Comments on: Personal Financial Accountability In the Church, A Way Forward

By: Todd Hiestand » Resources on Suburbia » Missional Living in Suburban America

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:21:42 +0000

[...] Personal Financial Accountability In the Church, A Way Forward [...]

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:59:16 +0000

Everyone, thanks for your feedback on this. I’m going to check out some of your suggestions and see how those tools are. It’s great to see so many people bucking the system and trying to get free from debt!

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:13:11 +0000

Todd,
Thanks for blogging about this, and for sharing what’s been helpful for you and your family. My wife and i have been on a path similar to yours (though it sounds like you’re a few steps ahead of us, so thanks for the practical suggestions). Mint is nice, but in addition to (or as an alternative to) it, I’d suggest a program called Pearbudget (http://www.pearbudget.com), which my wife and I have found really helpful in this area. I recently blogged about it at http://greenfieldsbeyond.blogspot.com/2008/04/save-our-money.html.
As with Mint, you can access Pearbudget from anywhere and could give your password to your “accountability partner” if you wanted to.
Anyway, thanks for posts like this, and for pushing us all to rethink our assumptions…

By: Dianne

Dianne — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:04:41 +0000

Hi there – been reading your blog for a while and really enjoying it. Just had to say thanks for this post – really thought-provoking and challenging. I’ve always had the idea that your finances are private but maybe you’re on to something here.

By: Deb

Deb — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:10:42 +0000

Of course you've probably gathered that I agree wholeheartedly with this mindset. I looked at using Mint.com, but ended up with another program called Mvelopes. It's not a free service, but I'm cool with paying for something that helps me so much. If anyone's interested, I wrote a couple of posts about how finding Dave Ramsey and dedicating myself to being debt-free (and hence more Christ-like in my personal money managment) has really shaken things up and changed my life. Amoung other things, I've found that God is smarter than I am at managing money - go figure. :)

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:02:20 +0000

Matt, hey yeah you touch on something here I forgot to write about. The big question has been security and whether they were legitimate. The bigger they get the safer i feel. In my mind it means they have more money to toss at security. I saw them featured in Wired Magazine a few months back so at least they aren’t a mom and pop shop. Of course, I can’t guarantee its security either (any more than I can guarantee the online banking at my bank. Not that you are looking for me to but I figured I would cover my butt. :)

By: Matt Jones

Matt Jones — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:52:59 +0000

I absolutely love this post. Thanks for your example of opening up your finances. I really think this is a huge part of our church life that many (but not everyone) need. I too am testing out mint.com and think it is a great solution for people trying to get a handle on their finances, but if I were to recommend it to others, I wish I could show them it was safe. Now I know that everything online can “technically” be hacked, but the more mint grows, doesn’t it become a target? Do you know what measures they have taken to keep it secure?