Today’s Blog: Before and After the Mistakes

TODAY’S PROVERB: The rich rule over the poor, the borrower is a slave to the lender. Proverbs 22:7, TLV

Here’s another proverb I truly wish I had known when I was young. Don’t borrow money. Nearly every financial mistake my husband and I made, began with borrowing money. The first mishap was with buying car. Remember my blog about co-signing? (Proverbs 6:1-5) What a mess! And, bottom line, had we not borrowed to buy that vehicle, the other fiascoes would be been avoided.

The Baby Boomer generation abused credit cards, loans, and mortgages, but future generations don’t have to, if we teach them. We don’t want our children to be “slaves” to the rich — i.e., banks. For many of us, they definitely rule over us.

Parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, teachers, mentors, clergy, you can all help future generations by not only telling them about sound financial advice, but model it for them.

Young parents, are you still paying for college loans? That’s a great place to begin. Pray about if/how you will put funds aside for your child. There are various formulas for determining what the costs might be. Here’s one that is helpful apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/college_cost.jsp . The numbers are scary, actually. However, knowing is crucial to planning for the future. Just as a reminder, it used to be that kids worked their way through school.

Grandparents and other mentors, you too can help model financial wisdom. Just be sure to discuss with Johnny and Susie’s parents what is being taught at home to be sure you don’t conflict with them. Same applies for gifts.

Young people . . .

If you are reading this blog, bless your heart. Most likely some adult loves you enough to point your nose in the direction of this website. I pray you take note. Learn from our mistakes, as well as those wise decisions we’ve made.

Begin by reading a chapter of Proverbs each day. Every day — as best you can — until you are perfectly wise. When is that? Ask your parents.

Next, if you are earning money — babysitting, cutting lawns, flipping burgers, etc. — learn how to manage those precious dollars. Tithe. Tithing is 10% of your gross income — that’s the money you have before the government takes their share. Whatever is left over, put some in savings. The rest, figure out with your parents and read Proverbs (yes, I know I said that already) because it has hints to help you be successful in this world. It was written by one of the richest men in the world. Really.

If I had a time-machine, I would go back to when I was twelve or thirteen, when I began making money babysitting. I would tell young Terri, “Don’t be an idiot like I was. Tithe. Save. Budget. Don’t buy it if you don’t have the money. You’ll thank me. Actually, future me will thank you!” And one more thing, “Wear your glasses. I don’t care if they look stupid.”

I hope my efforts to lighten this serious topic with a bit of humor hasn’t diluted its importance. While I am grateful to our Heavenly Father for helping hubby and I work through our mistakes, we could have spent our efforts and resources in much better places — for His Kingdom.

May we learn without the mistakes and model wisdom for the next generation, my friends.

Proverbs 22:7 Tree of Life Version – TLV, #tlvbible, #tlvproverbs

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