Restoring Financial Regret

Did you know that most Americans harbor financial regret? According to a recent Bankrate survey, 81% of Americans harbor at least one financial regret. This means that nearly everyone has financial regrets.

Some of us have blown savings or chosen never to save our money. Some of us have missed out on a great financial opportunity. Some of us have been used for our money. Some of us have taken on too great of financial risk. Some of us have gotten in over our heads in debt. Some of us have wasted our resources on ourselves. Some of us have focused our entire lives on money and have never been filled by it. And the list goes on.

According to pastors/authors Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson in their book, Starting Over: Your Life Beyond Regrets, we can have different kinds of financial regrets that are based on our action, inaction or reaction. Here’s a breakdown:

We can have financial regrets of action (I messed up.), such as wishing we wouldn’t have bought such an expensive item, wishing we wouldn’t have invested in such a risky project and lost our money, or wishing that we wouldn’t have taken on so much debt.

We can have financial regrets of inaction (I was too passive.), like wishing we would have set up an emergency savings fund, wishing we had taken advantage of our employer’s retirement contribution plan, or wishing we had taken steps to buy a home earlier instead of renting.

We can have financial regrets of reaction (I was impulsive.), such as wishing we wouldn’t have overspent on emotion and racked up so many credit cards, wishing we hadn’t fought with our siblings about our inheritance, or wishing we hadn’t falsified our expense reports because we were mad we were underpaid.

Whatever our story of financial regret, getting past it is worth pursuing. God wants to heal this part of our lives so that we can live in financial peace. And dealing with our financial regrets sets us up to be the kind of generous people God desires for us to be. To begin dealing with our financial regrets, here’s what we need to do:

1. Acknowledge our regrets.

2. Give and get forgiveness.

3. Change our financial ways.

It can be tempting when dealing with our financial regrets to jump to #3. But since handling our finances is a spiritual issue, it is important that we take time to let go of our regrets through forgiveness. We need to release our regrets. Our past will continue to influence our future unless we go deeper than just changing our habits and actually address our hurt and mistakes. In other words, we need to receive healing that releases us to be generous like God.

Have you made some poor financial moves? Forgive yourself.

Have other people negatively affected your finances? Forgive them.

Have any of your financial choices been sins? Ask for forgiveness.

Have you hurt other people by your financial choices? Ask for their forgiveness.

Reference: Starting Over: Your Life Beyond Regrets; Dave Ferguson, Jon Ferguson, pp. 141-142.

As the next chapter of our financial story begins in the new year, let’s take a moment to reflect on our financial regret and seek the forgiveness we need. This will positively impact our generosity as much as anything else.