You have studied what the scriptures and modern Church leaders have said concerning debt; both admonish us to pay our debts and live within our means. The commandments concerning debt are important for both our temporal and spiritual well-being because debt can inhibit both temporal and spiritual growth.

You have learned about the debt cycle and the reasons why people go into debt: ignorance, carelessness, compulsiveness, pride, and necessity are the main reasons. You have learned that once you begin the debt cycle, it is very difficult to stop it. However, you have also learned the characteristics that will help stop the debt cycle: ignorance can be replaced with knowledge, carelessness with exactness, compulsiveness with discipline, pride with humility, and necessity with self-reliance. Once you do overcome the debt cycle, you can help others obtain the same financial self-reliance.

We discussed different personal strategies for debt-reduction as well as counseling and legal strategies for debt-reduction. Personal strategies include using debt-reduction spreadsheets and payoff accelerators. We talked about counseling strategies in terms of both nonprofit and for-profit credit counseling agencies. Finally, we talked about legal strategies, mainly bankruptcy, and why it should only be filed as a last resort.

Now that you have completed this section, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do you understand what Church leaders have said regarding debt?
2. Can you explain the debt cycle and why people go into debt?
3. Can you develop and use debt-reduction strategies?
4. Do you know where to get help if you are too deep in debt?