My Father and Finances

Partial Quote from Romans 13 (Amplified Bible) - "Render to all men their dues. Pay taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, and honor to whom honor is due. Keep out of debt and owe no man anything..."

"I haven't paid a dime in interest for years".
~ My Father, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, July 2008

Mom and Dad spent their entire life living toward the goal of financial independence. Unlike me and my two brothers, they are in debt to no one, and plan to stay that way until they depart this world. But they're not filthy rich, by any stretch of the imagination. They wear clothes that are always clean, but have long-ago lost their "new look". They eat simple meals, spend their days in simple yet fulfilling activities, turn the lights out in each room as they leave it, etc. Yet they owe no one anything. Here are a few more facts:

- Their house? They paid for it with the money they'd saved from the sale of their previous home (Home Equity. This phrase doesn't have to be followed by the word "loan").
- Their massive RV? Cash as well.
- The Honda CR-V, their daily driver? They paid cash, and drove it off the lot.
- Credit cards? They have ONE, and it's setup to immediately pay any outstanding balance at the end of each month. They never even have to open the bill.
- Plane flights, vacation trips, gifts, doctor visits, surgeries, prescriptions? Everything, paid with CASH they've accumulated through the course of their lives.

THAT'S where I want to be. But their state wasn't achieved by some windfall or influx of cash. My dad was an engineer, my mother only worked when it was needed. No, their financial position was achieved through decades of careful living, choosing the less expensive cuts of meat, buying generics instead of name brands, planning less extravagant (and therefore less expensive) vacations, making their food, their vehicles, their clothes last a little longer than perhaps they would have liked (I ate a LOT of spaghetti and meatloaf as a kid). And along with their careful spending, they were also saving a little each and every paycheck throughout their employed years, and slowly building their 'nest egg' until - through the miracle of compound interest - their money began to make money by itself. And now that my parents are older, they've learned how to manage their lives, and even though they may be able to AFFORD anything they want, their 'wants' are few. They're living in the manner Paul specified in his letter to the Christians in Rome, and they are a tremendous positive example to me. Is it too late for me to change my life of wasteful living? In a recent phone conversation, my father encouraged me, and said "Just get started".

I heard you, Dad. For real.

3 John 1:2 (New King James Version) - Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

The original Greek word translated into the Englist word "prosper" in this scripture, connotates a journey, a process, a movement along. I want to move in my prosperity. Thank you Lord for allowing me to hear this lesson from my parents, and heed it's value in my own life.

I love you all, and I'll leave you with a few words from a song I heard this morning from Destiny Praise. "Are you in bondage to the status of nice things? Addicted to the attention and the compliments they bring. Feeling the weight of growing debt with each bill. That's not His Will"

God Bless!

© 2008 Scotty Ward