There is a lot of financial advice being offered. What advice should I be careful of, and what is your advice if I am in financial trouble?

Hi. My name is Ron Blue. I've been doing a lot of reading recently, and it seems like anything that I pick up talks about an economic crisis. Or, I turn on television and I get advice. Or, I see advertising. And one of the advertisements that I see is to buy gold, for example.
And I've been asked, "What advice should I be careful of?" Well, buying gold is one that I should be careful of. But there's other advice that I should be careful of also, and I would say it this way: the best way to tell a counterfeit dollar bill is to hold up the real dollar bill next to it. That is the only way that you can tell a counterfeit is when you compare the counterfeit with reality. And I would say when you're looking for advice, holding up God's Word against the counsel that you're hearing about or reading about is the way to test whether this is good advice or not.

And I can tell you this -- there is no easy way out. There is no magic cure. There is no magic bullet that is going to help people avoid the crisis that they're in, except to follow biblical wisdom and to get your house in order. And how do you do that? You set up a budget. You reduce your expenses. You cut down to just the bare essentials if you're in a crisis situation. Secondly, you use the cash flow that you free up to pay off your short-term debt so that you don't have those big credit card payments.

Thirdly, you begin to save some money so that you've got the money set aside for the emergencies and for the short-term needs that may come up. Maybe it's a child's braces. Maybe it is an accident. Maybe it is a house repair or car repair. You need some money set aside for those things that are going to happen. And then, lastly, you take a total look at your finances and you set some long-term goals, and you prioritize those goals so that you organize your finances according to a plan. If the advice that you're hearing is not consistent with those four principles, it's probably not good advice. Hold up the advice that you hear against God's Word to see whether or not it makes any sense or not.

Click here for the February 12, 2009 Blog Entry