Marriage, Divorce and Money

It is estimated that 90% of all divorces are a direct or indirect result of money -husbands and wives and families financially destroyed by debt - is always devastating. Many even end up tragically.

When we experience problems like those, we try to patch them over with something that can ease our pain quickly, rather than trust in Him and rely on His provision. But that only feeds the root problem. It never solves anything.

Here are some tips:

1. Compounding works against you. Compounding can enlarge your investment amazingly over time. But the same principle can work against you - when you're the one who must pay the growing interest. Money and possessions are a very effective tool that He uses to grow us up. Therefore, we shouldn’t ask, ‘God, why are You doing this to me?’ but ‘God, what do You want me to learn?’

Three Financial Planning Principles
a. There are no independent financial decisions.
b. The more long-range the perspective the better the decisions today.
c. Financial decisions made today have lifetime implications.

2. Getting in debt is easier than getting out. If you're overspending by $1,000 a year, then you must not only stop overspending, but also start paying it back with interest. That's difficult. But it can be done, little by little over a long time. Avoiding the use of debt is incredibly difficult because the promotion of credit card use has made credit so easy to obtain and the temptation to use credit or debt so overwhelmingly difficult to resist. Credit card companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to entice each of us to spend and to use credit with cards that make spending "easier", and those amounts are a pittance when compared to additional advertising dollars of retailers.

3. Debt mortgages the future. Because of the interest payments you must make, you are sentencing yourself to a lower standard of living in the future. Jobs are not nearly as secure today as they were in the past. Inflation is certainly not a sure thing, and fixed low interest rates may very well be a thing of the past.

The psychological burden of home mortgage debt is more severe than most people think, especially if a woman whose center of influence and security is in her home is involved. Studies have shown that having mortgage debt is a stressful factor and that degree of stress relates to the amount of the mortgage.

4. Debt robs you of the freedom of choice. You have an obligation to repay - it becomes your number one financial priority.

Rather than using debt to solve our problems - and finding ourselves in greater jeopardy than before - He invites us to place ourselves in His hands. The only absolute way to avoid the use of debt, in the first place, is to have a financial plan prepared at the beginning of each year that does not allow for the use of debt, and that you will stick to through self-discipline.

The Bible does show many ways to overcome any financial crisis. Many of these principles are laid out in our successful course, the Scriptural Financial Freedom series. To learn more, you can download the Small Groups kit from our estore.

Action Item:

Take a financial physical checkup. Establish a finish line. Plan how to get from here to there.

Bottom Line

Debt - a symptom of much deeper problems - keeps us from experiencing His best for us and our families.

Calculate your mortgage, credit card repayment, loan interest as well as your compounding interest and more with our 25 calculators!

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