Tentmaking Tips

I invited newsletter subscribers to share any additional “hacks” they’ve used.

One of my good friends and fellow pastor at our church, John Bradshaw, responded back with some other great “hacks” that his family used to put their kids through college.

He shared 3 additional “hacks” and I’m going to quote him here:

1. Stay at home - Don’t go to UT Austin (in the case of someone whose family lives in Lubbock). Stay in Lubbock, go to Tech, and live at home (one of my kids did this). And your community college point from the last newsletter makes this even better. Go to South Plains Community College (again using Lubbock as the example) for two years and then go to Tech.

2. Apply for every scholarship available (there are a ton) - When one of my daughters said she wanted to go to Hardin Simmons (a private school)...

I had heard of these before but wasn’t quite sure how they worked.

I started doing more research and quickly became convinced that I needed to add this tool to my financial life. I just set mine up this past week.

Let me share with you a high-level overview of what these are and how they might benefit you.

What is a Donor Advised Fund?

Let me quote Fidelity Charitable:

A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is like a charitable investment account for the sole purpose of supporting charitable organizations you care about. When you contribute cash, securities, or other assets to a donor-advised fund at a public charity… you are generally eligible to take an immediate tax deduction. Then those funds can be invested for tax-free growth, and you can recommend grants to any eligible IRS-qualified public charity.

This definition gives at least...

Tuition prices are sky rocketing.

Add the cost of room and board if your child chooses to leave for college.

Books aren’t cheap either.

My oldest daughter is a Senior in High School & my youngest is a Freshman.

You can imagine that were talking a lot about college these days.

My girls are asking questions like, “Should we even go to college? If so, where should we go? And, if we go, what should we major in?”

If they end up choosing to go to college, it raises the question, is it hackable?

Turns out, it is.

I’ll share some of the hacks we’ve discovered & then I welcome you to email me any additional hacks you’ve used. I’d love to do more emails on this subject because it’s such a big financial commitment for families. Especially if you’re trying to keep your children far from student loans, which I certainly am.

Ok, let’s begin.

1. Dual Credit Classes - my oldest daughter...

This is especially concerning if their tentmaking activities don’t involve having a job at a church or company that offers a group health insurance plan.

This is a great question & certainly something many who have thought about tentmaking have had to consider.

Ever since I came off the payroll at our church, I had to find alternative ways to get health insurance for our family.

And it’s not as hard as you might think.

In fact, there are some “hacks” that could allow you to get health insurance even cheaper than if you were buying into a group plan. More on that below.

My hope is that this newsletter might begin to alleviate any fear you’ve had of finding health insurance apart from a group plan at your church/company.

Once I came off the payroll, I was able to work with an insurance agent to apply for my own group coverage with my real estate company. Since I had at...

We like that everyone can choose what they want & that you have healthy options as well.

The main problem is the cost.

As you know, if everyone gets a burrito or a bowl, for a family of 4, it can really add up.

4 chicken burritos = $8.90 x 4 = $35.60 + $2.94 tax = $38.54 x ~4 weeks/mo = $154.16/mo

Ouch!

It can add up, but it doesn’t have to.

We’ve come up with multiple hacks.

1. Kids Meals

   My 17-year old daughter often eats there with her friends & she recently told us that the kids meals have plenty of food and there’s not an age restriction.

   One night our family of 4 all tried the build-your-own kids meal & we loved it.

   It was only $5.50 each and it came with protein, two sides, chips & a drink.

   Plenty of food for us!

   That’s $23.82 including tax to eat out as a family of 4.

   $23.82 x ~4 weeks/mo = $95.28 per month for our family to eat...

My Dad used to say it tastes better when it’s free!

I’ve recently entered the world of online meal kits.

Not so much because we didn’t like cooking, but just because it seems like they’re trying to give you great meals for almost nothing.

It saves on groceries & eating out.

Now you may be thinking, “Whoa! I thought those online meal kits were really expensive?”

They can be.

If you just subscribe to a single kit & get a delivery week after week, it really adds up.

But I don’t do that.

I’ve gotten two meal kits now.

The first kit was 3 meals for 2 people for free (retail at nearly $70). I only had to pay $11 in shipping. This was from Marley Spoon.

The second was 3 meals for 4 people for free (retail at nearly $120). I only had to pay $5 in shipping. This was from HelloFresh.

Lest you think they were just sending us cheap food, the first one had multiple steak dinners and the second box had...

One concern people often have with a card like this is, “How do I meet the high minimum spend?”

The minimum spend to earn the welcome bonus on this card is $8,000 in 3 months.

That’s a lot.

You may not be sure how you could spend enough to hit it.

Not to worry.

There are other ways to generate this spend.

I’ll share one of my favorites today.

Funding bank accounts.

Some banks allow you to fund accounts using a credit card.

That’s what I did this past week.

We needed some extra spend to hit the $8,000 for our 2nd Chase Ink Business Preferred card.

US Bank is known to allow credit card funding of new business accounts up to $3,000.

I opened up a new account for one of our businesses & used the credit card to...

And, who wouldn’t?

They are offering $325 if you open a new Everyday Checking account (at this link) by August 20, 2024. You can also open the account in-branch and give them the code that you get at the same link.

To earn the bonus, you need at least $1,000 in qualifying electronic deposits (think direct deposit of your paycheck) within 90 days of the account opening.

That should be pretty easy for most people.

And the good news is, you can do it twice. Once for you and once for your spouse (if you’re married).

That’s $650 in just a few months by direct depositing at least $1,000 into the two accounts you open.

Wells Fargo is also offering a $2,500 bonus (at this link) if you’re willing to do something a bit more complicated with significantly more money.

They’re giving a $2,500 bonus (in branch) if you’ll open a Premier...

I calculated the other day that between all of the cash in our business accounts & personal accounts, I was losing about $300/mo in interest I could be earning if that cash was invested with my other short-term monies.

But if I transferred it all out, I’d need it right back again for the various activities that happen inside my personal/business checking accounts.

Ugh.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a checking account equivalent that returned ~5% on your sitting cash like the money market accounts are doing right now?

Welcome to Fidelity Cash Management Accounts.

I was listening to a podcast recently where the host was transferring most of his “bank...

I sent my Dad a video the other day of a Toyota Tundra that made it to 999,999 miles on the odometer before the owner finally decided to get a new one. I told him that was my goal too!

These Toyotas can go forever!

My previous car was a Toyota Camry. And before that, I had a Toyota 4Runner.

All bought used, with cash, with quite a few miles already on them.

Only reason I didn’t drive them forever is because someone hit me in the 4Runner and totaled it & we sold the Camry so my daughter would have a larger car to drive for her first car.

I learned early on in our financial journey that cars are a terrible investment & can crush all of your financial dreams if you buy them the wrong way. LOL!

Dave Ramsey has joked that driving cars, especially new cars, is like driving around with your window rolled down & throwing hundred dollars bills out of it.

And, while most people probably know cars...