In part 1 of this post, we met Pete from the spiritually-based personal finance blog, Bible Money Matters. He described why faith and finances go so well together, how his faith influences his finances, his use of the Bible and some financially relevant scripture. Today’s topics are somewhat more abstract, though the answers are equally interesting. Here’s the conclusion of the interview:

M: Do you believe in a world of scarcity, or a world of abundance? The former implies that for you to get ahead you'll need to take away from someone else, and the latter implies that we can all improve our lot in life.

P: Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" is a good one that mixes in some faith, while not being preachy - good for all audiences. Another good one that I read recently was called "Does Your Bag Have Holes" by Cameron C. Taylor. Anything by Jay Peroni is also good.

Again, thanks to Pete for sharing his thoughts on this subject. Interested readers can learn more at Bible Money Matters. Regardless of your own religious beliefs, sound financial principles, from any source, are worth integrating into your daily life.

Does your faith influence your financial decisions?

Many of our laws and customs have a spiritual basis, so it should come as no surprise that spiritual beliefs serve as a source for financial inspiration and guidance as well. To help understand the complex subject of spiritually-based financial advice, I enlisted the help of someone who deals in this niche topic every day.

Pete Anderson runs one of a growing number of spiritually-based personal finance blogs, Bible Money Matters. He started the site last year as a place to capture his thoughts on matters of his Christian faith and how it affects his finances. Pete graciously agreed to a question and answer session, which I’d like to share with you.

M: Why pair faith with finances?

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive [Acts 20:35].’ This reminds me that we are implored to help others, and that giving of ourselves and our money is of the utmost importance.

Now that we have a basic understanding of the topic, we’ll cover some more difficult subjects in the second part of this post. We’ll explore the world of scarcity versus world of abundance, the apparent conflict between spiritual advice and lofty financial goals, differences between spiritual and secular financial advice, and more.

How do you feel about the answers so far?

The title of this post might throw you off, if you didn’t read my previous post. I am not talking about separating yourself from your money. This is easy to do. What I want to cover is how to separate your identity, how you view yourself, from the amount of money you have.

The roots of the “identifying with your money as your life” problem generally begin at a young age. Parents indoctrinate their kids, either directly, verbally or indirectly, through actions which lead to lifelong habits and money patterns. If you think back to your childhood, you will be able to recall different things that your parents said or did that you can see reflected in how you handle money as an adult.

Was it wrong to count your money? Or were you considered a bad person if you didn’t save, or if you spent too liberally? All of this experience early in your life left a mark on how you deal with money now.

Another big factor is your social circle. Do you have to have a certain amount of money to be among your friends? Do you have to have a big house? Or drive a certain car? Do you feel you need to appear as if you are not wealthy even if you’re making good money? All of these forces can influence how you think about yourself and eventually may drive you to make decisions that might not be in your best interest.

The first step you should take is admitting to yourself that other people have influenced how you view money and how you deal with money. By doing this, you are acknowledging that up until this point you have given up control over how you handle money and that you have allowed other influences to make these decisions for you.

The second step is to accept responsibility for making decisions about money. By doing this, you will take full control over how you handle your money. It might seem scary at first, because you will have nobody to blame, but soon you will discover that it is very liberating to be making your own decisions about money without external influences.

In my next post, I’ll continue the discussion of how to separate your identify from how you view money.

Planning on taking a trip this summer? One summer ago, gas prices were at an all-time high, stay-cations were all the rage, and the annual summer getaway seemed like something out of a 1950's-era Norman Rockwell calendar. What a difference a year makes.

Now, instead of skyrocketing fuel and agoraphobic family outings, the culture of the summer vacation has changed completely. Gas prices have come down by nearly half of their previous highs. Hotels and resorts are desperate to gain customers. License plate bingo is now available as an iPhone app. There's nothing standing in the way of mom and pop throwing the kids in the car and heading off toward some random national landmark… Oh yeah. There is that whole recession thing.

But even a recession can't keep down an adventure-seeking, fanny-pack-toting American this summer. There are recession-proof ways of beating the work week blues, even for those people whose work weeks have suddenly involved a lot less work. Cheap alternatives to travel are everywhere nowadays, and most of the credit should go to auction-style vacation websites like Priceline.com and Hotwire.com.

Here's how they work: Hotels, airlines, and rental car agencies invariably have leftover inventory that doesn't sell, be it rooms or seats or smelly old Dodge Neons. Their solution is to hand the selling duties over to these auction websites so that they can move some of their stale services. The auction sites, in turn, ask customers to bid on certain packages in their destination city, and then the sites take the highest bidder. It works for the hotels, flights, and rentals because it doesn't let off the appearance of desperation or price-cutting. It benefits the auction sites because, well, people are giving them money. And it benefits Joe Vacationer because he just got a room in a five-star hotel for $179 a night.

Ah, but what would a deal be without a catch? The auction sites are great, but you have to be prepared to deal with the consequences of a decision. Purchases are nonrefundable. Actual hotel, plane, and rental names are not revealed until after you sign on the dotted line. It's a big commitment to make, but it's also a big savings to be had.

The New York Times agrees:

“With published rates already so low, travelers are finding that opaque travel deals are even better than in the past. According to Brian Ek, a Priceline spokesman, users can save 40 percent on airfare (“up to 60 percent at the last minute”), as much as 50 percent on a hotel room and up to 30 percent on a rental car.”,

But which auction site gives you a better bang for your buck? The answer might depend on what you're looking for.

Bidontravel.com has a thorough post on the differences between the two sites, and its breakdown gives the price edge to Priceline but the security edge to Hotwire. For instance, bidding blindly on a hotel for Priceline might net you a lower price, but your hotel is likely to be chosen from a wider area and there's no guarantee of where your price will land. Hotwire on the other hand lets you see the price beforehand and narrows its neighborhoods to a greater extent.

"I always compare them," travel expert Don Nadeau says, "and go with the one that gives the most quality for the money on the dates I need. You should be satisfied with either company, as long as you realize that you can’t change anything once you’ve paid and you won’t get a refund if your plans change."

Putting the two services to the test with a flight reservation supports the theory of low price versus security. Let's say you live in San Francisco and want to fly out to New York to surprise your mom for Mother's Day (replace "mom" with Derek Jeter and "Mother's Day" with Yankees game, if you'd like). Getting started on both Priceline and Hotwire is simple. The home page of each site will have you surfing curiously through prices in an instant.

The price results offer a bit more separation, though. Hotwire's featured rate is $247 round trip through something called a "Hotwire Hot Rate," which Hotwire maintains is code for a good deal on a good airline. The Hot Rate doesn't tell you for sure how you'll be flying, though. Its other prices are mostly no more than $20 over the $247 price, and they do reveal the identities of the airlines. Several United flights made the list.

Priceline's results are noticeably lower than Hotwire's. The lowest price on Priceline is $218 (plus $20 in fees and taxes) for a roundtrip ticket on a number of different carriers - Delta, American, Virgin, and U.S. Airways. The price point sure is nice. But details for Priceline's trips are a little more sparse and a lot less guaranteed than they were on Hotwire's. In one instance, the listed price of $218 was placed immediately above a price for a nonstop flight at $528. Was the lower priced fare making a stop on the LOST island or something?

Still, working with either website can certainly cut down on the expenses of travelling. And if an auction site doesn't tickle your fancy, there are still many other options to choose from, too. Places like Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity claim low-price travel as well.

This summer, there really is no excuse not to hit the road or fly the friendly skies for a little R&R. Gas prices are low. Travel destinations are desperate to have you. And online travel sites have rendered the recession moot…. Well, maybe "moot" is the wrong word. You might have to settle for the three-star hotel at the two-star price.

Who knows the most about a particular product or service? The obvious answer is the manufacturer or service provider. Yet far too often we disregard their advice and spend more by following rules of thumb.

A classic example is determining when to change the oil in your car. When reading the previous sentence, how many of you instinctively thought that oil should be changed every 3 months or 3,000 miles? That rule of thumb is certainly well-known, much to the glee of your local quick lube establishment. The next time you’re in your car, pull out the owner’s manual and see what the manufacturer recommends. You’ll probably be surprised to learn that it’s much longer than the commonly believed 3 months or 3,000 miles. Age of vehicle, driving style, etc., can all affect the appropriate distance and time between oil changes (3 months or 3,000 miles could actually be correct for you, but you shouldn’t just blindly accept that number).

Manufacturers’ recommendations can go in the opposite direction as well. You may find that a product tends to wear out much faster than you expect. Reading the owner’s manual might key you in on a recommended cleaning or maintenance schedule, much more frequent than you’ve been using, to keep the product working at higher performance for a much longer time. Preventive maintenance is usually easy and inexpensive and almost always ends up saving you money compared to major repairs or frequent replacements.

Here on the Lending Club blog, I often mention how specialized advice, tailored to your own situation, is much more valuable than the generalized advice we commonly receive. In the case of products and services you buy, the best advice is often included with the product itself, if you simply take the time to look.

Do you read the owner’s manuals for the products you buy?