Week 11: Measuring the Cost

A talk by Stephen Gibson titled "Attitude on Money" caught my attention this week. One of the things that he discussed was whether money was an evil thing. I think that many of us are raised to think that money itself is evil, however Stephen Gibson points out that money itself is neither good nor evil. It is what is done with it that makes a difference. You could make the same point with rockets. Are they used to destroy cities, or are they used to explore space? Are guns evil? The gun itself is not, but evil people may use it for evil purposes. Same with cars. Most cars to accomplish work, however some people have used cars as weapons to cars harm. What about social media? The internet? There are many examples. The point is that money itself is not evil. It is a tool that can be used for good or for ill. Money is extremely powerful. Money management is something that kids need to be taught.

In our family, each of my children have 3 jars. One for spending, one for savings, and one for tithing. My kids get an allowance. Each week they place 10% in their tithing jar. They put 50% of the remaining money in spending and 50% in their savings jar. The lesson that my wife and I are trying to reinforce is that a portion of every paycheck should be made to work for you. This is a principle I learned from The Richest Man in Babylon. I'd like the children to understand that a portion of their income should be placed in their long term savings. I'd like them to develop the habit. Hopefully it will be ingrained from a young age, and they'l; reap the rewards later in life.

One of the 6 rules of money that Stephen Gibson pointed out was "Think about money and plan how you can become self reliant". I love the idea of retirement planning and setting and achieving financial goals. I believe that the earlier in life one makes and commits to a specific and well thought out plan, the more likely they'll reach a point where they can comfortably retire. All the while maintaining an emergency fund for unexpected expenses along the way.