Crystal Baker

Comments

• I've made many frugal, bargain purchases which have served me well, and a few which have not. But one financial DECISION we made which gave us repeated headaches and cost us hugely as well was to HIRE A PROPERTY MANAGER for a rental home. It was our first "home purchase" and we thought we would live there forever in our humble, yet dearly love 1600 sq ft home with one acre. Things changed and we had to move hundreds of miles away with only 7 weeks to prepare for the move with a new job. We didn't have time to prepare the house and make the arrangements necessary to sell the house, plus we had dreams of returning to OUR DREAM HOME one day. SOOO---we decided to rent it and secure a property manager (recommended by our tax preparer whom we loved and trusted) to oversee collection of rent and manage necessary repairs. WHAT A MISTAKE! We LOVED our home and wanted it to be care for as WE would do. IT was NOT, so our grief was huge each time we saw the damages to our home. The hired one would call us rather than handling repairs so WE ended up arranging for the work at a distance anyway. She made the practice of accepting rent payments late WITHOUT CHARGING A LATE FEE! And when we asked her to get estimates and have the renters pay for the repair when they crashed into our storage building, she told us the building wasn't worth it (it was later appraised at 14k by our insurance company). We sold the house after a few years and lots of headaches and lots of money in repairs to prepare it for the market.

  Post: Stepping In It

  Link to comment from May 31, 2025

• In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8 I, too, am a product of parents who survived the Great Depression. They loved God, loved each other, lived responsibly, and raised six children to do the same. Their legacy is that they demonstrated their trust in the Lord to direct their paths and did not lean on their own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). They practiced wisdom in decisions, both small and large, but many things were not in their control. They worked together in life goals of loving God and each other and were faithful in modeling that before us as their family. I am the product of God's grace in that family setting. We were poor in the eyes of men, yet so rich in the safety and security we knew at home, which then translated into the peace we were able to pass on to our own children. I have now been happily married for nearly 40 years and have raised five children of my own, with 10 grandchildren thus far. We, too, have often been poor in the eyes of men, yet I have slept in peace for a lifetime, knowing that my security does not come from things that are always "measurable" in our bank account or other investments. We have lived responsibly, and sought to be faithful stewards of what the Lord has entrusted to us, whether that be little or much. As we now approach retirement, we are debt free and have a humble home and property and feel "secure" in our anticipated income for the future. We have all we need. We have enough. We are content, and have blessings to share with our children and grandchildren now, and likely for their futures, as well. I trust that our legacy will also just be living faithfully in the Lord with what we have been entrusted, in our faith and our good works. To God be the glory, great things He has done!

  Post: Feeling Secure by Jonathan Clements

  Link to comment from May 3, 2025

• Jonathan, your transparency is so inspirational and instructional! As I read other comments about creating a video message for your grandchildren, I commend that idea. With our three oldest sons, I was able to video my mother's message of congratulations to them which we played at their high school graduation celebration. As I videoed her message for the third son, she grew weary of my request, so I asked her if she would go ahead and share a message with my younger two sons which I would just hold until the time of their graduation, and I would not ask to record her again. She agreed. She died the following year, with complications from a broken hip. I played her video message for my two younger sons, 4 and 8 years later. What a precious time for them as they saw her face and heard her message to them. I think it would give you joy to create a message for your grandchildren and remind THEM of the joy they bring you, and of the hopes and dreams you have for them. I think it will bring THEM joy in the future as they speak of your influence, even in your absence.

  Post: On the Clock

  Link to comment from August 18, 2024

• Jonathan, I have come to look forward to your posts along with my regular biblical, devotional reading. You provide much wise counsel. I appreciate your transparency and your instruction. Your own declaration and even your post TODAY both affirms and challenges me anew. Thank you for the ways you have continued to instruct and encourage us, even amid a most challenging journey personally! I continue to "tweak" our own affairs as others share, too. Thus, I will share in hope that others might glean a few tips from our journey, too. "Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom....Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. May Your deeds be shown to Your servants, Your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord rest upon us, establish the work of our hands for us---yes, establish the work of our hands." Psalm 90:12-17 I am the administrator and manager of our "financial house," as meager as it is. I was blessed to have parents who lived faithfully and frugally, and held no tightly guarded secrets among us as their six children. Their model provided a great one for me to follow. My husband's background is quite the opposite. Upon his dad's sudden death at 87 years old five years ago, his mom still did not want anyone in the room when she discussed her affairs with her financial advisor. As she moved to another state 18 months later, she entered a mortgage rather than paying outright for her new condo in Florida. Her advisor manages her finances, and I am sure he lives comfortably off of his commissions. My husband and his sister know little about her affairs, even as she is now 85 years old. I am saddened for the burden they will bear upon her death as they seek to settler her affairs and will lose what could have been such a gift to them and their families. Meanwhile, my husband and I have five sons, two of whom live and work overseas. They were recently stateside after over four years of not seeing them. We had the "family meeting" shortly before they left the country again. We had just updated our wills two years ago, naming the oldest son as our secondary executor, after each of us as the primary executor in event of the other one's death. With him living overseas, he instructed us that it would be difficult for him to manage those responsibilities single-handedly. He is quite capable, but it would interrupt his own family and work responsibilities for a lengthy time. At age 62 and 63 and in reasonably good health, with a family history of our parents living into their 80's and 90's, we had not established power of attorney nor health care power of attorney yet, though we had discussed it. I provided our oldest son and wife with a "financial diary" of sorts, seven years ago, in the event that they needed to "find" our journeys and steward them in the event I was incapacitated or died. But, in the last two weeks, we have now updated our will to include another stateside son as the third in line as executor. I have confirmed with our legal counsel that the first son could begin the process and then "sign off" for the next son to pick up the remainder of responsibilities as necessary. This arrangement is comfortable for us and for the two of them, as well as for the other three sons. We also named one son who lives closest to us as the Health Care POA and POA for us as needed, and have signed copies of our Living Will. I updated a DETAILED copy of our financial diary and delivered a hard copy to the son who lives closest to us and would responsibly oversee those emails with auto-drafts, etc. I included a copy in our security box at home in the folder with our wills, written obituaries, funeral wishes, insurance policies, and other timely documents. All of our sons know the location of "the box" and how to access it. My husband would need help navigating the daily "financials" if I predecease him. My sons know that, so two of them now have that necessary info. I spent two weeks pouring through every detail of our accounts so I could provide accurate details of account info and how to access it all. It provided a good review for me, and as I age, will continue to serve as a good stewardship of my own time and resources, even as long as I personally continue to manage those! We have responsibly named our sons as "equal share" beneficiaries on all our retirement accounts and real estate, after the death of each of us. Our assets will not likely labor them with inheritance taxes, though we plan to distribute the real estate to them prior to our death, as MY parents did. At this season of our lives and of theirs, it would not be wise to initiate those changes. Should we have the "luxury" of an advance time warning of impending death as you did, we would then make those plans concrete and our sons know those plans, as well. We have POD on bank accounts. I laughed at the comments about the "tax boxes" because I, too, have preserved those since 1986!! :) I MAY "tweak" those in the coming days, but I will spend some time reviewing the goodness of God as I review those HARD DAYS which those documents record! There was never enough money on paper, but we always had ENOUGH through the Lord's hand! Again, thank you for your transparency and continued instruction! "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8 Grace and peace to you in the coming days, Crystal Trout Baker Gal. 2:20

  Post: No Slowing Down

  Link to comment from July 27, 2024

• . I am grieved to read your news, Jonathan. Thank you for your transparent and candid report to your readers. In my mother's last days of life, I took my young five sons by her bedside for their last visit with her. One son read Psalm 23 quietly for her. We sang and prayed in the stillness of her room. I thought she had passed away as we prayed, and I looked at my boys with a guiding look of "don't move" when we opened our eyes from prayer. Then, she began whispering a prayer aloud. I had NEVER heard my mother pray ALOUD. Her faith was a very private one. She quoted Proverbs 3:5-6 as she prayed for MY SONS and THEIR FUTURES: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. I had never heard her recite scripture either! It was the greatest gift that she could possibly give us----and one that we could repeatedly give and give and give to others as we share our story of that time with her! Now, as the Grammy of nine, and expecting to add more to that number in the future, I repeat that verse often to my grandchildren, as well as to others. Today, I pray that verse for you and that you will find peace in the days the Lord gives you on earth, whether those be few or many. I also now pray Isaiah 26:3 for you that "you will be in perfect peace as you keep your mind steadfast on the Lord because you trust in Him." Having only received Humble Dollar emails for a few months, I am a fairly new subscriber, but it is one of the emails I prioritize. I feel the values represented align with my own of a lifetime, and I always still glean a few good ideas from others' experience to practice in my sixties now, as well. Having lost a sister to a brain tumor very suddenly when she was only 40 years old, and I was only 22, many of my own life decisions have been shaped by that reality and that grief. One of those outcomes for me was to submit my first article as a free-lance writer six months after her death. She and I had a shared dream for WRITING, and her "delayed goal" was to publish a book every year and an article every month in a professional magazine once she turned 40. She died 3 weeks after her 40th birthday, with only a few days' notice. My first article was published a couple of years after her death and I received other invitations for writing projects based on that first article I submitted. I am not a renowned author, but I have enjoyed WRITING for a lifetime and reading and sharing in a "community" like HUMBLE DOLLAR most recently. Thank you for the vision and wisdom you have shared. Thank you for the influence you have had on MY LIFE through this gift. Grace and peace be with you in the coming days. Crystal Trout Baker

  Post: The C Word

  Link to comment from June 15, 2024