Seminar: Train Children 1/4
Q&A: Training Children
Dave Ramsey: “Baby Steps”
Clark Howard: Money Goals
John Maxwell: “Leadership Game Changer
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Financial Freedom God’s Way, where you will learn, apply, and even begin to pass on, Bible-based financial principles and applications so that you and your family will not only just survive, but thrive even during these very uncertain times.
Hi and welcome, this is Bob Louder from Christian Financial Ministries, and it is an absolute honor to have you with us—it really is. What is on the schedule for our 30-minute time together today?
Today,
- During our Radio Seminar this week and for the next three weeks, you are going to focus on how to effectively teach and train the children in your life, ages 5 to 15, Bible-based financial principles and applications.
- Then, we will move right into some great questions parents have about helping their children learn and apply what the Bible has to say about finances.
- Dave Ramsey will talk with you about his “Baby Steps” to Financial Freedom.
- Our consumer advocate Clark Howard will help you stay motivated so you can accomplish your money goals in 2024.
- And finally, John Maxwell will give us a “game changer” leadership lesson.
So stay tuned, won’t you? It is going to be a great time together with the Lord, so join me as we open with a word of prayer. Father, thank You for meeting with us again today. Please give us ears to hear all that it is you have planned for us, to Your glory, in Jesus’ mighty name, amen.
BODY
I have a short question for you: How do you define stewardship? Is it A, giving money to the church, B, being careful with your finances, or C, recognizing that God gives you everything you have and all that you are, therefore you should use all your resources to His glory. My friend, the time has come for our children to know that the answer to that question is “C”. All that I have and who I am belongs to God to be used for His glory. After all, the Bible tells us to “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it.” Have you been longing for help to be better able to teach Bible-based financial principles and applications to the children in your life? If so, what can you do? I’m going to suggest three things, three different things you can do to be able to get ready and start out to share God’s financial principles with your children.
First, you need to understand the current situation of most children in our area today. For example,
- Half of their parents will divorce. Remember, more than half of all marriages end in divorce. Therefore, better than half the time, children will be the products of broken homes.
- The second condition is that 80% of their parents are in debt. This is to say that on a month-by-month basis, most parents have a hard time paying their bills. This normally leads to both parents working and therefore leaves their children to be raised by other family members or day-care centers.
- Condition number three: Most parents today get into financial difficulties because they are untrained in some of the basic life-living principles.
- This leads to the fourth condition: All parents instruct by example, whether good or bad. If parents lack discipline, their children will likely lack discipline. If parents tend to overspend, so will their children. If parents abuse their children, their children will tend to follow this same example. Children tend to become what their parents already are.
So, the first thing you need to know before you start to train your children is that many negative financial and social conditions impact the children in your life.
Then, the second thing you can do to effectively train children to discover Financial Freedom God’s Way is to prayerfully set some goals for your children.
- Now, the most important goal I have for my children is for them to learn to trust God in all areas of their lives, including their finances.
- However, when it comes to trusting God with the financial areas of their lives, some of our children learn far easier and faster than we did.
- Now, if I want my children to learn to trust God financially, I must give them the chance to succeed and to fail financially. First and foremost, this means I must learn to discipline myself not to always buffer them from all that is going on around them. According to Dr. Dobson, one of the problems we have today is a generation of parents where their parents bailed them out of every problem they ever had. So many of today’s parents are trained by example to buffer their children from all their problems. We need to remember one of the principles we talked about earlier: As God is to us as parents, so also should we be to our children. God disciplines us and we should discipline our children. God allows us to make choices and learn from the consequences. We need to responsibly do the same for our children. To me, this means we need to create situations in which our children learn to trust God financially.
So, what can you do to help build Bible-based financial principles and applications into the lives of your children?
- First, understand all the negative influences and conditions that bombard their lives.
- Second, prayerfully set some goals.
- Number three …is to ask for some help to learn how to best teach and train your children.
Q&As
And that’s what lots of folks are doing—asking questions. Here are some examples.
First Question: Rev Louder. My teenagers are starting to receive credit card offers. I’m concerned that they will get trapped by easy credit. HELP, what can I do? Pat, that’s a great question and you have good reason to be concerned. Youth today, particularly college students, are one of the major targets for credit card companies. What can you do? I suggest you teach your older children (16 and older) how to handle credit cards by letting them have and use ONE card of their own (a regular credit card or a pre-paid credit card) while they are still at home and under your supervision. I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with credit cards. Data shows that it’s the way the cards are used that causes the problems. Now, what do I mean by “supervision”? Set firm rules and stick to them. For example: (1) Require your teens to have and use (and have your constantly review) monthly budgets. (2) Don’t let them charge anything that’s not on their budget. (3) ENSURE that they pay their credit card bill in full each month. (4) The FIRST month they can’t/don’t pay off their card bill in full, destroy the card, cancel the account, and don’t allow them to get another. (5) Let your teens know that these are the same rules you follow and why. It’s important to explain (no debate) these rules in advance. Then, stick to the rules. You will be helping your teens form habits that will serve them well when they are no longer under your roof or your authority. Remember Proverbs 22:6–“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Like Larry Burkett used to say, “Establish fair rules, enforce them consistently, and be firm”. Again, thanks Pat—great question.
Jenifer has another question for us. Here is the Question. Dr. Louder. My husband and I are middle-class parents. We have a nice income, no debts, and money in the bank…praise the Lord! Here’s our question: How much should our children know about our finances? We are concerned we might create the false impression that we are rich. Jenifer, this is truly a matter of personal opinion. I believe it’s best, to be honest with your children… age-appropriately honest–probably best in their teen years. If you are earning, giving, saving, and spending according to God’s plan for your life (which appears to be the case) then why not show them your plan and help them develop and start to live on plans of their own? Help them develop positive expectations of what can happen if they learn and apply biblical financial wisdom. Honestly, wisdom is a blessing at any age. As it says in Proverbs 16:16, How much better to get wisdom than gold.
Our final question for today comes from Frank…he asks Should I give my child an allowance? Love it—short and sweet. How would you respond? Have you worked the allowance program in your family? How did it work out? Well, Frank, recall that Proverbs 3:12 says, “…because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” I’ve found it’s not wise to teach your children to expect allowances. A better way is to teach them to work and earn money. The term “allowance” implies something is given rather than earned. If God doesn’t provide us with an allowance, and he doesn’t, then we probably shouldn’t provide allowances to our children. However, if you have a child who demonstrates discipline in handling money and you want to give him or her a gift from time to time, that seems to be just fine. The key is to be certain that you’re establishing long-term values in your children that will guide them when they are adults.
Dave Ramsey
Now, as you may recall, it has been my great honor and privilege to be a Dave Ramsey certified financial coach for a whole lot of years. One of the key financial teachings I learned and applied from Dave and have been passing along to others over the years has to do with his Financial Baby Steps to financial freedom. Given all that we talking about today, well, today just might be a great day to learn about Dave’s Baby Steps directly from Dave, let’s take a listen.
Wow, what a great teaching from Dave Ramsey. Remember, according to Dave, the shortest distance from where you are now financially, to where the Lord would have you to be financially, can be measured by Dave’s seven Baby Steps. How can you put all of this into practice? Why not buy Dave’s book titled, The Total Money Makeover, or even better, talk with your church about hosting Dave’s Financial Peace University?
Great word, thanks, Dave.
Clark Howard
My friend, a recent study from Fidelity Investments discovered that 72% of Americans are confident their finances will improve in 2024. It also reports that 68% say they are still working to achieve their top three New Year’s financial resolutions for 2024 which are saving more money, paying down debt, and spending less money.
On the other hand, a good number of us have let our New Year’s Resolutions, particularly the financial ones, begin to slide by or even ignore them completely.
So, let’s take just a minute to relook at our 2024 financial resolutions. What can you do? Here are some tips from our consumer advocate Clark Howard to help you stay motivated so you can accomplish your money goals in 2024:
Tip #1: Start Small
Choosing a goal like “Max Out a Retirement Account” is ambitious and it may take the full year to complete. Other goals like “Check Your Credit Report” are free and can be done in one afternoon. One small win could be just the motivation you need to tackle a big goal this year. So, tip #1, start small.
Number 2: Post Your Goals Where You Can See Them
Writing down your goals is a great way to visualize what you want to accomplish. For example, use a piece of paper to list your resolutions. Then put the list on your refrigerator, or place a post-it note on your car’s dashboard.
So, start small, write them down, and then Tip #3: Check Your Progress Regularly
A lot can happen between January 1 and December 31, so it’s important to track your progress. A simple way is to set aside time, once a month or maybe once a quarter, to analyze your current situation and, if needed, make changes that will help you achieve your goals.
Tip #4 talk about your resolutions with your friends and your family.
I know you already know that a good support system can rally behind you and inspire you when you’re feeling discouraged. Enlisting your family to participate in a money-saving challenge or joining a community on social media can help you stay motivated to achieve your resolution.
So, four tips to help you pick back up on your 2024 financial resolutions: #1, start small, #2, write them down and post them where you can see them; #3, review your progress regularly. And tip #4 talk about your resolutions with your friends and your family.
Finally, I would add to what Clark has to say by reminding you to make the whole New Year resolution restart process a matter of prayer—bathe your resolutions and goals in prayer throughout the rest of 2024.
Minute with Maxwell
Now, let’s start to wrap up our time together today with one of the highlights of all of our times together. Let’s spend a Minute with Maxwell and John Maxwell gives us his thoughts on being teachable, on being coachable.
Wow, what a great teaching. What I hear John saying is that If you want to see growth in your life and in the lives of those around you (including your children, by the way) if you want to see growth you have to be willing to make a change. To make that change you need to be willing to take action – how far will you jump to get started? You can make that decision! Don’t just make it, take it with action.
CONCLUSION
Well, there you have it. Another 30-minute program is in the books. Thank you for being with us today. Now, well now it is time to close out in prayer. Father God, I thank you for bringing us together today and for each of the days to come to Your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Have a blessed day, won’t you, we’ll see you next time as we continue down your personal road to Financial Freedom God’s Way.
