority again) of the world’s population goes through in regards to that key element of survival, eating. I don’t remember much about the article, but I began wondering if I could do that. Wondering led to doing some calculating and strategic thinking, which led to this post. Day 1 of $1 a day. I have four weeks of training left. My goal right now, is to make it through the next four weeks on $1 a day for food, (Monday through Friday, I go home on the weekends, and will try to keep it up, but won’t make my wife and kids go through it too). That doesn’t mean I won’t eat food that has been provided for me without cost to myself, (for example, we have a snack table everyday at our training session that is free, but more on that in another post), and I still have a few leftover groceries from last week that will help me for a few days.

In his first entry a few days later he chronicles what he’s been eating thus far, including a excessive snack table at his training, and concludes:

I make light of this, mostly because of the ridiculousness of excess. I am grateful for my friends and their willingness to share. (I’d like to add here that I have not yet solicited any food.) I have been truly blown away at how much more we eat than we really need to. I also realize that hanging out with others who are not trying to live off of $1 a day, has benefited me. I am well aware that living amongst others in a similar predicament would have different results. I have other observations and other thoughts that I will continue to process and post later.

I really appreciate both of these guys and the way they are willing to challenge their current lifestyles. I don’t have any notion that by eating on $1 a day Josh knows the experience of those in the rest of the world, but one can appreciate his attempt to try and connect on some level, most of us rarely even go there. As always, I assure you Josh will have some valuable insights from his experience and I do believe his eating habits and lifestyle choices will be better for it.

Money & Stewardship

My Secret Goal is to have a 4.5 Acre Footprint

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Global Footprint
I’m not special. I happen to be just one of the six billion people that live on this planet. Whether your religious or not, the way I see it, we are all part of the human family, one great big, interconnected, multi-generational, inter-cultural, spread out, and fairly dysfunctional family. But, I’m not special, I’m just one more member of the family. It’s only fair that I share equally with the rest of the family, this great big planet that we live on. Above is a picture of my ecological footprint. It’s an improvement from how I was living last year, but still double what I’d like it to be.

I know it’s not right to make laws about things like this, but I don’t see why we as people aren’t a little more shameful of the way that we live? I mean if I took the 4.5 acres that were for my brother and hogged his plus mine, and a little of my sisters land all to myself, just so I could eat as I please and travel as I wanted to. People would scoff at me. Why is it then that nobody will probably ever call me out on my choices regarding this?

(ht: Josh) By the way there is a great conversation in the comment’s section over at Josh’s blog.

How Big is your Eco-Footprint?

Money & Stewardship

June Comment Love: New Mom and Baby Kit

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Mother and ChildI’m not sure how much money was raised through Comment Love in the month of June, I do think it was close to $30, which is worth an applause for you. If you don’t know what Comment Love is, basically it’s an opportunity for you to raise (out of my pocket) $0.25 for every comment you make at Trying to Follow. Each month we’ll decide on a charity to give the money to and every comment will earn a quarter toward that cause (up to $40 normally).

Since June involved a new Mom and Baby in my life, I thought I should spread the joy and excitement to another mom and baby through World Visions Gift Catalog. Here’s what your comments are donating to:

Many mothers in countries like Angola, Romania, and East Timor lack the basic supplies they need to properly care for their newborns. Your gift will give a child a safer and healthier start in life — and help his or her mother breathe easier. You’ll provide essentials such as a bassinet, diapers and diaper pins, a blanket, a storage container for clean water, a baby bathtub, and soap. Pregnant women attending prenatal classes will also be trained in hygiene and how to properly use these supplies.

The donation was a little more then what we raised, but I figure it’s worth it. I’m definitely thinking in baby mode now, which might influence future posts, and donations as well. Please continue to comment, and encourage conversation on all the topics we discuss here.

I had a poll going for were to donate and it was a dead tie between Kiva and World Vision, so will let it be the deciding factor for July. Vote Now:
[poll=3]

Money & Stewardship

I’m a Guest on the Nick and Josh Podcast

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The Nick and Josh Podcast

Remember Josh, the guy I did the CRM (Corporate Responsibility Mondays) with a little while back? Well, him and his buddy Nick host a pretty popular podcast aimed at the “emerging” crowd. They’ve been on again off again, but always enjoyable, and with lot’s of interviews with “popular” folk. Anyways, Nick is heading to join an intentional community in Geneva called Shema, and is hoping to garner support through the podcast listeners, thus desiring to make the show a regular weekly event. Here’s were I come in.

As long as I can quit mumbling, I might have a chance at a regular monthly gig on the Nick and Josh Podcast, sort of a weekly exclusive were Josh and I will continue our conversations on Corporate Responsibility and discuss ways we are changing our lives to fall more in line with our values.

The first episode (that I’m in) mostly just involved us both chatting a little about what brought us to the point we are currently at and what we’d like to see happen through the podcast in the months to come. I’m not sure what it will end up like, maybe it will one day become the Nick and Josh (and some guy named Ariah) Podcast, but for now I’m happy with the honor of an occasional guest spot.

Enjoy the Show…

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Money & Stewardship

3 Reasons that My Baby Won’t Be Wearing babyGap

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It’s a difficult balance, receiving the love and kindness friends and family show you through baby showers and gifts, and expressing to them and yourself your values and convictions, and doing your best to keep those values intact.  It’s tough, but we are making an honest effort at it, and as cute as those babyGap outfits might look, here’s three reasons why my child won’t be wearing their clothes.

  1. It’s way too expensive.  Did you know a cute little dress and matching hat cost $50 at babyGap?! First of all, baby’s grow a ton in the first year so the $50 dress is going to last about a month at best. Second, there are a lot better uses for $50 then on one outfit for your child. I’d rather buy 20 outfits at the Goodwill and use the rest of the money to provide another girl in the world the opportunity to get an education.
  2. Gap continues to abuse Human Rights. Yes, they’ve done a great job marketing their benevolence with the (RED) campaign (Instead, Buy Less Crap, pg-13 link), but they continue to be implicated in sweatshop labor and human rights abuse. I will applaud steps Gap takes to clean up their act, but until I’m confident other children aren’t slaving away making my children’s clothes, they won’t be wearing Gap.
  3. Gap does not own me or my children. When I used to be into brand name clothing and I’d wear a shirt with a swoosh or other logo on it my dad would ask, “Are they paying you to wear that around?” I thought it was a stupid question at the time, now I see the light. The level of intense consumerism in this country is disgusting. My kids going to be cute, I guarantee it, and she doesn’t need a name brand outfit to look it. I’m shocked by how many little ones I’ve seen recently waddling around wearing designer clothing and dressed to walk a runway, rather then play in mud and stink up their diapers. I’m scared about what we are doing to the next generation of children. The corporate gods do not own me or my children, and we refuse to lay our credit cards and cash at their alter.
Money & Stewardship

Fidelity Out of Sudan

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I can’t remember if I blogged about this a while back or if I just mentioned it to Josh for a CRM post. Well, I just wanted to add to what Josh had mentioned about why Fidelity is no a good company to invest with. I’m just going to include a couple excerpts from the Fidelity Out of Sudan website:

The government of Sudan continues to pursue genocide in Darfur, drawing on its oil revenue to provide arms and funding for the genocide, rather than economic development for the poor people of Sudan. Despite the mass atrocities in Darfur, Fidelity, through its mutual funds, not only has been a major investor in oil companies operating in Sudan, but, until recently, had been significantly increasing its holdings. In its February SEC filing, Fidelity’s global holdings of PetroChina topped $1.3 billion and it was the largest holder of PetroChina (PTR) on the NYSE. Fidelity has significantly reduced its holdings in PetroChina and Sinopec on the NYSE, but continues to be a very large holder of these stocks. Join us and tell Fidelity to stop investing our money in companies helping to fund the genocide in Darfur.

The Good news is the campaign seems to be having an effect. From a recent email update:

Our collective efforts are paying off. Fidelity’s May 15 filing with the SEC showed that as of March 31, Fidelity had sold 91% percent of its PetroChina shares and 99% of its Sinopec shares that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. This action by Fidelity is a significant step in the right direction and evidence that your voice and those of thousands of others are being heard.

And now SaveDarfur is joining in with some TV ad campaigns:

“Fidelity portfolio managers make their investment decisions based on business and financial considerations, and take into account other issues only if they materially impact these considerations or conflict with applicable legal standards.”
– Fidelity letter of October 5, 2006

So, as if Playboy wasn’t enough to keep you from investing in Fidelity, maybe genocide is.

Money & Stewardship

What If We Had a Year of Jubilee?

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The Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25) is one of the most radical things I’ve come across in the Bible. It’s one of those passages non-Christians should know and ask all the Christians they talk to about, and expect some sort of a response regarding it. The Year of Jubilee is many things, but one thing it is in particular is a time for all debts to be forgiven, and everyone to have a fresh start. Could you imagine this happening? It’s supposed to happen about once every 50 years, so let’s just say, oh 2009 happens to be the next Jubilee Year. What would happen if this was carried out on an Individual Level? Church? City? Country? World?

Individually
Before we ever write things like this off as being irrelevant, because ‘No country would ever do that!’, I think it’s worth discussing how we can begin enacting these radical ideas into our own lives. So, let’s see what 2009 would look like for me and my family. Well, if I had any debts still (which I don’t plan on) it would be neat for the lenders (Aunt Sallie) to send me a letter in the mail, ‘paid in full’ and be done with it. What would you do if suddenly your car, house, student loans and anything else were suddenly paid off? Would you see it as a blessing from God to put that money into buying a new boat? Maybe a diamond ring? Or would it actually move you so much that you took the extra income you had and started using it to give to others so that they could pay off their loans and experience the same freedom? Would you use your excess resources from the Jubilee to feed and clothe others?
Nobody, to my knowledge, currently owes me anything (except you Zach, I’m still waiting for my $5), but what if they did? What if my business partner has yet to pay up on his split of our company, maybe my housemate owes me a grand in overdue rent, or my brother never paid me for the bike rack he took from me. If those things were true, I could see how thinking about, asking about, and pursuing that money could take up a lot of my time and energy. But what if 2009 rolled around and I sent letters to each of those in debt to me and said, “Celebrate the Jubilee, your debt is gone.” What ramifications would that have on our relationship and personal well being?

Church
This is when it starts to get cool. I actually heard a pastor suggest this, and It would be brilliant to actually see it carried out. What if the Year of Jubilee rolled around and churches actually participated in it? It might look like this.
At the beginning of the year, one Sunday is dedicated to writing letters to all those who owe anyone in the church a debt. If there is a debt owed between to church members they our reconciled then and there. Then everyone goes out to their neighbors, friends, family and business associates and declares that all debts that were owed to them (the church folk) has been canceled because of the Jubilee. Once all outstanding debt owed to the folks at the church have been relinquished, it’s time for the church to reconcile all debts owed to those outside of that church.
On another Sunday, all the church members bring their house and car notes, student loan bills and any other outstanding debt they have. It’s all brought before the church and then collectively checks are written from bank accounts of those who have extra resources, until all the debt of the church has been paid. I wonder if that is even possible? I mean, I wonder in our country and churches how many people actually have a positive net worth? Could the members of a church actually pay off all of their outstanding debts? (I bet it would cash out a couple retirement funds).
What ramifications would this sort of activity have for that church? If every member of the church left the Year of Jubilee with no debts, how would they go out and choose to spend their money and live their lives? Would it change their giving habits? Their buying habits?

The image “https://tryingtofollow.com/wp-content/linkedimages/upload//fileadmin/templates/images/top_jubileeusa.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.City, Country, World
I think we’ve done enough imagining for now, so I won’t indulge these at the moment. But if your interested in global visions for this, I’d highly recommend you check out the Jubilee Partners website. They are an organization whose actually putting this into practice in the sense that they are standing up against the illegitimate debt that nations have been trying to hold over one another that has kept many in poverty for years.

Money & Stewardship

Fair Trade Footwear: Walk a Mile in Ethical Shoes

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Fair Trade FootwearCorporate Responsibility Mondays enters the footwear industry. As always, Josh will be highlighting a company with a negative record, and I’ll be pointing you to some alternatives. Footwear is a topic I lamented over a few months ago searching out ethical options. In an industry whose pinnacle brand is also the poster child (or should I say, it’s child laborers) for the sweatshop industry, you’ll be happy to know you don’t have to walk around barefoot to be fair consumer. Because different people enjoy different types of shoes I’m going to try and hit the different styles by highlighting some great companies doing some ethical shoe sales.

For the Casual Shoe Wearer:
There is a great company doing a world of good as a shoe shop. The mission is simple: When you buy a pair of shoes, and a pair is given to a child on your behalf. TOMS Shoes is a neat company with a neat story and the goal is to provide you and children around the world with comfortable feet. The one thing I couldn’t find detailed information on is about were the shoes are made. It was mentioned that he found shoe manufacturers in Argentina were he is giving away the shoes, so you would assume they are made under ethical conditions. Just to be sure though, I’ve emailed the founder and asked about the details.

A new shoe option that’s just started up is a group called: BuyShoesSaveLives.com which sells shoes made by people in Iraq and the profits fund heart surgeries for Iraqi children dying from lack of health care. The shoes are called klashes and the website explains most of the details.

For the Classic Chuckies Wearer:
All those looking for a comeback of their old converse need look no further. Both No Sweat Apparel and Adbusters have their own fair trade version of these classic shoes. No Sweat Apparel has a wide range of choices when it comes to sneakers including the stylish ones pictured here. And No Sweat has a simple Union-Made mission to providing ethical footwear:

No Sweat defines the market for goods that support independent trade unions – the only historically proven solution to sweatshops. We market direct to consumers, relying primarily on internet sales for distribution.

They’ve got a great selection of choices of other products as well, I’m sure I’ll highlight them more at a later date.

Adbusters is a little more in-your-face when it comes to their product tactics with their Blackspot Shoes. Their primary goal is to be the non-consumerist, unbrand shoe: “This is your chance to unswoosh Nike’s tired old swoosh and give birth to a new kind of cool in the sneaker industry.” Their shoes are ethical as well:

* 100% organic hemp upper
* made in a union shop
* hand drawn logo & sweet spot
* designed by John Fluevog
* produced by Vegetarian Shoes

For the Athletic Shoe Wearer:
The options thin out a little when you start looking for a sports ready shoe. I’m not sure of soccer cleats or the like available from a union or fair trade store out there. One option for running shoes though is high quality, custom made, by a guy and his wife up in Maine. If you want a shoe with a story behind it and quality at that, Hersey Shoes is the ones you want. The price initially seems pretty steep, but Bart Hersey points out the truth:

A pair of Hersey Customs built just for you will last far longer than off-the-shelf shoes, even if you never resoled them. Also consider that your Herseys can be resoled at least several times before they finally croak, at a fraction of any new-shoe price. And when you finally do need a new pair, we still have your model.

I think it’s worth mentioning one big name shoe company for those who can’t order shoes online or elsewhere. New Balance, of all the major shoe companies, seems to have kept their ethical slate as clean and neat as possible. There has been some indication that their new factories in China, which are extremely difficult to monitor, have utilized sweatshop practices, but there has been only one account of that. So, if you must by a brand, make it New Balance. And when you do, be pro-active and write them and tell them why you purchased them over the others, and encourage them to clean up their act even more.

So, as you can see their are options when it comes to choosing your footwear. Hopefully you haven’t become so tied to brands and styles that you aren’t willing to branch out and find some footwear that supports your ethics and values. In case the links above weren’t enough, here’s a few more sites to check out:

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