Volume 6.1 — February 2015

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Mastering Money By Jean Daly

When Jim and I were first

married, we didn’t have any money

problems—because we didn’t have any money.

We also didn’t have any furniture. We slept on the floor for our first three years of marriage. It didn’t bother us;

I slept on a camping mat while in college, and Jim was also accustomed to sleeping on a mat after his year in Japan. Eventually, though, we broke down and bought some furniture.

Today, Jim and I, like every other couple, still deal with financial issues.

In Western culture, we are bombarded with the message that

more and newer is better. To combat the money monster, Jim and I try to talk regularly about our expenses. Over the years, we have taken turns being responsible for paying the bills. While not always on the same page, we think we complement each other when it comes to money.

What’s InsideMore Happiness in the Family:Secrets for Bringing Happiness Into Your Marriage AND Your Giving

Giving as a Couple: Two Principles from The Best Year of Your Marriage

Finding Joy in Your Estate Planning: Plan Joy Into the Process

Guiding from the Grave: What You Can Do Now That Will Make a Big Difference Later

What does it mean for you to be a wise steward? If you have an income, God is entrusting you with it. How does He want you to use it?

1 How have your attitudes about giving been shaped by the society around you? We live in a consumer culture, but Matthew 6 talks about storing up treasures in heaven and not on earth. Are you caught up in a spending mentality that leaves you unable to give?

2 How might giving help you grow spiritually? Could the discipline of having less available to spend teach you something about materialism?

3THREE STEWARDSHIP QUESTIONS FOR COUPLESExcerpt from The Best Year of Your Marriage by Focus on the Family

More Happiness in the FamilyBy Royce Bervig Senior Gift Planning Officer Focus on the Family

Recently we had Les and Leslie

Parrott on the Focus broadcast to share from their new book Making Happy. As they shared the Six Happiness Boosters, the last one stuck with me: “Add value to others.” This winning principle is counter intuitive but I’ve found that in my

own marriage it is true. When a husband and wife do good for others in agreement together, they experience more joy. As a couple intently sees the needs of others beyond their marriage, happiness springs forth in their relationship. Want to amp up the happiness factor in your family? Give. Sounds like something our role model, Jesus, might say, doesn’t it?

“Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity” (Luke 6:38, The Message, a paraphrase).

For a limited time, we have the broadcast interview with the Parrotts available.

Email: FocusGiftPlanning@fotf.org

THE BEST YEAR OF YOUR MARRIAGE:

Giving as a CoupleExcerpt from The Best Year of Your Marriage by Focus on the Family

Several years ago in an interview at FamilyWise, a couple shared the irresistible joy that giving brought

them as a couple. They shared with transparency the struggles of giving well and what they have learned in the journey. “Opening your hand to let your resources go is the first step. Giving wisely is a lifetime work. It takes time and you gain wisdom as you go along. Don’t stop. See God at work. Don’t sit on the sidelines. Get in the game. Partner with God in His work. It’s irresistible.”

Being part of something bigger than ourselves and allowing our family the joy of partnering with God in His mission globally infuses our life with meaning and joy!

Giving is a very personal thing. Many couples struggle to decide how much money, or what portion of their

income, they should give back to God. As you decide, two principles may be helpful:

We are simply stewards of what God entrusts to us. When people refuse to acknowledge that, they tend to be selfish with the things God has entrusted to them.

The point of giving is to aid other believers, the poor, widows and orphans, and to assist in evangelism around the world (see I Corinthians 16:1-2, Galatians 2:10, James 1:27).

So, how can the two of you find joy in giving? Strangely enough, you’ll find out when you begin to give. Once you see how God continues to provide for you, and how He uses what you’ve given, you’ll probably wonder why you ever held back.

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“No matter where you live, your emotional well-being is as good as it’s going to get at $75,000,” says Dr. Angus Deaton, “and money’s not going to make it any better beyond that point. It’s like you hit some sort of ceiling, and you can’t get emotional well-being much higher just by having more money.”

DID YOU KNOW?The United States may be the richest nation on Earth, but it’s not the happiest. While overall satisfaction of life is tied to income, once you hit an income of $75,000, more doesn’t correlate to greater happiness.

(Source: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index study by

Angus Deaton, Ph.D., and Daniel Kahneman, Ph.D. )

FINDING JOY IN YOUR ESTATE PLANNING

What? Is That Even Possible?By Jeanne McMainsVice President National Christian Foundation Serving Focus on the Family

With the arrival of 2015, perhaps it has crossed your mind that you

need to update your estate plan this year. If your plan is more than a few years old, chances are there have been changes in the tax law, changes in your asset holdings, and changes in your relationships that could dramatically impact how you thought your estate plan would perform.

If you are like many people, the idea of updating your estate plan creates a feeling of dread because the overall experience can be technical, cold and confusing. However, it doesn’t have to be that way! The act of creating an impact-focused inheritance design can actually be fun and fulfilling as you identify and celebrate the core values and experiences that have made your family story unique.

By putting the focus back on family, our FamilyWise team has helped hundreds of families nationwide find joy and peace in their estate planning by helping them to:

• Discover the family core values they wish to capture and cultivate for future generations.

• Design inheritances that address real needs and provide positive, life-shaping experiences rather than merely fund lifestyle.

• Identify how much is enough to leave future generations to abundantly bless and care for them.

• Build family conversations about the blessings of godly stewardship and generous living.

• Gain clarity and understanding of how their tax planning strategies (current and future) further their inheritance impact goals.

If you would like to explore how you can put joy and peace into your estate planning, give us a call. I would be happy to help you think through the possibilities as you prepare for working with your attorney to update your estate planning this year.

Contact us today at FocusGiftPlanning@fotf.org or 1 (800) 782-8227.

Volume 6.1 — February 2015

CONTACT US

1-800-782-8227 FocusGiftPlanning@fotf.org FocusGiftPlanning.com

© 2015 Focus on the FamilyFocusOnTheFamily.com

Free Offer YOUR LIFE… WELL SPENT Author Russ Crosson shares the connection between our family priorities and the world’s promotion of the drive to make more and more money.

For a limited time, contact FamilyWise to receive a free copy of Your Life … Well Spent.

GUIDING FROM THE GRAVE

Increasing the Effectiveness of Leaving an InheritanceBy Terry Parker Founder and Chairman Emeritus National Christian Foundation

Everyone who has a will or any type of estate plan “guides” from the grave. It is

not a matter of whether a person with a plan will do so, it is only a matter of the extent to which such control will happen.

Your children and grandchildren are living in a new day with pressures you and I never dreamed of experiencing. How did our parents, who lived through the Depression and World War II, live relative to money and possessions? They scraped, saved, avoided debt and raised their children. Hardships were tools for learning. In fact, we even look back on them with some fond memories.

Why is it that we want to deny our children and grandchildren the lessons that benefited us so much? How does God treat His own children?

He allows them to go through hardship. I Peter 4:12-13 says, “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (ESV).

He uses hardship for character building. James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials or various kinds, for you know that the testing

of your faith produces steadfastness. And let

steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (ESV).

He warns against placing faith in money. In Matthew 6, Christ talks to us about material possessions and warns us not to store up “treasures on earth.” “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (ESV). 

Therefore, I would challenge you not to make it easy for your children and grandchildren. Do not place so much in  their possession that they will love the one (money) and hate the other (God). Our grandchildren (and certainly our great-grandchildren) will not know us very well and therefore will not know our values. We are each responsible to answer, “What did you do with the assets I entrusted to you?” If our response is “Well, I left it all to my grandchildren,” then you may regret the reality of how the resources are being used several generations from now.

Why roll the dice? Why not do some creative thinking outside the box? In part two of our FamilyWise Newsletter, I will offer 25 ideas that you can implement to guide from the grave, taking the message of sound stewardship into future generations.

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Volume 6.1 — February 2015