5 Scriptures on Money Financial Need 2
2. Make a Budget
Luke 14:28-30 – Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, “This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.”
This Biblical saying is about budgeting. You know you need to cover the cost of necessities first – but those costs don’t always come up right away, so you need to plan for them or make a budget. Some major expenses, such as rent payments, only come due once per month. Others, like home insurance premiums, only come due once annually. Planning ahead and saving for those intermittent (but known) expenses is a key component of budgeting.
For example, suppose you earn $600 weekly. Out of that, you spend $50 on groceries, $10 on gas for your car, and $40 to pay the monthly electric bill, which happens to be due this week. At this point, you might think you’ve covered all your essential expenses, and the remaining $500 is free to spend as you like. However, if you just blow through that “extra” $500 every week, you’ll be in for a rude awakening when your $700 rent is due at the end of the month.
By sitting down with a pen and paper – or a computer and budgeting software, such as Mint – you can figure out exactly which expenses you have to cover – not just in the immediate future, but over the long term. Then you can determine how much money you need to set aside to cover all your financial needs, from paying your weekly grocery bill, to financing your retirement years down the line. That way, you can make sure your “tower” – your personal finances – can be completed, from bottom to top.