Faith & Money Matters Course by Compass Catholic - A Review
Have you ever wondered if there was a Catholic version of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University? I stumbled upon this Faith and Money Matters (F&MM) course around April when searching for an alternative to Dave Ramsey's course and thought we'd give it a try. Ms. C and I are always looking to grow in our faith and we're not shy about money conversations, so we knew a course like this was right up our alley. Since this was originally my idea, I was happy to pay the extra money to get her on board. I wanted us to go on this journey together so we could continue talking about our future together and how we could continue to incorporate our faith into it. Then I could write about it on our Faith and FI website! Perfect!
I love the idea of a structured way that helps individuals/families talk about money. I had a feeling the F&MM course offered by Compass Catholic Ministries (CCM) could do Ms. C and me a lot of good before we get married. The goal of the course is to help the participants to be money smart as it helps them dig into what the Bible and our Church teaches us with regard to money and possessions. I spent about $60 for myself and Ms. C for us to take the course together. This 6-week course was essentially a Bible study course that covered these 6 topics:
1) Stewardship (Reflection on 1 Chronicles 29:11-12)
2) Debt (Proverbs 22:7)
3) Honesty & Work (Colossians 3:23-24)
4) Saving & Investing (Proverbs 21:20)
5) Counsel & Crisis (Philippians 4:11-13)
6) Generosity & Eternity (Mark 8:36 - My favorite of the 6)
We were given workbooks to guide us through the 6-week course. Each week, the coursework took us through 5 days of reflection before gathering (in our case, we gathered online). Each of the 5 days of reflection were anchored to the topic and bible verse(s) listed above. When the class gathered, the facilitator reviewed the week we read through and had discussions about the topic, bible verses, and questions that were presented in the workbook.
The course started with helping us understand the concept of "ownership" and how we need to humbly realize that all things belong to God. We are called to be good stewards of God's creations - not only our "personal possessions," but the Earth as a whole. This foundation is an important one from the perspective of a Christian - we own nothing, and we take nothing when we pass away. We are simply stewards of God's things and we should remember that, and above all, be ever-grateful for the blessings.
"When we learn the difference between God’s responsibilities and our own, we will experience contentment, hope, confidence and peace about our financial future." This is one of the great reminders of this course. This journey that we're on is a continual learning experience and hopefully one day, we will find contentment, hope, confidence, and peace. If not on Earth, then surely in Heaven.
One good thing about this course was that it liberally used scripture passages in guiding our thoughts and prayers. We had daily reflections to understand the scripture passages that were meant to open our minds to the possibilities of how we might become less attached to our worldly possessions and how we can focus on God in our financial lives. Sure, things can be valuable and sentimental to us, but we should detach ourselves from those things that weigh us down and remind ourselves that we are ultimately meant for heaven. We are ambassadors for heaven, so we cannot be too comfortable with our lives on earth. Ms. C and I continue to remind ourselves that we should never become too attached to worldly things.
Within each week's session, there were scriptural lessons that emphasized the need for practical actions within our lives:
Week 1 - This was an introduction to being Good Stewards - how to be responsible with money. This means understanding where it goes and how we spend it should always be to glorify God. One lesson was to track our spending to subsequently create a budget. We were also introduced to the "Compass Map" and its 7 destinations (personal/family goals):
Destination 1: Save $1,000 for emergencies, Start using budget, and Begin giving.
Destination 2: Increase emergency savings to one month of income and pay off credit cards.
Destination 3: Increase emergency savings to 3 months of income and Pay off all consumer debt.
Destination 4: Save for major purchases (home, auto, etc.), Save for retirement, Save for children's education and business (if you want to start one).
Destination 5: Purchase affordable home, Begin prepaying home mortgage, and Begin investing.
Destination 6: Home mortgage paid off and Children's education funded.
Destination 7: Retirement funded to reach TRUE FINANCIAL FREEDOM!
Week 2 - This week's focus was getting out of debt. It encouraged us to be honest and forthright about the debt we hold (list your debts) and look at the big picture, then prioritize them using the "Snowball" method. That is, start with the debt that has the smallest dollar amount (regardless of the interest percentage) and move up from there. We were also tasked to calculate our net worth to see our lives from that perspective.
Week 3 - This week's focus was on our income and had us consider our variable expenses throughout the year. It also touched on two-income families and had us think about other sources of income (irregular income).
Week 4 - This was one of the more practical lessons, in my opinion. It focused on maximizing retirement accounts (401k's and the like), re-assessing monthly and yearly spending, looking at how long retirement savings will last, life insurance needs, and considerations for renting vs. home purchase.
Week 5 - We found this week on counsel and crisis to be the most interesting one, and thought-provoking, considering building a community is something we have been trying to do all year with this blog. Though it touched on the idea for just 1 day, we found it to be one of the most important. It's a shame we didn't spend more time on it. The rest of the week consisted of looking at budgets again, tweaking your spending plan, and looking a crisis management.
Week 6 - This week's subject on Generosity is one we continue to work on. It teaches us how we might think about being more generous and having a plan in place to be more intentional about giving. Lastly, it had us reassess our financial goals, look at the our "Deed" to challenge us to give everything away to God, and re-evaluate our Journey. That is, our generosity and our ability to give our time, talents, and treasures, should be for the Glory of God at any time.
Here are some final thoughts we had about the course...
Some Things We Liked
The intent behind the course - trying to put God first and support the ideas with a good foundation using the Bible as a guiding light.
The idea of giving was sprinkled throughout the course. We as people of God and followers of Christ are expected to empathize with others - to give to those who are less fortunate, to help those who are in need of emotional support, and guide those who have lost their way. We should be able to see this even in a finance course.
The small group aspects. We enjoyed meeting others from all over the world. In our case with the online format, we were able to meet others from throughout the United States and also one very nice lady in New Zealand!
Some Things They Could Have Done Better
There should have been more focus on "spending less and being more content with what you have." We believe financial prudence comes from constant reminders, consistent practice, and boring repetition. This course could have done more to tie that in. We only need to think about how Jesus himself lived in poverty to see that having "enough" is a humbling mindset to live by.
The course creators used scripture out of context for the sake of driving home a point. The majority of the time they reference scripture with one or two verses out of context. The chosen scripture verses chosen for each week's lessons were carefully picked to fit a mold for that particular lesson. We have the opinion that in the greater context of scripture, there is a much deeper meaning than the small lessons the course tried to teach. Overall, it felt more like a secular course that inserted God into the framework rather than using the scripture as the main focal point to have the students pray more about it and let our lives fill God's framework laid out in the Bible.
"Being poor is bad" is a feeling we got from the lessons. Though it's not necessarily something that was overtly talked about, the passages throughout the workbook and the conversations with the small group had that connotation. Many priests and nuns take vows of poverty and this is held up by the Church as being a path to holiness. Throughout our tradition, there are many saints, St. Francis for example, who gave away all their riches and live in poverty out of love for God. Maybe this was the vibe we got from the facilitator, but we should never feel like poverty is a shameful thing.
The meetings were run very book-based, going through the chapters and answering the questions together. The discussions seemed surface-level and the sessions felt like we were simply going through the book a second time with very little focus on personal growth for the students. There was a lot of time spent on the book and less time spent on the stories of the students and discussions on personal experiences and how we might help one another. Maybe that requires much more than 6 weeks, so it's certainly possible that they've got plans to extend this course on a social media platform.
We didn't spend very much time (or none at all) on the Rich Fool, the Farmer and the Silos, the Beatitudes, and so many other topics that are integral to the lessons we've learned as Catholics. We think it would have been great for the bible study lessons to take a lot of what all Catholics should know (the Beatitudes most of all) and revisit them within the finance context.
It's been over a week since we finished and we find ourselves wondering if there is better way to balance faith and finances. When we decided to take this course, we were looking for a Bible study that helped us better understand how God wants us to handle the gifts he's given us. We now find ourselves thinking of plans to create our own course! We are confident we can do better. Overall, I think the 6 week course was a great introduction to faith and finances. There is plenty more to say about the two subjects (which is why we continue to blog about it) and we think it's a nice foundation on which to build one's personal financial house. After all, pursuing an understanding of our faith and finances are a lifelong journey. We hope you've found some value in our review of this course!
07/31/2020 Edit: Oh, and if we had to give it a formal rating, we'd say it was 4/5 stars! We can see a lot of value in the course for others who are looking for a great starting point. It's our understanding that they are continually improving the course. We hope that this review inspires more change. Again, we think it's a great foundation to build your financial journey on!
Peace,
Mr. K & Ms. C
P.S. This is not a sponsored post and we tried to write this review as we understood it, so naturally, it's biased. Please take it with a grain of salt. If you decide to take the course, please come back and let us know how it went for you!
P.P.S. Happy 4th of July, all!