"Let Us Avoid Debt...Let Us Get Out of Debt"

In the talk "Prepare Ye" President Benson showed the steps to being prepared. The first two steps were follow the counsel of the prophets and live righteously. The next one was to avoid debt and get out of debt if you are already in it. After that it says to live strictly within our incomes and save our money. I think this video is my favorite way to explain how to avoid debt and live within our incomes:

Yes, it's meant to be funny, but at the same time it teaches a very valuable lesson that many people in this world don't fully understand. Now many people here in Lubbock (us included) are students struggling to pay for living expenses, while at the same time constantly getting more and more into debt with student loans. Some people may be blessed financially, and some may just feel like they got the short end of the financial stick. But what's great about this teaching is that it's applicable to anyone, no matter where they are in life. We are taught to avoid debt, but there are a few exceptions, as told in this talk by Joseph B. Wirthlin:

Some debt—such as for a modest home, expenses for education, perhaps for a needed first car—may be necessary. But never should we enter into financial bondage through consumer debt without carefully weighing the costs. (emphasis added)

On the main "Debt" page of lds.org, we are also taught that "the debt should be repaid as quickly as possible." Sometimes, "as quickly as possible" is a very different amount of time for one person than for someone else. This is perfectly fine as long as we are doing what we can to get out of debt and become financially prepared.

This web page from lds.org is extremely helpful in teaching how to manage finances and live within our means. I won't talk about the whole thing on this blog (it's your job to click on the link and read the whole page yourself), but I will highlight the main topics.

First and foremost to becoming financially stable is to pay an honest tithe and a generous fast offering. An honest tithe is simply 10% of your income, and a fast offering is simply at least the price you would have paid for the two meals you don't eat when you fast.The "generous" part of a fast offering is completely up to the individual.

Next, we need to distinguish between wants and needs. I once heard a talk given in a church meeting that addressed this distinction, and one big message I got from it is if you really work to distinguish between your wants and needs, there are often many "weeds" that are mixtures of wants and needs. If you completely take out the "weeds" in your life, you can find that most of them were really just wants anyway.

The next topic is to use a budget. There are many different ways and philosophies to budget out money, but we'll post about that later.

Next is to build a reserve. Many times this reserve will start out small and grow slowly, but no matter where we are in life, be it wealthy or not, we can start saving a reserve.

Finally, we need to teach family members about financial management. We should inform our spouses or children, or even siblings or parents about the importance of being financially stable. When we obtain this knowledge, it is our responsibility to help our family understand it as well.

I know that many people are in different stages of life, and some reading this blog might be thinking well this is easy for some people to talk about, but I can't afford to live like that. My question to you is how can you afford to not live like this? There are so many blessings from doing what the prophet asks us to do, including more blessings than we can even handle (Malachi 3:10). These are not just my opinions, but the teachings of the leaders of our Church. As we discussed earlier, the first step to being prepared is to follow the counsel of our prophets. I know that even if you have to start small and it's a very slow process, as long as you are striving to live the teachings of the prophets you will be blessed for it in ways you may not even be able to imagine. I have seen the blessings in my own life, and I know you can too.



Do any of you have any experiences where following the financial advice of the prophets has brought blessings to you or your family?