MoneyWalk 22: What are you worth?

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

You must calculate your net worth in order to determine the state of your finances. Your net worth is the value of all your assets minus the amount of all your liabilities. Assets are material goods you own that have a market value that can be expressed in dollars. This means they are already in cash based accounts or could be sold to someone for a specific dollar amount.

Cash items and some other accounts are considered liquid assets (e.g., savings, checking, certificates of deposit, mutual funds, most stocks, and most bonds), which means they can be cashed in at a financial institution or sold very quickly to obtain a cash value. Other assets are considered illiquid, which means they cannot usually be converted into cash very quickly (e.g., houses, land, cars, artwork, and artifacts). In fact, you may not get the amount that you believe they’re worth because their value is based on what a willing buyer is willing to give a willing seller. The best assets are those that historically appreciate (rise in value) over a period of time and which history generally shows you can count on getting the appreciated value from the assets quickly after you put them up for sale.

Liabilities are debts you owe someone else for material goods, services, or loans. This includes such items as home mortgages, car notes, revolving charge card balances, personal loans, etc. Liabilities are generally not good to have when it comes to personal finance. Business and other loans usually lead to much trouble down the road after you personally guarantee them with your income and assets. Scripture tells you to avoid borrowing and surety (guaranteeing debt, especially for another person) because you will become a slave to the lender. In addition, you will be likely have assets taken from you and eventually be thrust into a much lower standard of living via exorbitant interest charges, repossession, foreclosure, and bankruptcy when you cannot pay the debt.

At least annually, you should calculate your net worth to measure how successful your financial plan or lack of one has been. This will give you an idea of how far into the future you could pay your current debts or expenses if all income stopped coming in. This measurement is necessary because two decades ago the economy changed and layoffs became commonplace in many industries. Today, we see this in a more extreme way in that it has encumbered many of our main economic engines (e.g., banking, mortgage, housing, commercial real estate, automobile, and retail industries).

The ‘lifetime employment with one company dream’ came to a screeching halt. This current trend of changing jobs every 5-7 years, bouts of unemployment, and untimely emergencies and catastrophes that occur in your life should help you understand that you will suffer financial hardships and great amounts of stress that will negatively affect your relationships when you don’t follow God’s plan for building worth.

A Christian who continuously uses good stewardship will accumulate a greater net worth throughout his life that will allow him to weather economic storms better than others. He will also be motivated to help more people and give more to ministry work than people who are poor stewards who spend all their money on consumer purchases and debt service.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Genesis 13:2, Job 42:12 Luke 19:2-10, James 5:1-5
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