Post # 113 – Personal Finance for Self-Reliance # 9 -- Managing Financial Crises

Dear Family and Friends

I almost forgot that I had not finished sharing the lessons I had in my Self-Reliance group. Even though the group has ended I still want to share the other lessons with you so that you will have them as well. Being able to manage your finances do that you can become self-reliant in this area is very crucial to becoming completely self-reliant. So here we go with class – or – lesson # 9, are you guys all ready? Got your thinking caps on and ready to work them out😊

 This Lesson # 9 -- is on Managing Financial Crises, of course if you have never had one of these – good for you, but you really should be prepared for when they will surely come. We just recently had to replace our hot water heater, which in itself isn’t too bad cost wise – but ours sprang a leak because its seam busted☹ we had water all over the basement. Sadly, it involved a couple of the walls and one room and hallway’s carpet – it was a mess. Luckily my kids and I were a bit prepared and it wasn’t too bad for us.

 Though my son-in-law did have to fight with the company the insurance recommended – they did a very poor job and tried to charge us for things that they did not do at all☹ you need to be really careful about choosing a company – even if they are recommended by your insurance company. It took several trips to the place of business and many phone calls to get it all sorted out. And we still have yet to get the carpet and the walls taken care of☹ we are just making do with it the way it is until we can afford to get it done right.

As always, we began out group by reporting on our last week’s commitments and just how we did with completing them. I think I did fairly well with most of them this week.

LAST WEEK’S COMMITMENTS we were to:

Ⓐ Practice and share last week’s My Foundation principle, which was: Take Responsibility and Persevere   

Ⓑ Create a plan to begin eliminating our debt.    I have a plan for a few months, it is a work in progress😊

Ⓒ Discuss our debt elimination plan during family council. There is just me. My kids have their own budgeting system. So I have not done very well with this one

Ⓓ Contact and support our action partner (and/or our spouse, roommate(s), housemates, mentor, or friend(s)).

We then shared whatever challenges we may have had with keeping our commitments during the last week. We were asked to ponder ways that we could continue to improve as we practiced forming these important habits. The following will be what we will be working on during this upcoming week:

Ⓐ Practice and share the My Foundation principle: Communication: Petition and Listen

Financial Principles and Skills- 1. Learn to manage financial crises. 2. Increase your emergency preparations.

Ⓑ Plan and Manage My Finances

Ⓒ Hold a Family Council

Ⓓ Contact and Support My Action Partner

 

This next list are the topics we have already covered in our group:

Week 1 -- Self-reliance is a principle of salvation ●Track expenses ●Counsel with the Lord ●  

Week 2 -- Exercise faith in Jesus Christ ●Track expenses ●Counsel about income and expenses ●

Week 3 -- Repent and be obedient ●Track expenses ●Counsel about tithes and offerings ●

Week 4 -- Live a balanced life ● Build a budget ● Counsel about budgeting ● ●

Week 5 -- Solve problems ● Choose a budgeting system ● Counsel about budgeting ● ●  

Week 6 -- Use time wisely ● Put money toward financial priority ● Counsel about emergency fund, insurance ●

Week 7 -- Show integrity ● Put money toward financial priority ● Counsel about debt ●

Week 8 -- Work: take responsibility and persevere ● Put money toward financial priority ●Counsel about debt

Today’s post >>> Week 9 -- Communicate: petition and listen ● Put money toward financial priority ● Counsel about crisis management ●

Upcoming: Week 10 -- Seek learning: resolve where you are going and how to get there ●Put money toward financial priority ● Counsel about saving, home ownership, education ●

Week 11 -- Become one, serve together ●Put money toward financial priority ●Counsel about retirement planning ●  ●

Next, we had a discussion about the following questions:

○ What experiences did you have practicing or sharing the My Foundation principle?

○ What did you learn from creating a debt elimination plan?

○ What are you now doing differently to eliminate debt in your family?

MY FOUNDATION: COMMUNICATE —

 We were asked to ponder this question: When has Heavenly Father answered my prayers? Then we watched a video called “Creating Lift,” available at srs.lds.org/videos. I found the video here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/2014-06-1180-creating-lift?lang=eng 

I have included the transcript if you are unable to watch the video for one reason or another😊 I remember listening to this talk. Maybe I will share it with you all in a later post, it is worth the read😊

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: In order to get an airplane off the ground, you must create lift. In aerodynamics, lift happens when air passes over the wings of an airplane in such a way that the pressure underneath the wing is greater than the pressure above the wing. When the upward lift exceeds the downward pull of gravity, the plane rises from the ground and achieves flight.

In a similar way, we can create lift in our spiritual life. When the force that is pushing us heavenward is greater than the temptations and distress that drag us downward, we can ascend and soar into the realm of the Spirit.

Though there are many gospel principles that help us to achieve lift, I would like to focus on one in particular.

Prayer!

Prayer is one of the principles of the gospel that provides lift. Prayer has the power to elevate us from our worldly cares. Prayer can lift us up through clouds of despair or darkness into a bright and clear horizon.

One of the greatest blessings and privileges and opportunities we have as children of our Heavenly Father is that we can communicate with Him through prayer. We can speak to Him of our life experiences, trials, and blessings. We can listen for and receive celestial guidance from the Holy Spirit at any time and at any place.

(See Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Prayer and the Blue Horizon,” Ensign or Liahona, June 2009, 5–6)

 Here are a couple more questions for each one of you to ponder and answer:

How can we recognize answers to our prayers? Why is listening an essential part of prayer?

We were asked to read: Doctrine and Covenants 8:2 and the quote by President Russell M. Nelson

Doctrine and Covenants 8:2

 “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.”

Russell M. Nelson, “Listen to Learn,” Ensign, May 1991, 24

 “Your soul will be blessed as you learn to listen, then listen to learn from children, parents, partners, neighbors, and Church leaders, all of which will heighten capacity to hear counsel from on high.” RUSSELL M. NELSON, “Listen to Learn,”  Ensign, May 1991, 24

We had a good discussion about these two questions as well: Why is listening an essential skill? How can careful listening help us in our work?

I wanted to share this activity that we did in our group, I took it directly from our study manual:

ACTIVITY

Step 1: As a group, read the steps below and briefly discuss them.

Step 2: Ask one or two members of the group to tell the others about a challenge or question they have. Everyone else should try to listen, following these steps.

Step 3: When finished, ask the group members who spoke how they felt when the group really tried to listen.

 

➊ CONCENTRATE

○ Focus on the speaker’s words and body language.

○ Don’t interrupt.

○ Don’t read or send messages on your phone.

➋ APPRECIATE

○ Look at the speaker.

○ Use small words like “yes” or “okay.”

○ Thank the speaker.

➌ REVIEW

○ Say, “So, you are saying . . .”

○ Then repeat what you heard.

➍ ASK

○ Ask, “Did I understand?”

○ Listen, and wait for an answer.

We were asked to read the following quotes by President Henry B. Eyring and Elder Robert D. Hales” “Our Heavenly Father hears the prayers of His children across the earth pleading for food to eat, for clothes to cover their bodies, and for the dignity that would come from being able to provide for themselves.” HENRY B. EYRING,  “Opportunities to Do Good,” Ensign or  Liahona, May 2011, 22

“We must ask for help from our Heavenly Father and seek strength through the Atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ. In both temporal and spiritual things, [this] enables us to become provident providers for ourselves and others.” ROBERT D. HALES, “Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually,”  Ensign or Liahona, May 2009, 7–8

We were asked to commit to do the following actions during the week:  

 □ Pray individually and as a family each morning and night. Spend time after each prayer reverently listening for guidance.

□ Share what you’ve learned today about communication with your family or friends.

As part of today’s discussion, we reviewed the Financial Stewardship success map as follows:

FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP SUCCESS MAP

FOUNDATION --- FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST • UNITY WITH SPOUSE COMMITMENT TO SELF-RELIANCE

1 PAY TITHES AND OFFERINGS

2 PROTECT YOUR FAMILY FROM HARDSHIP 1-month emergency fund, 3- to 6-months’ savings, insurance

--- W O R K --- is one of the walls

3 ELIMINATE DEBT

--- B U D G E T – the second wall

4 SAVE AND INVEST FOR THE FUTURE Savings, home ownership, education, retirement

5 CONTINUE TO GIVE AND TO BLESS OTHERS Teach your children • Lift the poor • Press forward in Christ

At this point we were asked to -- Review and update our budget. To look at what is working well? Ponder and decide what categories do we = (individually) -- need to adjust, if any? Then ask yourself – (individually) if you could spend less in some categories to enable you (individually) to more quickly save up for your emergency fund, to work to become debt free, or to save for the future of yourselves and your family members? One of our commitments this week will be to discuss the following activity during family council.

They all (our group members) agreed that it is important that we do the check list below to check our spending habits.

We were asked for each of us to consider each of the categories below, and answer honestly, as we completed the activity below:

BUDGET AND SPENDING CHECKPOINT ACTIVITY

 

HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT MY SPENDING?

I spendtoo little X □ □    I feel good about my spending □ X □     I spend too much □ □ X

Eating out at restaurants □ □ □

Groceries □ □ □

Snacks and beverages □ □ □

Entertainment □ □ □

Rent or mortgage □ □ □

Utilities □ □ □

Clothing □ □ □

Household items □ □ □

Transportation □ □ □

Insurance □ □ □

Cell phone □ □ □

These next questions were for us to each ponder on: What will you do if you encounter a financial crisis? What financial crises have you experienced in the past?

We were asked to ponder these questions: What will you do if you encounter a financial crisis? My first thought is to pray. Then I guess I would check to see what we had to cover the situation. What financial crises have you experienced in the past? I have mentioned our most recent one above😊 hopefully we are not expecting any more anytime soon.

I remember when my husband got hurt at work and he was still in therapy, but the workman’s comp ran out. We really struggled during this transition while he healed. We had to sell our house and live in tents for a year and a half or so. We finally found a place to buy just before winter set in on that second year😊

We were asked to read the following from our books: In the Old Testament, Joseph forewarned Pharaoh of seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. Immediately, Pharaoh appointed officers to set aside extra from the good years to prepare for the bad (see Genesis 41:1–37). While we may not always have a clear prophecy of when the good and bad times will come, prophets today have encouraged us to prepare for crises, especially when things are going well. In this chapter, we will learn what to do when we face a financial crisis and how to prepare for crises before they occur.

 We had quite a good discussion about this next question: What types of financial crises might you encounter? Loss of a job; hurt and unable to work; automobile accident; medical issue of self or family member; loss of transportation; divorce; unexpected medical treatment for self or family member. I am sure that I have not listed all the things that the others had mentioned in our discussion, but these are a few that I had in my notes.

You may know that when you lose a job sometimes it is hard to find another one right away, so that might create a financial crisis for a family. If a family member is diagnosed with an illness could also cause a financial crisis.

We read the following together:

THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY

“When we started learning about building an emergency fund, my husband and I didn’t think we could actually come up with enough money. We prayed for guidance, and our answer was to sell one of our cars. Now my husband takes the bus to work, and we have a full emergency fund.”

In this next section we will learn more about managing financial crises when they do arrive. We read the following in our group:

1. LEARN TO MANAGE FINANCIAL CRISES

 We were asked to read the following:  Like an emergency or fire escape plan, in the event of a financial crisis you should have a course of action that is simple to follow. About managing trials, Elder Marvin J. Ashton asked, “Can you quietly sit down, review the facts, and list all the possible courses of action? Can you identify causes and determine remedies? Quiet contemplation can solve problems more quickly than frantic force” (“Give with Wisdom That They May Receive with Dignity,” Ensign, Nov. 1981, 88). Determining how to handle financial crises beforehand will allow you to be emotionally and financially prepared when hardship strikes and can help you prevent some crises in the future. Managing a financial crisis requires two steps: assess the situation, and take appropriate action.

We had a bit of a discussion about the following questions: Why is it important to decide now how to manage a financial crisis? If your decision has already been made you will have it in the back of your mind what you need to do, and it will be easy for your mind to refer back to the plan you had made before -hand. How has the Spirit helped you handle crises in the past?

Assess the Situation

 The following questions might help you to assess a potential financial crisis by asking these questions:

○ Are you faithful in paying your tithing and offerings? Are you living your life in such a way that you are worthy of God’s blessings?

○ What emergency precautions have you already put in place that will help you face the current challenge? Do you have food and water storage? an emergency fund? proper insurance?

○ Where do your emergency preparations fall short?

○ What insurance policies do you have that may cover some or all of this challenge?

○ How long will you be able to stretch out your emergency fund?

○ Is there room in your budget and debt elimination plan for temporary adjustments, if needed?

Why is it important to thoroughly assess a situation before you take action? If you do not make a good assessment you may miss something crucial for your well-being.

 Take Action

 We took turns reading through each section: Depending on the type and severity of your financial crisis, there are different actions you might be able to take to help you overcome your financial challenges. While these actions may not make sense for all situations, the following steps should give you an idea of what can be done in the event of a financial crisis.

Call Your Insurance Company

 I read the last one, now it’s your turn😊: Some financial crises may involve a health emergency, an automobile accident, home repairs, or job loss. For such situations, before you panic or take other actions, call your insurance provider to check coverage. Asking them about coverage doesn’t mean you are filing a claim. But if your situation is covered, you should be able to get a sense of what your personal expenses are going to be.

We discussed this in our group, but you can discuss it with your spouse, partner, or friend: What financial crises merit a call to your insurance company?

Use Your Emergency Fund

 My turn -- Can you hear me reading this to you😊: The purpose of your emergency fund is to help you get through financial crises. Do not feel guilty for using it for these situations. You can use your emergency fund for whatever you need—from living expenses to insurance deductibles. Be wise about using it for the right things at the right times. Replenish your emergency fund as fast as possible if you have to use money from it.

Pay Your Most Important Expenses and Bills First

 I am listening, it’s you turn to read now😊: Closely examine all of your expenses and bills and determine which must be taken care of immediately and which could be delayed for a short period without great penalty. It may be necessary to call your billers to see if they have temporary hardship grace periods, interest-free payment plan options, or due-date extensions. Be wise about which expenses you take care of first, and research the adverse effects of deferring the payment of other bills before doing so. You may need to cut unnecessary expenses for a time, if possible. Focus on food, shelter, utilities, and necessary transportation before paying other expenses.

We discussed this in our group, but you can discuss it with your spouse, partner, or friend: Why would it be most important to pay the expenses just listed first?

Call Your Creditors

 It’s my turn again, are you listening? Ok, here we go😊: In extreme circumstances, it may be wise to call your creditors and explain your current situation. Depending on the crisis, you may want to ask them to:

○ Temporarily delay or reduce payments.

○ Extend or permanently modify the terms of the loan.

While this may be the only viable option in extreme cases, beware that delaying payments or modifying the terms of your loan can trigger additional fees and make the loan more expensive in the long run.

Identify Other Resources That Can Help

 Are you ready to read again? It’s your turn. I am listening: Our responsibility is to provide for ourselves and our families. However, there may be times when we must temporarily rely on others. As you seek other resources, be cautious of becoming dependent on assistance long-term—such dependence will stunt your spiritual and temporal progress. As we read in chapter 2, President Spencer W. Kimball taught that there are four tiers of temporal help we can turn to:

 1. Self: You should first do all that you can yourself to provide for your family and alleviate immediate threat.

2. Family: If you are unable to meet basic financial needs yourself after doing all that you personally can,  you can and should reach out to close or extended family if needed for temporary financial assistance, whether for housing, food, or other needs.

3. Church: After doing all you can yourself and then seeking assistance from family, you may need to meet with your Church leaders (bishop, branch president, or Relief Society president) to explore additional options. Remember that your Church leaders are wisely instructed to help people sustain life when necessary, not lifestyle.

4. Community: Various community or government support programs may be available to you that may offer aid in the form of financial or employment counseling, housing assistance, nutritional support for newborn and maternal health, and so forth. Remember that these programs are designed to provide short-term assistance. Do not rely on them long term.

Next, we had a discussion about the following questions: Why should we seek help from our family before seeking help from the Church and community? If your family can help you that leaves the church and other agencies available to help those who have no family to help them. What resources that your group has identified are available in your area to help cope with crises? Family Crisis Center; Garden City Domestic Violence Programs; family Crisis Services, Inc.; housing – Catholic Charities of southwest Kansas; Saint Francis Community services; the Salvation Army; Emergency Housing and Loan Program; and the American Red Cross – are only a few I had in my notes.

This was another activity that we did that I wanted to share with each one of you:

Step 1: Answer the questions below individually, and consider what you would do to manage a financial crisis.

If I were to lose my source of income, how long could I currently live on my savings? (How many days, weeks, or months?) right now for me – alone, I could survive for about a 4 – 6 weeks.

Who are my creditors that I would need to call to explain my situation?  The car dealership, bank. Car insurance.

Which family members or friends could I look to if I needed help?  Any of my children would help out when and in whatever way they could😊

Step 2: Pair up with your action partner (or your spouse if present) and discuss your answers. Discuss ways that you could better prepare now for difficult times ahead. Record your ideas, and make plans to follow through.

2. INCREASE YOUR EMERGENCY PREPARATIONS

 The facilitators told us that: we should each have or should be working on building a one-month emergency fund. Our preparations should not end there! Work to become free from consumer debt and to then build a three- to six-month emergency fund and acquire insurance to protect our income.

Build a Three- to Six-Month Emergency Fund

 The facilitators then reminded us that: After we have paid off all of your consumer debt, the next step is for us to grow your one-month emergency fund into a three- to six-month emergency fund. They said it is so important for each of us to Remember to keep the money for our emergency fund in a safe place that we (individually) can access without penalty. Grow this fund as quickly as we (individually) can do so, that way we are each better prepared for financial crises. One of our commitments this week will be to evaluate our emergency fund and to continue to pay off your consumer debts.

Acquire Appropriate Income Insurance Note: This information may not apply to your region or area.

Our Facilitators told us that: One of our most important assets is our income. They advised us each to research reputable disability and life insurance policies in your area, and then we should obtain adequate coverage as quickly as possible. I checked up on the cost of a funeral, so I wanted to check up on burial insurance, but I haven’t does it as yet☹ if you have not done a family counsel meeting yet here is an outline to follow:

DISCUSS PREPARING FOR FINANCIAL CRISES IN YOUR FAMILY COUNCIL

 We were reminded that one of our commitments this week would be to discuss our responses to “Budget and Spending Checkpoint” above and our preparations for financial crises. We should each discuss emergencies that may occur in our (individual) family.  Think about how we can prepare for them, what insurance we (individually) may need to obtain to help protect ourselves and our family members, and we should make plans to call our billers and creditors should the need arise. I have included the “Sample Family Council Discussion” outline below., it may help you in your discussion with your families.

Remember, if you are not married, your family council might include a roommate, friend, family member, or mentor.

SAMPLE FAMILY COUNCIL DISCUSSION Be sure to begin and end with a prayer to invite the Spirit.

Part 1: Review

○ How are you doing on your budget? (Review answers to the “Budget and Spending Checkpoint” activity above)

○ How are you doing on your one-month emergency fund?

○ Are you living life righteously enough to be eligible for God’s help during a crisis? What can you improve?

Part 2: Plan

○ What financial crises may occur in your family?

○ How much do you need for a three- to six-month emergency fund? What can you do to save up for it? ○ What does and does not merit the use of your emergency fund?

○ What more can you do to be prepared for these crises?

○ What insurance do you need to obtain to protect your income, health, and belongings?

○ What can you do to improve or adjust your budget?

I\we were asked to individually think about what we have learned today and consider what the Lord would have each of us individually do. Then we read the below and write responses to the questions.

“Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them” (Ezekiel 38:7).

I left these last two questions for each of you to ponder and answer on your own. If you care to share them with me, please leave me a comment or shoot me an email, I would love to hear from you😊

What are the most meaningful things I learned today?   

What will I do as a result of what I learned today?   

They asked us to read each commitment aloud to your action partner. Promise to keep your commitments. These are the commitments we made for this week. I have included them so that you can each keep them along with me😊

MY COMMITMENTS

Ⓐ I will practice and share this week’s My Foundation principle. My Foundation principle: Communication: Petition and Listen

Financial Principles and Skills- 1. Learn to manage financial crises. 2. Increase your emergency preparations.

Ⓑ I will continue to put money toward my emergency fund or unnecessary debt.

Ⓒ I will discuss both my “Budget and Spending Checkpoint” above and preparing for financial crises in my family council.

Ⓓ I will contact and support my action partner.

Well my dear Family and Friends here we are together at the end of this lesson on personal finance for self-reliance ---- Managing Financial Crises. I hope you have all learned a few things that you didn’t already know😊 I have learned many new things as well as refreshing my mind of some things I already knew. You know what is different for me in learning or relearning this information --- is knowing that it is all laid out for us in the way that the Lord wants us to handle our finances.

That is what makes it important that I understand and am then able to apply what I am learning.

We only have three lessons left in this program. I will share them with you all in some future posts😊 are you each ready to be prepared to manage a financial crisis when they happen? If you are already prepared --- good for you!!! If you are like me and slow to the draw – let’s work on it together😊 the most important thing is to be consistently actively engaged in making progress in the things that the Lord wants us to do!

As always, please remember who you are – you are each a child of God! You have a Heavenly Father who loves each one of you so much that He sent His Only Son to die for your sins as well as mine. Jesus Christ loves each of us so much that He willingly gave up His life for our sins that we might have the opportunity to return to live with Him and His Father in heaven when our earthly life is done☹ keep on studying your scriptures with prayer and faith. Until my next post, please make it a great week!!!