Eric Poulin

Archive for the ‘Official Church Documents’ Category

Not long ago, the church created a short online course called, Peace in Your Hearts: Managing Household Finances Wisely, which is aimed at providing the very basics of personal finance education. If you are just getting started, its a good place to start. For a more detailed online course, check out the course from BYU.

Family Finances

Family Home Storage

Seeing the need for basic education about money, the First Presidency releases the pamphlet “All is Safely Gathered In: Family Finance”.

This pamphlet is released in conjuntion with the pamphlet “Prepare Every Needful Thing: Family Home Storage”.

Following the principles discussed in these pamphlets will protect you from emergency needs. Of note is the repeated advice to budget your money. While most people know they should be doing this, its hard to get on a regiment, but its essential to your financial fitness.

Wise Financial Management During Tough Economic Times

The church continue to emphasize, with increasing frequency, living within our means and using a budget.

Selected Quotes from this article:

Richard W. Ebert Jr., the director of Employment Resource Services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says, “Financial problems are a source of much unhappiness and are certainly a major factor in family and work difficulties. Unresolved, they can lead to crushing debt and divorce.”

1. Avoid debt…
2. Use a budget…
3. Teach family members early the importance of working and earning…
4. Work toward home ownership…
5. Appropriately involve yourself in an insurance program to avoid the significant debts place upon families when they are uninsured.
6. Involve yourself in a food storage and emergency preparedness program…
7. Build a reserve…

One For the Money

This old pamphlet from Marvin J Ashton is classic and still relevant today.

It outlines the basics of using a debt repayment schedule. The recommendation is to pay down the highest interest debt first, then take the money you were paying on that loan and put that money on the next highest interest loan. Keep doing this until all your debts are paid off.

This pamphlet was one of my first introductions to managing finances. The counsel is great, the method is great. I highly recommend it.