Dave Ramsey’s Financial Wisdom From Proverbsדוגמה

Day 4: Wise Money Management

Consider This: It’s a wise, biblical principle to save money.

Going bankrupt was a wake-up call for me. I had enjoyed a lot of nice stuff, but I lost it all because of my lack of discipline with my money. So, when I was forced to start over from scratch, I decided to do things differently. Now I tell people to save money for three things: emergencies, large purchases and building wealth for the future.

Proverbs 21:20 draws a distinction between a wise person and a fool. A wise person stores up their valuable resources so they have them in the future if they need them. A fool just uses up their resources as soon as they get them. In the Old Testament, those resources were things like food and oil. Today, it’s your financial resources.

If storing up resources for the future is the biblical principle, why is it so hard to put into practice? It comes down to discipline. It takes discipline to set aside a portion of what you earn to save for larger purchases as well as to invest for building wealth for the future.

This reminds me of the parable Jesus told in Matthew 25:14–30, which also draws a distinction between a wise person and a fool. A master gave portions of his money to three stewards. They were trusted to manage the master’s resources until he returned. The two stewards who used and invested the money wisely were praised and given more responsibility. But the one servant who just buried the money was thrown out. He could have put the money in the bank to earn some interest, at least.

Saving money—that’s one of the basic things wise, wealthy people do. Instead of chasing a lot of extravagant toys, they put money aside. Instead of spending every dollar they make, they use the power of compound interest to build wealth for the future. Instead of flaunting their money, they adopt a simpler lifestyle. They live on less than they make—and they don’t suffer from it a bit! They just keep doing what got them there in the first place.

In contrast, many people are like I was before I went bankrupt. They don’t have the discipline to do even the simple things—like saving money. Instead of becoming wealthy by doing what wealthy people do, they stay broke by doing what broke people do! That includes using credit cards, buy-now-pay-later, or 60-days-same-as-cash as their preferred way to buy anything they want. That’s all debt—and that’s not a good plan.

Wise people save money. It’s a basic, crystal-clear biblical principle—and it’s a good plan. Wise people plan their spending (see Day 2). But if you spend every dollar that passes through your fingers, then guess what? You’re a fool! Don’t blame me—God said it!

Reflection Questions: When you look at your savings, investments, and retirement accounts, what is your reaction? What changes could you make to create margin in your budget to allow you to save money?