General Conference Revisted

General Conference often provides us with the reminders to live within our means and to avoid unnecessary debt. As hopefully a helpful reminder, here a couple of points from the last General Conference concerning our finances.

President Monson in his talk, "To Learn, To Do, To Be," admonished the Saints "to be prudent in their planning, to be conservative in their living, and to avoid excessive or unnecessary debt. The financial affairs of the Church are being managed in this manner, for [the church leaders] are aware that your tithing and other contributions have not come without sacrifice and are sacred funds."

In the talk, "Let Him Do It with Simplicity," Elder L. Tom Perry discussed four basic needs of life: food, clothing, shelter and fuel.

The section on shelter is directly relevant to how we should conduct our lives financially and so I reproduce the entire section of the talk here:

"Newspapers are filled with reports of the current housing crisis. We have been encouraged at almost every general conference of the Church I can remember not to live beyond our means. Our income should determine the kind of housing we can afford, not the neighbor's big home across the street.

President Heber J. Grant once said: 'From my earliest recollections, from the days of Brigham Young until now, I have listened to men standing in the pulpit . . . urging the people not to run into debt; and I believe that the great majority of all our troubles today is caused though the failure to carry out that counsel.'

One of the better ways to simplify our lives is to follow the counsel we have so often received to live within our income, stay out of debt, and save for a rainy day. We should practice and increase our habits of thrift, industry, economy, and frugality. Members of a well-managed family do no pay interest; they earn it."