The Four-letter Word with Interest

Did I catch your attention? I hope so. Because I have some pretty strong feelings about what I'm going to talk about! Any guesses on what that is? What's the four-letter word? How can a word have interest? Why is Krista asking all these questions? Why doesn't she just get to the point?

Okay, you win. The four-letter word is debt.

The prophets and other Church leaders have warned against debt. "Once in debt," President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. stated, "interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it. . . and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you."

Yikes. I don't want anything crushing me, least of all something so worldly and abstract as a massive, dark cloud of debt.

There are three exceptions in which debt is acceptable, according to Joseph B. Wirthlin: debt "for a modest home, expenses for education, [and] perhaps for a needed first car." So that's good news. I don't have to become a millionaire at age twenty-three in order to purchase a home with cash in hand. Thankfully, BYU is a CES school which allows me to go through my undergraduate education without having to worry about massive debt (as long as I'm wise). I'm sure grateful for tithes and offerings that allow this system to work so well.

So we know debt is a scary thing. How can we avoid it?

I'll only mention one basic principle right now, and in very brief terms. It's simply this: don't spend money if you don't have it. It sounds simple, but it may be more tempting than we'd expect. In an age of credit cards and grace periods and a "I want it now" mentality, we might get caught up in the latest trends. Newer, faster, bigger, smarter, prettier... and more expensive. The best way to stay out of unnecessary debt is not to give in to the temptations.

So next time I'm tempted to swipe my credit card for a classy pair of high heels or a brick of fudge from the bookstore, I'm going to practice positive financial stewardship and consider whether it's really in my budget.