It’s been a busy year for Paul Williams. He got married to his wife Michelle and recently started his own financial planning and tax preparation business in Southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When he’s not crunching numbers he enjoys tweeting as @ProvidentPlan and blogging at ProvidentPlan.com.
OODC: How did you get started blogging and tweeting?
@ProvidentPlan: I think I didn’t discover personal finance blogs until after I graduated college and was working at my first professional job. I remember reading Get Rich Slowly and then gradually finding other blogs. I thought blogging seemed interesting and looked like something I could do, plus I felt like my education could help me teach others about personal finance. So I started my first blog (Crackerjack Greenback) and later switched to Provident Planning because it fit the direction I was going a bit better. I’m still learning the Twitter stuff (and trying to understand its purpose…).
OODC:You write about contentment quite a bit. Why is this so key for Christians?
@ProvidentPlan:As I studied what the Bible had to say about personal finance, I found contentment to be a major theme throughout. That alone should signal that it’s an important concept. But I think more importantly it’s about whom you’re serving. If you’re not content and think you’ll only find satisfaction in Stuff, then you’re serving Mammon (money). If you’re busy serving Mammon, you can’t serve God. So until a Christian can learn to find their contentment in Christ, I think it will be nearly impossible for them to closely follow God and serve Him.
OODC:Why do you think it’s so important for Christians to get out of debt?
@ProvidentPlan:I tend to go against the mainstream (Crown Financial/Dave Ramsey/most Christian PF Blogs) on this one. I think it’s important for Christians to have control of their debt and to avoid consumer debt as much as possible. But there is a useful purpose for debt when wisely considered – buying a home, getting an education, or starting/expanding a business are good possible reasons. I’m not saying you should always go into debt for those things or that it is good. But I think many Christian financial counselors tend to misinterpret a few Bible verses and develop a whole doctrine around living debt-free. I don’t do that.
That said, I agree that consumer debt (credit cards, cars, boats, etc.) can be crippling and has been abused by many Christians (and others). But we shouldn’t avoid debt at all costs just because it can be abused. That would be like refusing to use a knife to chop vegetables just because it could be used to kill someone.
OODC:Who are some of your favorite money tweeters?
@ProvidentPlan:I like Kevin @OutofYourRut, J.D. @jdroth or @GRSblog, and Mike @michaelrpiper. But I’m still getting the hang of Twitter, so my opinions probably don’t hold much weight here!
Thanks again to @ProvidentPlan for being part of this week’s Twitter Tuesday Profile. Want to be considered for an upcoming profile? Just tweet me!