Love Letters with Jason & Ros

How to Have Romance With Finance!

• Jason and Ros Hamilton • Season 1 • Episode 12

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Can love and money really work together? In Episode 12 of Love Letters with Jason & Ros, we dive into “F” Finances and share how to create “Romance with Finance” in your marriage!

Money mismanagement can be one of the greatest sources of stress, discontentment, and division in marriages and love relationships. Challenges like debt, misappropriation, unrealistic expectations, lack of vision, and poor or no planning can quickly turn marital bliss into chaos! Yet, when finances are handled with wisdom, unity, and Godly principles, couples can build stability, strengthen trust, and move toward lasting success.

In this episode, Jason & Ros share interesting facts, fun conversation, and powerful insights on:

  • Financial fundamentals for relationships
  • How financial ignorance is not bliss
  • The real results people experience when they honor God with their finances
  • The common challenges couples face when the “money is funny”
  • Practical strategies for overcoming financial difficulties... together

Chapters:

  • 0:00       Welcome to Love Letters with Jason & Ros- Topic Introduction
  • 2:06       Navigating the Fundamentals of Finances 
  • 11:30     Our Story: Financial Ignorance is NOT Bliss
  • 21:20     The Real Results of Honoring God w/Your Finances
  • 25:18     When the Money is Funny- Financial Challenges!
  • 31:48     Biblical Truths— Deuteronomy 8, Verse 18 and Matthew 25, Verse 21
  • 33:35     Overcoming Financial Difficulties
  • 47:38     Love Letter Finance Challenge
  • 48:13     BONUS: Gold Nuggets of Giving & Investing
  • 52:34     Closing Prayer

Resources:

Connect with Jason and Ros at: https://linktr.ee/jasonandros 


5 Financial Fundamentals:

  1. Living— Setting a realistic budget
  2. Giving— Honoring the Lord with your finances
  3. Saving— Establishing funds for emergencies and incidentals
  4. Investing— Sowing into your future, retirement, and eventual passing
  5. Just for You— Enjoying the fruits of your labor (modestly)

Scripture References: 

  • Deuteronomy 8, Verse 18 - "And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
  • Matthew 25, Verse 21 - "His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”

Live Out Your Love Letter Challenge:

  • Pray for a Vision for Your Finances 
  • If you are struggling with managing your money, and it's negatively impacting your relationship with your spouse, get help right away.

Everything in one place: JasonAndRos.com

Live out your Love Letter. 💌

Intro

SPEAKER_03

No one wants to be working just to pay bills. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Financial ignorance is not less.

SPEAKER_03

I also got involved with credit cards and credit card debts. It was like, man, as soon as I could get approved for a credit card, guess what? I got a credit card and it was like I don't know if y'all saw Fred Flintstone back in the day. Wilma and Betty. Wilma and Women could shop. They were like, Fred, with that credit card at Barney, you better come with it. Today we're talking about F for finances. Finances. We're gonna talk about money.

SPEAKER_01

Money, money, money, money. Oh, you need some money.

SPEAKER_03

Hey everybody, we want to welcome you to Love Letters with Jason and Rod. Finances is one of the leading causes of stress in relationships. It's a leading cause in disagreements and discontentment and relationship breakups. You know what's messed up? It's a huge factor in divorces as well.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So it impacts every aspect of relationships. So we just felt it is important for us to have this conversation on today. Even if you don't manage the finances yourself, whether I'm managing it, whether it's my wife managing it, it doesn't matter. You need to understand what's going on with the numbers so that you all can have financial success in your relationship.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. Because if you don't manage the finances, if somebody doesn't know what's going on with the money, the money will get funny. You will experience effects. You just you're it's gonna happen. So it's gonna show up in the relationship. So the more you know, the better.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

The more you understand about handling money, the better.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. If you don't manage your money, your money is gonna manage you. And you may not like the path that your money takes you down. Am I right? Absolutely

Navigating the Fundamentals of Finances

SPEAKER_03

right. All right, so when we talk about the fundamentals of your finances, there is a critical order that you need to follow. All right, so the first thing is going to be your budget. Yes, and basically what that is, it's simply a spending plan. And what I mean by that is before that check hits your bank account, you already know what you're gonna do with the money. That's right. Now you should you should know. Well, here's the deal: some people either know or they don't want to know. So it's really important that before the money hits your bank account, you know exactly what's going to happen with that money. So here's an example. You know, we get paid on the, what is it, the 30th and the 15th of each month. When I get paid on the 30th of the month, I know there's some key bills that have to be taken care of. Number one being that mortgage. Absolutely. So I can't choose to just spend my money however I want to, and then when it comes time to pay in that mortgage, I'm scratching my head. Because you're gonna be scratching my head in a special way if I'm not paying.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. I was gonna say I might not be there, but no.

SPEAKER_03

But it's real, it is real. So there is what we call a financial pie. You want to tell them a little bit about the financial pie?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, you want to know your pieces of the pie when it comes to where your money goes and how you want to divide it. For some people, there's the 80-20 rule, for others, there's the 70-30, meaning you're gonna live off of 80% of your income and the rest will go towards savings and giving, or you wanna live off 70% and the rest goes towards giving and savings. But there's also another ideal one that that you have in mind.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. I mean, you know, for me, I I strongly feel like the 70-30 is something that every relationship should strive for. Now we're gonna talk about what to do with money, but the reason why I say 70-30 is 10% for giving. We always want to honor God with our finances, but then another 10% for savings, and we'll talk about that in just a second. And then the third 10% is towards your future, and so that leaves 70% to live off. So we'll talk more about that. And uh, you know, for me, the goal is to really strive for 60 40, 50-50 as you continue to grow in your wealth and your understanding of finances.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so the the main divisions for your finances with the pie is living, giving, and saving. Those are the main ones. And even with saving, that can be a part of investing as well. So, however way you want to spin it, those are the main pieces of the pie when it comes to how you deal and handle with your finances.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. So we we talked about budget, and like I said, there's a critical order, so there's budget, right? So now let's look at how that budget is broken up. The first thing is giving. Giving. We always want to honor God with our finances. Yes. Here's the deal we honor Him with our finances first. So he calls us to give to the local church and then other nonprofit organizations to really be a blessing and help those that are less fortunate.

SPEAKER_01

And we want to be careful to make sure that we pray and do our research when it comes to giving. One of the things I love about where we worship is we know where the money goes. They show us this is where your offerings are going. It's going for all of these different causes. And we're seeing lives changed and transformed and blessed through our collective giving and sharing. Sometimes it can be in your local church, and other times it could be organizations that you want to give to. But whatever you choose, and however way you choose to give, just make sure that they're providing information on where your contributions are going and the impact that it's making. I think that's pretty crucial. Absolutely. When it comes to giving, you want to see where your money goes.

SPEAKER_03

Follow the money and see where you go. See where it goes. No, for real. And that that makes perfect sense. You really, if it's for the betterment of those that are less fortunate, you really want to make sure that they are being blessed and provided for. You know, here the beautiful thing is this when we give, it's actually honor and worship to God. Yeah, we never go without. The Bible says, I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging for bread. Why? Because we're givers. So that's a blessing. So no matter what challenge you may face, and we have faced some challenges, and we'll talk about a few in a moment. But no matter what the challenges that you may face, God has promises for your finances. So the next critical thing is saving. So you remember Ross talked about that pie a moment ago. And so with that budget, we started with giving, right? The next thing is saving. Yes. Now you may ask, well, why do I want to save my money? Well, here's the deal: emergencies come. They will. When you think about savings, I want you to think about emergencies and things that we may need to take care of right away. So here's the deal. Whenever I talk about savings with anybody, I recommend you save four to six months of your living expenses.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. So simple math. If it costs $1,000 for you to live each month, then the goal is to have four to six thousand dollars in the savings account. Do you know why I recommend that? Why is that? It's because you never know when an emergency is going to take place. You know, your car breaks down, you lose your job, a pandemic comes. Yes, you never know what can happen.

SPEAKER_01

Emergency with family, and you may have to travel out of town at the last minute.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. What it does is it brings peace of mind, and everyone wants to have peace of mind, right? So being able to have that four to six months in there, there's no pressure to act or pressure to, I gotta do something. No, it allows you to think clearly, it allows you to pray, it allows you to process so that you can move forward in the best possible way.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I just want to add to that, we know that that, you know, that's not an easy feat. It's something that you do have to build. And if there's a period of time where you gotta buckle down, not use credit cards for your emergencies, but buckle down and do some aggressive saving, I think that's important. Just to be able to do that, discipline yourself and just put a nice chunk away each time you get paid. I think that will work. And and and within a period of time, you will have that four to six month savings in the bank, and it can just draw a little interest, if you will. For a lot of people, that's like not an easy thing to do. And it's it's not. However, with God, is all things are possible. You pray and you ask Him for a way for you to do that, and He will provide a way for you to do that.

SPEAKER_03

And here's something else about that savings. It's important that you allow or allot a percentage of that for vacations, for time away. You know, we have what we call bake. So if you want to have some bake time, a lot of percentage of that savings for you to be able to do that. So when it comes time for taking those trips, again, it's not a burden for you to be able to do. You've got the finances for it. Now, that third percentage, that third 10% in the 70-30 pie is investing. And all we're talking about there is your future and legacy.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

That's money that you don't touch, that's money that you're putting away for the long term, yeah, so that you can be a blessing to your children's children and children if you want to go to that next generation. But it's all about legacy. So then we get to that remaining portion, that 70%. And like I said before, when you're looking at your budget, that 70% is for your living expenses. Now, here's the thing you want to live within your means. So that means if you like to shop, I see you like to shop. If you like to shop, then you need to have an amount allotted for shopping. Yes. So I actually say this to the kids all the time. No one wants to be working just to pay bills. Yeah. You want to be able to enjoy the fruit of your labor. So there should always be something allotted for you to be able to. Just for you. Exactly, just for you, so that you can enjoy, you know, date nights and going to hang out with your friends, you know, whatever the case may be, you want to have an allotment for that. Like

Our Story: Financial Ignorance is Not Bliss

SPEAKER_03

I mentioned before, you know, we had some challenges with our finances, right? We did.

SPEAKER_01

And I think what what's your what's your line all the time? Financial ignorance is not bliss. All right. When it comes to our story, financial ignorance was not bliss. It's not for anybody, actually. It's not bliss for anybody.

SPEAKER_03

It's a hardcore miss.

SPEAKER_01

So we start off with our story. What what do you what do you want to share?

SPEAKER_03

All right. So here's the deal. Here's here's my story. I was very young when my dad passed away. So I was eight years old when dad passed away. We owned a really good-sized company. And so, as a result of that, the weight of that business fell on my mom. So, mom is trying to manage all of this that's taking place. It was a manufacturing and distribution company. So I really didn't get the opportunity to learn about money. And so, probably with most people in finances, when you don't know what to do with your money, you know, you get it and you spend it. That was my mindset. I get money to spend it. And sometimes I wasn't even spending it on the right thing. Sometimes I had the order almost you know, reverse. It's like, oh, it's it's for me. This is my shopping and entertainment and all of this. And then all of a sudden, I got this much left over for responsibilities. Yeah. And I'm not being responsible. I also got involved with credit cards and credit card debts. It was like, man, as soon as I could get approved for a credit card, guess what? I got a credit card, and it was like I don't know if y'all saw Fred Flintstone back in the day. Milma and Betty. Woman and women could shop. They were like, Fred, with that credit card at Bernie, you better come with it. Now, here's the deal. As a Christian, I was always honoring God with my finances first. That was never an issue for me. But my issue was after that, I didn't know what I was doing with the money. Even in my giving, you know, there were times that I was challenged outside of what I would normally give. And so there were those times, you know, I would give very, very reluctantly. I didn't feel good about it, but I did it anyway because I felt pressure. And I think that there are people that are in ministry today that have that sense of pressure and that uneasiness with giving. Here's the deal: giving is an act of worship. It should bring joy when you do it. It you should have peace knowing that you're honoring God with your money and knowing that it's going to be blessing someone else.

SPEAKER_01

So when I'm never gonna come back to you too. Exactly. When you give cheerfully, it comes back some kind of way.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. And so you never want to find yourself in a situation where you're not comfortable with your giving. Yeah, you have to start really evaluating your situation at that point. You never want to feel like you're forced to give, it shouldn't be an obligation. Like we mentioned a moment ago, it should be a joyful experience. And then lastly, again, these are my issues. Last were his issues. That's right. BC before Christ, A B after deliverance. Okay, these were my issues. This last one was giving pridefully. That's almost like an oxymoron.

SPEAKER_01

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_03

But here was the deal everybody else was giving, so I was feeling pressure to give too.

SPEAKER_01

So it's like he didn't want to look bad.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. It's like, okay, we need everybody to give $100. It's like, I don't even have ten dollars to two nickels to rub together to keep me and my wife warm, let alone a hundred dollars. But it's like now I'm getting myself in trouble just so that I can be seen in the hundred dollar line. That brings about a level of stress. If it's a relationship and you're married, that's a level of stress in your marriage that you do not want. And so, how did that play out in my life? It played out as lying. I mean, that's just the bottom line. It it played out as lying. I was bouncing checks, you know, our account was constantly overdrawn. Yeah, and I'll I'll say this real quick and then I'll let Roz talk because obviously I love to I love to talk. This is we're family, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so here's a quick story. I was bouncing checks and overdrafting the account, and and I mean, I was trying my best to hide it from Roz. Well, one day I was in the office and she came on in there all cute and looking sweet and fine. And she was like, Hey Jason, is everything okay with our finances? And I mean, just through my teeth, bold faced lie just came out. Oh, yeah, it's all good, it's all good, everything is well. And so she reaches behind her back and she pulls out these bank statements. Then what's this about? Tell me about this. And I looked at the bank statements and my heart sunk all the way to beneath my feet, and I couldn't do anything. It's like I was just busted and I felt so bad. And I tell you this, she told me something that man, it's like it was switchblade cut. She told me, Jason, I don't know who you are. That was a defining moment, though, in our marriage. That was like, when you hear stuff like that, I'm casting you a lifeline. And that was the lifeline that I needed. That's my messed up money story.

SPEAKER_01

It's like, tell me who you are and be truthful with me. Exactly. What's going on? Because we should have had a conversation about it a long time ago.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

Not to say that I was any better with the finances because I was not, but just the whole idea of what he was going through alone and hiding it and trying to cover it up was not good for our relationship.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And I mean, stuff like that, it it causes unnecessary rifts because now in the back of her mind, it's like, okay, what else, what else he been lying about? Yeah. Smiling in my face. What else been what else has been going on? And and and you don't, you don't, you don't want that. Yeah, yeah. So what what's yours?

SPEAKER_01

So here's my story. Well, like Jason, you know, I wasn't properly taught about finances either. And coming from a single parent family, it was like we had a lot of struggles financially. We rented, we had to move a lot in our little hometown in Beloit. But it was not easy. And so for me, the mindset was earn it all, spend it all, and try to do a little bit of savings. Credit cards for me was the devil. It was the devil in disguise. Rubber checks was my ruin. Not to say that I did it a lot, but every so often I would do it because I was maxed out on my credit cards. So it's like, okay, I'm getting paid in a couple days. This ain't gonna go through until, you know, maybe three, five business days. Let me go ahead and write this check. Bad, bad, bad idea. And all of this hit for me when I was in college and after graduating from college and being a young adult and being out on my own because we weren't, I wasn't in college anymore. I wasn't in the dorm, so I didn't have those scholarship and grant funds coming in anymore, and I had to go to work. So when it came down to it, I started getting the credit cards and I was spending and borrowing more than I could pay back. And I became a slave to debt. You know, that's what it says in the Bible. You know, debt becomes your master. Money burned holes in my pocket. I mean, I was always looking at, you know, what I want to buy, what I want to do with the money versus saving it versus giving. You know, those things were not really on my radar. You know, it was always taught, you know, we were always, we weren't really taught to save. We we said we need to save. That was that was the language you need to save. I know I need to save. I know I need to save, but it never, the plan for savings was never put into action.

SPEAKER_03

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Man, I felt that that gold nugget just hit me on the top of my head. We were told to save, we were never taught to save. That's right. Man, just think how life would have been if we had parents that, hey, here's the 70-30 rule, here's the 60-40 rule. You do not deviate from that. No knock on our, you know, no shade on our parents at all. That was just the reality of our situation.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they did the best that they could with what they had and what they knew to do. So for me, by the end of the month, I always came up short. I was in this cycle, I was in this cycle called, I worked for the money because I didn't know how to make the money work for me. I think a lot of people are still in that cycle.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

We work for the money, you know, down to summer, we work hard for the money, you know. But versus how do you make the money work hard for you? He shared a story about in our marriage, but I

The Real Results of Honoring God w/Your Finances

SPEAKER_01

I have a story too. I call it the COVID story. However, it's not just during the period of time with of COVID, but there were there were many times in our marriage life where financial things just happened. You know, there were things that happened that were not in our control. However, I firmly believe that because we had faith, yeah, because we were givers, there were periods of times where the Lord just kept us. As soon as COVID hit in February of 2020, we had just transitioned from a marketing firm where he was a partner. And we had just stopped working there and we started building blocks, grassroots again. So we started up building blocks, marketing solutions. And man, as soon as we started COVID. And it was like, what are we going to do? We didn't have any source of income coming in outside of veterans, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So it was like we didn't know what we were going to do, but somehow, some way, we survived. We never went without any food. Our mortgage got paid or it got delayed. On hold. It was paused. We we drove wherever we needed to drive when we could drive.

SPEAKER_03

We went where we needed to go. We got gas when we needed to get gas. We got groceries when we needed to get groceries. Lights always stayed on, gas. So if it was hot, well, yeah, that was February. So we were using some gas to stay warm. Then of course, we live in Texas. So Houston. AC never went out. You know. And if it went out, it wasn't because of electricity. It's because we had to get a technician in there because it was running so hard. Yeah. Because all that humidity and heat. Yeah. And I mean, we even faced other oppositions at the launch of the business. It's like, man, everything was trying to come against us being successful as entrepreneurs. Yeah. But the bottom line is this: like my wife said, we prayed and we were firm in our faith. And I firmly believe and I give God the glory that it was him who carried us through that situation because we always honored him with our finances. And even through that transition, the little finances that we had, we were still giving.

SPEAKER_01

Somehow it all worked. We were still giving. Even our nephew, I call him our nephew's son. Nef son. He even moved in with us because he was going through some issues with COVID as well. So we had three three young adult kids in the house. And two in school. Well, one, two in school, two in school. Because our son was graduating and the other one. It was a challenge, but God was up for the challenge. Seriously. He was up. It's like I'm going to show myself mighty in this situation.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But COVID is not the only thing. There have been many times where whether it was out of our control or some things that we were just kind of ignorant about, that we we fell into some financial mistakes that we just we just didn't know. It wasn't like we knew and we deliberately rebelled. We just didn't know and we got we got duped.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So rope a dope.

SPEAKER_01

That happened as well. And even in those situations, God kept us. Yes. He kept us. And I believe it was because we honored him with our finances. If it was a hundred dollar gift, guess what? Ten dollars is going out somehow. You know, sometimes we didn't always give to the church. We gave that little tithe or whatever. We gave that that 10% somewhere where God's work was being done. Absolutely. So let's

When the Money is Funny- Financial Challenges!

SPEAKER_01

get into some money challenges, Jason. Money challenges.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so merit folks, this one's for you. Those that are engaged, this one's for you too. And parents, this is for you to teach to the kids before they get engaged. When you come together, obviously your money is coming together too. So the question becomes is it one bank account or is it two bank accounts? Now I'm not gonna sit here and tell you you need to put all your money in one bank account and work from that account, or you need to keep your money separate. What I am going to say is, what is the mindset behind it? Yeah. Is it a okay, I I've got to keep my money from her money, her money, her money funny.

SPEAKER_01

Or the other way around. Or the other way around.

SPEAKER_03

Here's the deal. I'll give you a real example. So I've got a family member. I won't tell you who it is, but I've got a family member. And they had a really difficult time in their marriage. And the difficulty was they had separate accounts, which is okay. She had responsibilities for one thing, he had responsibility for other things. The problem is if you're keeping separate accounts, is when you're not taking care of your responsibility. On your end. Now that creates stress on the other account.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. So it's okay to have two accounts. Ross and I, we have two accounts. There are things that she's responsible for, and there are things that I'm responsible for. However, we do come together to talk about our finances. So yeah, we've got two accounts, but we do come together to talk about those finances. So I'm not gonna say you gotta have one. I'm not gonna say you got to have two. That's up to you. Absolutely. I think for a period of time we had we had one account.

SPEAKER_01

We had one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I think the only reason why we ended up breaking up to two at one point is because of where we were. I think because of where we may have been working at that time.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah, yeah, that's the other, that was the other thing. So direct deposits and yeah, and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_03

And so, but but bottom line is this we've always been, not always, you know, after after I finished being jacked up, we we were on one accord with our finances. So whether it's one account or two accounts, the main factor is being on one accord.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, absolutely. One accord.

SPEAKER_03

What's hers is mine, and what what's mine is ours. All right, another challenge is losing a job. Okay, so here's the deal. Back for me, 9-11, 2001, I was working for compact computers and had a great job. But you know what happened to Compaq? Stock tanked, they laid off everybody, and we didn't know what was happening with the economy. And so, although I was very qualified, I could not find a job anywhere, and I do mean anywhere. And so, I mean, back in the day, we were faxing our resumes to different companies. I mean, I had a stack of faxes like this. I could not get a job. I mean, it it brought on depression. Yes, it was just a horrible season in my life, absolutely. So that that's a real challenge because now the depression that I found myself in started impacting the relationship with my wife and then also the relationship with the children. So that's why it's important that we have this conversation about finances because losing a job is a very real thing that people experience, and it does have an impact. And I'll even take that story a step further. I remember it got so bad. Now, I did what I had to do, I knew how to cut hair. See, I even trimmed my own hair. But I knew I knew how to cut hair, and so what I would do is I became the mobile barber. So I would go to my friends and cut their hair at a serious upcharge because you know I'm driving, I'm using my gas and all that good stuff. But that was so that my family could be fed and could be taken care of. So even though it's a challenge, you still got to do what you got to do.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I will say this at the time of 9-11, I was a stay-at-home mom because I was pregnant with our son. Yeah. On top of that, our oldest two were little, they were early elementary age. So it was a challenge with us because I wasn't bringing in a source of income. And that's also a struggle for many women. As a mom, you want to just be able to stay home and take care of the kids, take care of your husband, and so, you know, just deal with the things that's going on inside the home. Having to work is a another pressure point, yeah. Especially, you know, because there's that tear between I just had this baby, you know, and now I got to go back to work after six weeks. I mean, for some women, that's fine. They they they like to do that, they enjoy work, they have additional help, helping hands with with the babies, but for us, that wasn't our scenario. So it was a challenge. It was a challenge, but somehow he saw us through. Some other challenges that I find is overspending and not sticking to the budget, even for a single person, because that was me, overspending and not sticking to the budget. I would have my little budgets, you know, every time I got paid. I would make out my budget before the check came because I wanted to know where my money was gonna go, what I needed to spend it on. But I didn't always stick to it. Don't let me see a nice dress or you know, some some kind of new fashion, some cool shoes, or a nice new place to go or eat, then you know, my budget was was blown out of the water. So here's one of the things we always say if you fail to plan, you are plan to fail. It's important to plan your finances, period. Period. Mic drop. Mic drop. And then our number one, the number one challenge is always going to be debt. The more debt you get in, the more difficult it is for you to come out of it. But once we get to overcoming, we we're we have a plan for debt, yeah, which which we love to do. It's it's it's really fun. We like celebrate. Yay! We did it. Hi. So, anyway, so let

Biblical Truths— Deuteronomy 8, Verse 18 and Matthew 25, Verse 21

SPEAKER_01

me get into the Bible truths. There are tons of scriptures on finances, but these two have guided us over the years. Yeah, number one is Deuteronomy 8 and 18, and it says this, and you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant through you, which he swore to your fathers as it is this day.

SPEAKER_03

Can I say one thing about you know, the whole idea about he gives you power to get wealth? What that really means is he gives you mental capacity, he gives you creative ability, he gives you physical dexterity, he gives you opportunity, he gives you favor with other people. So when you think about this scripture, think about all of these things that come together. When you sit down and have your interview, and then the the HR person is like, oh my goodness, I met the best candidate. He just gave you favor. That's the power to give wealth. I love it.

SPEAKER_01

So our second scripture is coming from Matthew 25, 21. And this says, His Lord said to him, Well done, my good and faithful servant. You are faithful in a few things, and I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. So here's the bottom line when it comes to finances, God already has a plan for you. Whether you're single or you're a couple, he already has a plan for your finances and how you are to conduct and handle your money. Again, for the purposes of living, investing, saving, and giving.

SPEAKER_03

So

Overcoming Financial Difficulties

SPEAKER_03

there's a few things we want you to walk away with from the podcast today. All right. The first thing is this, and I mentioned this a second ago, but recognize that your wealth comes from God. Yes. Bottom line, it comes from God. And so the first response should always be worship.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

So when you think about that, as you continue to be blessed with your finances, always respond with worship and honoring Him with your finances. And you know, one thing about God, He's smart, He knows a lot more about you than you know about yourself. So think about it. You know, my wife and I we were talking about launching out in our entrepreneurial endeavor. Well, you know, sometimes people, you know, you may be making $100,000, $250,000 a year. You may be an engineer really racking up and doing your thing. But it's like you may say, I want to make $2.5 million a year. Well, if you're not being faithful in the $100,000 or $250,000 a year, what makes you think God is going to give you $2.5 million? Because you can't even handle what you got at that point. There's a parable that Jesus talks about in the scriptures. It's it's the parable of the talents. He gives one person five, another person two, and then the last person one. Well, the person with five, they manage it well and they get five more talents. The person with two, they manage it well and they get two more talents. The person with one did not manage it well and didn't get any more talents. Well, guess what happened to this person? Took the talent and gave it to the one that had five, that had the most management experience. Well, why is that? Because that individual had the capacity to do more with it than this individual. So don't be this individual. Manage your money well and put yourself in a position where God can bless you with even more to manage.

SPEAKER_01

That parable comes from Matthew 25, which we just read.

SPEAKER_03

Girl, you are you are so sexy when you talk about the Bible. I love it when she talks about that word. Say that scripture again. Matthew 25.

SPEAKER_01

You need to quit.

SPEAKER_03

All right. So, okay, here's the deal. If you don't take anything away, here's the deal. You have to have a vision for your finances. You got to know where you're going with your money. And you guys have to be on the same page with the vision for your finances. So, for example, let's let's say you you gotten married and it's like, hey, you know, we want to buy a house within three years. You know how much the house is going to cost, you know how much the down payment is going to be on the house. So, what does it look like to have a vision and you guys be on the same page with that vision? It looks like this. Hey, honey, this is how much money we're going to set aside each month so that we have the money for our down payment. And then this is how much money we're going to set aside so when we get into the house, we can buy new furniture. Absolutely. We can get the house painted or whatever it is we need to do. So it's like, hey, all right, yay, we're on the same team. But then she goes shopping for Gucci and Louis Vuitton and all this other stuff. It's like, oh, me and my girls, we're going to go to New York. And it's like, okay, we're not on the same page here. That's a problem. That is a problem. So we need to make sure that we have a very clear vision and that we're on the same page on that vision within our relationship. Here's what I love about vision the best vision has a very clear plan of action, and both people have to buy into it. So, and here's the thing as you as you achieve certain goals, so now you've purchased the home. Well, now we want to have a baby, but we need to make preparations for the baby. So as you complete different goals, your vision will change. But even if your vision for your finances change, you always have to make sure you're both on the same accord, that you're both of one mind. Here's another PowerPoint. Who's gonna be responsible for managing the money? Yeah, yeah, that can that can be a sore spot. It can be both, it can be one or it can be the other. You know, I I've I've got a friend, one of my best friends. This is so funny. Well, his wife's his wife's an accountant, and he's a creative guy. Well, he's not trying to figure out anything about money. So it's like, you know, we'll talk. He was like, man, I don't, I don't know. I was like, how much is your mortgage? I don't know. I was like, come on, man. He he they'll take a trip. How much was how was how much did the trip? I don't know. He was like, look, she gave me this card. And I know I can use this card wherever I go. And if I'm using it too much, we'll have a conversation. So let me know. It works for them. Yes. So it doesn't matter if it's the husband, it doesn't matter if it's the wife, or whether or not it's a collaborative. The bottom line is the money just has to be managed. Celebrate small wins. So as you're, you know, let's say part of your vision is is becoming debt-free. You know, if you paid off the $200 credit card, man, celebrate the small win. Go to McDonald's.

SPEAKER_01

Have a cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_03

You know, cup of coffee. Split some nuggets.

SPEAKER_01

Whatever you gotta do. Whatever you gotta do. Just celebrate. Just celebrate. It doesn't have to be nothing elaborate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Not at all.

SPEAKER_01

Especially you don't want it to be out of your means. That's that's the other thing.

SPEAKER_03

No.

SPEAKER_01

We don't be jumping, we don't go back. We don't want to jump the gun on that.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. He just paid off the credit card, so now you're gonna put some money on the credit card to go celebrate. Come on.

SPEAKER_01

We just we just made a little, I'm not gonna tell you the the details of it, but this is this is something that he and I just, you know, was it like last month?

SPEAKER_03

I think so.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so we we came together and we said, hey, when we make this certain amount, we're gonna celebrate. But our little small win is just gonna be going and getting some what? Ice cream ice cream, donuts, and coffee. And coffee. I know that sounds weird. I love to watch these little Korean, these little Korean shows. Love them, they're so good. And you know, like the the modern ones, like they'll they'll be going out on a date and they'll go get some coffee, ice cream, and donuts. I just it's weird, but I've never tried it. I'm like, let's try that. Let's do that.

SPEAKER_03

If we hit this financial goal, that's what we're gonna do. Because we don't do sweets right now, we don't we'll tell you in the podcast, though. We hit the goal.

SPEAKER_01

So, anyway, here are some of my little highlights. He talked about having a vision for your finances. I'm gonna say, have a plan for your finances. Now, what's the difference between the vision and the plan? The plan is setting up funds for things like bucket lists, for retirement, for leaving an inheritance or trusts for your children's children, and even for your passing. So I'm talking about projected future plans because once you pass away, there needs to be some kind of plan in place for your spouse, for your children, etc. Or if you're single, where's where is your money going to go? What what do you want to happen with your money and with your home going process? Yeah, you've got to have plans for that. Thank God our sister, my sister-in-law gave us a little, a little book.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's so yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I don't, I don't remember the name of it, but it's like I'm I'm gone now, what, or something like that. I think that was.

SPEAKER_03

You know what? We'll put we'll put it in the description so you can get it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, just a great we've we've gotta have that in place. I know it's not always comfortable to talk about that, and sometimes you might be in your 20s, like, I'm not thinking about retirement, but this is something that he's told taught our kids. If you start saving now, just a little bit, every single time you get paid, by the time you do retire, my God, you know, you might have a million or so in your account, especially when you learn how to put it in the right, in the right type of account.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and I'll say this too. In one of the episodes, we'll we'll have we'll have a one or two of our kids on on the episode. But our son at this point in time is is 23 years old. And now he's started investing. And I thought to myself, you know, he came, he came over by the house. He's like, Dad, I've been saving, you know, this is how much I've got saved, but I'm ready to start investing because there's some things that I want to do. And I was thinking to myself, man, I wish I had a dad that I could have those conversations, you know, when I was 23 years old to be able to have a dad that I could have conversations with about entrepreneurship and investing and, you know, really building wealth. I mean, I wish that was the case, but I'm grateful now that I have the opportunity to have those conversations. And and you do too. Yeah. And you can start at whatever, whatever age you are.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. The more you know, the better you do. Exactly. You know, you know better, you do better. You should. Another thing I want to, we we were talking earlier about something that Jason and I do. We do this thing called the debt snowball. It's a strategy to pay off debt. So it was something that you came up with.

SPEAKER_03

I learned it from somebody else.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Thank God, whoever you are, for the debt snowball.

SPEAKER_03

Shout out to minister now, Pastor Nana. Seriously. Seriously.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Station identification model.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03

Look, man, you you made such a tremendous impact in our lives and our financial lives when you taught Financial Peace University. That was a significant turning point in our financial journey. And part of the reason why we're sitting here right now, production costs. Yeah. Part of the reason why we're sitting here right now is because of you. So thank you for the seeds that you sowed in the financial. Seeds and the wisdom that you sowed into our lives.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so that's where you got it from.

SPEAKER_03

Boom.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Pastor Nana. So the debt snowball is this whatever, whatever your debts are, each debt is going to have a monthly payment. So what we'll do is we'll pay our bills, and whatever we have left over, a certain percentage will go towards the debt snowball. So we'll take the smallest debt, the smallest amount of payment, and we'll just begin to pay over the minimum payment. So we continue to do that. And once that's paid, so for example, if the monthly payment is $50 for one debt, and let's say you have $500 is your balance on that debt. So what we'll do if we have another $50 on top of you know paying the $50 minimum, we just start paying $100 a month on that. Exactly. Then after four months, it's paid off. So then we still have $100. And what we'll do is then we tackle the next one.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

So it just keeps going. And so by the time we get to where we got like $500, we're starting to now pay $500 into the next debt. And if that's a thousand, then by two months, that's that's paid off as well. So the snowball, as you you know, with the snowball, it gets larger and larger as it rolls. So we continue to roll the extra money into each debt, and then we're able to do what we have to do. Absolutely. So that's how we that's how we do the debt snowball, which is very, very nice.

SPEAKER_03

And I I'll just say this the reason why you start with your smallest debt first is because you want to see quick wins. Yes. That's exciting. It's like, man, we paid something off. Woo! That's a celebration. So it's quick wins. And as you add those payments, like Ra said, it it's momentum.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So it's like you see it happening faster and faster. And that's just such a great feeling.

SPEAKER_01

It is, because you might have something that's, you know, six or seven thousand dollars of debt, and it's like, man, we pay that off in four months or five months, versus twelve. And by the time you get to that, you know, but I'm sorry, 12 years or something. And by the time you get done paying that $6,000, you're done probably pay three or four times over what the original debt was because the interest keeps building up. So that's how we do it. And it really does help. It is it's awesome. It's a great feeling to be able to do that. And my last thing is seek some financial advice if needed, because the ultimate goal is to learn how to be the five-talent or the the two-talent person who learn how to put the money to work versus working for the money or hiding, you know, keeping your money until you know you it's not doing anything for you. So, however way you need to do it, if you need financial advice, seek that. It could be from other couples, it could be from a financial planner, it could be from a credit counselor, just depend, just depends on your state or your situation, your financial status or your situation.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it could actually be with on YouTube with Love Letters with Jason and Ross. Because we're family.

SPEAKER_01

We're family now. Love it.

SPEAKER_03

All right, so every

Live Out Your Love Letter Challenge

SPEAKER_03

week we always offer a love letter challenge. We always challenge you to live out your love letters. So this week, what we want you to do is we want you to pray for a vision for your finances. You may not have any goals or plans or anything like that. We want you to pray this week for a vision for your finances. And for those of you that are really challenged, that you're struggling with your finances, we want you to reach out for support. We want you to reach out to someone and start having conversations to help improve your financial situation.

BONUS: Gold Nuggets of Giving & Investing

SPEAKER_01

Yes. And I want to just add one more thing.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

We talked about investing. Investing is kind of a new area for us. There are a lot of options out there. You definitely want to speak and seek counsel from someone who's very familiar with different investment trends, what you should and should not invest in. However, if you're not there yet, here's the most important thing you can do: invest in God. Invest in the Lord. And what I mean by that is start giving. As you give, it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Men shall give to your bosom. Now, that doesn't only mean your money. That could also mean your time. That could also mean your talents. So more than your treasure, whatever you're giving, when you give it and you submit it to the Lord, he's gonna give you more back. He's going to multiply whatever you give to him. If you give him nothing, there is nothing for him to give you back. He's gonna multiply nothing back to you. You know, that's what I always say. So if whatever you're giving out, if you're giving out kindness, kindness will be multiplied back to you. If you're giving out attitude and you mean and mean spirited, that's gonna be given back to you, multiplied. So be conscious of what you give. But the best investment you could make is investing in God, investing in his love for you. Give him the opportunity. And I think too, when we're given to God as our first sign of worship in honoring him with what we've been blessed with, when we do that, he'll give us insight. He'll give us wisdom. That's that power to get wealth.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

He'll give us that insight that we need to be able to get to the right people, and doors will be opening for us on how we should invest and what we should invest in with what we have, and how do we start? So start with God and then let Him lead you to the rest when it comes to investing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's real good. You make me think of something else. The question you may have is well, you guys are talking about giving to God. How much should I give to God? I'm so glad that you asked that. I'm so glad that you asked that question. The scripture talks about a tithe, which is a tenth of your finances, what you make. So I always encourage people, start with a tenth. Now you may say, okay, Jason, a tenth is gonna put me completely upside down. Okay, I get that. Start with something, yeah, with the intent to get to a tenth. Because what you're going to find is when you get to a tenth and you're giving it joyfully, not just for the purpose of getting something back. That's not a cheerful giver. That's someone that's just wanting some reciprocity, you know, something like that. But what you'll find is you get so much joy out of giving, you will it'll become a lot more than 10%. Trust me, we have far exceeded the 10%. And that's not bragging, it's because we love God and we want to worship Him and we see where our blessings are going. And one thing about God, when you're a giver, He gives you more to give. Yes. Because like when your hands are open, yeah, it just keeps falling. Yeah, it just it can come in because He knows you're gonna you're gonna move it out in the appropriate manner. But when you're holding on to money like this and your knuckles start bleeding, you can't you can't get anything in there. That's right. Right. So we just want to make sure when you ask the question, well, how much should I start with? We recommend you start with 10%. But if your finances, I I don't want to say if your finances don't allow for it, trust me, they allow for it. But I do want you to start doing something. Is that good, Ben?

SPEAKER_01

That's good. It's a test of faith. You want money to come to you, but but in order for it to come to you, it has to come through you. So again, keeping your hands in this posture, a posture of worship and praise to God, honoring God, then the money can come through you. And as it's coming through, it also comes too.

SPEAKER_03

All right, man, this was an awesome podcast episode. Make me want to go make some money.

SPEAKER_01

I hope it blessed you. We pray that it blessed you.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So every week we'd like to close out in prayer. Father, we thank you for our audience, our family. This is our community, our tribe. Father, I pray that you would open up doors of opportunity, Lord God, that you would bless them indeed, that you would enlarge their territory, that your hand would be upon them, Lord God, that they would experience great success. And Lord, those that are challenged with their finances right now, open up doors of opportunity for them as well. Let them see your hand in their lives, Lord, and we just thank you for blessing them right now. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. So here's the deal. I don't know if we told you this in the beginning. Make sure you like, share, and subscribe. And most importantly, we want to hear your comments. We want to know what's good for you. If you've got questions, ask questions. We want to create videos that answer those questions. All right, all right. We'll see you next time on Love Letters with Jason and Rise. All right, we'll see you. Take care.