money, money...
By Peter - Posted on August 4th, 2007
Dudes,
question to the forum: what are some real good christian rules for handling money? The usual riposte to the question is "tithing", but that somehow doesn't cut it. More severe souls advise to "give until it hurts", but this is not very useful to me because there are various levels of pain.
my current conundrum is that i can't decide how much i need to save for emergencies, sickness, or retirement, vs giving to charity. how much to set aside for education? i believe we're all in the same boat there.
any educated opinions? let's have them
pmm
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Peter,
I've been thinking about the same things over the last few years but not enough to figure out an answer. Let's see if can't figure out some of this together here...
In the churches of Christ, there is less emphasis on tithing than there appears to be in other denominations...so I've never set out to tithe. However, one of these last few years when I was doing my taxes I observed that we were tithing without intending to...
I guess I would start with the general observations that Christians are called to generosity and self-sacrifice...to lay up treasures in heaven rather than on earth (Matt. 6:19-21)...to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothing to the needy, invite in the stranger, visit the sick and imprisoned (Matt. 25:31-46), etc. So I think our goal is generosity and to be servants of God rather than servants of our own desires to accumulate wealth. As you mentioned, we also have a respsonbility to provide for ourselves and our families. The question we have is how to balance these responsibilities.
I recently mooched the book "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity" by Ronald Sider. Maybe that's a good place to start.
and just ordered these:
Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions (New Studies in Biblical Theology) AND Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity
not sure what they'll be like, but they seem to be free of ranting from either side.
interestingly, the day i posed the question to the forum the sermon in church turned out to be on "store up treasures in heaven".
i'll continue posting on this as soon as i have more data.
i also had a discussion with other folks about laying aside money vs giving it to the poor, and it seems that laying aside 10K per year per child for college is nowadays an absolute min if you want your kids to attend a *reasonable* university, at least for grad school. let me guess, for us that would make 2 kids x 10K x 5 years = 100K. ouch!! is it worth it, especially in the light of what jesus teaches? opinions?
Peter,
College tuition increases at about 6% annually. I calculated that my oldest will spend $220,000 on college starting 16 years from now and attending for 4 years. This based on a current tuition cost of $20,000/year.
It will be even more expensive (but similar) for my youngest. BTW, about 60% of students take some loans.
There are more calculations that are needed here (e.g., investment income and inflation adjusted cost of money etc.). More later.
FYI,
JS
What if they borrow the money?
For a $220,000 education and a 4% interest rate the total cost is $396,000 if they pay it off over 20 years.
For the graduate the payment would be $1650. In today's dollars this is $696/mo.
The final cost, $396,000 is $167,094 in today's dollars.
Boy, my Bachelor's degree sure didn't cost this much! Something has to give on these costs. . .
The investment scenario for a 9-year old and a 6-year old who will go to college in their 18th year will have a combined account value of :
2 kids x 10k/yr/kid x 5 yrs = 194,786 at 8% investment gain (over inflation).
Assuming you start now.
Here's is what i'm worried about. here i/we sit, comparatively well endowed with material goods, after having endured school, college, postdoc, job-hunting, firings, etc. up to now, my contribution to society was probably a net loss, from the christian perspective. maybe not. anyway.
we're around 40, and our kids will be ripe for college in anywhere from 8-15 years or thereabouts. some of us may still be paying off their education, some of us got lucky and went to school in a socialist country where everything is free
so we put aside charity in favor of funding our brats' schooling, to the tune of 100K per kid, which might have gone to feed the world's hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, etc.
when our kids get out of college, they'll be as broke as we are, and will likewise have contributed close to nothing to the good of the world. after having endured their parents, school, college, postdocs, etc, they'll start thinking about jobs and kids, and when they hit age 40 they'll be where we are now. at which point they'll have a convenient excuse for not giving to charity, because ....
so, this is clearly not a solution. what to do? scholarships? european universities (lots cheaper but often as good as US ones)?