Game Plan for Life

You look at my stats—Super Bowl-winning football coach, owner of a championship NASCAR racing team—and you might think, What does this guy know about money problems? He’s probably rolling in it.

Well, I have to tell you, I learned about finances the hard way. I was such a bonehead when it came to money I ignored one warning flag after another. It took an all-out disaster to bring me to a point where I’d trust God and follow his game plan.

His principles for financial success seem straightforward to me now as I’m laying them out here, but as you’ll see, it took a long time and a lot of mistakes for me to understand what was right there in the Bible in front of me.

Before you make any major decision regarding your finances, listen to what God has to say about it. And listen to your wife (or your husband)! God means for our spouses to be our partners in every part of life.

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”—Genesis 2:18

God knows the struggles we will go through in life, so he gives us spouses who can best help us, whose strengths complement our weaknesses.

That’s certainly been the case with Pat and me. Right from the get-go, it was obvious she was better at handling finances, and she’s been in charge of our checkbook ever since our honeymoon in 1966.

By the mid-1970s we had two growing boys, J. D. and Coy, to provide for, and I was anxious to have a little more money in the bank than my $35,000 salary as an NFL assistant coach would allow for.

Racquetball was big then—I played a lot myself—so when some friends suggested we build and manage our own clubs, I thought, Here’s my chance!

Pat didn’t feel it was wise to put the little savings we had in what might be a passing fad, but I pestered and badgered until she finally sighed, “If you have to do it, go ahead.” Yes, I’d asked my wife’s opinion, but did I really listen to what she was saying? I sure should have. She turned out to be right.