Master your money ron blue pdf

HEART HEALTH

HABITS HOPE

The 4 H Tool

MONEY ISSUES are HEART ISSUES.

As you think about your money, what are your hopes? Do you want to understand your finances better? Do you want to be able to successfully face financial challenges and meet financial goals? Do you want to be able to communicate effectively about money with those you love? Ultimately, I want you to handle money from a confident place — empowered by biblical financial wisdom. No small task, right?

In this short guide, I will offer a framework for thinking differently about money. It comes from a few simple truths about money that I’ve condensed as I’ve shared biblical financial wisdom with people over a five-decade career. Based on my experience of delivering financial advice to individuals and families in all circumstances of life, I know with certainty that God’s Word speaks authoritatively, timelessly, and simply to all financial planning and decision-making.

For more information go to: www.RonBlueInstitute.com/FourHTool © Ron Blue Library LLC 2018

RELIGION / Christian Life / Stewardship & Giving

RON BLUE is the founding director of Kingdom Advisors and the author of nearly 20 books on biblical financial topics, including Never Enough? Three Keys to Financial Contentment. He has most recently created a small-group curriculum, God Owns It All. Ron is the chief executive officer of the Ron Blue Institute for Financial Planning at Indiana Wesleyan University. In 1979, he founded Ronald Blue & Co. (now Ronald Blue Trust), the largest Christian financial planning firm in the country. He and his wife, Judy, have five children and thirteen grandchildren and live in Atlanta, Georgia.

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© Ron Blue Library LLC 2018 ISBN # 978-0-9998673-0-3

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The 4 H Tool

HEART

I want you to handle your money from a confident place — empowered by biblical financial wisdom.

HAT IF I TOLD YOU that it is possible to understand financial issues without having to know all about spreadsheets and retirement plans? Would you feel relief?

As you think about your money, what are your hopes? Do you want to understand your finances better? Do you want to be able to successfully face financial challenges and meet financial goals? Do you want to be able to communicate effectively about money with those you love? Ultimately, I want you to handle money from a confident place — empowered by biblical financial wisdom.

No small task, right?

The roadblocks are many, and you know them well.

First off, starting a money conversation — even an internal one — can feel like kicking an ant pile: you never know how many poisonous things will come out!

Know this: money issues are heart issues.

When money comes up, you and I instinctively fear conflict, exposure, shame, or loss of control. These fears are real, and they come from the heart. Examining financial priorities and motivations, trying to untangle what’s messy, or charting a course toward what’s true unearths heart-level priorities, motivations, and truth systems. Financial conversations take you to places that require courage and deep honesty. These places can be uncomfortable, and that’s okay!

The beauty of having an honest money conversation is that you open yourself up to profound change that yields both financial and heart-level freedom.

Have you ever struggled with financial fears or with the temptation to use money as a mechanism for control? This doesn’t have to be your reality anymore.

In this short guide, I will offer a framework for thinking differently about money. It comes from a few simple truths about money that I’ve condensed as I’ve shared biblical financial wisdom with people over a five-decade career. Based on my experience of delivering financial advice to individuals and families in all circumstances of life, I know with certainty that God’s Word speaks authoritatively, timelessly, and simply to all financial planning and decision-making.

Simplifying the Money Conversation Heart, Health, Habits, Hope

W

SIMPLIFYING THE MONEY CONVERSATION2

God’s Word speaks authoritatively, timelessly, and simply to all financial planning and decision- making.

Biblical financial wisdom is profoundly simple, and it works.

Over my working lifetime, I have had the opportunity to work on both Wall Street and Main Street. I have served in the marketplace as a CPA, financial advisor, business owner, entrepreneur, and communicator. My life’s passion has been to help Christians plan and manage their finances so that they are financially free to follow God’s purposes. Along the way, I’ve discovered something: biblical financial wisdom is profoundly simple, and it works. It works on Main Street and on Wall Street. Pursuing biblical financial wisdom will lead to firmer footing — for your money and your heart.

I am excited for you and with you as you learn more!

In this guide, we will explore the four key elements of financial confidence: Heart, Health, Habits, and Hope. These elements unlock a foundational framework empowering a lifetime of excellent financial decisions.

In the Heart section, you’ll learn four biblical perspectives that provide a solid foundation for every financial decision.

In the Health section, there’s a simple tool to reveal your current financial reality and identify how well it is aligned with your desired financial situation.

In the Habits section, I share five biblical financial principles that, when applied consistently, help you become financially stronger.

In the Hope section, you can confidently determine your next steps by set- ting faith financial goals, aligning your financial future with God’s kingdom purposes.

The four Hs are like the four corners of a puzzle; they provide a framework for thinking, acting, and communicating. These four corners will never change. They are not only the starting point, but will always provide the framework of biblical financial management.

To start, take a few minutes to review the overview of the 4 Hs of Financial Wisdom on the next two pages. Then, I will unpack each of the four elements so that you can begin to simplify your money conversations.

3 SIMPLIFYING THEMONEY CONVERSATION

HEART: BEHAVIOR FOLLOWS BELIEF

STEWARDSHIP: Do I believe that God owns it all?

CONTENTMENT: Do I believe that what I have right now is enough?

FAITH: Do I believe that I demonstrate my faith through my finances?

WISDOM: Do I believe that God’s wisdom is true and available?

Spend Less Than You Earn

Give Generously

Avoid the Use of Debt

Plan for Financial Margin

Set Long-Term Goals

2 Cor. 8:10-11 Prov. 22:7; Ps. 37:21

Prov. 10:4

Prov. 6:6-8; Luke 14:28Eph. 2:10; Phil 3:14

HABITS: FIVE BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES

THE 4 HS of FINANCIAL WISDOM

Psalm 24:1

Hebrews 11: 1, 6

Philippians 4:11-13 Hebrews 13:5

James 3:16-17 James 1:5

Stewardship

Faith

Contentment

Wisdom

SIMPLIFYING THE MONEY CONVERSATION4

HEALTH: TODAY’SREALITY

LIVE: Practice provision, contentment, and enjoyment because money is a tool. (1 Timothy 4:4, 5:8, 6:6-10)

GIVE: Open my hand to release God’s resources. He wants my heart connected to His Kingdom story. (Matthew 6:19-24; 2 Corinthians 8:9-11; Luke 16:13)

OWE (Debt): Eliminate debt because debt always presumes upon the future. (Proverbs 22:7; James 4: 13-16)

OWE (Taxes): Pay taxes with gratitude. They reflect God’s provision. (Matthew 22:17-21)

GROW: Demonstrate financial maturity by giving up today’s desires for tomorrow’s benefit. (Proverbs 6:6-8; Luke 14:28-30)

There are five simultaneous competing priorities for the use of money. God’s Word speaks to each:

Changing habits to increase margin is the only way to meet long-term goals and align our hearts and hope toward eternity.

Without margin, it is difficult to respond to God’s calling on our lives and to meet the needs of those He has put in our lives.

HOPE: TOMORROW’SPROMISE

Surviving “Living paycheck to

paycheck”

Secure “Saving for long-term

goals”

Stable “Saving some with an

emergency fund”

Struggling “Not able to make

ends meet”

Surplus “More than enough”Margin

Meter

Live Give

Owe (Debt)

Owe

Grow

GOD OWNS IT ALL

(Taxes)

THE 4 HS of FINANCIAL

WISDOM

5 SIMPLIFYING THEMONEY CONVERSATION

HEART

ELEMENT #1 Heart

All money issues are heart issues.

Jesus taught in Matthew 6:21 that, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Whenever I speak, I tell people that if they show me their checkbooks, I can tell them their priorities. The reality is that money decisions are just ancillary evidence of what’s going on in someone’s heart at any given time.

To illustrate the connection between the heart and finances, I teach four heart-level perspectives that lead to peace of mind in a person’s finances, no matter how big the paycheck or financial decision. When your heart rests on these four perspectives, you are better able to make good financial decisions aligned with your priorities. When STEWARDSHIP, FAITH, WISDOM, and CONTENTMENT undergird your attitude toward money, your use of money best reflects your relationship with God.