For the Love of Money: Navigating Personal Finances with Stewardship and Faith

By Sadahri Berry

This delightful book will guide you through creating the canvas for your financial life. Even if you think you are not financially savvy, this book will teach you a simple, yet comprehensive, approach to handling your financial affairs. There is a science and an art to managing your personal finances— all you need to do is discover it. It's time to realize that YOU are your own best Financial Manager!

"For the Love of Money" will reveal the practical steps to building your own money management plan. Sadahri Berry guides you towards a lifestyle of greater financial wellness, mindful spending, and a sense of faith in your financial life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098313777

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Copyright © 2020 by Sadahri Berry

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, addressed Attention: Permissions at [e-mail].

The ideas and contents in this book reflect the personal views and experiences of the author and are intended for informational purposes only; they do not constitute professional or legal advice. The author is not an investment, legal or tax advisor or accountant and does not hold herself out to be such a professional. The author makes no representations or warranties, and specifically disclaims any implied warranties, as to any results that may be obtained from using the contents of this book. Readers should consult with an appropriate licensed professional before making any investment decisions and conduct your own research and due diligence involving any advice you choose to apply. Any action readers take upon the contents of this book is strictly at your own risk, and the author will not be liable for any losses or damages in connection with the use of this book.

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are taken from The Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987, 2015 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Print ISBN: 978-1-09831-376-0

eBook ISBN: 978-1-09831-377-7

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition, 2020

I pray that this book helps to shift us from a place of worry and fear to greater joy and love in the area of our personal finances.

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I thank God for planting in me the seed of this book project. It has been a joy to bring it to fruition. I am thankful for my husband, Keith Berry, for his support along the journey of building our family and supporting my choices to carve out the balance and space to focus on home and motherhood. I am thankful for my two sons, who have truly been my most exciting endeavor. Their exuberance for life brings me back daily from my serious side to more moments of joy, laughter and play. They are the first to endure with patience, all my lectures about following their hearts and their authentic path in life with faith along their journey. I am thankful to my parents for all their sacrifices along the way for me and their grandsons. I am grateful for the strands of frugality I must have inherited from my dad, balanced thank goodness, by my mom. I am also particularly grateful for the example set by my mom who took her own unique leap of faith leaving a more traditional career to go into business for herself at a time when she was a single mother, and this was certainly not the easiest choice to make—she was a trailblazer in her own right. Thank you to my friend Yolanda for sharing your personal story which inspired me to push to the finish line of this project and reminding me that each leap of faith leads to the next. My brother Eric, thank you for the coffee shop and dinner conversations about this project and your perfect words that helped me push past my fears and doubt, so I could keep moving forward. And, to my dear friend Alison, thanks for always thinking—although I am still not sure why—that I could do just about anything I could conjure up. I so appreciate all your encouragement. I am grateful for the example set for our sons by their grandparents, the late Arthur R. Berry and Sylvia Berry. They are a beautiful demonstration of two people who shared their true gifts with the world in their own unique ways. A champagne toast to my brother-in-law Kevin for always recognizing my creative potential. Lastly, I dedicate this book to the memory of my two late brothers, Jarrett White and Kenneth Boston, whose lives seemed to have ended too soon. They are examples of people who leaned into their gifts and passions while living life fully and deeply. Thanks to you both for your positive examples and your legacy in our family.

Preface

I am so excited you have joined me for a journey towards greater financial health. This endeavor has been a labor of love and a long-time desire of mine. For as long as I can recall, I’ve had an interest in the topic of financial wellness and personal financial education. However, until now, I have only had an opportunity to practice, to the best of my ability and within the scope of my personal life circumstances and resources, the philosophies and ideas shared in this book.

Throughout this book, my desire is to inspire and guide you towards a lifestyle of financial wellness, mindful spending and a sense of faith in your financial life as a part of an overall healthy lifestyle. The cornerstone of this message really is about developing a financial lifestyle that can sustain us through the many seasons and stages of our lives at various levels of income. Financial wellness is not only about how much money we make but also the choices we make with money—and I believe as well, the integration of our faith into our financial lives.

As you journey through this book, my goal is to help you develop your own personal financial wellness plan. Along the way, I hope you will also have some fun bringing these ideas and processes into your life. This book is intended to be a personal journey to a lifestyle of improved financial health and the experience will differ for each person. I really don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all process, as I hope you will each incorporate these strategies and ideas into your lives in your own unique way.

Before we begin, I should first take the time to introduce myself. I could start with a resume or a lengthy list of details, instead, I’ll begin with a little something about what and who I am not. I am not a Certified Financial Planner or a licensed investment advisor. I have not endured a personal story of rags to riches, or a financial disaster turnaround resulting from over-spending or incurring mounds of debt. In contrast, I hail from quite an ordinary middle-class childhood, and my husband and I have lived a comfortable, but simple lifestyle centered around family, work, community and raising our two sons over the past 25 years. When our sons were young school-aged, I took a leap of faith and relinquished a thriving and fruitful corporate career after nearly 15 years of employment with a large financial institution in exchange for full-time motherhood, which was one of my first discovered passions.

My path may not seem glamorous, intriguing or one that would make for an exciting cover story. However, my story does closely resemble millions of others who are living, working and navigating a myriad of financial decisions, obstacles and opportunities. The ideas contained in this book have been derived from my real-life choices and experiences under both more abundant financial circumstances and a leaner season resulting from a transition out of my former career. I have been faced with many of the same experiences and challenges that most people face when it comes to money. This would include making choices about a livelihood, attempting to follow my passion and calling, decisions about day-to-day money management and the demands of supporting a household and family and trying to allow my faith to be at the center.

I do not propose to have all the answers, and likely no one person does; but I can say I have found that the strategies in this book have served me well through the various seasons of my life. I can tell you from personal experience that my husband and I have lived in various scenarios over our 25-year marriage and these ideas have stood the test of time. Even prior to my marriage, these are philosophies I began to live by at a very early age from the time I first began to hold jobs as a teenager and on through my college and short-lived premarital adult period.

The ideas in this book may be used and embraced by those from all walks of life—they will not require any particular social background, educational pedigree or high-powered profession. The concepts, suggestions and ideas shared reflect a wholesome and holistic approach to personal money management which offers room to live both simply and abundantly. If we start now, my hope is that future generations will enjoy lives freer and more balanced and fulfilling than most of us today can imagine. Maybe mounds of debt and financial strain will be less prevalent for our children and grandchildren. My greatest desire is that together we will start a financial revolution that will change our culture from debt-ridden and stressed to lifestyles of greater financial wellness.

Now that you know who I am not, I can tell you a bit more about who I am. I am a wife and mother of two, a former corporate/commercial banker, previously a working mother and currently a full-time homemaker for much of the past ten years aside from part-time work I have taken on to augment our primary income. I am now refocusing on professional and creative pursuits as our kids have grown older and I continued to carry a desire to contribute toward the promotion of financial literacy. As far back as I can recall, I held a simple vision and desire to lead a life substantially free of debt and hefty monthly financial obligations with the hope of spending more time doing things that matter most to me and following, to as great a degree as possible, an authentic path for my life.

I suppose some people are gifted with the talent to lead a large company, create beautiful art, write lovely lyrics for a new song or invent a new tangible product. In my case, the message that kept ringing the loudest has been that of ordinary citizens achieving greater financial freedom resulting in higher quality and more balanced lifestyles. My hope and prayer are that this book will both inspire and guide you down such a path.

Introduction

As we begin, I must point out that I consider myself neither an expert nor an authority over the subject of money and finances in a traditional sense. I don’t predict the stock market, I don’t know the precise amount of life insurance one should obtain , and I have not invented a formula to ascertain exactly how much you will need to retire. The following chapters do not provide expert investment advice or a get-rich-quick scheme. I do, however, feel that we have arrived at a time in our culture when our approach to personal financial matters is most certainly at an impasse.

Since we live in a currency-based society versus a barter system or an agricultural or communal culture, it is imperative that we learn some basics of money management as we grow up and mature into adulthood. This book is focused on making healthy choices with your money and learning practical money management skills. So often we are not taught much about handling