The Hidden Power of Purchase Delay
Your ability to delay gratification might be one of the most powerful determinants of your success in finance… heck, in all of life. Don’t believe me? Well, have you ever heard of the marshmallow experiment? Sure you have: some gentlemen at Stanford, back in the late 60s, offered over 600 children a choice. They were sat down at a table and a marshmallow (or similar treat) was placed in front of them. They were told they could eat the marshmallow as soon as the researcher left the room – no problem – OR they could wait 15 minutes and receive a second marshmallow to enjoy. Some kids chomped the treat immediately, others waited and saw a 100% return on their investment. Why do I care about this experiment? Well, the two gents who were running this experiment followed up on each group over the next several decades and found some fascinating correlations. Those who delayed gratification ended up winning at almost every stage of life in significant ways. They were described by their parents as significantly more competent as adolescents. They had higher SAT scores, faster reaction times in an emergency situation, and were better as adults at controlling their response to alluring temptations.
6 Nov 201915min
Masculine Worship?
Have you ever heard of a worship album that requires an explicit tag? We think you’re in for a treat today with this conversation between Craig Dockery and Steven Manuel on what it looks like to move outside of the normal Christian music safety zone and into new, grittier, and perhaps more masculine spaces. This one is a bit outside of our usual programming, but we think you’ll dig it! Show notes: Find Hymns for Trucks at www.craigdockery.com, or head straight to iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your music. Check out Bloodbrother right ‘chere at this link! Enjoy the mentioned bad sax solo at your leisure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He-sYfNGsv8
30 Okt 201952min
Shame is out to get you
No lie: shame is the number one word that men (and women) are using when they talk honestly with us about their money scene. Some of those people have made huge messes of their financial life, but others, by any outside evaluation, are doing great. Shame is an indiscriminate predator.
23 Okt 201915min
Every Home an Outpost
This week, Steven brings you his thesis on why your home exists. Think about it: your God-oriented home is, like Abraham himself, looking forward to a city “not made by human hands, whose Designer and Builder is God“. You are surrounded by people who don’t see it that way. And your outpost will have to represent a Culture that doesn’t much exist in your town. You’re an ambassador for a coming King. Your job is to produce a few people who understand this Kingdom’s foreign culture as their own… and then export it to as many people as are willing to receive it.
16 Okt 201923min
Before you go paying down all that debt…
Could there be a lurking trap in the oft-glamorized world of debt freedom? This week I sat down with Scott Dotson and heard something I’ve never heard before in the personal finance media – that there was a hidden, dangerous side to the path he and his wife walked as they aggressively eliminated almost $200k in debt over 3 years. Tune in for some wise words to anyone thinking about how to approach tackling their debt (and don’t worry, we’ll still be rooting for you as you pay that stuff down).
9 Okt 201934min
Sukkot!
Sukkot is one of the big Jewish holidays that we at Abraham’s Wallet have come to love and value for its impact on our families. It tosses us fathers a veritable softball to smash out of the park: the teaching opportunities are easy, highly physical (easy for little brains to grasp, since they’re so sensory)… and lots of fun. That makes Sukkot a great holiday for the budding family leader seeking to get his feet wet. (“I don’t know how to get into this crazy world of Jewish stuff! The bar for entry is too high!” “No, not really. Just try. Everybody will love you for it. The Wallet will show you how, monsieur.”)
2 Okt 201915min
Have a bias for action
In this episode Mark and Steven come at you live from St. Louis and discuss the importance of having a bias for action. A relevant follow up to last week’s talk about the need to move from ignorance to readiness, this week we talk about what it’s like to move forward in faith even when that requires a bit of risk. Have we been acclimatized to so much safety that we find it difficult to take a risky step forward into the sometimes unknown (even when all signs point to that being the right way)? Here’s our thoughts on moving through that hesitation.
25 Sep 201943min
Moving from ignorance, to order, to readiness
Many of us are like the fool from the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 – we prefer to bury our financial problems and ignore them instead of confronting reality and creating a plan. In this episode, Mark and Steven got together to talk about what it looks like to move from ignorance, to order, to readiness – in your financial life and elsewhere.
18 Sep 201957min
