The Church leaders have urged us to live providently – in other words, to live in a way that will allow us to live well not only today, but tomorrow. We must practice the principles of provident living: joyfully living within our means, being content with what we have, avoiding excessive debt and diligently saving and preparing for rainy-day emergencies.
In an Ensign article entitled Escaping the Debt Trap, the author gives the following scenario, “Dan and Mary are approaching retirement age. By all appearances they are well-off financially. In truth, however, their huge debt load includes six credit card payments, two car loans, and a home mortgage. They have no cash savings for emergencies and little food storage. They’ve delayed retirement planning and carry inadequate insurance. Dan and Mary may foolishly think they can scrape by and eventually extricate themselves from their precarious position. Perhaps they can. But given the hard realities of life, cay anyone afford to gamble on the hope that illness, accident, or financial loss will not befall them? Are Dan and Mary living providently?
Not only are many approaching retirement age finding themselves in this situation, but many young married couples are, also. Many young couples expect to furnish their homes and provide for themselves with luxuries as they begin their marriage, which their parents have managed to acquire only after many years of struggle and sacrifice. By wanting too much too soon, young couples may succumb to easy credit plans, thereby plunging themselves into debt. This would keep them from having the financial means necessary to do as the Church suggests in the matter of food storage and other security programs."
Persuasive advertising entices people to buy beyond their means and to measure their success by what they have managed to acquire in material possessions. As President Hinckley wrote in a 1996 Ensign article entitled, Thou Shalt Not Covet, “it is that devious, sinister, evil influence that says, what I have is not enough. I must have more.” There is also that adage about keeping up with the Jones’. In that same article, President Hinckley wrote, “When the finger of the Lord wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets of stone, He gave us the tenth and final commandment: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor anything that is thy neighbors’. I think if the Lord were speaking today and giving us the last of the Ten Commandments, he might say, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his position in society, nor his car, nor his boat, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”
Conflicts about money are a major cause of unhappiness and divorce. The money management decisions couples make together have the potential to bring them happiness or despair, freedom, or bondage. By seeking to change their level of satisfaction with what they have and can reasonably afford, couples (and singles) can live in greater peace. On this subject, President N. Eldon Tanner said, “I know of no situation where happiness and peace of mind have increased with amassing property beyond the reasonable wants and needs of the family. Financial peace of mind is not determined by how much we make but is dependent upon how much we spend.”
So how do we get that financial peace of mind? How do we learn to live providently? How do we teach our children to live providently? In my research of this topic, the Church leaders had recurring themes, principles, and recommendations for improved personal and family financial management:
1. Pay a full tithe. Do you want the windows of heaven opened to you? Do you wish to receive blessings so great there is not room enough to receive them? Always pay a full tithe and leave the outcome in the hands of the Lord. There is no single action that will help you more with your financial success than paying a full tithe. It brings a literal opening of the windows of heaven. In addition to following the spiritual law of obedience, paying tithing has four practical benefits: 1. It makes us account for our money 2. It teaches us to sacrifice, making us more discretionary consumers 3. It makes us better planners, and 4. The likelihood of financial mismanagement will be reduced.
2. Learn to distinguish between wants and needs. Consumer appetites are man-made. Our capitalistic society produces unlimited goods and services to stimulate our desire to want more convenience and luxury. What used to be wants are now needs. As Elder L. Tom Perry wrote, “we think we need a larger home, with a three-car garage, a recreational vehicle parked next to it. We long for designer clothes, extra TV sets, the latest model computer and cell phone, and the newest cars. Often these items are purchased with borrowed money, without giving any thought to providing for our future needs. The result of all this instant gratification is overloaded bankruptcy courts and families that are far too pre-occupied with their financial burdens.”
3. Live on less than you earn; live modestly and avoid debt. President Heber J. Grant once said, “if there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart and into the family, it is to live within our means, and if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet.” Also, there’s nothing easier than whipping out the credit card and running up a huge bill. Don’t do it. Force yourself to pay cash, and you’ll spend far less.
4. Develop and live within a budget. Many people think a budget robs them of their freedom. On the contrary, successful people have learned that a budget makes real economic freedom possible. Budgeting is a plan that helps people make the best use of their income and savings. Realistic, workable budgets result when couples agree to provide carefully for their needs and to exercise self-discipline and patience as they seek to provide for some of their wants. Most families can reduce some of their expenditures with a little resourcefulness and accountability. Our pioneer forebears lived by the adage, fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
5. Teach family members early the importance of work and earning. One of the greatest favors parents can do for their children is to teach them to work. This leads one day to our children becoming self-reliant. Elder Marion G. Romney tells of an article he once read in the Readers Digest. “In our friendly city of St. Augustine, great flocks of sea gulls are starving amid plenty. Fishing is still good, but the gulls don’t know how to fish. For generations they have depended on the shrimp fleet to toss them scraps from the nets. Now the fleet has moved. The shrimpers had created a welfare state for the sea gulls. The big birds never bothered to learn how to fish themselves and never taught their children. Instead, they lead their little ones to the shrimp nets. Now the sea gulls, the fine free birds that almost symbolize liberty itself, are starving to death because they gave into the something for nothing lure. They sacrificed their independence for a handout.” Elder Romney went on to say “We fear many parents in the Church are making “gullible gulls” out of their children with their permissiveness and their doling out of the family resources. Because of overindulgence, many children leave homes ill-prepared to meet the real world.” President Hinckley said, “of course we need to earn a living. The Lord told Adam that in the sweat of his face should he eat bread all the days of his life. It is important that we qualify ourselves to be self-reliant, particularly that every young man at the time of marriage be ready and able to assume the responsibilities of providing for his companion and for the children that may come to that home. All too many enter marriage who have never learned to cook, sew, or develop other important life skills. Ignorance of these needed skills, along with the lack of understanding of the management of money, sow the seeds for many failures in our children’s marriages.”
6. Acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life. Elder L. Tom Perry said, “As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year’s supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness. The instability of the world today makes it imperative that we take heed of the counsel and prepare for the future.”
7. Save for that rainy day. You should try to have saved three to six months (or more) of your expenses (mortgage payment or rent, car payment, utilities, insurance, groceries, etc.) in an emergency fund. It is kind of like the concept of having a year’s supply of food to fall back on in case of an emergency, like if you lost your job. In the case of an emergency fund, you have a six-month supply of money to fall back on in case of a loss of a job or a disabling injury or illness.
8. Be generous in giving and sharing with others. The more our hearts and minds are turned to assisting others less fortunate, the more we will avoid the spiritual cankering effects that result from greed, selfishness, and overindulgence. As Elder Christensen wrote, “our resources are a stewardship, not our possessions. I am confident that we will literally be called upon to make an accounting before God concerning how we have used them to bless and build the kingdom.” Therefore, it is important to help the poor within and outside of our Church through a generous fast offering.
I have seen in my own life the consequences of not living a provident, self-reliant life and the untold blessings I’ve received when I am self-reliant and living providently. First the consequences. In my early to mid-thirties, I was married to Vic. We had a house payment, vehicle payments, a recreational vehicle payment, and credit card bills. I had also taken out loans to purchase furniture and put new siding on the house. Then a serious illness struck, and on top of the bills we already had, we now had medical bills. Vic got so sick from his cancer treatments that he could no longer work. His sick time and vacation time were used up, and his disability payments only covered a portion of his wages. I got behind on the consumer debt, and the creditor phone calls started, which added exponentially to the stress we were already facing. I was ashamed that I was getting behind on the payments because I had always prided myself on paying my bills on time. I remember having a garage sale just so that I had enough money to buy groceries that month. I also had to ask my family in Ohio for money, which I was also ashamed to have to do. On top of all of that, I ended up having to take a leave of absence from work so that we could go to Dallas, TX for Vic’s bone marrow transplant, which only exasperated the problem. We had gotten ourselves in quite a pickle. After Vic passed away, I got some life insurance, and I was able to get caught up on the bills. I vowed that I would never get into that situation again and began in earnest to pay off my bills and become debt-free.
Now the blessings. Fast forward 20 years. I voluntarily left my job just before I was called to serve in the Stake Relief Society presidency. I was prompted at that time by the Lord that I was to leave my job because He had another work for me to do. Then seven months after I left my job, Mark got laid off from a company that he had been with for 23 years. He was off work for seven months. The situation Mark and I faced was much different than what Vic and I faced. When Mark got laid off, we were debt-free and had built up an emergency fund. The company Mark worked for had given him a generous severance package, and even though we ended up with a $1,000 per month medical insurance premium through COBRA, we could easily pay our monthly bills for utilities, food, gas, etc. There were no creditors calling. There was no garage sale to raise money for groceries, and I didn’t need to call my family for financial assistance. What could have been a financial calamity became only an inconvenience.
Even though the prior experience was a difficult and stressful situation financially, it humbled me and taught me a valuable lesson about how I spend my money and about the perils of debt. It was a lesson I could “take to the bank.” The significant difference in those intervening 20 years, I believe, was tithing. Mark and I were living the law of tithing. Vic and I were not. When Mark and I gave God His 10%, He helped us to manage the other 90% and the windows of heaven were truly opened to us. I saw God’s hand in helping us to manage our finances as He guided us and directed us in the principles of provident living, but I believe it all started with my willingness to pay a full tithe to God. The rest then fell into place.
President Spencer W. Kimball said "The Church and its members are commanded by the Lord to be self-reliant and independent (D&C 78;13-14). The responsibility for each person's social, emotional, spiritual, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon himself. No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family's well-being to someone else. No amount of philosophizing, excuses, or rationalizing will ever change the fundamental need for self-reliance. Let us practice the principles of personal and family preparedness in our daily lives. 'If you are prepared ye shall not fear' (D&C 38:30)."
In closing, I leave you with the words from Joseph F. Smith “I believe that it is our business to prepare against the day of famine, of pestilence, of tempests and earthquakes, and the time when the sea shall heave itself beyond its bounds. Let us be industrious and economical and save our means. Not that we build our hopes upon our riches, not that we make that our god; but for what? That we may be able, when perilous times shall come, to meet the necessities of the times and the obligations that may rest upon the people of God to consummate the purposes of the Almighty in the land.”
Yorumlar