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Personal Finance

Unlike economics, personal finance is all about money.

That's not to say there aren't definite parallels. Both involve extensive planning, allocation of resources, occasional negotiations, balancing needs and desires, and abandoning a course of action if it becomes obviously untenable. Well, both involve those things if they're successful. Plenty of people have trouble making ends meet because their approach to personal finance is laissez-faire and disorganized.

If you have a family and you want them to have everything they need and (within reason) want, you literally can't afford to ignore your personal finances. Some people hire professionals to keep track for them, but if you really want to know what's happening with your money you need to handle it yourself (especially if you make less than tons of money a year).

One of the most common topics of any book on personal finance is Debt. Gradually, as people realize governments and businesses can't continue to accrue unmitigated debt forever, the attitude toward it is growing less positive, but most Americans still love well beyond their means via credit cards, loans, and mortgages.

We're not suggesting you shouldn't make house payments (they're unavoidable for most of us), but if your income won't permit you to buy that brand-new yacht (or even that leaky fifteen-year-old skiff) it's a better idea to just walk away than to ask someone else to buy it for you so you can "pay them back."

Nowhere in the Bible does God say you shouldn't have nice things. In fact, material blessing is often seen as a reward for faithfulness (though this is certainly not always the case, as the stories of St. Paul, Jesus, and Elijah demonstrate). What is wrong is an acquisitive attitude and willingness to spend money you don't have on things you don't need.

A less common but (for Christians) just as important subject for a book on how to manage your money is tithing. Our wealth is not our own. It is only what God has chosen to give us, and our gratitude and His commands compel us to return a portion to Him. Obviously, this return is  both literal and metaphorical, but as is so often the case with biblical mandates, the literal giving is representative of our entire attitude.

Most of the books we carry on personal finance are guides designed to help Christians escape debt, primarily its more pernicious aspects, in order to better support and provide for their families. Yes, we have a book by Dave Ramsey, but we also have some of the classics, including well-known titles by the late Larry Burkett.

It's important to remember that the main goal of managing your money isn't to get more. The reason Christians are called to wise stewardship is that (just as with talents, abilities, knowledge, etc.) what they have is from God, and it is our duty as His people to take care of what He has entrusted to us, not simply squander it on our own selfishness.

In some sense, a good personal finance book will be kind of like a devotional. Managing your money well is one aspect of showing your love and devotion to God, and the best way to learn it as a skill is to become more firmly rooted in your desire to do His will. Not that guides by non-Christians are necessarily bad or offer sketchy advice (we do carry a few), but those authors will maintain a different attitude not necessarily consistent with a Christian worldview.

Even when reading a book by a Christian author, however, it's essential to compare every claim they make to the truth of Scripture. No one is infallible, even the most successful financial planner. But before you dismiss personal finance as a purely secular or worldly concern, consider that God has put us in the world as His witnesses, and that even how we use our money will be taken into account both by Him and by our unbelieving neighbors, friends, relatives, and co-workers.

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ABC's of Handling Money God's Way
for 9th-Adult
$6.00 (1 in stock)
ABC's of Handling Money God's Way
for 2nd-6th grade
$8.50 (1 in stock)
ABC's of Real Estate Investing
by Ken McElroy
for Adult
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Affluenza
by David Wann, John de Graaf, Thomas H Naylor
from Berrett-Koehler Publishers
for Adult
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Banker's Confession
by Gary Sanseri
Revised Edition from Back Home Industries
$15.00 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Banker's Confession
by Gary Sanseri
from Back Home Industries
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Bankruptcy Of Our Nation
by Jerry Robinson
from New Leaf Press
for 10th grade-Adult
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Before You Quit Your Job
by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter
First Edition
for 11th-Adult
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Cashflow Quadrant
by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter
New e.
for Adult
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Complete Cheapskate
by Mary Hunt
from Broadman & Holman
for Adult
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Daring to Live on the Edge
by Loren Cunningham
from YWAM Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
$8.50
Debt-Proof Living
by Mary Hunt
from Broadman & Holman
for Adult
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Dumping Debt
by Dave Ramsey
DVD
for Adult
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Entrepreneurial Bootcamp - DVD Collection
by Various
from Vision Forum
for 10th-Adult
$76.00
Escape from the Rat Race
by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter
1st edition from Little, Brown and Co.
for 11th-Adult
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Everything Budgeting Book
2nd edition from Adams Media Corp.
for 9th-Adult
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Financial Parenting
by Larry Burkett, Rick Osborne
from Moody Press
for Adult
$6.50 (2 in stock)
Financial Peace for the Next Generation Set
for 8th-12th grade
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Financial Peace Revisited
by Dave Ramsey
1St Edition
for Adult
$14.00 (2 in stock)
Financial Peace Revisited
by Dave Ramsey
Revised from Viking Press
for Adult
$15.00 (2 in stock)
Financial Planning Workbook
by Larry Burkett
from Moody Press
for Adult
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Financially Confident Woman
by Mary Hunt
from Unknown Publisher
for Adult
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Free and Clear
by Howard Dayton
from Moody Press
for Adult
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Frugal Families
by Jonni McCoy
from Bethany House
$9.00
How to Manage Your Money
by Larry Burkett
Revised from Moody Press
for Adult
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Kid's Guide to Money
by Steven Otfinoski
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Left-Brain Finance for Right-Brain People
by Paula Ann Monroe
2nd edition from Sourcebooks
for Adult
$9.50 (2 in stock)
Little Book of Alternative Investments
by Ben Stein, Phil DeMuth
from Wiley-Interscience
for Adult
$19.95
Math-U-See Stewardship Math - Student Pack
by Steven Demme
from Math-U-See
for 7th-10th grade
Mathematics of Inflation and Depreciation
Mathematics for Everyday Living
by Roland Larson & Robert Hostetler
from Meridian Book
for 9th-Adult
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Mathematics of Investment
Mathematics for Everyday Living
by Roland Larson & Robert Hostetler
from Saunders College Pub
for 9th-Adult
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Miserly Moms
by Jonni McCoy
3rd edition from Bethany House
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Miserly Moms
by Jonni McCoy
4th edition from Bethany House
$10.39
Money Doesn't Grow on Trees
by Carolina Edwards, Neale S. Godfrey
from Fireside Books
for Adult
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Money Matters for Kids
by Larry Burkett
from Moody Press
for Adult
$9.99 $7.00 (2 in stock)
Money Matters for Teens
by Larry Burkett
from Moody Press
for 7th-12th grade
$12.99 $9.50 (2 in stock)
Money Matters for Teens - Workbook (Ages 11-14)
by Larry Burkett
from Moody Press
for 5th-8th grade
$13.99 $9.50 (1 in stock)
Money Matters for Teens - Workbook (Ages 15-18)
by Larry Burkett
from Moody Press
for 7th-12th grade
$14.99 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Neale S. Godfrey's Ultimate Kids' Money Book
by Neale S. Godfrey
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 4th-6th grade
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Personal Finance Packet
by Curt & Jenny Bumcrot
from Basic Skills
for 9th-Adult
$19.50
Personal Finances
by Larry Burkett
from Moody Press
for Adult
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Protecting Your #1 Asset
Rich Dad Poor Dad
by Michael A. Lechter, Esq.
from Warner Books
for 10th-Adult
$14.00
Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant
by Robert T. Kiyosaki & Sharon L. Lechter
from Warner Books
for 10th-Adult
$17.95 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant
by Robert T. Kiyosaki
for Adult
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Rich Dad's Guide to Investing
Rich Dad Poor Dad Part III
by Robert T. Kiyosaki & Sharon L. Lechter
from Warner Books
for 10th-Adult
$14.00 $7.00 (2 in stock)
Rich Dad's Prophecy
by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter
from Warner Press
for 11th-Adult
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Rich Dad's Prophecy
by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter
for Adult
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
by Robert T. Kiyosaki & Sharon L. Lechter
from Warner Books
for 10th-Adult
$15.00 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
by Robert T. Kiyosaki & Sharon L. Lechter
from Warner Books
for 10th-Adult
Rich Kid, Smart Kid
by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter
from Warner Books
for 9th-12th grade
$11.00 (1 in stock)
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