Stewardship is something I write a great deal about as a bee keeper, an environmentalist, and a Catholic, because on principle, it is a responsibility and good practice. Living simply (financially) is also very much a part of how we do what we do in a one income home while employed by a non-profit. Interestingly folks seem to have a great deal more enthusiasm around concepts like cloth napkins and recycling–even cloth diapers, but it’s sort of crickets when it comes to finances.

Financial stewardship is not a topic I’ve tackled head-on, but when I was approached by Compass Catholic to participate in a virtual Faith & Money Matters Bible study and write about the experience, I said ‘yes.’ It was a six-week course that we took as a couple, with several other couples from across the country in various stages of life.

You should know that I have no financial training or credentials, unless you count rocking mega sales at the grocery store and on FB marketplace, but money is something all of us have to negotiate, and many of us aren’t doing it well, so what could it hurt? If in turn, it could offer a springboard for you or I to tackle finances in a way that offers ideas to get out of debt, budget, and share what we’ve got, so much the better.

Unexpected Expenses

I’m sure I don’t have to cite much research to prove that Americans are in a tight spot right now, financially. It has been snowballing for a while for a variety of reasons, and job losses, credit cards, college debt, and online shopping are certainly adding to it. In fact, studies show that most Americans (pre-covid) couldn’t handle even a small financial hiccup–they would have to either borrow money or sell something to pay the cost.

That is unsettling at best, a time-bomb at worst because unexpected expenses are lurking everywhere and finances don’t always bring out our best. So, it comes down to one of three options when deciding how to address our financial realities:

1. Ignore the issue and hope it goes away.
2. Draw upon your own knowledge of personal finance to navigate getting out/staying out of debt.
3. Seek assistance from those who know what they are doing and have resources to offer.

Financial Peace

When we got married, it became alarmingly clear that we were in very different places in the way that we thought about money. We dreaded our monthly money chats for different reasons. We had college debt, rent and about five various jobs between us. In an inspired moment, my husband heard a talk show on the radio hosted by Dave Ramsey about finances and getting out of debt. We talked it over and quickly signed up for Financial Peace University.

Dave is a wonderful presenter, charismatic, funny, experienced–he’s been bankrupt and built a business on helping people get out of debt. Although he doesn’t shy away from his Christian perspective and tithing, the lion’s share of his instruction is a crash course in interest rates, savings accounts, income, expenses, Roth IRA’s, taxes, etc. He’s a big advocate of the envelope system, paying with cash, cutting up your credit cards, and monthly budget committee meetings. Even as a trial run, these practices are eye-opening to say the least.

What F.P. did was offer a neutral point of instruction and invitation for us to sit down honestly with our whole financial situation and goals (debt, savings, retirement, giving, investments, wills, etc.) and begin to navigate our way through it, in some cases learning about these concepts for the first time. It was cerebral, it was hard, and it was a game-changer.

Subscription also came with some great budgeting tools we could install on our computer. Participating in a class on money early on was a huge stress-reliever and improved our communication substantially. Many churches–Catholic and protestant alike–advertise these classes in their bulletins and outdoor signage so you’ll likely find one near you if you would prefer a class setting, we took our class in our living room.

Enter Compass Catholic

We’ve been married ten years now, so a lot of our money conversations have grown a bit stale because we have read the books, watched the videos and decided what has worked and what we could commit to. We were looking forward to a Bible study (particularly a Catholic one) on finances as opposed to a strictly financial study.

We were delighted by the opportunity to dig into Scripture, and even the Catechism as a lens for stewarding our finances–spoiler alert–there is SO MUCH Scripture that pertains to our resources and how to steward them well. Inherent in this study were strategies to get out/stay out of debt, to save for things as they come along, but especially to find the joy in sharing what we have, knowing that it is all gift. Whether that means you support your favorite charity for $2/month while we pay down debt, or $200/month down the road, we can’t say it’s not in the budget if we are making the budget–which is empowering!

Personal finance meets community

As an added service, Compass trains volunteers who can meet with individuals who prefer to meet with a trained money coach.

While both programs have given us tools to use as we navigate our finances, Compass’ program offered a great deal more formation from a faith perspective, specific to our Catholic tradition. Being a part of the Faith and Money Matters study bridged a gap for us that had made financial conversations mostly intellectual to one that includes both head and heart.

As a group, we reflected that meeting with people online had some advantages, too. Whereas going to a meeting about money at your own parish may lead to being shy/vague about asking questions to keep appearances up, talking with others that you don’t run into at church or at Target, can make for freer, more honest conversations than most of us had experienced previously. Free, honest conversation is a great way to get questions answered and seek insights from others–particularly when you have no preconceived idea about where they are financially, or where you appear to be. (**Listen to our study group’s conversation on the Money Stories podcast, here).

Gaining Traction

If you are looking for traction in terms of finances, each of these programs have their merits and will help to guide you toward a place of greater awareness pertaining to financial stewardship and getting out of debt. If you are Catholic, or even if you’re not and you’d prefer to delve into faith-based stewardship, Compass offers a really great program. Comparatively speaking, Compass seems to focus more on making financial resources available at a low cost to those who are trying to put their finances in order, which is both a beautiful and practical aspect of an investment in personal finance.

Cheers to financial empowerment and confidence for greater generosity!

“Giving is not God’s way of raising money; it is God’s way of raising people into the likeness of his Son.”

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Also, July 31st was the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola and I shared a reflection on the practice of the Examen during this unusual time:

‘Some of these lessons have been simple enough: learning to be creative with the canned goods in my cabinets, logging in to my (now) virtual meetings, or the ability to pivot, scrapping long-anticipated plans. Others lessons have highlighted my tremendous gratitude for teachers, grocers, healthcare workers, social service providers, delivery truck drivers, and postal workers that have maintained a semblance of normalcy in times that were anything but…’ continue reading.