Family Finances

In Elder Marvin J. Ashton's talk "One for the Money" he shares how we can better manage our finances. In class we talked a lot about paying our tithing first, how it effects the family, and what we are teaching our children as we do so. Some of the thoughts that were brought up really got me thinking more about how important it is to teach our children, through example, how important it is to put God first not only in financial matters, but in all that we do.

Tithing teaches children as well as their parents:

• to delay impulses/ gratification
• commitment to the Lord
• family unity & sacrifice 
• to put God first - doing so brings Him into our family relationship and redefining the family unit
• it also teaches financial planning

We also talked about budgeting and how important it is for a husband and wife to sit down together to decide what is important, determine wants vs. needs (food, bills, housing, dates), and to decide what and how much they will share with their children concerning the families finances.
One question that Brother Williams brought up in class was: "Are we teaching principles that are going to be helpful in the real world?" We determined that we should be open and honest with our children, that children should not be confused about the families financial situation, and to let them know where the money is going.
We should teach our children in a manner that is useful to them. We should help them learn how to budget their money, how to save their money for important things, and especially to pay their tithing first.
We should let our children be apart of family financial decisions, such as where to go on vacation, and the amount of money they should receive for doing chores and other things.