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What Do You Treasure?
Brad Thompson
June 6, 2010
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Money And Marriage
“A budget is people telling their money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” John Maxwell
While statistics can be dull and boring, there are some that can tell a powerful story. John Paul Athanasiou shared a series of statistics about the financial health of American families that I thought could be a powerful thought-starter for us this morning. Couple these facts with the powerful impact that financial issues can have on a marriage, and you can see why it’s an important subject for us to deal with in this series on relationships.
The average American spends 120% of what they earn annually.
According to Money Magazine, 78% of us will experience a negative event in the next 10 years, but:
Only 32% of us would be able to cover a $5,000 emergency without going into debt for it.
49% of us could not cover one month’s expenses if we were to miss a paycheck.
70% live paycheck to paycheck.
According to the Boston College Center for Retirement research, the average 55 to 64-year old should have $320,000 in their retirement accounts in order to retire comfortably, yet the average amount that group has is $78,000.
44% of all Americans are in danger of going broke in their post-work years.
In a USA Today survey 97 people out of 100 age 65 or over could not write a check for $600. 54 were still working, while only 3 are financially secure.
There are also some pretty humbling statistics about church finances as well:
By 2007, when after adjusting for taxes and inflation, Americans were over 582% richer than in the Great Depression. Protestants were giving 2.5% of their incomes to their churches.
Giving has not exceeded 3% of a portion of income in 40 years.
53% of Christians have not given to their church in the last month.
85% of churches have no plan related to stewardship or to teach members how to handle God’s money.
In “The Principle of the Path,” Andy Stanley says, “Direction, not intention, determines our destination.” The direction you are currently traveling will determine where you will end up in every area of your life, including the financial realm. When it comes to our finances, I really believe it comes down to this question, “Do we trust God to take care of us? Or have we decided that we deserve more than He seems willing to provide?”