Family Resources

The Importance of Being Solvent

Julia

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Wealth Isn’t About Money;
It’s About Freedom to Do What You Want

True wealth is the freedom to spend your days doing what you’re passionate about and what you think is important. If you are not living within your means and your cost of living is high, you may have no choice but to keep slogging away at the job you don’t like. But if your costs are low, you’ll find it easier to save money and you’ll be in better shape if you get laid off.  You’ll need a smaller nest egg to retire in comfort, and you may have the financial freedom to take a lower-paying job that you like.

But store up for yourselves riches in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:20

Want to get your living expenses under control? Try these three steps: Read more →

When Life Gets Rough, Be Grateful!

Julia

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There are always blessings in our lives that we miss seeing when our vision is clouded by bad luck or discouragement.

We’ve all heard the phrase that when life gives us lemons, we should make lemonade. We’ve also all heard the story of Job in the Bible, who, despite losing all his possessions, family, health, and support from friends, trusted in the Lord and found something to be grateful for—his testimony.

Often life does not go the way we planned and fate seems to be against us. But even when jobs, friends, or health fail us, there is always something in our lives that the Lord has blessed us with and that we can be grateful for. If like Job we can keep our sights on the Lord and step back to see the bigger picture, the rough time will pass and we will find it easier to see the abundance that the Lord has blesses us with. Though many of the ideas below are probably familiar, it never hurts to think about them more deeply and be reminded of our blessings.

Here are 10 things to be grateful for when everything seems to be going wrong. Read more →

Kids Helping Mom and Dad With the Mortgage

Julia

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After years of getting help from mom and dad, some adult children are returning the favor and buying their parents a house.

Not all lenders will allow adult children to co-sign for their parents on jumbo loans-those that exceed $417,000 in most areas and $625,500 in some high-priced places, says John Walsh, CEO of Milford, Conn.-based Total Mortgage. However, enough lenders allow it that most children who want to help home-buying parents, whether working or retired, should be able to co-borrow, Mr. Walsh says.

Read more →

Gifts Your Children Will Never Forget

Julia

family-on-a-beach-“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” -Kahlil Gibran

We all have countless holiday memories. Most of them center around our faith in Jesus Christ and his birth, family, and traditions.

Very few childhood memories actually include the gifts we received. So what type of gifts can we give to our children that they will never forget? What gifts will truly impact their lives and change them forever?

To that end, here is a list of gifts your children will never forget. Read more →

How Much Stuff We Actually Own

Julia

Most of us know we own too much stuff. We feel the weight and burden of our clutter. We tire of cleaning and managing and organizing. Our toy rooms are messy, our drawers don’t close, and our closets are filled from top to bottom. The evidence of clutter is all around us.

Today, increasing data is being collected about our homes, our shopping habits, and our spending. The research is confirming our observation: we own too much stuff. And it is robbing us of life. All the emotional, visual and mental clutter in our homes steal time and energy and keeps us from doing what is really important and rewarding…being anxiously engaged in good causes!

Here are 21 surprising statistics about our clutter that help us understand how big of a problem our accumulation has actually become. Read more →

Moving Can Be Tough on Kids

Julia

 

Relocating your family can be exciting, but also stressful for you and your kids.

Deciding to move to a new house is a big upheaval for the entire family. But while adults tend to focus on the practical problems, a child will focus on all the losses that the move causes. This can be the loss of their friends or of a safe and familiar environment. One of the many beauties of the LDS Church is you will have a built-in new ward family that will welcome you with open arms any where you go in the world. But there will still be the stress of moving and relocating for everyone.

The degree of stress in moving is often underestimated by all concerned. Research shows that moving is one of the greatest stresses we face in our lives. In its capacity to cause psychological distress it comes only after losing a close relative in terms of severity, and ahead of illness, loss of employment and divorce.

Of course planned and managed well, distress is not necessarily the outcome. Use these pointers to ease your family’s transition so your kids more quickly feel at home. Read more →

Parents Helping with Jumbo Loans

Julia

 Getting Mom and Dad to co-sign a jumbo mortgage is a tough sell all around.

The practice is rare, but a few lenders will allow parents to help their adult children qualify for jumbo mortgages, which exceed conforming-loan limits of $417,000 in most places and $625,500 in high-price areas such as San Francisco. A typical scenario: a first-time home buyer whose salary has a strong upward trajectory but who hasn’t been on the job long enough to meet income requirements to buy property in a pricey locale, such as New York, says Ray Rodriguez, regional mortgage sales manager for Cherry Hill, N.J.-based TD Bank, which lends in 15 East Coast states.

Read more →

How to Enjoy a Long Winter

Julia
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Residents of Norway view their long dark winters as something to celebrate. It is possible to be cheerful for the next four months.

As the days get darker and colder in much of the northern hemisphere, it’s easy to indulge in gloom. For the next few months, you’ll be shivering. You’ll be battling foul weather. Thanks to daylight saving time there will be no chance to see the sun after work.

The gloom leads to a common question: What can I do to cope with the dark and cold?

If you truly want to be happy during winter, though, this is the wrong approach to the season. Changing your mindset can do more than distracting yourself from the weather. Read more →

7 Kids – No Debt?

Julia

The Gee Family: 7 kids, 7 missions, 7 college graduates and no debt! How did they do it?

When each child was born they received a bank account. They alone were expected to fill it, and they did, from the time they were very young. They did enormous paper routes. The older kids delivered the Salt Lake Tribune in the morning, while the younger kids delivered the afternoon Deseret News. They picked up odd jobs from neighbors and worked concessions at Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City, Utah. One collected and saved his coins like they were gold doubloons. Read more →