Bless Your Family - Day 16 - Finances

Bless Your Family, Day 16 – Finances

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Blessing Your Family, Finances

Welcome to Day 16 of our Journey through “31 Days to Bless Your Family”!

Today’s theme is Finances. As I mentioned on Day 3 – Communication, the top three reasons for divorce are:
  1. Communication (Day 3)
  2. Finances (today, Day 16)
  3. Sex (Day 30)

I suppose evenly spacing these out across our 31 Days to Bless Your Family series seems intentional, but really it just worked out that way. Communication has to be in the top three or no one could get on the same page with their spouse and children about any of our other topics in this series. And it may make sense to build up to Sex & Intimacy as part of the final climax because that’s just how it works (laughs), but it is probably more like I wanted time to build up the courage and thoughts to write about it!

Finances however is a great and logical follow through from our last set of topics – Generosity, Partner & Parent, and Modeling Responsibility. Finances is the necessity to “keeping your house in order” – both figuratively and literally. Your financial state in your marriage and family may be a good indicator of whether the rest of these 31 topics are in peace or chaos.

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Financial Agreement

While opposites attract many times, and either you or your partner are stronger in managing this category, you will both need to Surrender to Oneness in your Finances. This area is so sensitive for many families that you may certainly want to engage the Top 10 categories in this series when dealing with finances, and your financial decisions will almost entirely have an impact on every category, not only of this series, but in your lives together.

There must be agreement in how you and your mate will manage your Finances together, and how you plan on Blessing Your Family because of your decisions and actions together. One of the best couples I know, with great oneness together, and a great plan for managing their finances exemplify every category in this series and then some. They keep one common set of accounts to manage their household or family goals and responsibilities, and then pay each other an agreed discretionary amount which goes into their own accounts to do with as they want to for fun or personal spending. This isn’t always perfect, and there are different styles between them in their personal planning, saving and spending. But the main thing is their household, their marriage, their family accounts are managed as agreed, and they have created a secure foundation financially to live and love and serve as they choose to in the world.

There are many ways to accomplish financial peace and freedom in order to Bless Your Family. So how do we address this in a relatively short blog post? How do we make this applicable to each individual situation?

Wise Counsel, Good Planning, and Follow Through

The great thing about finances is they operate by principles, and as long as one respects and understands those principles then they can navigate accordingly to achieve their goals. A similar area is diet and fitness, where the principles operating can work to help you accomplish your goals if you respect and understand them as you navigate and execute your particular health goals.

In both health and finances above, the pattern is the same, managing what goes in and what goes out. In both categories 90% of your results are determined in the “kitchen”, and both categories yield far better results when you have coaches in place to guide you and keep you on track. Relative to our finances, what are we cooking up as it were in our own kitchens, what recipes or formulas are we following, and who can we look for help and guidance?

We all need wise counsel, good planning, and follow through to achieve what Dave Ramsey calls Financial Peace. We all need help in the area of our finances regardless of how much we earn or how much we already have “in the bank”. For most of the world, like 98% of us, we haven’t achieved spectacular wealth. But even the spectacularly wealthy still have coaches, follow the principles of finances in their planning, and the wealthy definitely execute on those plans. So can we. One way to consider starting is to follow Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps to Financial Peace:

Follow Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps to Financial Peace

  • Baby Step 1: $1,000 cash in a beginner emergency fund
  • Baby Step 2: Use the debt snowball to pay off all your debt but the house
  • Baby Step 3: A fully funded emergency fund of 3 to 6 months of expenses
  • Baby Step 4: Invest 15% of your household income into retirement
  • Baby Step 5: Start saving for college
  • Baby Step 6: Pay off your home early
  • Baby Step 7: Build wealth and give generously

[shareable cite=”Proverbs 15:22 ESV”]Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisors they succeed.[/shareable]

I recommend Dave Ramsey as the primary source in this post because he is by far the leading expert today on helping families to get out of debt and secure their financial future, a.k.a. “Peace”. But with any of our topics, if there is an area you want to grow in, then I recommend studying in-depth that topic and it’s experts.

You may want to also read on what Tony Robbins has to say in his recent books, MONEY – Master the Game and UNSHAKEABLE, or learn from what investors like Warren Buffet have to share with us. You may at some point also want to consider including in your advisors and counsel some professionals like your CPA and local attorneys, as well as your insurance and investment professionals. Some investment and insurance professionals may have additional education and credentials like an MBA, or CLU, ChFC, or CFP that may be part of your decision in finding the right professional to assist you. You may find that several sources recommend a financial plan from an advisor who only charges for the analysis and planning of your investments and does not benefit from any sales or products they recommend.

Goals, Goals, Goals

We all should have them and make growth a part of our daily commitment to ourselves in all areas we hold personally important. I have goals, my wife has goals, and we have goals. One of my goals would be to be able to live on 10% of our income and give away 90% (but that’s a long way off)!  I actually know someone who thinks they can spend 90%, live on 10% and thinks that everything will be ok and fall into place, or that there will be money again the next month even if you don’t work or know where the money is going to come from.

The key is that as a couple you have to have agreement, “Oneness”, in your Finances and plans and goals. If necessary, get the right support system/s, counseling, and advisors to get you on track and keep you headed in the right direction. This is not easy and takes work, and everyone has to put in the work. Stay at it, make the changes necessary, and keep going in the right direction. Getting your finances in line with your personal goals to Bless Your Family can create peace and freedom, even for your kids and grandkids possibly.

What can you start doing to improve your communication and agreement around finances in your home? Are there any “baby steps” that you have missed in your own planning thus far? Are there any advisors missing from your financial team that may help you get to the next level?

[shareable cite=”@Eric_D_Jackson”]While opposites attract many times, and either you or your partner are stronger in managing this category, you will both need to Surrender to Oneness in your Finances.[/shareable]

Today’s “Dares and Prayers” shared in the video:

  • Love Dare – “Intercedes (pray for)“
  • Love Dare For Parents – “respects God“
  • Power of a Praying Husband, Pray for – “Her Desires“
  • Resolution – “to live with Honor“
  • 31 Days of Building Your Family Values, Bible App Devotions – “Respect“
  • Financial Peace
  • Dave Ramsey – Tools and Resources

 

<YouTube video coming soon> 

 

 

Daily Resources and References

Please review the Welcome to 31 Days to Bless Your Family post if you missed it. There are some starting resources and recommendations there. Your best resource will be a local Bible teaching church to plug into with your family, and be surrounded by a thriving and supportive community.

Special Thanks to Kendrick Brothers Productions for their books The Love Dare, The Love Dare for Parents, and The Resolution for Men. You can check out their movies, books etc on their site. Their site recommends a local church finder at:

For prayer from KLOVE Radio staff:

 

If today’s topic resonated with you please leave a question, or share something positive that is working for you in the comment section below.

Here’s to your family’s “purpose-filled and on-target day”!

God Bless You and Yours!

 

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