Key Terms

Money: The Good and the Bad

(ChatGPT, 2024)

Money can be viewed as a double-edged sword, capable of both positive and negative impacts depending on how it is acquired, managed, and utilized. 

On the positive side, money serves as a powerful tool for good when used to provide opportunities for personal and family growth, support charitable causes, and foster generosity and sharing within communities. It enables you to pursue your passions, achieve financial security, and contribute to the well-being of others through acts of kindness and philanthropy. Moreover, money can drive innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic progress by funding research, infrastructure projects, and initiatives that benefit society as a whole.

Money also has the potential to breed greed, corruption, and injustice when you prioritize personal gain over the welfare of others. Materialism and consumerism can lead to an unhealthy obsession with wealth and possessions. Money can be used to exploit and manipulate others, perpetuate systems of oppression, and perpetrate crimes such as fraud and theft. Financial struggles can also take a toll on emotional and mental health, leading to stress, anxiety, and feelings of inadequacy. These emotions have the potential to tear apart families and other relationships.

Money is a neutral tool that can be a force for both good and evil in the world. By working to be a good financial steward and encouraging others to do the same, you can harness the positive potential of money while mitigating its negative impacts. It's essential to cultivate a healthy relationship with money.

In this course, you have been introduced to how to become a wise financial steward. We should strive to care for all we have been given. Being good financial stewards can help strengthen our relationships. Improving our communications with spouses, parents, and children in a family council can be a great setting in which we can coordinate our efforts. Always striving to be honest with our money management struggles and getting on the same page with our loved ones can provide the opportunity to progress and improve our behaviors. Striving to become self reliant and including the Savior in our plans will provide the motivation and humility needed to be successful. One of the culminating tools for you to become a better steward is a financial plan, which can provide you with a roadmap detailing how you can achieve your goals. 

A crucial element to a financial plan is creating and sticking to your budget. There are many different ways to adapt your budget to meet your unique needs. Doing your best to create a realistic budget will make it easier to follow. As you continue to track your income and expenses over time, you will develop a clearer understanding of where your money is coming from and where it is going. You will be able to fine tune your budget as you progress making it more impactful. Don’t forget to prioritize the Lord, your own goals, then other matters.

Developing your goals will help you live your full potential in this life. They can provide clarity, motivation, and when measured, accountability. Implementing the SMART goal framework can help your short and long-term goals become more effective. 

You have learned how measuring your assets against your debts to produce your net worth statement can be beneficial in understanding your current financial situation. Following this same pattern to track your net worth overtime can help you understand how you are progressing towards achieving your goals.

We have discussed how an emergency fund can help prevent you from going in to debt when disaster strikes. Determining how much and where to keep your emergency fund is a personal decision that should be adapted to your circumstances. 

Debt can be a force for good or evil depending on how it is used. Be cautious with debt. Ensure you understand the terms and conditions of any money borrowed from any individual or organization. Try to use fixed interest rates where possible as they are much easier to plan for. If you do have debt, the snowball or avalanche payoff methods can help you determine how to best payoff your obligations. 

There are always risks in life and it is up to us on how we decide to manage those risks. We can avoid, reduce, transfer, or accept the various risks we encounter. Insurance can help protect you and your loved ones against possible hardships. With many different insurance possibilities available, you don’t need to find coverage for all aspects of your life, but you should try to find protection in the areas that could be financially devastating. 

You learned how investing can be a powerful way to grow your wealth over time and help you achieve your long-term goals. Investing allows your money to work for you. There are countless ways to invest from simply saving to complex portfolios. Investments work with a risk and reward tradeoff relationship. When investing in the market, you should put effort into determining your tolerance for risk, fees, asset allocation before deciding on how to invest. Remember to keep your behavior in check when the emotional rides of the market make you doubt how you invested. Beware of scams and the red flags that you may encounter.  

Finally, you learned how important it is to think of retirement now no matter your age or financial situation. The power of compound interest cannot be emphazised more. Examine the resources available to you and keep revisiting your plans as changes occur. In the event of your death, make sure you clarify your wishes and make things as easy as possible for your loved ones to follow so your wishes are met.

Continue Your Education

Now that you have this framework in place, it is up to you to continue building your knowledge in these areas as well as others as applicable to your situation. Education is a very powerful tool, especially regarding money management. 

(ChatGPT, 2024)

Education provides you with the necessary knowledge and skills to understand financial concepts like the ones we covered in this course. Having higher financial literacy enables you to make informed decisions about your money. 

Education also fosters critical thinking skills, allowing you to evaluate your financial options, assess risks, and make reasoned decisions. By critically analyzing financial products and services, you can avoid scams and make sound financial choices.

Education plays a fundamental role in empowering you to make better financial decisions so you can live the life you want and serve in God’s kingdom.

Teaching others

(ChatGPT, 2024)

Teaching others can significantly enhance your learning process in various ways. When you teach a concept to someone else, you must organize your thoughts and articulate ideas clearly, reinforcing your understanding of the material. This act of explaining complex topics in simpler terms helps solidify your knowledge. Teaching reveals any knowledge gaps you may have as questions or confusion from students prompt you to revisit and clarify certain topics, deepening your comprehension.

Moreover, teaching requires you to apply theoretical knowledge to real-life situations or examples, fostering a deeper understanding of how concepts work in practice. As you engage in this application of knowledge, you develop stronger connections between theory and application, which aids in retention and recall. Teaching also provides opportunities for feedback and correction, as those you are teaching may point out misconceptions or errors, leading to a process of continuous learning and improvement.

Teaching enhances communication skills. Through teaching, you not only communicate ideas effectively but also gain confidence in your own expertise as you witness others benefiting from your knowledge. Moreover, teaching exposes you to different perspectives as you see the material through the eyes of others. This can offer fresh insights and deepen your understanding of the subject matter. 

Overall, teaching others is a mutually beneficial endeavor that not only helps others learn but also enriches your own learning experience.

Let's say you're teaching a friend about budgeting. As you explain the concept, you realize that you need to break down your own budgeting process step by step to make it understandable for them. This exercise forces you to critically evaluate your own budget, ensuring that it's comprehensive and well-organized.

While teaching, your friend might ask questions or express confusion about certain aspects of budgeting, prompting you to revisit those areas and clarify them further. This process helps you identify any weaknesses or areas of uncertainty in your own budgeting knowledge and practices.

Moreover, as you provide examples and scenarios to illustrate budgeting principles for your friend, you may find yourself reflecting on your own spending habits and financial decisions. This reflection can lead to insights and realizations about where you might be overspending, areas where you could save more effectively, or strategies you could implement to better manage your finances. Through this process, you may encounter new budgeting techniques or approaches that you hadn't previously considered, enriching your own budgeting toolkit.

Overall, teaching someone else about budgeting not only helps reinforce your own understanding of the topic but also provides an opportunity for self-reflection, identification of areas for improvement, and exposure to new ideas and strategies. Through this process, you become more adept at budgeting and more conscientious about managing your own finances effectively.

Include the Savior

(Passey, 2022)

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.”

For better or for worse, almost anywhere you go in the world, people are making decisions with money every day. At times, it can be easy to separate our money from our spirituality as money is a man-made construct allowing us to more easily buy and sell goods and services than historically possible.

While good money management may not feel like a spiritual endeavor, it should definitely be considered one of the “appendages” mentioned by Joseph Smith. One of the fundamental aspects of being a good financial steward is including the Savior in your financial matters. The Savior wants to bless you and help you have joy. Having financial stability and growing your wealth over time are profound ways in which you can find joy.

Does this mean that including the Savior in your financial choices will make you wealthy? Not necessarily, but there is a lot of power in aligning our faith with all aspects of our lives. Whenever we do anything prayerfully and truly aspire to have our desired outcome match heaven’s desired outcome, miracles happen. 

As you continue to expand on the things you have learned throughout this course, you will progress further on your journey to being a good financial steward. You will further equip yourself with the tools necessary to become financially stable and fulfil your potential in this life. Take comfort that your Savior is aware of your situation and is there helping you along the way. 

References

ChatGPT (Version 3). (2024). [AI]. Open AI. https://chat.openai.com/auth/login

Passey, V. (2022). Overwhelmed? Keep Your Focus on Christ. Liahona.