Spenders and Savers: The Pros and Cons of BOTH

Monday’s post on Storing or Pouring: How Should a Christian Build Wealth? got me thinking and I came up with this:

Are you a Spender or Saver? The Pros and Cons of BOTH

Life seems to throw dichotomies at us often: Be it Extravert/Introvert, Planner/Spontaneous, Yankees/Red Sox. Whatever it may be, it seems that often we can draw the proverbial line in the sand and divide ourselves up one way or the other. In countless ways, we seem to split across a variety of personality traits that oppose or compliment our counterparts.  I find the financial realm to be no different.

Most people gravitate towards one extreme: Spending or Saving. I find both traits to have their ups and downs:

SPENDERS:

Pros – The spender is often a very generous person. Giving money as the Lord calls-liberally and willingly-provides no butterflies in the stomach for the spender. I find people who hold their money loosely tend to be the best, biggest, and most generous givers. They enjoy their financial blessings with themselves, family, friends, the cause of the gospel, and those in need.

Cons – Just as I mentioned before, the spender holds his or her money loosely. While this can lead to joyful generosity, it can lead in negative directions as well. Spenders can tend to take their financial responsibilities lightly, slack in preparing for the future, or most commonly-spend money foolishly. The Bible challenges us all to be wise stewards of our resources. The tendency towards generosity can also lead spender to be extremely generous to…themselves, and thus in some cases use their resources very selfishly.

SAVERS:

Pros – Savers often are very wise with their money. They plan and prepare for the future (thus the saving). This is Biblical and wise. They have resources available, love the parable of the talents, and take the responsibility of stewardship seriously. Since they are not naturally prone to spend, they give careful thought to the money they do spend.

Cons – The saver holds their money tightly. This can lead to them managing it well, but just as likely lead a person to being stingy, miserly, or scrooge-like. The saver needs the help of the Spirit to find joy in generosity. Secondly, savers can have a hard time enjoying spending because they hate to part with their hard-earned-squirreled-away funds. In some cases, this feeling is so excessive it is detrimental to the saver, his or her family, friends, the cause of the gospel, or those in need.

The biggest error in approaching matters like this is to think that your natural tendency is the best way. They both have pros and cons, and ultimately, the Bible will call us to balance.