{"id":8446,"date":"2012-08-24T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T12:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.familylife.com\/flministries\/?p=8446"},"modified":"2012-08-24T07:29:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-24T12:29:00","slug":"the-value-of-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/articles\/topics\/marriage\/marriage-challenges\/finances\/the-value-of-money\/","title":{"rendered":"The Value of Money"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Money, as defined by Webster’s dictionary, is an economic tool, a “medium of exchange.” Thus, we trade our physical labor for paper money and then exchange our paper money (or credit!) for the material goods we want. But money is much more than simply an economic tool. It is also psychological currency that buys emotional satisfaction. Money touches the essence of who we are and stirs our souls in ways that few things can.<\/p>\n

In fact, there’s a sense in which money talks to part of our society\u2014always by saying goodbye. First, it says goodbye to the typical family who struggles to work more hours yet still spends more money than they’ve earned; or to family members who vainly squandered hundreds, even thousands of dollars each year on gambling and lottery tickets.<\/p>\n

Second, money says goodbye to the married: Conflicts over money are a leading cause of divorce. Money produces deep conflicts between husbands and wives as it exposes differences in personality, lifestyles, beliefs, and goals. These tensions pull on a marriage because money often reveals our most closely held values, and when those values are violated, many of us react forcefully.<\/p>\n

Third, money says goodbye to the living: It is the leading cause of murder and a major contributor of depression and suicide. “Money stress blamed in 3 deaths” read the headline of an article whose graphic nature was exceeded only by its familiarity. “The outburst of gunfire in Reston [Va.] that left three people dead was the result of ‘financial stress’ in the family,” the news account began. “Police would not say what kind of difficulties led 40-year-old [Joe Smith] to shoot and kill his 36-year-old wife, and 7-year-old son, and wound his 11-year-old daughter, then take his own life.”<\/p>\n

Does money buy happiness?<\/h2>\n

America is far and away the world’s greatest economic power. The average American’s annual income is ten times his middle-class counterpart overseas. Yet, despite rising financial prosperity most Americans feel little financial satisfaction. Does money buy happiness? Clearly it does not. Money has not and cannot meet our deepest psychological needs.
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Part of the dissatisfaction that many adults feel is due to poor to fair money management, despite explosive growth in stockbrokers, financial planners, estate planners, and insurance salespeople; not to mention self-help books, magazines and newsletters, more seminars and workshops. With all that information, we still have to account for:<\/p>\n