5 Ways religion can improve a young person's financial situation
By glblguy
The following is a guest post from Studenomics.
I’m not the world’s most religious person but religion definitely plays a vital role in my life. I try to follow my religion and it’s teachings as often as possible and make it a point to attend Mass Service every Sunday. Whether you realize it or not your beliefs (whether they are cultural, religious, etc.) play a large role in your everyday life and especially how you view money. The purpose of this article to show how any religious beliefs may improve a young person’s financial outlook:
Positive Reinforcement
No matter what beliefs you decide to follow there is a good chance they will provide you with positive thoughts and a positive outlook on life. You will hopefully learn to appreciate life more and all of God’s beautiful creations. You will feel less of an urge to gratify yourself by spending tons of money.
Lifestyle Changes
Religion often aims to alter the way we live our lives and how we behave on a daily basis. Negative aspects of life, such as, alcohol consumption and pointless shopping are often reduced when you decide to change your life for the better. Many College students should consider embracing religion just for the fact that certain lifestyle choices may end up being more beneficial financially and spiritually.
Moderation
Yes I will be the first to admit that no one is perfect, especially when you’re in your twenties, but that’s where moderation comes into play. Sure once in a while we will all have a drink of alcohol or go out and splurge on shopping that is not truly necessary. The trick is to improve on this by indulging in these activities less often and by performing more fulfilling activities more frequently. Maybe next time after you foolishly spend a lot of money on drinking at the bar you could try performing some charity work or community service the next day.
Higher Emphasis on Family
One thing that always sticks out in my head after Mass is the emphasis on the importance of family. You realize that it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you’re surrounded by family. You could go and spend a couple of hundred dollars on an expensive meal at a fancy restaurant or you could all meet up in a park or backyard and spend the afternoon cooking food while enjoying quality time together. When it comes to family you should have the mindset that you don’t have to worry about impressing anybody because your family will love you no matter what. Your parents won’t care if you wear a $100 shirt or a $10 shirt, all that matter is that you spend time with them as often as possible.
Respect Yourself
Hopefully religion will improve the way you look at yourself and show you that you don’t need the trendiest clothing to feel good about yourself. Society has us thinking that we need to spend money to improve how we look and how we feel about ourselves. This is 100% not true because you don’t need to spend a small fortune on work out supplements or Burberry dress shirts to feel good about yourself, it should come from within. Think about it for a minute, how could a $200 pair of jeans change the way you feel about yourself?
This was a guest article from Studenomist who says: I would like to thank Glblguy for granting me this amazing opportunity of having my voice heard on such a respectable and reputable personal finance resource.
In a world where media negatively influences the way young people view money. Where many students are completing College with over $40,000 in student loans. Where many new graduates are forced to make career decisions that are not the most optimal. Studenomics is here to solve the pain by bringing the most valuable advice possible to all the young people out there. Studenomics offers common sense advice on how you can become financially independent early on in life. If you enjoyed this article then please consider subscribing to my RSS feed.
Photo by: rappensuncle
January 10th, 2009 at 9:40 am
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Please take this in the gentle spirit I intend it. It almost seems that you are denying any real and genuine role your faith plays in your life, possibly for the benefit of your readership. If you genuinely do ‘try’ to follow your religion and it’s teaching as often ‘as possible’, then you are missing out on the fullness of life that God has to offer. A scripture that came to mind when I read this: Revelation 3:15 ‘I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water I will spit you out of my mouth!’
Please don’t think that this is a ‘you are going to hell’ message, because that is not at all the way I intend it. I don’t have any idea of your personal life or relationship with God. But as in so many things in life, doing it half-heartedly will give you minimal results. By devoting yourself to it 100%, you gain the FULL benefit. The full benefits of following Christ with all of your heart are too many to list, both in this life and the one to follow.
I wish you joy and peace!
January 10th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
As you may know, Free Money Finance writes a religion oriented money management post on Sundays. A couple of Sundays ago someone tore into him telling him he reads FMF for money advice not sermons. How closed minded.
Funny thing is, if FMF said the tract came from a channeling of Snoga the Wizened Seer by Sryctal the Stoned at Burning Man – dude probably would have listened and thought the advice wise.
Our Christian faith has a lot to say about obtaining and the management of wealth. Read Proverbs and much of the book stresses what are good habits, work hard, don’t be a drunkard, don’t plot other’s downfalls, put faith in God first, etc. I also think much in the New Testament about money & wealth is either mistranslated or misinterpreted.
January 10th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
In my opinion it looks like the author is compartmentalizing Christianity. I have my social life, and my family life, then over here I have my Christian life which helps do some good every now and then. It may not be the case in his life, but the article makes it seem that way. Christianity is not meant to be a part of someone’s life. Christianity is supposed to take over every part of our lives. I think we miss out on the abundant life Jesus promises when we treat it like this.
January 11th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I think we would all be better off with more faith in all aspects of our lives. As for the criticism this young person is getting about this article-the title is not “How to Live a Christian Lifestyle.” This article, like the title (which is appropriate in my opinion) says, is about a few ways that being of a faith (in the first paragraph we learn that the author is not speaking of Christianity exclusively) can influence and even improve a financial situation. Studenomics, thanks for this article and keep up the good work.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:20 am
Cool article. I agree religion is so important with whatever we do.
January 12th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I would certainly agree that your values should be informing your actions, but I don’t think that’s tied up with religion. I mean, *your* values may be inspired by your faith, but mine are not, and it’s our values that we are living out.
I dislike the idea that embracing religion is the best/only way of improving oneself. It’s not true in two ways: plenty of non-religious persons have good value-filled lives, and plenty of religous persons do not (or even have apparently hate-filled lives).