Home owners liberated from financial death grip

  Most people have come to realise that the word ‘mortgage’ literally means ‘death grip’.  What a lot of folk do not know is that a home mortgage scheme, instigated and introduced  back in 1989 has set over 270 NZ home owners free from this financial strangle hold.

Over three decades ago two of our local churches namely Whakatane Christian Fellowship (Liberty Centre) and the Whakatane Baptist Church saw the potential to help people toward home ownership without the burden of having to find crippling mortgage interest payments throughout their adult lives.

Most of us spend our working lives, and beyond, paying off a bank mortgage and when we finally get free we watch our children commence the same cycle.

These church groups asked, ‘What if there was a way to circumnavigate this financial treadmill.  What if there was a way to release borrowers from having to pay interest when you lend them money?’ 

 They did the sums and through prayer, perseverance and determination found the formula for success.  Since then a growing number of potential home owners have discovered that such a system (named Liberty Trust) is open to every New Zealander no matter their belief, creed or race?       

No, it is not a scam or some magical formula.  It certainly contradicts the norm and when you grasp the potential and ongoing benefits for generations of families you have to admit the whole idea is simply brilliant.

Back in those early days a survey was conducted among church members.  Through this, it was discovered that the average mortgage amounted to $35,000 and together the surveyed group owed $2million.  Collectively they would be paying a further $7million in mortgage interest over the remaining life of their mortgage (yes, interest payments were exorbitant back then).  The challenge was to implement a fool-proof system which had the ability to turn such massive interest payments into a benefit for borrowers and their families. 

In a nut shell this is how Liberty Trust worked; each family (or individual) contributed at least $20 per week into the trust fund.  As soon as there was enough money in the kitty the first family (by ballot) would re-finance with an interest free mortgage. That family would then re-pay their mortgage (interest free) to the fund until their loan was re-paid.  They were still paying the same monthly payments as they would have on their previous bank loan, but now both the interest and principal were paying off the loan.  This meant the borrower was able to repay their mortgage many years earlier and thus save a fortune.

At the start of the scheme The Liberty Trust attracted 100 applicants and was administered by 5 volunteer Trustees.  The figures showed that the last contributor would receive their interest free loan after twelve years.  Sceptics said such a system would not work, they were wrong, it worked back in the eighties and with care and fine-tuning is still relevant and very much alive today.  Along the way changes have been necessary; the ballot system for acceptance of loans has been circumvented and is now replaced by a fairer ‘first come, first served’ basis.  Participants are now able to choose how much they will donate.  

The Bible calls interest payments 'usery' If you talk to the people of Liberty Trust they will tell you that they are no longer caught in a crippeling 'death grip' (mortgage) situation. God’s word is truth and the proof is not only in the $20million that has been lent and re-lent to families all over New Zealand but also in the testimonials of people released from a financial death grip.  Samantha (our daughter) and her husband Greg took up the challenge. They will soon be completely mortgage free and able to plan for their children's higher education. For this family, Liberty Trust has proved a blessing indeed.                                   

     

Where has it all gone?

I am so proud of our kids. Of course, they are no longer kids, in fact the four of them have given us a virtual army of grandies.
Sarah, our eldest has managed to shed an amazing 70 plus kilos. She has done this through sheer hard work, walking long distances every day and watching her diet; not touching one of those many weird diet fads that cost you the earth and get you back to where you started.

I watched her finish a quarter marathon last week. Amazing effort she looked fantastic and came in well up in the field. Yes she used to be a big girl but now has not only changed her looks, lifestyle and outlook on life...through her facebook site (sarahandandrewcrawfoski) and a weight loss blogg (weighout), Sarah is helping many ladies with the same problem.

Our son, Matthew was also a big boy. Tall (well over six foot) but very over weight. That was five years ago. You should see him now! Matt shed 53kilo by the same method...just walking, and he has kept the weight off.
We will not talk about the parents!!! who have now become the larger members of the family. Yes, we must do more walking.

What I did wonder was... When folk go to the gym and say they have lost a couple of pounds or a kilo or three, WHERE DID ALL THAT FAT GO?
Is it hovering around in the ether, lying somewhere in big splodgy lumps or is someone employed to gather up the stuff. Is there a 'waste' management department a greenie who swipes every fallen kilo of overweightedness and turns it into bio fuel.
Oh well, something to think about.

Well swipe my little pink booties... I have been trying to get back on to my blog for the last two months. I have found the secret passage at last. In the words of the old 'Famous Five' tv programme (a send up of Enid Blighton's well known kids stories)
'Look!! Timmy has sniffed out a secret door, perhaps if we pull this overhanging branch three times it will open... stop it Timmy' said Julian... 'stop doing that to my leg...'
 'Come on George', said Dick,
'No sha'nt' grumbled George, 'Anne and I are going to see Aunt Fannie, she has promised us lashings of ginger beer...'

Anyway, this has nothing at all to do with my desire to once again begin blogging. Sadly the only person reading my blog has gone on holiday and I an sure that having found my scribblings covered in cobwebs he has given up in disgust.

New Zealand is currently draught distressed. All provinces now declared a drought zone and most councils have instigated water rations. Poor old farmers are suffering but the tourists are having a hiho time... best summer for many years.
We are now living midway betwixt Rotorua and our old stomping ground, Whakatane. Lake Rotoma, which is known as the gin lake (nothing to do with mothers ruin) due to its pristine water is looking wonderful. The summer revelers with their wretched surf skis, thumping music and shrieking kids on their bouncy water biscuits, have all but disappeared. This fact has raised the timid rainbow trout from the deep and onto my Tasmanian Devil lure.  Caught a 57cm beauty yesterday, smoked it with a bit of salt and brown sugar... Deee liciousss.

Tomorrow is roading day. We have a long drive to our elevated house site. It is so rough by the time I get from the house to the main road I have to put my teeth back into my mouth. My wife, who is fed up with the bouncing, has become so damaged by it all that she failed her warrant of fitness and will need a rebore.
So we will be raking and spreading shingle, grading it with Andrew's (son -in-law) digger and mixing dry cement in with the top few centimeters. We tried this system once before and as long as you put plenty of water onto the drive having compressed it thoroughly, you end up with a very firm surface.

That's about it for now but for anyone who is interested (is there anyone out there?) I have written a historical/fiction novel. Set in England in the Mid sixteen hundreds. I will put a couple of chapters onto the blog 'home page'.

well well I'm back again. Not fallen off my perch as sugested by a certain Frenchman (adopted)

maureen and I have moved yet again. This time ( I believe it is move number 31) we reside in a small cottage over looking glorious Lake Rotoma in the Bay of Plenty district of North Island New Zealand.

M having reached the signifficant age is now drawing a well earned pension and God bless her for that!!

Our days are spent fishing for trout, landscape painting, golf at the local course and playing scrabble. The latter of which leaves me as the dumb loser nine times out of ten.

The spa pool (hot tub ) is up and running and following our nightly ritual of lying in the altogether staring at the night sky, we have noticed a sudden lack of bird and insect life and often hear the odd possum or wallaby screaming in fright at the sight of our nakedness.

Life is pretty grand, although we wonder how we had time to work. Our days are full to overflowing and best of all we live a mere 35 minutes drive from our children and numerous grandies.

hope all is well with whoever reads this, catch you next time.

what's happening

Well although it may appear that I have gone to the happy hunting ground, fallen off my perch and popped my cloggs...

Received an email from a friend warning me of credit card theft. Think it best to pass on this info.

WARNING.....;WARNING 
There are, as you are aware many dastardly rogues who keep coming up with cunning plans to steal our money.  Be aware of inovative schemes such as...
When you hand over your card at a restaurant or wherever the swines switch your card, give you back a similar type (which invariably you do not check) and promptly steal all your money. They have also been known to take a photo of your card unbeknown to you. So the message is to always check that your own card has been returned.

We have just had our annual budget from the National Party Government.
Has anyone noticed that the opposition parties always jump up in arms against the changes made but never come up with alternatives... that really bugs me.

On a lighter note I am still enjoying extremely successful trout fishing and some very bad golf.

Maureen and I are coming up for our 45th anniversary on July 15th.  Aint that something!!

The hedgehog syndrome

I once saw a dead hedgehog under an electric fence, thought little of the matter until I saw the second one.  It was a fair guess on my part that when the animal got a nasty shock from the fence, instead of relaxing and walking safely away from the danger, he did what hedgehogs do, rolled into a big ball (making himself much larger) and got another shock, then another and another until it killed him.  I name this ‘the hedgehog syndrome’; it is a phenomenon that is happening to people in New Zealand and perhaps all over the corporate World.

Why the ‘corporate’ World?  Stay with me on this one.

                The hedgehog syndrome is hitting office workers, under managers, labourers in fact anyone who has been unfortunate enough to experience stress through the mean minded, unfeeling and totally unreasonable attitude of a boss who is quite simply a CORPORATE BULLY.

If you wrote of all the cases of corporate bullying in New Zealand business circles, I have no doubt you would fill a volume the size of war and peace.  It is a culture that at first I put down to our current economic climate but have since realised that most corporate bully’s have been trained to be just that. 

The Bank Finance officer, dedicated to his job and appreciated by his established clientele, is attacked by a new Bank Manager; who actually has no idea of the officer’s excellent record.  The result, a stressed worker who has gone from a willing employee to a hedgehog; whose fellow workers have no idea why there is such a change in their colleague.  The stress is so debilitating his whole family suffers, his home life is affected to such a degree they all become stressed.

                A policeman is put down in front of his colleagues, a local council employee is battling with human resources department who have run rough shod over them, ‘and if you don’t like it, you know what you can do.’ Or the favourite put- down, ‘there are plenty of people ready to take your job.’

Ten years ago I was fortunate enough to obtain a management position in a large Auckland company.  I was to train and work with sixty agents; dream job, great salary, long hours.

The Company owner, my new boss insisted that I do not mix with these agents, he considered them to be beneath management. I understood the reason for his insistence but did not adhere to it; in fact a few of the ‘underlings’ became very good friends.  What is so wrong about communicating with the people a rung or two below you on the corporate ladder? Have we not all been there?

The truth of it all is that corporate bullying is leading to a lot of good people getting shafted.  I can hear some saying, ‘tough it out, get real, the boss is tough and that is why he is the employer and you are the employee’.  Actually I have owned my own business employed a number of people and know that fairness and integrity was the mainstay of our good worker/ boss relationship.  Which brings me back to our prickly friend under the electric fence; you have trouble toughing things out when you are caught up in the ‘hedgehog syndrome’.

It may be that the managers and corporate bosses of today have been watching too much Gordon Ramsey. They think that the best way to handle underlings, most of whom have had far more experience than they, is to bully, cajole or ball out in front of other workers or simply write them a letter that has the effect of stripping every vestige of dignity from their battered lives and stresses them to the point of handing in their notice or seeking an advocate to fight on their behalf.

You have now been introduced to New Zealand’s corporate bullying culture.  It is turning employees against their bosses, destroying marriages and upsetting kids.  Furthermore, it is affecting the profitability of businesses and the smooth running of essential services.

I Welcome your feedback  

Glassie lost his glasses

Well that should read nearly did.
Trolling for that elusive super trout on the lake, I was delighted when he struck hard onto my black and gold 'Toby' lure.  Almost landed the little beauty when he leapt out of the water and took off at an exciting pace. His tail splashed water onto my specs so I hurriedly took them off and chucked them up onto the boat's canvas canopy which was folded up at the time.
Got so busy landing the fish and; believe it or not, ran the same line a second time and caught his identicle twin, when it started to rain, put the canopy up which catipulted the specs $600 worth into the lake.

Good old insurance saved the day and have gained on the deal because I discovered three days later that those specs actually landed in the transome of the boat, hidden under the outboard motor.
Result.... Two beautiful trout and now proud owner of two pairs of $600 specs.