Attitude on Money

I really appreciated the article “Attitude on Money” by Stephen W. Gibson. As I read this article, I found myself thinking about how I view money. I realized that my ideas regarding money have definitely changed a few times during my lifetime. When I was a teenager and young adult, I worked really hard for the things and the money I had, but I didn’t worry about money because I didn’t have a lot of expenses and always had money for what I needed. This view changed as I got married and my husband was going to school. He worked part-time and I was working full-time. We began to have children, my husband graduated and began working full-time, and I was able to stay home with our children. We were in a good place and building our home when a life threatening illness hit one of our boys.

It was during this time that my view of money took a drastic downward turn. I realize it was because with all of the expenses we had going out, I felt like we were drowning. I didn’t want to think about money. I didn’t want to talk about it. While I tried to keep a positive attitude and cheerful countenance, I was always stressed and worried and sad inside and it was mostly about money. We made it through many rough years and are finally out of the debt that was incurred during that time.

At this point in my life, I have a new love for money. It is not that we are extremely well off financially, but as a couple we are able to help others and it is very rewarding to me. I love the good that money can do. I am grateful I have had the opportunity to experience these different facets and ideas regarding money. I have a great working budget and the first thing I pay is my tithing. This has always been a top priority and I definitely know that I am where I am in my life because of this priority. I feel that some of the rules that will help us prosper are creating a good budget, paying tithing/charity, and living within our means.

Some key points that resonated with me from the article “Attitude on Money” are:

• We all have filters in our minds which change the way we "see" things
• What is the right way to look at money?
• Money is not evil
• It is not good or bad
• The love of money or the obsession with accumulating money from others unrighteously, no matter what the method, may be evil
• Money has great power
• Money often reveals the kind of person we are
• Making money is a talent and some are born with that ability but just because you weren’t born with that ability, doesn’t mean you can’t learn
• We are warned about materialism, which is concentrating on accumulating money just to accumulate things
• Some people look through their filters and believe it is righteous to be poor and suffer but we are taught to be self-reliant so we can take care of ourselves. We can’t do this without money and we need to earn it ourselves

If you want to prosper:

1. Seek the Lord and have hope in him
2. Keep the commandments, which includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings
3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant
4. Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. Education, as President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity
5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated
6. Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held captive