Because I specialize in working with pastors, I’m always on a quest to get inside pastors’ heads. In order to serve you effectively, I need to understand your world, your needs, your wants, and your struggles. I do this in many ways, such as discussions with my financial planning clients, emails I receive from my readers, and the comments in our Pastor’s Wallet Online Community.

I have noticed a common theme among the struggles that pastors face and the regrets that they have regarding their finances. There are two things that I hear over and over again that pastors wish they had known or paid attention to. So, young pastors, if you can only do two things, these are the ones you should do. Forget all my blog posts about maximizing the housing allowance and doing your taxes. These two things will be the foundation of your success in every other area of your financial life:

1. Stay Out Of Debt

As Proverbs 22:7 says, the borrower is slave to the lender. Jesus said in Matthew that you cannot serve two masters. Can you really do all that God has called you to when you are under obligation to your creditors? What if he calls you to something that doesn’t provide enough money to make your monthly payments? When you’re in debt, you’re working to serve your creditors. You gave them your word that you would.

And I don’t think God will free you from your creditors supernaturally just so you can do what he had planned for you. God believes in keeping his word and he expects us to do the same, even if it enslaves us. I think he is more concerned with your character and your keeping your word than the work that he has prepared for you. That can wait. He has all of eternity; he’s in no hurry.

I’m sorry to preach at you like that, but this is serious business. Debt can handicap you for a lifetime. Let’s say you put $2,000 on a credit card because you had to go to your best friend’s wedding. Or your computer died and you needed a new laptop to write your sermons. Or you finally got your own place and needed a couch. It could be anything, everyone seems to find a way to put $2,000 on a credit card.

Credit cards usually have a minimum payment of 2%-5%. Right now, the average interest rate for a new card is 23.18%, so we’ll use that with a 2% minimum payment for our calculations. If you pay $40 a month (2% of $2,000), do you know how long it will take you to pay off that little $2,000 credit card balance? One hundred seventy-seven months. That’s over 14 years! On top of that, you’ll end up paying over 3 ½ times as much with over $5,000 in interest. If you don’t believe me, have at it with this calculator.

Remember, that’s only a $2,000 credit card balance. Most people carry a lot more debt. How about $50,000 in student loans? Or an $18,000 debt on a car worth $8,000? Like I said, debt can handicap you for a lifetime. It’s really hard to get ahead when you start out so far behind.

2. Save For Retirement

And your goal is to get ahead. Get ahead of your monthly expenses so that you can put some aside for retirement, when you cannot work any longer. This is the second major area where pastors struggle and fail. 

Retirement saving is important for everyone, but no one more so than pastors who opt out of Social Security. At least I can depend on the government to give me a couple thousand dollars a month when I can’t work anymore. I won’t be living in extreme poverty even if I don’t save anything. But if you’ve opted out of Social Security? You don’t even have that to fall back on. 

What I see a lot is young people who put off saving for retirement because they think they will have plenty of time and money to take care of it later. After all, they are just starting out in their career, saving up to buy their first house, about to have a baby. They think that it will be easy to start saving once they get past that stage. 

But it isn’t. Kids eat more the bigger they get. And then they want to do soccer lessons. And then they break an arm. And then they want to go to summer camp. But you’re still a pastor, so you haven’t gotten a raise in ten years, in spite of inflation.

There is no easier time to start saving for retirement than when you are young. When you’re young and fresh out of college, at least you still think ramen is a full meal. Keep living like a college student so that you can avoid debt and start saving for retirement. 

Otherwise you’ll wake up one day in your mid fifties and realize that you have nothing saved for retirement. You’ve worked for decades and have nothing to show for it financially and you worry that you’ll never be able to retire, even if you get sick. That is depressing and overwhelming, which is why I’m telling you this now.

Avoid debt.

Save for retirement.

These are the big rocks of your financial life. The things that you should prioritize. Make sure to do these two things and everything else will fall into place around them. No financial trick like a tax-exempt housing allowance or extreme couponing is going to make much of a difference if you’re $50,000 in debt and have nothing saved for retirement.

Now is the time to take action to avoid future regrets. 

What do you think? What are one or two pieces of advice do you wish someone had given you when you were first starting out in the ministry? Let us know in the comments.