Staying informed about your credit report and your credit score is a great way to monitor financial progress.  A low credit score or errors on your credit report can mean thousands of dollars wasted on paying higher interest rates. 

The Compass Catholic blog has more about staying on top of your credit report.

Matt and Jenny Brady were a young couple with successful careers. After participating in a Bible study regarding the link between their financial behavior and their finances, Matt and Jenny made the decision to change their financial habits. By following the Compass Catholic Money Map, they paid their large student loan debt and were better equipped to live their current vocation as parents to three young children.

For more information about Compass Catholic Ministries, please visit www.CompassCatholic.org.

For the Compass Catholic Map, please visit https://compasscatholic.org/compass-money-map/

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Raising money smart kids starts even before you get pregnant. Talking about all aspects of money when you are engaged includes discussions about how well you were trained by your parents to be fiscally responsible. What did your parents teach you that was valuable to you as an adult? What do you wish they had taught you? These questions lead to deep discussions between you and your future spouse on how you want to teach your children about handling money.

The Compass Catholic blog has more about raising money smart kids.

Scott Williams is the co-founder of Sock Religious (www.sockreligious.com), a company that sells fun socks that celebrate the lives of the saints. In this week's episode of Money Stories, Scott talks about how Sock Religious is growing while maintaining its Catholic identity, and while navigating the current economic environment. 

For more information about Compass Catholic Ministries, please visit www.CompassCatholic.org.

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Financial challenges due to debt can be a hidden monster in many families and marriages. We can tackle and tame the debt monster by learning that every area of our life, including how we handle money, has a spiritual impact.

The Compass Catholic blog has more about the spiritual cost of debt.

The Compass Catholic Money Coach Training Program just launched this week. In this episode of Money Stories, Caitlyn Kano talks about her personal money story and how the new Money Coach Training Program came to be. If you are interested in the Money Coach Training Program, please visit www.CompassCatholic.org. 

Happy by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/happy-musicbyaden Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/IOtFV3u_g5E –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 🎵 Track Info: Title: Happy by MusicbyAden Genre and Mood: Pop + Happy ——— 🎧 Available on: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2YEzHDq iTunes: https://apple.co/2YCnRtF Deezer: https://deezer.com/us/track/715575552 YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-XK7sg0JKbg SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden/happy Google Play: https://bit.ly/GooglePlay_Happy

Finally, we are beginning to recover from all the shutdowns that began in February and got worse in March and April and people are going back to work.  When you get back to your job, it’s also the time to get back to your new financial normal.

Create a budget, and use that to create a crisis budget.  Build up your emergency fund and start digging out of any debt you incurred.  It will be a long hard road, but starting now will put you in a better position if there is another emergency around the corner.

The Compass Blog has more on how to get back to some sense of financial normal.

Lauren and her husband have been blessed with five children including triplet boys. With five children under four years of age, Lauren learned many lessons about prioritizing and the logistics involved with having a large family. She shares those lessons and explains how she and her husband decided to make a career change to benefit their large family.

For more information about Compass Catholic, please visit www.CompassCatholic.org.

Planning retirement while there is a recession can be tricky.  Start by looking at your current monthly expenses. Exclude expenses related to work and include new expenses related to retirement.  Subtract the monthly expenses from your monthly retirement income.

If your expenses are more than your income, how much do you need to withdraw from savings each month and how long will your savings last?

Doing these calculations before you retire will either bring you peace of mind or the realization that retirement needs to be delayed.

The Compass Blog has more on details to consider if you are retiring during a down market.

Allison Gingras shares the story about her financial journey. Allison realized the extent of her debt when the bank refused to extend her any more credit. Around the same time, she met the co-founders of Compass Catholic Ministries, Jon and Evelyn Bean. They presented her with the opportunity to participate in a Compass Catholic Bible study, which she now credits for her much of her family's financial wellness. It hasn't always been easy but now Allison can use her family's financial journey to glorify God. 

Learn more at the Compass Catholic website.