Financial Foundation Builders

We are more prosperous as a nation and individuals than ever before yet we give less, and are more counseled, more divorced, and more in debt than any previous generation.

You are not alone if you are confronted with excessive debt, have had very little personal financial training, are unsure of your financial path ahead, or lack structure in your long-term planning and goal setting--both for your finances and your life in general. Many are also struggling because they cannot "afford to give" and are truly doing some soul searching on whether they should or should not be giving or tithing, and what God really has to say about stewardship. May today be the first step in SOLUTIONS that will lead you and your family to a financially free life and purposeful plans to get out of debt, save, set up a budget, give, and MORE!

While prosperity and blessing abound in our land, personal debt has risen 77% since the '90's, bankruptcies have skyrocketed (1.5 million annually), and the personal savings rates are near all-time lows. Americans are now paying more in credit card interest payments per year ($1000), than they are giving per year ($754).

We are more prosperous as a nation than ever:

	1950's*	2000's*
Median Family Income	$ 3,319	$52,275
Housing with basic plumbing	64%	99%
Housing with telephone	78%	95%
Average House square footage	983	2225
Houses with 2 1/2 baths or more	1%	53%
Median Home Price	$11,000	$195,700
House square footage < than 1200 sq. ft.	62%	7%
House square footage > than 2000 sq. ft.	< 1%	52%
Houses with 2 bedrooms or less	66%	12%
Houses with 4 bedrooms or more	1%	34%
Houses with NO garage or carport	53%	12%
Houses with 2 or more car garage	< 1%	81%
Status Symbols	Color TV, Disneyland trip, credit card	Internet, cell phone, flat-screen TV

Yet, the personal financial trends that are sweeping our country and generation are sobering, as the following statistics (reference in Ease the Squeeze) reveal:

	1950's*	2000's*
Savings Rate	12%	3%
Bankruptcies/Year	<100,000	>1.5 million
Government debt	$257 million	$7.4 trillion
Number of Credit Cards per person	0	16.7
Total Credit Card Debt	0	$600 billion
Individual Credit Card Debt	0	$8,367 / person
Average charitable giving	6%	2.6%
Divorces / year	385,000	1,182,000

*Most statistics noted are referenced in Ease the Squeeze, others are available through Doug Hagedorn. Many of the housing statistics are actually from 1999.

Now is the time to act—no more delay or procrastination—the next generation is counting on you to Ease the Squeeze!