I don't have a long introduction for you all. I know we have been impacted by the coronavirus and I hope it has changed your mindset on what is important. Today, I have four quick financial tips that I believe can help you during this time.

Before we jump into creating goals first determine what is important to you. Is it God? Family? Health? Wealth? Whatever it may be for you is an essential step in creating financial goals. In short you need a "why". Looking at the first part of Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) it says, "where there is no vision, the people perish..." in some versions it says "where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint...". We can see the importance of having a vision, revelation, goal, or "why" greater than you. If your why is weak or only about you it may be easy to develop the goals but harder to execute them. In terms of financial goals, a great financial tip is to develop stong goals for your money (more on goals here).

A budget is important to properly track the progress of the financial goals you set. Your budget does not tell you "I can't" it tells you "this is what I can do". If used properly, it can be a measuring tool for your goal progress, help you know the state of your finances, and motivate/inspire you to reach your goals. The budget is your plan; your Google Maps to get to your destination. Proverbs 27:23 tells us, "be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds." Use a budget to know the state of your money enabling you to make stong money decisions. This is financial tip number 2 and one the most important. More on budgeting here.

Along the way to achieving your financial goals adversity will strikes. "... for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." which is part of Matthew 5:45. This let's me know that resistance to goals happens in life including your financial goals. Therefore, set money aside only for emergencies. $1000 of emergency money is good if your goal is to eliminate consumer debt. 3-6 months of expenses (which you would know from your budget) is a good metric once you have eliminated consumer debt and are moving on to other financial goals like retirement investing, buying and/or paying off a home, or other goals you have in mind. This financial tip stems from Proverbs 21:20, "There is desirable treasure, and oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man squanders it." Have emergency money on deck.

The last financial tip is eliminating debt. If you are in a situation with no debt and an emergency fund of 3-6 months right now I'm sure your perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic is different. If you are not in this situation, is this something you now see as important? Removing debt is a critical part of becoming wealthy. As long as you have debt (which is a choice) you will have a master or something hovering above you. Rather it's a friend, a family member, or institution such as a bank, Proverbs 22:7 tells us, "the rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." If you've ever been in debt before, how does the relationship feel with you as the borrower? Reflect on that. To remove debt, I personally like the debt snowball technique. For more on debt elimination click here.

I hope these financial tips are useful and allow you to reach your financial goals. Please choose Faith over Fear for your Finances and be a good steward of what God has entrusted you with.

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