My Foundation: Manage Money—Maximum Time: 20 Minutes

Ponder:Why is managing money so hard—and so important?

Watch:“First Things First!” available at srs.lds.org/videos. (No video? Read page 22.)

First Things First!

If you are unable to watch the video, choose roles and read this script.

still from First Things First

Setting: Young boy and girl, dressed in adult clothes, acting like their parents.

Boy: I’m home, dear.

Girl: Welcome home. Oh my, you look tired.

Boy: You do too. You work very hard, don’t you?

Girl: Well, we’re supposed to work, aren’t we?

Boy: I earned 10 today.

Girl: Oh, what a blessing. So, first things first. Let’s pay our tithing, shall we?

Boy: But what if we don’t have enough?

Girl: That’s where faith comes in!

Boy: Okay. So what’s next?

Girl: Well, we’ll need to buy food and bus fare and pay rent. And then it would be nice to buy a chair …

Boy: But we can’t. See? We don’t have enough money.

Girl: Could we borrow some?

Boy: They say debt is dangerous. We don’t want to get in trouble.

Girl: Okay. You’re right. So what do we do with this?

Boy: Let’s save it! You never know what will happen.

Girl: That feels right. But there’s nothing left for fun.

Boy: We have each other! And I’ll try to earn more.

Girl: I’ll try to spend less!

Boy: That way we can be happy—and self-reliant!

Girl: Right! That wasn’t so difficult. Why do grown-ups make it so hard?

Boy: Oh, you know. That’s just how grown-ups are.

Back to page 20.

Discuss:Why should we keep track of and save our money?

Read:Doctrine and Covenants 104:78 and the statement from All Is Safely Gathered In (on the right)

“And again, verily I say unto you, concerning your debts—behold it is my will that you shall pay all your debts.”

Doctrine and Covenants 104:78

“Pay tithes and offerings, … avoid debt, … use a budget, … determine how to reduce what you spend for nonessentials … [and] discipline yourself to live within your budget plan.”

All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Finances (booklet, 2007), 3

Discuss:Read the self-reliant approach to managing money (below). How can we make this a habit?

diagram self-reliant approach

Activity

Step 1: Individually review your spending below.

spending diagram

Step 2: Read the quote by Elder Robert D. Hales (on the right). Discuss how you could reduce spending in the categories where you spend too much.

“There seems to be a sense of entitlement in today’s culture. … When we become burdened with excessive debt, we have … placed ourselves in self-imposed servitude, spending all of our time, all of our energy, and all of our means to the repayment of our debts. … It is essential that we … develop a spending and savings plan—a budget—and distinguish between wants and needs.”

Robert D. Hales, “Seek and Attain the Spiritual High Ground in Life” (Church Educational System fireside, Mar. 2009), lds.org/media-library

Commit:Commit to do the following actions during the week. Check the box when you complete each action.

• Keep track of what you earn and spend every day. At the end of the week, add up the numbers and record the total amounts on the Income and Expense Record on page 15.

• Share what you’ve learned today about managing money with your family or friends.