Planning Your Finances

Planning Your Finances

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.

Proverbs 21:5 (NIV)

THE WORD BUDGET frightens some couples who don’t want to feel tied down. The fact is, they are already on one. A budget is simply a plan for handling your money. Some people’s plan is to spend it all the day they get it. Some people’s plan is to spend it all before they get it. Both of these methods can bring stress to a marriage. The question is not, Do you have a budget? The question is, Could you have a better budget?

King Solomon made a wise observation in the above verse. I don’t think he was claiming that wealth is within reach for anyone who makes plans. I do think he was stating a fact of life: If you plan and make deliberate choices, the results will be better than if you simply go with the flow. That’s certainly true of our finances. Planning is part of good stewardship and being wise with our resources.

If you have never put your budget on paper, I don’t suggest that you do that today. Instead, keep records for two months. Record all the money you spend and what you spend it for, all the money you give away, and all the money you save. At the end of two months, you will have your budget on paper—at least, you will have a record of your budget for the past two months. Then you can examine it and ask, “Do we like our budget? If we continue on this plan, where will we be in two years?”

If you find that you don’t like the way you’ve been allocating your money, then together you can change it. A workable budget is a genuine asset to a growing marriage.

Lord Jesus, it’s amazing how money can slip through our fingers if we’re not careful. We want to be better stewards of what you’ve given us. Please grant us the discipline to make and maintain a wise budget.

Money