YOUTH CAN TEACH
MAKING YOUR MONEY COUNT (Youth Goal Planner)
HOW CAN I MAKE EVERY PENNY COUNT?
YOUTH CAN TEACH with this Making Your Money Count goal planner to help other youth learn about and create a pattern for money management:
• Budget for SAVINGS
• Budget for SPENDING
• Budget for TITHING (10%)
Talk about the blessings that can come from setting priorities and living within a budget.
ACTIVITY:
This Planner will help youth know that money choices can determine blessings received. Study:
• Moses 4:1-4 (it is easy to be deceived about money)
• Moses 7:32 (God gave us agency)
• 2 Nephi 9:51 “Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy.… and let your soul delight in fatness.”
Youth can create a good plan for BUDGETING, SAVING, & SPENDING and live it for three months (to form good habits). This Planner can also help youth meet their most important NEEDS before satisfying their WANTS.
MORE LESSON IDEAS
Living in the Latter-days when money comes quickly for some and hard to obtain for others, it is our goal to Make Your Money Count. With this YOUTH GOAL PLANNER, we can begin our journey to do FOUR things that will bring us blessings and peace of mind as we choose wisely.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
• Do I APPRECIATE Money?
• Do I SPEND Wisely?
• What BLESSINGS Come from Saving Money?
• What Blessings Come from PAYING TITHING?
All of this starts with FAITH and WORKS to obtain both spiritual and temporal blessings. A wise mother once said to her daughter as they looked into the furniture store window, “You can’t eat a couch.” What did she mean? Was it that they needed food or food storage instead?
What are your choices? In Timothy 6:10 we are told that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Money is a useful tool to help provide security, food, clothing, shelter, even joy in our lives. We must learn to manage it, not allow it to manage us. This is where our choices matter.
Budget for SAVINGS. Saving money is a form of preparedness. You never know when emergencies will arise. Having savings set aside for these emergencies brings peace of mind. Brainstorm a list of possible emergencies and what they may cost.
Budget for SPENDING. The proven advice is you list all your expenditures (rent, food, utilities, etc.), make, and stick to a budget! Avoid unnecessary debt! Live within your income! Manage your money responsibly! Be grateful!
Budget for TITHING. Paying tithing FIRST demonstrates your faith. The Lord blesses us in many ways, both seen and unseen. For Example. A young family didn’t have a lot of money, but the mother decided to pay their tithing. Soon she noticed: Her tank of gas took them further than expected; her children’s clothes seemed to last longer; and her family experienced less sickness. She felt deeply that all these blessings came because she paid tithing.
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MUTUAL NIGHT Activities
TALK ABOUT FINANCIAL PITFALLS: Have a banker, an accountant, a parent, and a college student talk about financial pitfalls. Do a book review on some of the following books: “The Millionaire Next Door,” “The Richest Man in Babylon,” or another book that teaches the value of saving money.
WANTS AND NEEDS BUDGET PLAN:
Step 1: Have someone from an average household talk about how they budget their time and money to make things work, to avoid debt, and to live within their means. Talk about the peace that can come into a home between husband and wife if they live within their means.
Step 2: Review books on how to budget.
Step 3: Divide the youth into two groups, giving each group some play money. Ask them to evaluate a typical family budget and show where the money goes. Seeing a budget is believing. Have them start with an average monthly income amount written on a card. Have them write on cards their wants and needs, listing each expense on a different card. Have them lay the cards out on the table with the money next to the cards that they have budgeted for in that month’s budget. Lay the other cards out and talk about wants and needs.
Step 4: Talk about living within your means, cutting back to save what’s ahead, e.g., Christmas, birthdays, school clothes. Give the youth envelopes, and suggest they place money in the envelope for things they are saving for. Have them write on the envelope things they want and prioritize these. Note that it helps to window shop without a purse and think about items before buying them.
ARTICLE on Money Matter$ By Kristi Linton, Sept, 2004 New Era tells seven ways to put money in its place: tithing first, spending, wants and needs, work, pay yourself, get an education, follow a budget. Also in the article (above), see budgeting forms and quotes (below).
QUOTES ON MONEY:
• “Discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage.” —President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Nov. 1998, 54.
• “We must not allow our yearnings to exceed our earnings.” —President Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, Nov. 2002, 54.
• “Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy” (2 Ne. 9:51).
• “If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means.” —President Heber J. Grant (1856–1945), Seventh President of the Church, Relief Society Magazine, May 1932, 302.
VIDEO: Matt and Mandy, September 2010 – Matt’s grandpa tells him of the importance of tithing. (2:07)
