Lesson 9: Provident Living Summary
Lesson 9. How do I practice “Provident Living” Today?
Provident Living Class
Overall Objective: At the conclusion of this lesson, students will:
1. Understand why the last eight lessons are important in their lives
2. Understand the importance of provident living today.
Preparation
Reading 9: Hand Out the All is Safely Gathered In: Family Finances Pamphlet
Suggested Lesson Development
Class Review
In this class, we followed the pamphlet, “All is Safely Gathered In: Family Finances.” This class of eight weeks answered eight important questions:
1. Why Does Money Matter?
2. Why Pay Tithes and Offerings?
3. How Do I Set Financial Goals?
4. Why is Debt Bad?
5. How do I Set Up and Use an Annual Budget?
6. How Do I Set Up and Use a Monthly Budget?
7. How Do I Build a Reserve or Emergency Fund?
8. How Do I Teach Family Members Financial Responsibility?
Today we will discuss “How do I practice provident living today?”
I believe that as we have answered and understood these questions, we will enjoy provident living now and will be much more prepared for our financial lives in the future. Elder M. Russell Ballard commented:
There are no shortcuts to financial security. There are no get-rich-quick schemes that work. Perhaps none need the principle of balance in their lives more than those who are driven toward accumulating “things” in this world. . . In my judgment, we never will have balance in our lives unless our finances are securely under control. (M. Russell Ballard, “Keeping Life’s Demands in Balance,” Ensign, May 1987, 13)
We need that balance in our lives to allow us to accomplish the things Heavenly Father would have us accomplish. And to have that balance, we need our finances securely under control. These lessons have helped in that process.
From the message from the First Presidency from the Family Finances pamphlet, it states:
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Latter-day Saints have been counseled for many years to prepare for adversity by having a little money set aside. Doing so adds immeasurably to security and well-being. Every family has a responsibility to provide for its own needs to the extent possible.
We encourage you wherever you may live in the world to prepare for adversity by looking to the condition of your finances. We urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from this bondage. Save a little money regularly to gradually build a financial reserve.
If you have paid your debts and have a financial reserve, even though it be small, you and your family will feel more secure and enjoy greater peace in your hearts.
May the Lord bless you in your family financial efforts.
The First Presidency
(from All is Safely Gathered In: Family Finances, LDS Church, p. 2)
Plan for Your Financial Future
President Ezra Taft Benson counseled:
Plan for your financial future. As you move through life toward retirement and the decades which follow, we invite all . . . to plan frugally for the years following full-time employment. . .. Plan your financial future early; then follow the plan (italics added, “To the Elderly in the Church,” Ensign, Nov. 1989, 4).
We discussed earlier how we are stewards over all the Lord has shared with us—not owners (D&C 104:13). As stewards, we will be held accountable for our stewardship. But not only will we be held accountable for our thoughts and our actions (Alma 12:14), but for our financial decisions as well.
Let us work to become the best stewards we can possibly be, including financial stewards, so that we might hear the same loving words as the Savior said of those in the parable of the talents:
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt 25:21).
1. Why Does Money Matter?
Money matters because it is necessary for us for food, shelter, to take care of our families, and to be more secure in our lives.
Money also matters because it is a tool Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can use to teach us important principles such as faith, obedience, priorities, the physical and physical creations, planning, follow through, sacrifice, discipline, service, etc. There are many principles which are taught best by using money. A wise man counseled: “Money doesn’t change you. It just reveals you to yourself.”
2. Why Pay Tithes and Offerings?
Some have wondered why, if we have financial problems, do we talk about paying tithes and offerings first. We pay tithes and offerings as a way of showing that we love Heavenly Father and His Son more than we love the things of this world. We pay Him first to show that we love Him most. President Gordon B. Hinckley counseled:
Some of you have money problems. I know that. There is never enough money in your homes. I know that. You are struggling to get along. What is the cure? The only thing I know of is payment of tithing. … It was God who made the promise that He would open the windows of heaven and pour down blessings upon those who walked honestly with Him in the payment of their tithes and offerings, and He has the capacity to keep His promise (“Inspirational Thoughts,” Ensign, Aug. 1997, 6).
Do we have the faith to believe the Lord and His prophet?
3. How Do I Set Goals (including financial goals)?
Goals are an important part of preparing for the future. Goals are our “yes” in the future so we can say “no” to the current temptations to spend. Without goals, there is no reason to save and prepare for the future, particularly our eternal future.
We shared some important financial goals in relation to paying tithes and offerings, avoiding debt, using a budget, building a reserve, and teaching our children. These are important starting points. But each person must set their own goals and work toward them. Elder M. Russell Ballard said:
I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life (italics added, Preach my Gospel, Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2004, p. 146).
Goals are critical to accomplishing the things we need to accomplish in life. We discussed six important principles of effective goal setting, goal setting where be bring Jesus Christ into our lives to help us with our goal setting and goal achieving process.
Do we have the faith to believe He knows where we are and what we need to do, and will help us accomplish what He needs us to accomplish?
4. Why is Debt Bad?
Debt is bad because it limits our freedom. Debt causes individuals to do things they may not want to do. Debt is an addiction and a form of bondage. President Hinckley counseled:
We are carrying a message of self-reliance throughout the Church. Self-reliance cannot be obtained when there is serious debt hanging over a household. One has neither independence nor freedom from bondage when he is obligated to others. . . I urge you to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage (Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Nov. 1998, 52–54).
A prophet has counseled us to pay off our debt and free ourselves from bondage. Do we have the faith to follow that counsel?
5. How do I Set Up and Use an Annual Budget?
A budget is the single most important tool to help individuals and families achieve their goals. It is a critical part of any plan. There are two parts to a traditional budget, the annual budget and the monthly budget. The first takes a long-term view, and the second, a short-term view. A good friend commented:
The key to most people’s problems in personal finance is that they spend their money too late. They spend their money when they want to instead of spending it when they should. If people will spend their money a year in advance, they will know what their income is, what their needs are, and they can make the necessary changes to their spending to follow the prophets’ counsel to live within their needs and to save for their personal and family goals. (Keith Russell, phone conversation, February 27, 2008)
Preparing an annual budget is spending your money in advance. It is the spiritual creation that precedes the physical creation.
6. How Do I Set Up and Use a Monthly Budget?
The second part of the budget is the monthly budget. President Spencer W. Kimball counseled on budgets:
Every family should have a budget. Why, we would not think of going one day without a budget in this Church or our businesses. We have to know approximately what we may receive, and we certainly must know what we are going to spend. And one of the successes of the Church would have to be that the Brethren watch these things very carefully, and we do not spend that which we do not have. (Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, April 1975, pp. 166-167)
Do we have the faith to believe a prophet, and to have a budget?
7. How Do I Build a Reserve or Emergency Fund?
The First Presidency wrote: “We are concerned that some Church members ignore the oft-repeated direction to prepare and live within a budget, avoid consumer debt, and to save against a time of need (Italics added, First Presidency Letter to the Church, March 27, 2008).
Saving against a time of need is building a reserve, a financial reserve. It is important to have a reserve as there will always be challenges and problems that require money. Having a reserve allows us the freedom to not go into debt, to have peace of mind in a troubled world, and to know we are following God’s counsel. President Gordon B. Hinckley said:
I urge you to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage. This is a part of the temporal gospel in which we believe. If you have paid your debts, if you have a reserve, even though it be small, then should storms howl about our head, you will have shelter and peace in your hearts (Gordon B. Hinckley, “To the Boys and to the Men,” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 52–54).
8. How Do I Teach Family Members Financial Responsibility?
President N. Eldon Tanner shared a verse which he learned many years ago as a child.
I am the child.
You hold in your hand my destiny.
You determine, largely, whether I shall succeed or fail.
Teach me, I pray, those things that make for happiness.
Train me, I beg, that I may be a blessing to the world.
(N. Eldon Tanner, “Teaching Children of God,” Ensign, Oct. 1980, 2).
To a large degree, parents hold in their hands the destiny of their children. The lessons they teach both by precept and example may have eternal consequences for our children.
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin commented:
Too many of our youth get into financial difficulty because they never learned proper principles of financial common sense at home. Teach your children while they are young. Teach them that they cannot have something merely because they want it. Teach them the principles of hard work, frugality, and saving (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Earthly Debts, Heavenly Debts,” Ensign, May 2004, 40).
Summary
We have been counseled many things in regard to finances. There is much we have learned and much we need to do as we work toward being better financial stewards over the blessings Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have blessed us with.
It is critical that we remember the principles of provident living.
Principle 1 - Ownership: Everything we have is the Lord’s
Nothing we have is our own—it is all God’s. There should be no feeling of pride for the things we have, who we are, or who we will become. Rather, these blessings should encourage us to greater obedience to God’s commandments as we realize that all we have and are, are gifts from a generous and loving Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
Principle 2 - Stewardship: We are stewards over all the Lord has shared with us
The things we have and are, are not ours, but we are stewards over them. They are on loan from a loving Father and Son. As wise stewards, it is our responsibility to learn everything we can about our stewardship so that we can manage our stewardship to the best of our abilities. This class has tried to help in that stewardship.
Principle 3 - Accountability: We shall be held accountable for every choice we make
The things we have and are, are gifts from God. How we use these gifts show how much we love Him and His Son. We will be held accountable for our stewardship in this life. We can, through our wise choices, show our Heavenly Father how much we love Him by obeying His commandments and striving to become more like His Son.
In summary, we should remember some key things about our Savior:
The Lord doesn’t ask us to be perfect today,
He only asks us to be a little better today than we were yesterday.
The Lord doesn’t care where we are now in our lives financially,
He only cares that we are moving closer toward Him.