LDS Place

“Being provident providers, we must keep that most basic commandment, ‘Thou shalt not covet’ (Exodus 20:17). Our world is fraught with feelings of entitlement. . . . If our family does not have everything the neighbors have, . . . we go into debt to buy things we can’t afford—and things we do not really need. Whenever we do this, we become poor temporally and spiritually.”

Robert D. Hales

“If we are to be self-reliant and in a position to share, obviously we must acquire some resources. If we live within our means and avoid debt, resources can be accumulated. There are those with average incomes who, over a lifetime, do amass some means, and there are those who receive large salaries who do not. What is the difference? It is simply spending less than they receive, saving along the way, and taking advantage of the power of compound interest.”

- Elder Joe J. Christensen, Greed, Selfishness, and Overindulgence, Ensign (CR), May 1999, p.9

“Did you ever see anybody who went in debt and mortgaged and bonded that which he possessed, as free, as independent, as happy as the man who paid for what he had as he went along? We should live according to our means, and lay a foundation upon which we can build, and upon which our children can build after us, without paying interest on bonded debts incurred by us. I am aware that I am not preaching the financial gospel of the world. I suppose I am laying myself open to the charge of being called a mossback, non-progressive, and so on. All these epithets are hurled at the men that dare to tell the people to live within their means. … Sometimes we are put in a position where it is necessary to go into debt. When it is necessary, so may it be. … But I have never yet been convinced that it was essential for the welfare of the present or future generation that my children should be brought in bondage by my acts.”

- Teachings Of Presidents Of The Church: Joseph F. Smith, p.163

“Closely allied with the trend toward bigger and bigger government is the tendency toward loose fiscal policy, both public and private. This concerns us as free men. ‘The borrower is servant to the lender’ (Proverbs 22:7). A nation can hang itself on the gallows of excessive public debt-and the United States is no exception.”

- “The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson,” p. 291

“Too many of our youth get into financial difficulty because they never learned proper principles of financial common sense at home. Teach your children while they are young. Teach them that they cannot have something merely because they want it. Teach them the principles of hard work, frugality, and saving.

“If you don’t consider yourself informed well enough to teach them, all the more reason for you to begin learning. Abundant resources are available–from classes, to books, to other resources.”

Joseph B. Wirthlin

“Avoid the philosophy and excuse that yesterday’s luxuries have become today’s necessities. They aren’t necessities unless we ourselves make them such. . . . It is essential for us to live within our means.”

Thomas S. Monson