America’s Youngest Female Billionaire: Bloomberg recently featured Lynsi Torres, the 30-year old Owner and President of In-N-Out Burger. Amazing story of tragedy and instant responsibility.

How To Invest In Index Funds?: Most of my investing outside of my 403(b)/401(k) is done in Index Funds. It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it ensure you are diversified.

5 Reasons A 30-year Mortgage Beats A 15: With our impending move I am reading a lot about real estate these days. I have a 15-year loan and now wonder if sticking with a 30 would have been a better option. Read on to see why.

3 Takeaways On The Financial Health )f Mega Churches: The bigger the church, the more financially healthy it appears to be. Supposedly.

How To Be Great At Giving: These are seven great ways to become a great giver. I love it!!

Interesting News In Pop Culture
For the 4th week in a row, the #1 song on the Billboard Top 100  is “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz. It’s also currently the #1 download on Amazon. The song is about… frugality and buying clothes from Goodwill?

It’s not the cleanest song BUT this might be the first time a rap song is about frugality and that’s exciting.

Every week I publish the Weekly Financial Platter with all the best from the past week about giving, raising, and saving money.

Sweat Equity: Jeff Shinabarger from Plywood People talks about giving sweat, not just money. By the way, I visited Plywood last week. Great ideas on generosity because launched all the time.

Top 4 Interesting Adoption Stats: Christianity Today picks their top 5 most interesting stats and then links to the 2012 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption.

Should Married Couples Have Joint Or Separate Bank Accounts?: I wholeheartedly agree with the Christian PF article that couples should have joint accounts. The reasons why are spot on and worth the read for those making this decision.

9 Juicy Tax Deductions Often Overlooked: As we get close to tax prep time, be sure you are ready to make the most of your deductions.

All Jobs Are Temporary: The reality is that most of use will not just have one type of career or employer. Many of the jobs we have may not even exist in 20 years. Are you ready?

Every week I publish the Weekly Financial Platter with all the best from the past week about giving, raising, and saving money.

Giving Will Rise Barely in 2013: Giving is expected to just be slightly up in 2013. However, religious giving has been down and that trend looks to continue.

Paying With Credit Card or Cash- A Different Take: Many would argue that using credit cards to pay for everyday purchases is wiser than cash. I would probably fall into that camp. However, there are some downfalls as outlined in this article.

6 Tips for Upcoming Tax Season: Here is some solid advice to follow when filing to your taxes. I have written before about the debate between tax software and using an accountant. Start thinking about this stuff now because April 15th will be here soon!

Free Pizza Giveaway from Papa Johns: Here is all the information you need to participate in the Papa John’s free pizza giveaway. You must sign up before the coin toss. Both my wife and I enrolled to ensure a free pizza. I will warn you, expect LOTS of emails from Papa John’s between now and the Super Bowl trying to entice you to a hot, steamy, freshly made pie of deliciousness.

How Much Money Am I Supposed To Give Away?:  Tim Challies speaks to the question pastors often here about giving. How much am I suppose to give? Tim’s short answer is, enough that it matters. I recently talked about what a tithe was and if it’s important today.

Also, just as a reminder. You have less than a day to enter the give away on my blog for a free watch. This is my way of monthly supporting a charity or social enterprise I believe in.

Here are this weeks highlights from the world of giving, personal finance, and fundraising:

Making The Ask: As a fundraiser the question I get most is, how do you ask people for lots of money? Margaret from The Fundraising Collective explains well that we are not making an ask but giving an opportunity to make a difference.

Where Evangelicals Give (and no longer give): The Evangelical Council for Financial Responsibility put out their 2012 report on giving. Overall giving was down by 1.7% from 2011 to 2010. Also, wealthy families are using new tools, like donor advised funds.

Grow Your Career While Giving Back: Free Money Finance gives ideas on how you can grow your career and make a difference, mainly by volunteering.

Is Shopping On Ebay Safe?: I do much of my shopping online. So I appreciated the tips to ensure my shopping experience goes well. To date I have never had a negative online shopping experience.

The Truth About Help: Jon Acuff gives great advice. We can’t do it alone and the best way to get help from others is to give help first.

What Should You Do With Unwanted Gift Cards: I rarely have the problem of not using a gift card. But if you received an unwanted gift card, here are some options.

Real Estate 101: This post links to a bunch of other posts about real estate investing. Thanks to HGTV I think we all have had the fantasy of flipping houses at massive profits. Well, before you actually do I suggest reading and learning everything thing you can lest you reap massive losses.

Are “Doomsday Preppers” Crazy?: Like this blogger I have had thoughts of prepping for a natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or elongated power outages thanks to suicidal squirrels. But beyond a gallon of water in the basement have done little to nothing. Here are some survival tips and ideas.

What People Buy When They Buy Something On Sale: Seth Godin’s always short, always insightful posts.

This prank is awesome:

Do You Pay Your Kids For Good Grades?: I was never paid for grades growing up. Sometimes though we would do something special as a family to celebrate.

Eight Steps To Successful Year-end Email Campaign?: Great information for non-profits and churches.  The best 2 days of online giving for the year are upon us.

Driven Crazy By Car Loans: I soon may be in the market for a “new” car in the next six months so I’m starting to read up and try to figure out what will be best for my situation.

Top Ways To Prevent The “Fiscal Cliff” From Impacting You: Pretty straight forward stuff but always a good reminder in the midst of uncertainty.

The One Thing I Do At The End Of Each Year: Tim Elmore provides a guide for those wanting to do some reflection on the past year and some visioneering for the year ahead.

How Are You Cultivating An Attitude Of Gratitude: Hopefully over the next 30 days you’ll be doing lots of thanking of donors to you church or non-profit. Pamela Grow provides ideas and links for  why and how to thank your donors for their year-end gift.

10 Ways To Sabotage Your Year-End Emails: All charities should be thinking and planning their year-end emails. Make sure you avoid these 10 costly mistakes.

Inexpensive Gift Ideas For Teachers: My wife is a teacher and I think she would concur with these ideas, both the ones that cost money and the ones that are free.

Confusing Lucky With Good: Good reminder from Seth Godin about the key to be good AND lucky.

The Skills That Make an Entrepreneur: I’ve always wondered if I could be an entrepreneur. Harvard Business Review did a study of entrepreneurs to find out what kind of characteristics are essential.

“Silent Night” happens every year at Taylor University. This is a competitor school to Cedarville University where I work. It’s a great school and a really fun tradtion.