Many couples accrue endless debt in this way:<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cFor instance, it\u2019s Friday night and you want to eat out, and you\u2019re choosing between the pricey sushi joint you\u2019re craving and the much cheaper caf\u00e9. You\u2019re carrying a combined $25,000 on two or more credit cards, and you think to yourself, \u201cWhat difference is another $100?\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the beginning of the end.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re digging a deeper hole because you think there\u2019s no way out of the hole to begin with. As the debt grows, though, so will tension in your marriage, because just about every discretionary dollar you earn will be earmarked for some creditor. You and your spouse will feel increasingly incapable of living your life and end up mad at one another. This isn\u2019t what you signed up for.\u201d<\/p>\n
**********************<\/p>\n
It strikes me that many of us enter marriage with so much debt because we\u2019ve been highly unwise in how we spend money.\u00a0 In addition, many of us carry so much debt going into marriage that we adopt a laissez-faire approach to spending\u2013\u201cWell, we\u2019re already $40,000 in the whole, what\u2019s another pair of expensive shoes?\u201d\u2013or the like.\u00a0 As Opendyke says, that will kill a couple\u2019s financial prospects.<\/p>\n
Many of us have so much from college expenses that it will take us decades to pay it off.\u00a0 This is a scary prospect, one that my generation must address as we raise our children.\u00a0 It\u2019s great to get a name-brand education, but if that\u2019s going to set us tens of thousands of dollars in the hole, I would seriously question if that\u2019s worth it.\u00a0 Maybe the family as a whole will have to swallow some pride and the student in question will have to forego some opportunities, but the specter of debt many of my generation face seems to make that worth it.<\/p>\n
One other matter: there is a huge need for men to step up here, pre- and post-marriage.\u00a0 Too many guys live like idiots before marriage and enter it without any clue, any plan, as to how to direct the finances of a family.\u00a0 They make dumb, sometimes selfish, decisions with their budget and put the family in the tank as a result.\u00a0 As one who does not naturally enjoy managing finances, I can say that it is imperative that men like me, sometimes lazy but commissioned by God to lead their families, set a strong course for the budget.<\/p>\n
As a man, lead the way for your family not simply in devotions or getting to church\u2013lead them budgetarily.\u00a0 Teach your children what restraint and self-discipline looks like, budget sacrificially to bless your wife and relieve her of totally unnecessary stress, and plan for the future so you can give sacrificially to the church and missions.\u00a0 Make the hard decisions about eating out, buying a new car, getting a new tv.\u00a0 Above all, save every penny that you can, like the rich do.\u00a0 The poor throw their money at things that deteriorate in value, while wealthy people by and large save.<\/em><\/p>\nAnd many of us would be wise to pick up Opdyke\u2019s book\u2013it looks very helpful.\u00a0 It would go a long way in helping both men and women to be wise with the resources God has given us to use for His glory.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Wall Street Journal has a helpful article by Jeff Opdyke called \u201cWith This Debt, I Thee Wed\u201d on managing debt in marriage.\u00a0 It\u2019s an adaptation from the new book Financially Ever After: The Couples\u2019 Guide to Managing Money, which looks very helpful. Here are a few nuggets to chew on: \u201cCouples today routinely enter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1060,13124,1279,1661,2284,3026,3092],"class_list":["post-1516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dealing-with-debt","tag-debt","tag-financially-ever-after","tag-jeff-opdyke","tag-paypal","tag-wall-street-journal","tag-with-this-debt-i-thee-wed"],"yoast_head":"\n
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The Wall Street Journal has a helpful article by Jeff Opdyke called \u201cWith This Debt, I Thee Wed\u201d <\/a>on managing debt in marriage.\u00a0 It\u2019s an adaptation from the new book Financially Ever After: The Couples\u2019 Guide to Managing Money<\/em><\/a>, which looks very helpful.<\/p>\n