Do You Have Financial Peace?

"The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Proverbs 22:7

Numerous scriptures speak about money, debt, investment, lending, budgeting and contentment. Over half of Jesus' 39 parables used money or work as a teaching tool. If you were to ask yourself whether you have financial peace many of us would say no. I have gone through the majority of my adult life not understanding many basic principles of money. Police officers can have particular problems with this area.

While wanting the next new car or boat is not isolated to just the law enforcement profession, low wages combined with the seemingly easy access to extra duty or "part-time" jobs can easily create mountains of debt and problems. I've seen it happen too many times to count. An officer wants the new car so they just get a four hour a week security job to make the payment. Next comes a bigger house or private school or their spouse wants to quit work. Before the officer knows it, they are working 7 days a week just to pay the bills. A veteran officer once told me to never "rely on extra job money." That is great advice but rarely adhered to.

Two years ago I went to a seminar hosted by Dave Ramsey. He is a Christian based financial advisor that really made a lot of sense. He has written a great book on the subject of money, Financial Peace, and has his own radio and television show. More importantly, his 13 week course is offered in churches across the country. I have facilitated this course twice and I highly recommend it. You can locate a class near you by typing your zip code here.