Have you ever desired to be a bigger giver of your time and money? This may be the ticket to helping you do just that.

I recently read a book call The Generosity Factor, written by Ken Blanchard and S.Truett Cathy. Now, I'm a slow reader, but this book only took me about six hours to get through. In other words, I highly recommend this book, so don't let time prevent you from picking it up.

Ok, here's my summary and thoughts on The Generosity Factor.

Blanchard tells a fictional story about a wealthy young New York investment broker who feels insignificant but doesn't know why. The broker has a limousine driver who he treats very poorly. The driver is financially poor, but feels very blessed. He smiles the majority of the time, even if there is not a lot to smile about and "...wonders how anyone could live life any other way."

My wife and I just returned from a trip to India. We were in the Northeast part of the country in the state of Assam. It is located in a flood plain right at the base of the foothills of the Himalayan mountain range. (I got to see the Himalayas from the plane- They looked sweet!) We went there to share the Gospel with a people group who has never even had access to the Bible. It was an amazing experience!

That was my second trip to India, and my wife's third trip. If you have never been to India, just go watch "Slum-Dog Millionaire" and you will have a pretty good picture of what it is like. It is a land of contrast: Amazing palaces and nice hotels right next to trash-filled streets and... cows. Poverty is profound in some places, and the cast-system just adds to the confusing culture.

You have to admit, there are thousands of ways to give your money to those in need, but a large percentage of those ways are just not effective.

What does it means to not give effectively?

In my opinion, it is not always about the result that the giving brings, but rather a matter of the heart of both the giver and the receiver. When you give joyfully, you will be truly blessed. When a person receives something with a grateful heart, they will be truly blessed as well. Ok, that's my little soap box about the real essence of giving, but now lets go back to the results of giving.

Have you donated money to the Haiti relief efforts yet?

Photo from foxnews.com

So there I was, at Chic-fil-a...

I recently had the privilege of being profiled in YoungMoney.com!

FYI: YoungMoney.com is the online version of the popular magazine Young Money.

A couple of months ago, Young Money announced that they were looking for young entrepreneurs to do some profile pieces on them and their businesses. I sent them a little info and the next thing I knew someone was contacting me and asking me questions. It was a lot of fun working with a large and recognized press organization. This is one of the first medium sized press attention FinancialSecrets101.com and the 5G Plan has gotten since the launch only 6 months ago.

I could tell you all about it, but I figure the easier thing to do would be to just send you the link to the article and have you check it out yourself.

If you care to learn a little more about me and The 5G Plan, here it is:

http://www.youngmoney.com/entrepreneur/entrepreneur-profile-financial-secrets-101/.

-Griff

PS: I'll be posting a useful money-saving blog article very soon. Stay tuned...

We have been having some technical difficulties with users who have tried to create accounts with Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8. To my knowledge, all issues have been resolved - thank goodness. I and the team apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and I'd like to say "Thank You" to the members of our community who have graciously helped us find these bugs.

You may be familiar with Paul in the Bible who talks about having a "thorn in his side (or flesh)." No one to this day really knows for sure what this was. It could have been some kind of internal pain or maybe even an emotional or spiritual barrier he could never overcome. Whatever it was, it caused him pain or discomfort in some way and made his life a little more difficult.

Well, I have determined that I have a thorn in my financial flesh. It is not something that causes me physical pain, and I don't pretend to place it on the level of Paul's thorn in any way, shape, or form (In fact, this analogy is just me being dramatic- so let's just scrap the thorn analogy altogether). But it is the biggest factor in drying up Michelle and my bank account than anything else.

I need your help. Please share your opinion on the following situation:

I did a kitchen remodel and several other big home improvement projects last year for a guy. It was a great job at the time, even after lowering my price, because I was a little desperate for work. My crew and I completed the work to the owner's satisfaction. He had already paid part of the money, which didn't even cover the materials and my crew's labor.

He said that things were financially tough for his family because he had just lost his job and will be filing for bankruptcy which is why he wanted to get rid of all his liquid assets and put them into his house so that they could not be taken.

This may seem very unprofessional, but I'm just going to vent to you all.

I'm frustrated.

• Frustrated about my lack of money.
• Frustrated about my lack of time.
• Stressed out and impatient about business.
• Impatient about paying off debt.

As I've mentioned before, the last year and a half has been a struggle for me in the area of finances. I've learned a lot - so much in fact that I felt like I needed to share this wisdom with my fellow man which is why I started this website and blog.