Fathers and Finance

I love my dad. He is a wonderful example of teaching with kindness. I have always felt that I could talk to my dad about anything and his advice has always meant  a lot to me. My dad has taught me so many different skills and he I feel is the reason I know why its so important to be responsible.

This lesson was a lot more to me than just finance. Because my father has played a huge roll in my life, and I always wanted to marry a man who would be able to play that role in my children’s lives.

I feel like providing for a family can really go beyond just making sure every one is fed, and has a roof over their head. L Tom Perry once said, ” To safeguard this masterpiece, the Lord gave to man the duty and responsibility to be the provider and protector.”

Every child has the need to feel secure. And the place they should feel safe is in the security of their home. Its so unfortunate and breaks my heart when children don’t have that opportunity.

Something that I will always cherish are the moments that my dad would tell me about things that were important to him. Which may seem very broad, but when my dad knew something was important or of value he would share. He would often invite rather than demand, and that made learn a lot on how I learn.

I always knew something must be important when my dad would “strongly encourage” me to do something. Like study the account of the first vision or apply for tons and tons scholarships. And many other things that have and continue to bless my life.

Any way that is my too sense on how important a father is in their child’s life.

And I wanted to shift to finances in the home. Because as a newly wed money kind of terrifies me. I have always been taught that you just should never spend money you don’t have, and you should be watchful about going in to debt. Because debt can get very nasty very fast.

Psychologists routinely state that about 70% of divorces result from financial concerns; attorneys have stated that it is about 80%. I think there is a lot of truth in that statement. Because if you are not careful your finances can rule you instead of you ruling over them. You can worry about where money goes rather then telling it where it needs to be spent.

How can it get so bad for so many people? I just don’t understand how individuals can have tens of thousands in debt. But I know that it doesn’t just happen over night, and both the husband and the wife need to be on board with cutting the debt.

And see isn’t that the key to everything else in a marriage? When it comes to how you want to parent your children you and your spouse need to discuss and determine how you want to parent. Whether it is discipline, or what you are going to feed them. There are things that you just have to do together, and that is 100% including finances.

The Lord has commanded us to become self-sufficient and a husband and wife need to do that together. Because it is important to not only work hard to earn money, but also to learn self- discipline and self- restraint in money matters.  Marvin J Ashton once said, “Money-management skills should be learned together in a spirit of cooperation and love on a continuing basis.”

And that I think is really the key to success, learned together… and in the spirit of cooperation.