Lesson 10 Preparation

Lesson 10 is about personal finances and started by looking at the section labelled 'Personal Finances' on the lds.org website. It emphasized greatly on spending less money than you actually make and how saving a little bit here and there can come to be beneficial when a rainy day comes. Paying tithing fully and honestly, making and following a budget, and also avoiding debt were also mentioned and they are important because paying tithing brings blessings and budgeting allows people to make room in their finances for tithing without worrying about it. Avoiding debt allows people to save money and also keep to their carefully set budget, which is necessary in today's world because people can be so attracted to worldly things that they forget to be wise with their money.

I then watched a video by Elder Robert D. Hales called 'Becoming Provident Providers.'

Experiencing and possessing something doesn't mean we have to go into debt, but we can find a way to budget simple pleasures into monthly expenses as long as we take care of our spiritual and temporal expenses first. For the needs have to come before the wants in order to be successful.

I then turned my attention to a talk called 'Earthly Debts, Heavenly Debts' by Elder Wirthlin and it talked about how we needed to be wise when dealing with both. Being able to survive in mortality sometimes requires that people go into debt in order to gain what they need to build themselves a safe and comfortable living while alive, but there is a fine line between safe and comfortable. Safe living may be very simple, but not provide all the comforts one wishes to have. Comfortable living may provide everything that is wished for, but may not necessarily be spiritually or temporally safe.

Debt is bondage and why would we want to go into an earthly debt when we are already in debt to our Savior, Jesus Christ, because of how He saved us through the sacrifice of His blood and life?

Hence, because of the Atonement, we are in debt spiritually and we are in debt temporally as mortals.

There were tidbits of counsel given in the talk that everyone should read and heed
1) Pay tithing.
2) Spend less than earned.
3) Save a little of what you make.
4) Honor any financial obligations to keep debt from building up.
5) Teach others to follow an example of financial responsibility by showing them how.

I then read through a pamphlet called 'One For the Money' created by Elder Marvin J. Ashton that was, according to the Pathway lesson page, based upon an address given by Elder Marvin J. Ashton in the April 1975 welfare session of General Conference.

 There were guidelines of how to be fiscally responsible mentioned in the pamphlet:
1. Pay an HONEST Tithing - 10% of your earnings.
2. Learn to Manage Money, don't let it manage you.
3. Learn self-discipline and self-restraint in terms of spending.
4. Make and live by a budget.
5. Learn and teach the importance of working and earning your money.
6. Teach others to make wise decisions concerning money.
7. Teach others how to contribute to the family welfare.
8. Always seek to continue your education/lifelong learning.
9. Work towards owning a home.
10. Get Insurance
11. Learn how external forces affect finances.
12. Get a food storage and emergency preparedness supplies.
optional: Get a debt elimination calendar when you DO get into debt.

I then watched a video about how Elder Robert D. Hales encourages us to stay out of debt and live frugally as he recounts a story from the early days of his marriage, when his wife exemplified the principles of provident living.

To joyfully live within your means is to make the most of what you have when you have it and not do foolish things to expand what you have, as what will be the cost of making foolish choices for more?

What is worth enough to us to buy? We shouldn't spend on that which has no value to us, but we should remember that we are of great value to God and Jesus Christ and that is why Christ spent his blood and life to buy us out of the darkness where mankind had resided since the Fall.

I took the quiz twice because I got one, a question that asks what our greatest hunger as children of God is, wrong even though I thought it was right. I got 19.5 out of 20 - 97% and I am proud of it.

My initial discussion post went like this:

Debt limits one's free agency because it stops people from making decisions about their future, as debt is a remnant of the past that is unresolved until it is paid off. One cannot transition from the past to the present or even to the future on an emotional, spiritual, or mental level until they have resolved everything in their past that threatens to destroy any hope of a pleasant future. Being able to survive in mortality sometimes requires that people go into debt in order to gain what they need to build themselves a safe and comfortable living while alive, but there is a fine line between safe and comfortable and we need to use our agency, plus the gift of discernment that God has given all of us, to determine what is safe and what is comfortable, or if we can somehow combine a little bit of each and still live within our means.

Safe living may be very simple, but not provide all the comforts one wishes to have. Comfortable living may provide everything that is wished for, but may not necessarily be spiritually or temporally safe. If we choose to live within our means, we are being safe with our spirit and our finances and neither will suffer because there is safety in living within your means and avoiding things that could lead to problems. If, however, we seek to be comfortable for however long we are in this life without any regard to how we will spend the next, we may end up compromising our financial security and our spiritual safety because with comfort, we often make choices that compromise our moral values.