Michael Shear

Welcome to my first blog and also the journey that my life takes. I plan on using this blog to create a reminder for myself and path to which my family, friends, and many others may use to follow if they wish to produce the same outcomes. I will be making post that lean towards the following topics. Faith, Family, Finance, Relationships, Positivism, and many Life Enhancement tips.

BLOG MISSION STATEMENT: To use my knowledge and experiences to guide others to a life of abundance.

Am I Prosperous?

What is prosperity? How do you become prosperous? Doesn’t the bible speak against becoming rich?

Short answers. Doing above well. Study hard, be prepared, and open to opportunities. No, but it does speak about how it could be harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

For those that may know me or have listened to me talk about my life with Christ or better yet my theology, I stray far from prosperity teaching. I find it ironic that I decided to name my blog and first business Shear Prosperity. It goes to show that I somewhat understand the grey area. The truth of the grey area is that some people can handle it and others cannot. Some people can handle success, money, power, fame, and other describing words that make you think of prosperity, but others struggle and fail miserably when they get a piece.

What I have planned for this post is to take a few questions and answer them with my opinion, take a look at a few bible versus, and lastly add some practical steps for those wanting to become prosperous.

1. How do I become prosperous

Prosperity is a mindset added to a goal. Some people’s idea of prosperity would be working a 9 to 5 in a career you love, coming home to a family, eating a good meal, watching their favorite sport team beat it’s rivals, laying in bed with the love of their life, and getting a full 12 hours of sleep before work the next day. I also must agree that this sounds nice if there was more time in the day. When I think of prosperity I go a little above this. I say that I want to be able to do all these things but I want it on my own terms. I want to produce these same outcomes without having to worry about our 9 to 5 going away, getting laid off, business going bankrupt. This is my lomg definition of financial prosperity. You become prosperous with finances when income is inevitable. You become prosperous with finances when you find a way to make your money work for you instead of your time making you money. You become prosperous with finances when you figure out that being an employee your whole life will not set you up for retirement in the end. Prosperous with finances is a mindset and the goal is your idea of freedom.

2. Why do Churches always ask for my money? Are they only becoming prosperous because of others?

I want to start of by saying that all organizations need workers. Volunteering is the exact same thing as giving your money. Assuming that you know your time is valued. Churches, not for profits, for profits, small gatherings, and other organizations all have the same thing in common and that is time/money. Without having resources all things come to an end. The answer to the second question is… of course. A building cannot be constructed without labor, iron, wood, and cement. Sunday schools and teen worship do not happen without dedicated leaders and volunteers. Choirs, bands, mission trips, and ministries are not prosperous without you, your money, and your time.

Bible versus on prosperity

Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 1:10, 1Kings 2:3, Proverbs 16:20

There are many more versus on prosperity, but this is a good starter.

Prosperity in a Bible

What you may find while reading the bible is this never ending speech on “do this and prosper or do this and be shamed forever”. I can guarantee that you will never see the bible tell you specifically what career to seek, investments to make, day of the week to grab a lotto ticket, or what businesses start. I do guarantee that the bible says to follow God’s instructions. This is the beauty of being a human. We have choices! We can be a teacher, warrior, NBA star, fisherman, or pastor. But what God requires of us is that we follow him and be great at what we do. Thus, to be great at what we do we must study and learn how to be great. We must take risk and never sit on money (“parable of the Talents/Three Servents” Matthew 25:14). I know you are asking the golden question, “How do I learn?” My best answer is to read the following books and then research books that are specific to your field and learn more.

My Favorite Books

The Bible

Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kyosaki

Set for Life – Scott Trench

The E Myth – Michael Gerber

Be Obsessed or Be Average – Grant Cardone

Earn more or Save more?

Matthew 25:14-30 Parable of the Talents.
Proverbs 21:5 “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.”

Earn more of Save more, isn’t this always the question that comes up during all personal finance courses? We have so many people in the finance world that call themselves gurus, advisers, planners, and specialist out there that it is hard to come to a wise decision of our own. The funny thing about the world of finance is that there are many ways to create wealth. The worst thing about it is that everyone thinks that their way is the best way. What do we do with our money? What is the best options for creating wealth? Does the bible give a clear answer for it? Is the only way for me to make my money grow by getting promoted or finding a higher paying job? All these questions I will take shots at below. Following the questions I go in depth with a

Question 1
What do we do with our money, what is the best options for creating wealth, and

Answer 1
Money is an equivalent of your times worth. Money depreciates (value goes down) overtime. This means that you either need to spend (expense) it, invest (wealth build) it, tithe/offer (donate for a cause) it. Below I have numbered and broken down my interpretations of each method of giving out your resourses.
1. Spend –  Food, clothing, shelter, entertainment, education
2. Invest – your businesses and others businesses
3. Tithe & Offerings – YOUR church tithes & offers, not-for-profit causes, community development, special events, strangers.
“Savers are losers, Spenders are winners” – Robert Kiyosaki

Question 2
Does the bible give clues to creating wealth?

Answer 2
Throughout the bible it’s, teachings, stories, and Jesus always seemed to speak very general about money. Now we must understand that wealth has changed vastly over time, but the idea of investing and “spending” your money wisely has been answer.

Question 3
Is the only way for you to make your money grow by getting promoted or finding a higher paying job?

Answer 3
Absolutely not. Although these two options speed up the process of wealth building the only true way to make more money is by spending less and investing more.

Now that I have answered the frequently asked questions, aka. FAQ’s. I want to get to something that I am passionate about. It is the mindset of wealth. Mostly people in poverty or those that have climbed their way out get caught up in the 9-5 rat race. When the pain sets in they ask the question if they need to earn more or save more. The risk tolerant people will say you need to take shots and earn more and the people that are risk adverse will say that you need to save money for the hard days that will come. The real answer is that you need to do both. You must earn more to become wealth, but you must also learn how not to spend more while earning more. Now the better question is which comes first? First is learning to save and second is learning to take risk. Although neither saving more or earning more are more important than each other they do have have order. Saving comes first and once you have saved to a certain amount you can take shots at earning more. Earning more is the only true route to a life of abundance.

Saving more
Most people fail at this miserably and there are good reasons behind it. If I were making $25k/year and spending $24.5K/year. The first thing that most people would say is that I need to get a better job that way I can have more money so that when something bad happens or trouble comes my way, I can make it without recourse. I get a great opportunity to make $25k/year but I now have to work 5 more hours a week which now I need a car, because the bus routes cause me to sit for another hour and I cant car pool with my buddy. I now get into a $250/month car note. Oooowee, now I got me a nice new 2015 Ford Fusion that I can show off and stunt in, but truly all I did was add another $3k/year expense. What if I just decided that I would AirBnB my living room on the weekends, invite a friend to live with me and pay half the bills, or refrain for the normal 4 vacations, 3 weddings, 7 birthday parties, 15 weekend beer and pizzas. With these few examples I am looking at cutting off $7-10k/year of unnecessary spending which is actually a raise that I didn’t have to work an extra 5 hours over 52 weeks saving me 260 hours of my life. I’m not saying that any of these events are something that you should always say no too, but I think if you really sat down for 20 mins and thought to yourself how much money you spent over the year on events like these that tapped you out and made you cringe when the rent was due. You would at the least think twice before accepting every event invitation that came your way.

Earning more
When you find out your number (The amount of money that you would need to have saved up that makes you feel secure and worry free). You are able to take shots at opportunities that most people are unable to make because they simply do not have any money available. Lets say again that you are making $25k a year and you had expenses like the rest of us. All numbers are perceived as annual as a single person. Rent $6600, College Loans $2400, Food $3000, Car $1800, Phone $1200, Utilities+Internet $3200, Entertainment $2000, Travel $2000, Maintenance $700. Total $19.5k. Now at the end of the year I have $500 in the bank when I see an opportunity come up that I can purchase a duplex for 4K down that will relieve me of rent payments and collect rent from someone else. My friend invites me to partner with him on a restaurant, but we only make what the business profits which is risky at first since we are new. Taking chances like this to increase my wealth are impossible when I only save $500 a year. It would take me 4 years to purchase that house which most likely will have gone up in price.

Earning + Saving more
Now lets say I used all the tricks I learned while saving more and the opportunities that came along when trying to earn more. If my rent goes down by 1/2 because I find a roommate, I sell my car and find something used that I can purchase outright, I leave Verizon and Sprint to go to straight talk, I decide that having 400 HD channels only to watch 2 shows during the week isn’t worth me not becoming wealthy, and maybe I only go to 2 weddings, party 8 weekends, and only 1 vacation. I instantly turned my expenses to the following. Rent $3300, Food $2800, Car $0-500, Phone $540, Utilities+Internet $1200, Entertainment $750, Travel $750, Maintenance $500. Total $10.5K. I now have the money for a down payment for that duplex that will earn me money as I live in one side and rent out the other. I can join with my friend to get into a business that when it grows so does my income. I’m able to start my own venture that instead of working 5 extra hours a week, I can spend it in my own business to create more than the measly 5K more per year working a job that I probably do not even enjoy.

As you can see when you put together savings and earnings you start to create something magical in your life. You will find that when you have prepared and saved up that more and more opportunities will come. These are only there because you were ready. So remember savings first then earn more. If a job comes around that offers more money. Make sure that you are not spending the same amount of money to be successful with the job. It isn’t worth your time and energy to make more money if you wont be able to save more.

First Investment Property

My wife and I purchased a four unit apartment in STL. Purchase price $85000. The market rent in the area is $500, but we knew that we could place value in the apartments by cleaning up, installing electric appliances, new cabinets, and some tile work. I, myself, only did the appliance work. The rest was done by a handy man. Due to FHA loan we are only able to rent out 3 units. With some creative marketing and being what I feel is great landlords we have rented out 2 units for $575/month. Only one more to go! This being our first house we assumed it would be a little slow, but we have put in four full 40 hour weeks (after full time work at my real job) into cleaning, painting, installing a new door, bringing in new appliances, and many other things. Believe it or not we have found out a lot about ourselves and our ability to learn new things and do them well. Unfortunately, we forgot to take the time to take before and after pictures, but we will attach some current pictures. Not only did this teach us new things about ourselves, but it also stretched our marriage in the time that we were actually at home. Mostly working 8am-11pm everyday for a month straight (including weekends) was hard, and I now know how some people feel that have been doing this type of work for their whole lives. Next stop is to refinance and repeat, but this time we will be looking for a real house hack Du-plex that we will live in and rent out the other. This is my first step to financial freedom.

Now I am going to go into everybody’s favorite part, the finances.

The return on investment must be worth it. So for instance I will not take anything that is below a 15% yearly return. with FHA loans it makes every thing look good because the cash to get in is super low. So what I did is look at what the profit after mortgage payments. My mortgage + other expenses (Ins, PMI, HOA, taxes, water + trash) is roughly $825 a month. Once fully rented out (3 units at $575/mo = $1725) Profit = $900 Return = 109%. Now this return assumes I don’t have any monthly expenses. Don’t be fooled because you will. Bigger pockets suggest a 50% rule which means that you will use 50% of your profits towards overhead expenses (vacancy, maintenance, lawncare, etc.) Since I have already put a lot of work towards maintenance, I am saving 25% of the profit to use towards overhead and put it into a savings so when something happens, the money is ready.

25% of $900 = $225 (Saved towards overhead per month.)
75% of $900 = $675 (MY POCKET!)
$675/$825 = 75% Return (Well above what I had first calculated)
Obviously, I cannot wait till I can get it refinanced and rented out fully.

With this being said. I am using $500 a month to save towards my next home purchase and I will continue to do this till I have my goal of 4 properties. At this point I will be resetting my goals and looking at something different since most of my returns are coming from sweat equity, and I don’t want to turn this business into another job. I want to run a business instead of running myself into the ground.

3 Rules for Investing and Life

1. The numbers must make since or you shouldn’t be in the deal
2. Even if their are profits. Make sure that the time put in is worth it.
3. Investments are about compounding interest, not the short term quick flips.

New Love for Money

1 Timothy 6:10 NIV – “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Many Christians and non-Christians take this verse and run everywhere with it. Most of the time it is used improperly, out of context, and most frequently modified to meet their needs. For example, “If money is the root of all evil, then why does the church ask for it every Sunday?” Does anyone actually see what is wrong with this statement? Well to keep it simple, it does not match the verse from above. When you love anything more than you love the pursuit for God you will surely fail. Money in itself is a good thing. Money will never go away and should be something taught within all stages of life.

If I were to rewrite scripture for the modern-day person here is what I would say. “The priority of money above all else is the root cause for greed, pride, sexual immorality, murder, and many other evils. Don’t you see that those who hoard riches to themselves fall prey to every desire? People whom have all their fleshly desires find it hard to need God for anything. Tim, you also need to make sure that your followers do not get lazy and feel as if creating wealth is a sin. Tim, this too will be tarnish what God has given to us. The truth stretch is wrong no matter which way it is stretched.

The new love for money is a good headline to attract people in for planting a seed. This seed should sprout into some quality financial education. What I am going to talk about for the next few paragraphs is the idea of money. Without a good strong foundation on money-ology, it will be impossible to make it past your current capabilities with money.

The mindset of money: First of all we have to understand that money is a necessity just like food and shelter. Money, or better yet currency by which we use for trade, is actually our time of labor. Humans use money to get things that they want. Money started back as a trade (I will get you a bucket of grapes for your robe). Now lets say that it takes 4 hours to collect a bucket of grapes and 4 hours to create a robe. This is a good trade. Now we have become more sophisticated with it and turned to the use of paper currency in exchange for those same items. Yet, we still use the same strategy. We work for “x” amount of dollars/currency of choice. Then use said currency in exchange for the items wanted.

Now back to the churches asking for money. Do you not give your time and money to things that are necessities? Is God a necessity in your life? Do you serve, love, or help people (friends, family, acquaintances) with your time? If you answered yes to all of these, you are probably the top 90% of all Christians. All of these questions are based on time which is also money. The church that you attend is asking for 10% of your time and money. I would even dare to say the church “needs” 20%+ of your time.

Have you ever met a friend that just openly gives to his/her church? How about someone who is always happy to pay for someones dinner? Maybe someone who tips well while they are out even if they waiter was less than desirable. I would like to think that my wife and I follow by these statements above 75% of the time. It’s hard to give of your time and money. It is hard to let go of what you believe that you deserve. I mean, didn’t you just work 45 hours this week so that you could have one good night out? Why shouldn’t that person serving you do just the same? These examples are their mindsets for money. They believe that the money they give out is doing something greater. They believe that when they give that it shows Gods grace. Was it not his grace in the first place that allowed them to earn the money given?

Real money mindset
1. Money is not evil
2. Money is a distribution or equivalence of time.
3. Money is something that should be desired. (This may ruffle some feathers)
4. Money does open doors to some freedoms.
5. Money must be invested or you will quickly lose it all.
6. Money is not yours.

Life lived Intentionally

Intentional: Done on purpose. Calculated.

Have you ever heard some of your friends say, “I live life day by day” or “all this crazy stuff just keeps coming out of no where”. Then in your mind you are thinking, “That kind of stuff is always happening to them. How are you not prepared?”

I have been having a lot of thought around things that happen in my life. How they happen and how much I want to be ready for instead of being blind sided. This thought process has taken me into many different avenues that I wanted to share and write down for myself.

I’ll start with my prayer life since it is when I began thinking about being intentional. Prayer for me is something I usually do as a reaction to life instead of prayer as a precursor. During a fast that I went on last week. I had it timed out when I would pray and it had me thinking to myself, “If I only pray because it is the time to. I AM DOING IT ALL WRONG.” Another excellent example is praying over food. If you only pray over food because “it is the thing to do”, then you missed it. Prayer should be intentional, it should be in reverence, and it also should be done with expectation.

Now for my finances. Living pay check to pay check is one of the most dangerous ways to live. Coming from poverty and now on the cusp of lower middle class. I’m at the point of can’t get medical or food stamps, but at the same time spending my last dime on hospital bills and food. This last year my wife and I sat down and got on a real budget. I made a spreadsheet on google docs and we have been following it as best as possible. We have a number for eating out, clothes, beauty, vacation, investments, and so on as the month allows. When you intentionally have plans for your money and know where each dollar is going you are setting yourself up for success. Even when a surprise like a broken phone comes along you can know that the $80 you would usually spend on a game or nails has to be held off till next month. I guarantee that by being intentional with your finances, it will take away 50% of your stresses and possible fights with spouse or significant others. I will be sharing a blank version of our budget spreadsheet later on so you can use it for yourself.
Now for the finale. Being intentional with your life and pursuits. This can be difficult, but I promise that the moment you get serious with a commitment of intentionality. Your life will change and your countenance will as well. It’s incredible what one win in life will do for you especially if it is planned and calculated. It’s dangerous to your money and life going to college without a plan for what career you want. A business fails when it has no goals or rules that it stands by at all times. Your life will be miserable if you do not have a purpose that you are in ruthless pursuit of.

Living life intentionally is only tough because doing nothing is easy. Here are some tips for living an intentional life.

1. Write down goals. 1 year goals. (Yes, I said write them down). Then do everything that you have to do to make it happen. Real goals are like breaths, you should not be able to live without it happening.
2. Talk to friends and family. This may sound easy, but intentionally being a good friend or family member is important.
3. Be friendly & polite to everyone that you meet. You may never know who you run into and the possibility of needing their help. Who wants to help a rude or snooty person?
4. Pray with boldness and expectation. When you pray over your food, expect it to be harm free and delicious. When you pray for sickness, health, travels, or whatever. Expect that God will really make it happen. May I even be bold enough to say that empty prayers, that sound like a good thing to do at the moment, are absolutely worthless and a waste of time.
5. Give intentionally. This is in all ways that you give. Whether it be money, time, or attention. It needs to be intentional. Do not give your money to charity, church, friends, family, or anything unless it brings you joy. Giving money that you expect something out of is an investment, not a gift. When you give your time, don’t give it unless it is planned out. Your time is precious and is limited. When you give your attention, do it intentionally. Attention to your wife, brother, and friends shows your character and love for them. Fake friendships, distant family, and open marriages always lead to disasters.

Serious Commitments

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15. There are many times in life and in your Christian walk that you will be obligated to your commitments. Also, these commitments tend to show your character. Since our recent move to the area, Tiana and I have been blessed to find a Jesus centered church that believes in a relationship with Christ more than the religious traditions. While I am on the topic of traditions, I want to be very clear that there are times that traditions are necessary. For example: breaking of bread, prayer and worship, church service, and many other times when gathering together as a community or group. My belief is when you are truly saved or “accept Jesus into your heart” you are making a commitment with Jesus. You are not merely having an experience with him as you would if you heard a great speaker and wanted to change your ways. It is a daily walk and giving of your life for something that is outside of yourself. When I was saved it was because I found out that Jesus was someone who I could have real relation with instead of just the knowledge of some higher being that hated when I was having sex outside of marriage or disrespecting the elderly. This was a profound moment in my life and changed it entirely. Once I made that commitment to be the son of God, a child of the light, Jesus disciple, I began to really see the world for what it was. I also found out the commitments that God had for my life and his intentions for it.

I find that people tend to not hold true to their commitments. Some intentional and some not so intentional. It could be the little things like forgetting to grab toilet paper on the way home from work. Then to big things like cheating on a spouse. We as Christians on the other hand are held to our commitments. We believe that our commitments to our friends, family, and neighbors are sacred. When we fail to hold firm to them, we are actually breaking a deal with God, which is unacceptable.

Now here are 6 tips that I have began to use and I think can be a general rule of thumb for everyone.
1. When you make a commitment or promise, keep it.
2. Think of commitments to someone as a make or break in your relationship.
3. Commitments that are followed through show great character.
4. God is pleased when we step up and hold to our commitments, because so few actually do.
5. Learn to say NO. Do not get yourself caught up in multiple commitments that over lap each other. You are bound to stumble.
6. Be ready for spiritual attacks. Without fail, something will try to come between you and a commitment. BE READY

Tiana and I have made a commitment to become leaders in our church. Before accepting the responsibility, we decided that we would make sure that those days were available. This means placing it on our calendars, missing birthdays, telling our bosses, and not committing to anything else until this time period has expired. It may sound so simple and easy, but yet I tend to think that it took a lot of work and effort to accomplish those few task. We believe that our commitment to leadership will in fact change lives. We also believe that there are perks to being in God’s will. God’s will tends to be hard because it is not always our favorite thing to do, but it is always worth it.