This Learning Packet is called “Managing Our Money Well”.  The word “well” is  a critical addition at the end of that phrase,  because that means we  are prospering and building so that money is blessing our lives. This is not a grit-our-teeth-experience to endure through until we die. There is a better way to live! Struggling with money can be such a burden and stress in a family. Winning with money is another way we can have peaceful, contented parenting–limiting our stress by knowing how to manage our money well. Having a savings plan and keeping track of our money gives us margin. It keeps us from being stressed out all the time.  The secret is not being reactive, but being proactive. Learning foundational money principles is one of the strongest ways we can provide an easy flowing river of abundance and prosperity into our family. Look how important fundamental principles are in the following story:

Orville and Wilbur Wright started experimenting with building a flying machine in the late 1890’s. They were the first to understand that an airplane was not one big invention but a number of small mechanisms  that all had to work together to get in the air, and stay in the air. What the Wrights did was to not only imagine  but actually  construct a flying machine that they could operate and keep in control  while they were flying. That accomplishment changed the world forever.

Without exception every airplane since has had the Wrights ingenious smaller inventions: features  to roll the wings left or right, pitch the nose up or down, and yaw the nose from side to side. These three smaller mechanisms — roll, pitch, and yaw — allow the person maneuvering the airplane to control the plane in three ways, side to side, up or down, or control a spiral  and right the plane again. The entire aviation industry is founded on the Wright Brothers’ experimentation and successful use of propulsion, which is the action of moving forward, how to control the plane, and  how to best build the flying structure for  aerodynamic success. 

These principles that the Wright Brothers tested over years and years of experimentation are fixed. Other people could get a plane in the air but it wouldn’t stay, and it couldn’t  be controlled.

Likewise, with managing our money there are foundational principles that have stood the test of time. There is so much information to be found, but I have found these nine  money principles to be a very solid foundation. With a determination and focus  on these principles, money will start being a blessing in our lives, rather than a curse. I feel so passionate about this because I had to make the hard transition from being completely clueless to taking charge of our money.

1. Wake up and take responsibility for ourselves with our money. 
2. Educate ourselves with sound financial principles.
3. Avoid debt.
4. Save more than we spend.
5. Have a large emergency fund.
6. Look to leverage what we make.
7. Pay tithes and offerings.
8. Budget for the rest of our lives
9. FIRE-Financial Independence Retire Early

I will be posting in the next weeks about these nine principles. These principles are something we can also be teaching our children at the same time, so they will do better with this Learning Packet of “Managing Our Money Well.” Dave Ramsey said, “You must learn to control your money or the lack of it will forever control you.”