I am about to write about my least favorite subject…me! I hate having to write about myself, because it can seem so prideful. But, here goes!

About Me

My name is Khaleef Crumbley and I was born and raised in New Jersey, where my wonderful wife and I currently reside. I have seen a lot of poverty in my life – the place where I grew up is known for its drugs, gangs, teenage pregnancy, shootouts, and stolen cars – but I have also seen people with the resilience to rise above this!

I had a poor education in public school, but I had parents who invested their time and energy in seeing me succeed. For as long as I could remember, I “helped” my mother manage the household budget, pay bills, and even clip coupons. My parents both taught me the importance of hard work and determination!

I love studying the bible and learning about God, playing with kids, making spreadsheets, and making homemade pizza! I also love to teach – ANYTHING – the bible, finance, economics, Microsoft Excel, flashing ROMs on HTC phones, or anything else that I learn.

Because I didn’t take college seriously when I first went, I lost my financial aid and had to drop out because I couldn’t afford tuition. I then worked at a bunch of dead-end jobs for about 6 years, until I decided to go back to school. I wanted to go back so I could stop working at these horrible jobs, and so I could go to seminary.

I earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Rutgers University in Economics with specialized work in Finance, Investment Analysis, and Non-Profit accounting. It took me a total of 3 years to earn both degrees (I guess that’s what happens when you’re motivated)! I also studied Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations (with an emphasis on Ancient Greek culture and language), Music, and Math. My immediate educational plans include earning a second Master’s Degree, this time in Accounting, and sitting for the CPA and CFP exams.

I currently serve as Treasurer for OASIS for Children, Inc; a non-profit orphanage located in Haiti. After several years in corporate finance and accounting, I currently work in higher education managing government, non-profit, and corporate grants.

My ultimate goal is to honor God in all that I do. The most important things to me are relationships, first to God and then my marriage, my family, friends and church. If I was forced to lose all of my possessions and money (just be sure to take my debt as well ;-) ), but still keep my relationships, I would be more than happy!

About KNS Financial

I hate that the majority of people in this country seem incapable of making wise financial decisions. For all of my adult life, my friends and family members have come to me for financial advice. I founded KNS Financial in order to assist people with financial matters in a more organized and systematic way.

I have always had a desire to take complex ideas and make them easy to understand and teach to people. However, my focus always lied in investing and not so much in personal finance.

So, I made a lot of bad choices and led an undisciplined life financially (which I’m still paying for), while all the time still studying investing. I was making minimum wage, and instead of trying to learn how to make more money, or at least manage what I had more efficiently, I studied the stock market!

Then I read 2 books by Larry Burkett, “Debt-Free Living” and “The Word on Finances” (more of a reference book). Both of these books opened my eyes to the fact that God actually cares about how I handle my finances. I always just assumed that cheerful giving was enough!

From that point on I began to look for personal finance resources and discovered The Motley Fool. From there I learned a lot of practical ways to manage my finances, and from that time it became my goal to teach people to do the same.

I currently prepare taxes through KNS Financial and eventually, I would like to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), so I can [legally] assist people with more complicated financial matters.

The Origins of the Faithful With A Few Blog

When I started this site, I didn’t even know what a blog was. I just wanted to create a site where friends and clients who look to me for financial advice could come and read helpful and informative articles. My first thought was to write articles in MS Word, convert them into PDFs, and upload them to my site.

Then, while searching for the best way to upload an article to a website, I stumbled upon WordPress and decided to add a WP page to my site. Then a friend said to me, “Why not just make it a WordPress site?”. He then directed me to all of the widgets and plugins that I could use to customize the site! But I still was missing something…

Although I started the site in January, it wasn’t until May that I started writing posts that consisted of more than just bulletins for my tax guide, and Twitter updates!

After tax season, I then had the time to write about a wide variety of financial topics including (but not limited to) debt reduction/repayment, taxes, charitable giving, budgeting, using coupons, finding deals and freebies, mortgages, insurance, car buying, cosigning, loans, non-profit finances, and macro-economic analysis.

But I still received complaints from family and friends that my writing was much too dry and academic. I have made strides to make my writing more personal, although, I know I have a long way to go! Hopefully, you will find my posts to be logical, humorous, informative, and easy to understand.

Yakezie

Back in May, I saw a lot of blogs that I follow referencing this network called Yakezie. They announced that they were joining, shared guest posts from other members, and they constantly linked to each other’s sites! I probably read Sam’s post about 10 times before taking the plunge.

I kept telling myself that I had nothing to offer such an experienced group of writers, and that no one would welcome me to the group. Well once I joined, I realized that my assumptions about the group were wrong! Everyone here has been so supportive and helpful, and my only regret is waiting so long to join!

When I made the decision to join this group, my Alexa ranking was about 1,704,000, and as I write this it is now 62,640!

My Desire For The Blog

Because God has called us to be good stewards of His money, we need to look to the bible for financial guidance. I want to teach people what the bible says about money and finances. That is the aim of this blog, and even where the name originated.

In the “Parable of the Talents” (Matthew 25:14-30) the master (who represents Christ) went on a journey and “called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them” (v 14). When he returned and found that two of his slaves managed his money well and actually gained double, he said to them, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” (verses 21 & 23)

The bible has much to say about finances – touching specific topics such as: wealth, riches, poverty, cosigning loans, debt, borrowing/lending money, giving, taxes, employer/employee relations, bankruptcy, interest, and much more!

I hope that I am able to encourage you to be faithful to God through your management of what He has given to you.

Keep in mind that God’s commands are logical and sensible and anyone who implements them will be blessed in their finances. It is my hope that everyone who visits my site (regardless of religion) will be able to find useful information to assist them in their financial journey.

After saying ‘hello’, join us for further discussion in the Yakezie Forums.