Finance
Financial Counseling Experience
I am so PUMPED to be teaching the Financial Counseling Experience TODAY at NewSpring Church! The Financial Counseling Experience is where I train volunteers who have "the knack" and a passion to help people put together a financial plan that works. I will be training folks on the process that we have used at NewSpring to provide one-on-one FREE financial counseling to over 800 people in less than two years.
Since I was conducting the training for our NewSpring volunteers, I decided to invite a few other people from around the area to see if they would be interested in attending. And the response has been … well … I will be training around 25 volunteer financial counselors today! And, get this, we will have people representing churches from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and maybe Tennessee!
As I train our NewSpring volunteers, others will be there to take this stuff back to their churches!
All I can say is WOW. I can't believe I get to do this stuff for a living!
By the way, this won't be the last time I conduct this training. If you are interested in starting up a financial counseling ministry at your church and are interested in attending the next Financial Counseling Experience, you can contact me HERE. And of course if you attend NewSpring Church and would love to become a trained financial counselor, I would love to hear from you!
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Is Your Pastor Managing Money Well?
As I travel and teach at a variety of churches, it is always important for me to understand if the pastor and the church staff are managing their money following biblical principles. I mean, if the pastor is blowing all of their money without a plan, 100% financing everything, and unable to say "NO!" to a purchase, then it is impossible for them to stand up with any credibility and teach biblical principles such as:
Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children. (Long-term saving!)
Proverbs 13:11 … He who gathers money little by little makes it grow. (Invest!)
Proverbs 22:7 The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender. (Avoid debt.)
Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another … (Always pay off debts that you owe!)
Not too mention the Parable of Talents (Matthew 25:14-30 – sound money management) and Giving (Malachi 3).
I have said it many times in the Financial Counseling Experience training that the number one reason NewSpring Church has a successful financial counseling ministry is the fact that Perry (senior pastor) lives this stuff!
So the question today is: If you are a pastor or a church leader, are you managing money the way that God commands you to?
The question for everyone else (and today's poll question) is:
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Teaching Children About Money – Guest Post
Today's post is written by Katie. Katie is a HUGE help to the crusade! She coordinates all financial counseling appointments, manages my schedule, and helps ensure that the crusade to help others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances rolls along smoothly.
Anyway, she and her husband (Matt) are the proud parents of two beautiful children – Cameron (4) and Claire (<1). Today, Katie shares how she and Matt are training Cameron about money.
Since our son is only four years old, we are teaching him that there is value to everything and that we use money to buy the things that we need. Because money is limited we teach him not to be wasteful. One of his favorite things to do is to pour milk down the sink (who knows why). I have started explaining to him that we paid money for that milk so we need to save what we do not drink because it is worth something. When we go shopping I am constantly talking to him about how we have to pay the store money before we leave because those items are worth something and we have to exchange our money for them. When he asks for a treat or something at the store I have to tell him that we only have x amount of money and that costs more than what we have to spend since we are buying other items to eat for meals.
Sangl says … It is never too early to start teaching children about money. Jenn and I started teaching our daughter about money when she was four years old too.
By the way, Matt and Katie's son is super-smart. He has learned the books of the Bible and can say them without help – backwards. Watch it HERE.
SERIES Teaching My Daughter About Money: Waiting
Ever since Jenn and I had our I Have Had Enough Moment with living paycheck-to-paycheck and B-R-O-K-E and living the three-time-loser-with-credit-cards life, we have made it a huge priority to teach our daughter about money management. It became a HUGE priority when we realized that she has inherited my "spender" genes!
In this series, I will be sharing some practical ways that we are teaching her about sound money management.
Part Three – Waiting
To put it bluntly, waiting sucks. I despise lines. I detest waiting rooms. I deplore delays. Waiting is no fun. I have routinely said, "If I had wanted patience (patients), I would have become a doctor."
Yet, it is absolutely true that patience is a virtue. If one spends money based on snap decisions without the beauty of time between the "I WANT THAT!" moment and the purchasing moment, there will be huge opportunities for regretful decisions.
There have been times that I have had our daughter leave her short-term savings at home when we go shopping. Why? Because I have observed the wishy-washy decision making that she is highly susceptible to (I've even written about it HERE). First she wants a Webkinz, then a bunny rabbit (yes a live one), then it is bunny rabbitS (plural!), then an iPod, then … Children are such a reflection of their parents. I'm sorry you have got my "spender" genes, my beautiful daughter.
By leaving her money at home, it opens the door for me to have conversation about the important financial principle of "waiting". Yes, honey, it is no fun, but just think about the fact that all of that money that you have saved for months is still safe and sound for that big purchase you are saving for. No, honey, I have not always waited and here is how I paid dearly for it …
Great conversations can be had when you just say "wait", "not now", and "later".
Here are the lessons I think are being learned or reinforced:
- Waiting is essential to excellent decision-making.
- Open lines of communication are critical. Instead of just saying "No!", we provide the opportunity to talk about why the decision has been made to wait.
- Her parents are practicing what they are preaching. By showing our daughter that we are also "waiting" on some purchase decisions, we are demonstrating that we are living this out. Now THAT will preach!
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SERIES Teaching My Daughter About Money: Give, Save, Spend
Ever since Jenn and I had our I Have Had Enough Moment with living paycheck-to-paycheck and B-R-O-K-E and living the three-time-loser-with-credit-cards life, we have made it a huge priority to teach our daughter about money management. It became a HUGE priority when we realized that she has inherited my "spender" genes!
In this series, I will be sharing some practical ways that we are teaching her about sound money management.
Part Two – Give, Save, Spend
Jenn and I purchased Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr. kit back in 2004, and it has been a mainstay on our refrigerator ever since. I really like the three main categories that he focuses on in the kit – GIVE, SAVE, SPEND.
Every time that Melea receives money, we have taught her to divide the money into the three categories. She has to put twenty-percent into the GIVE envelope, at least twenty-percent into the SAVE envelope, and the rest goes into the SPEND envelope.
Since this has been the standard procedure since she was very young, it is part of her DNA to think this way now every time that she receives money. She KNOWS that it must be divided between the three categories. You want to feel proud? Watch your child automatically take birthday money and separate it into the three categories and see that the GIVE and SAVE categories exceed the SPEND category.
Thanks, Dave Ramsey, for offering such a simple, yet fantastic product!
Here are the lessons I think are being learned or reinforced:
- GIVE and SAVE take priority over SPEND. So basic. So subtle. But this is HUGE when it comes to ensuring that our plans/hopes/dreams are fulfilled.
- Giving fills the heart. Saving fills the bank account. We talk through the giving decisions. She knows exactly what she is saving for.
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