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Saving Grace Financial Well-Being Training

The United Methodists of Upper New York will be offering Saving Grace: A Guide to Financial Well-Being created by Wespath through Abingdon Press. The leader of this program will be the Rev. Susan Ranous, an ordained deacon and a Certified Public Accountant, with a specialized ministry of church finance, stewardship, and clergy tax. Financial well-being is work she has been involved in for many years and is passionate about. The material offered through this program is excellent!

It is a six-session, small group learning curriculum that approaches money management, such as saving, earning, giving, spending, and debt from a Wesleyan and Biblical perspective to help participants reach personal financial goals and achieve a sustainable financial life.

Why you should participate in this program:

• We will focus on contrasting what the consumer culture says about money and what the Bible says about money
• You will learn how to track your expenses and evaluate your income.
• We will discuss giving and saving
• We will look at your debt
• This program will help you walk through a personal spending plan that will guide every aspect of your financial life
• You will be encouraged in ways to experience grace, peace, and joy in your financial life

If you are concerned about your level of debt, or are unable to budget, or feel like consumerism and the world are giving you a viewpoint of money that is opposite to your Wesleyan beliefs, this may be a good program for you.

This program will be offered via Zoom as a small group study; however, all your personal information remains personal to you. There is a workbook and worksheets to complete. There is information that you will need to pull together to make participation in this program effective for you.

1. You will start by laying out different goals for yourself, whether it’s payoff off debt, saving for something special, increasing your giving, or something else.
2. You will pull together and list all of your debt; mortgages, car loans, credit card, student loan debt, etc.
3. You will list everything you own and its value.
4. You will take the time to list your regular gifts, to the church, to other organizations, to family and friends.
5. The most time-consuming work will be in compiling all the information on what you spend daily, weekly, monthly, annually.
6. A Money Autobiography and Money Motivation Quiz will be part of our work together that will help you understand your why around money

Registeration for small study groups will begin in Spring 2024.