considerable grace

A great read over at Seth’s blog:

Consumer Debt is Not Your Friend

(HT: Challies)

Sophie and I had a great discussion this morning about usury because the topic came up in our Proverbs reading.

(By the way—have I mentioned to you how helpful it is to memorize the “seven deadly sins” with your kids?

"There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers." Proverbs 6:16-19

Sophie has brought those up to me so many times as we’ve gone throughout our normal days. You can really process a lot of temptations and sins through the grid of the “seven deadlies.”)

But back to money ...

As we talked about what “interest” is, I of course told her again about my foolish/sinful choices as a teenager/college student and how I got into real trouble re: debt. ($73,000 of real trouble.) I also talked about how Scriptural passages just like this one helped me to repent and change my ways and get out of consumer debt. And I shared how a dear friend of mine loaned me money at no interest so that I could pay off my credit cards entirely.

(Boy did I have her attention! There’s just nothing like an object lesson related to Momma Messing Up to drive a point home.)

I was thinking about all of this as I popped online this afternoon (while Ella snoozes into my chest—mmmmmmmmmm!) and I read this link from TakeYourVitaminZ:

The Get Rich Slowly Philosophy

Lots of good points there. And of course Crown Financial has helped lots of people too.

Mostly, I guess I just wanted to encourage those of you who may be facing huge financial challenges right now—that there is hope; slow and steady really is the way to go; and don’t forget that the church is here to help too!

Oh, and I thought that doing a blog post might remind me to watch my spending! And be careful, too. It sure is easy to get lazy when it comes to discipline in all areas of life, isn’t it? (Financial, health goals, spiritual disciplines, etc. etc.)

May God help us to be wise—

Yours,
Tara B.

PS
My morning was one of repentance (hooray!) and choosing some actions that were loving (even though I felt anything but). And guess what? Maybe just a little ... but my heart is FEELING more loving too. Just a little.

Here are my notes for today’s “(Actually!) Setting Your House in Order” Sunday School class. We’re tackling the topic of BASIC ESTATE PLANNING:


INTRODUCTION

1. Disclaimers/Goals:

a. It’s been a long time since Tara has practiced law as an estate planning attorney—and even when she was actively licensed: a) it was in Illinois, not Montana; and b) she practiced in a highly specialized area of the law (high net worth/charitable estate planning), not general practice. Therefore …

b. This Sunday School Class is NOT going to provide you with any specific legal advice. Either you will research, prepare, and execute your documentation yourselves (without legal counsel) or you will need to hire an attorney to assist you.

c. That being said, we really hope that these classes on basic estate planning will help you, encourage you, and that by the end of the class semester, those of you who want and need basic estate planning documentation will have what you need to get started and/or make some serious progress on your estate plan.

2.Other Resources:

a. We continue to recommend that each one of you get to know Crown Financial Ministries to help you with all of the financial issues we are covering in this class. In particular, we recommend the workbook, Set Your House in Order, to help you to organize your finances and plan your estate.

b. There is also a plethora of helpful, basic estate planning books available at the library and through any bookseller. If you want to go deeper into these topics, pick one up! The basics are really not that difficult to understand.

c. In addition, just to get us started on these topics, I’ve copied off a bunch of documentation off of the internet that is free / in the public domain and I will be sharing those documents with you in these classes. Please bring this “estate planning packet” back with you to all of our classes on estate planning! I will not have extra copies of documents available at future classes.

3. Biblical Principles: As we progress through these estate planning classes, please brings up questions and ideas related to how biblical principles apply to these topics. We surely do not have all of the answers for you! But in line with our corporate goal of glorifying God in all we do, we truly hope that this class will be a safe environment to consider such things. We’ll get us started along these lines with:

Handout #1: Estate Planning Principles / God’s Perspective on Inheritance

STEPS TO CONSIDER RE: ESTATE PLANNING

1. Consider what basic estate planning is and why estate planning might be important so that you can prayerfully come to your own convictions re: what your goals and intentions are.

Handout #2: Basic Estate Planning Fact Series—Introduction

“Estate planning objectives include arranging for the well-being of your loved ones and yourself while you are living and after your death.” This includes both personal relationships and financial considerations.

Pages 9, 10, 11 help you (and your spouse if you are married) to discuss your goals re: estate planning.

(NOTE: Many of the documents I have copied for you are Ohio State University Fact Sheets so they do not provide state-specific information for Montana.)

2. Understand the “Big Picture” of the four basic estate planning documents (and consider a fifth—The Letter of Instruction):

Handout #3: Basic Estate Planning Documents

3. Think/talk through the common steps to creating an estate plan:

Handout #4: Estate Planning in Montana: Getting Started

- Steps in Estate Planning
- (Page 3) What My Attorney Should Know

4. Take time in the next three weeks to make your estate planning a priority. Read some of the supporting documentation I’ve provided for you—or other resources that you find/purchase. Come back to class with your questions so that we can help you to get ready to either do your own documentation or meet with an attorney.

Handout #5: Why Have a Will?

Handout #6: Why Should I Assign Power of Attorney / Living Wills and Health-Care Proxies / What is a Fiduciary / Who Can Serve as Fiduciaries / How to Choose a Personal Representative / Choosing a Health Care Agent for Your Advance Medical Directive

Handout #7: Letter of Instruction

Handout #8: How to Calculate the Value of Your Gross Estate

Handout #9: (Pages 8 & 9 have a great two-page brief case study/example of the Estate Tax)

Handout #10: Does a Trust Make Sense / Trusts

TARA’S CLOSING THOUGHTS

1. Understand the big picture / basic documents

2. If you have MINOR CHILDREN—don’t delay! (You don’t want the courts deciding this issue. This is especially important if your family members do not share your worldview/convictions.)

3. Know your gross estate value closely enough to determine if you have tax issues and if you do, ALWAYS hire an attorney.

4. Even if you don’t THINK you have “money issues”—consider HOW you are distributing TAX-DEFERRED ASSETS especially if you have charitable intents.

5. It is a MUCH higher likelihood that you or your spouse will become incapacitated. Be sure to plan for DISABILITY (insurance / powers of attorney).

6. This is why your FIDUCIARIES are SO important. Don’t just pick your “oldest son/child”. Read the documentation I’ve given you and THINK/PRAY about it.

7. No matter WHAT—you’ve GOT to start talking about this stuff. With your spouse. With your CHILDREN. With your HEIRS / potential guardians / powers of attorney. It’s awkward, yes, but you have to do it.

8. Don’t be taken in by the “TRUSTS FIX EVERYTHING” advertisements. Read the documentation I’ve provided you and be wise.

9. Regularly REVIEW and UPDATE your estate plan.

Fred and I are beginning to work hard to (try to) pull it together and teach well our Sunday school class: (Actually!) Getting Your House in Order.

This is the description that’s been running in our church’s bulletin:

"(Actually!) Setting Your House in Order: Deacon Fred Barthel and his wife Tara will lead this class to help all RMCC families (including singles!) to “set their houses in order” regarding financial stewardship, budgets, credit card debt, life insurance, estate planning, tithing, student loans, and any other related topics that come up during the course of the semester. Participants will not only learn about these topics, they will be encouraged and helped to implement changes—all for God’s glory and the further joy and ministry effectiveness of each family. Have you been thinking about getting on a budget for years? Stressed over the wills that you know you should have—but don’t? Would encouragement, accountability, and practical help be a blessing to you? If so, then please come to “(Actually!) Setting Your House in Order”. Any questions? Please contact Fred or Tara ..."

I’m really glad to be doing this for our OWN sake (it’s always good to be reminded of these truths and “tighten up” a bit re: administrative/financial aspects of home management. Plus, I really hope we can be a true blessing to anyone who participates.

One book I read this week on this topic is Your Money Counts (by Howard Dayton).

I liked it quite a lot–especially for a basic introduction. It’s substantive without being scary–which, when it comes to money issues, is a great balance to hit.

If you’re just starting to feel convicted about all of this stuff and would like a very readable introduction to the topic, I recommend Your Money Counts.

Hope your Thursday is going well!

With joy,
Tara B.