Financial Stewardship

 

        To be a good financial steward, you have to look at how you are spending the money that God has given you.  Are you throwing it away on meaningless things?  Are you hording it for all the what-ifs in life?  Are you giving and spending responsibly?  How you spend your money will directly reveal the kind of relationship you have with God.

    Housing is a necessity.  You should be paying for that on time.  This includes the rent, mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, and furnishing of the home.  All together this should not surpass 35% of your net income.  There will be months where maintenance will go well over that percentage.  If you save for that every month, then you are still living within your income.

    Food is something else you can't live without.  This includes groceries, eating out, and necessities that you buy at that grocery store (toilet paper, hygiene products, and similar).  I personally recommend separating your groceries from eating out.  It gives you a more clear picture of your lifestyle.  Food should be 10-12% of your net income.

    Transportation is something that most people can't live without and keep a job.  This includes car payments, gas, oil, maintenance, tolls, parking, licenses, taxes, repairs, buses, or rentals.  Like the house, you need to save for the big items that do not occur every month.  If they do, then you may need to consider a new vehicle.  Transportation should not exceed 13% of your income.

    Something that society pushes on you is insurance.  You should never pay over 5% of your net income for insurance.  This includes health, life, death and disability, dental, or eye. That way you can focus on what you have in front of you instead of the what ifs that may never happen.  The right now focus should be on your debt.  Debt consist of credit card and student loans.  Basically if you are paying someone interest, it is a debt that needs to go.  Mortgage and car payments are different. Once you get out of dept, use 5% of your net income to pay those off.  

    Entertainment and recreation is something you need to budget so that it does not take over.  This includes sporting equipment, camping, day trips, vacations, hobby expenses, events, concerts, and similar things.  Pets technically go into this, but I separate my pets from myself.  You can budget up to 7% of your net income for these things.  

    Clothing should only get 5% of your net income.  That way you can put more into savings.  Your budget should provide 5% of your net income for savings, but you can go higher if you are saving for something important.  Savings is meant for emergencies or planning for something that is coming up.  It is not meant to horde and put God in the back seat to your money.

    Medical includes insurance deductibles, medical bills, glasses, dental work, and prescriptions.  You should budget 4% of your net income for this.  Miscellaneous is everything that does not fit into any of the other categories. This category should get budgeted 5% of your net income.  Education, business, and child care anything where you invest into yourself or your child.  You should allot yourself 5% of your budget for theses items.

    Investments is what you do to prepare for retirement.  This consist of 401K, stocks, bonds, anything that is a long-term investment.  If you start young, then you can retire younger.  If you start today, then you are a step closer to your future goals.  You should invest at least 2-10% of your net income.  That can change things up in your budgeting.  You may have to cut in one or two areas to accomplish this.  

Proverbs 13:10-11, 21:20-21, 22:6-8, Luke 16:1-13, 2 Corinthians 9:6-10, 1 Timothy 6:6-10, & Hebrews 13:5-6