Not paying tithing...

[Cali Coug]

Now that I have your attention, would it be bad to invest all of your tithing money from every paycheck into an ING account or other safe savings account bearing 5% interest or so? You could make quite a bit of money on the interest over the course of a year, withdraw all of the money in December to pay tithing, and then pay tithing on the interest that had accrued.

I suppose the only question would be, does the church need the money immediately or would the money be of more value to the church immediately than it would be to me? I assume the church has hundreds of millions in cash reserves, if not more, and doesn't need my meager contribution right away. Then again, if everyone did it, it could put the church in a crunch.

We only need to account for tithing once a year. Does that mean we only need to pay once a year?

Thoughts?

[UtahDan]

Now that I have your attention, would it be bad to invest all of your tithing money from every paycheck into an ING account or other safe savings account bearing 5% interest or so? You could make quite a bit of money on the interest over the course of a year, withdraw all of the money in December to pay tithing, and then pay tithing on the interest that had accrued.

I suppose the only question would be, does the church need the money immediately or would the money be of more value to the church immediately than it would be to me? I assume the church has hundreds of millions in cash reserves, if not more, and doesn't need my meager contribution right away. Then again, if everyone did it, it could put the church in a crunch.

We only need to account for tithing once a year. Does that mean we only need to pay once a year?

Thoughts?

Interesting question. Now that I think of it, I'm not aware of any guidance from the church on how often tithing should be paid, though I assume some exists.

Since tithing settlement occurs annually, I would assume that you should pay one a year on your increase, as you define that.

Subject to someone producing some authority to the contrary, I see nothing wrong with what you propose.

[The_Tick]

I have thought about this before....

I ended up with the thought that the Lord could probably use the interest on that money more than I. But I don't make lawyer coin so I don't know. If I made alot of money then I may think different.

Then there is the whole "having discipline" thing to not dip into it in a time of need. That would be the only deterent for me.

[fusnik11]

I pay titihing once a year.....

I figure the money should work for me and the church, instead of strictly the church....

I know a fellow who pays tithing once every two years. His employer matches charitable donations, he saves his tithing money for two years, has it working for him, his company matches his donation to the Cougar Club, and a kid who has no business being in with the high rollers is now a big time booster....

The church doesn't need your money by the way, tithing should be a principle of sacrifice not getting money to the church as quick as possible...

[MikeWaters]

If you are really smart, you pay your tithing every two years, (i.e. you pool 2 years worth of tithing into one tax year). The year you pay tithing, you itemize. The year you don't, you take the standard deduction.

Or if you were really sophisticated, you and a close friend/relative, can take turns paying each other's tithing. One year he pays his and your tithing, the next year you do the same.

[JohnnyLingo]

The church doesn't need your money by the way


First time I've ever heard that.

What exactly do you mean?

[Cali Coug]

If you are really smart, you pay your tithing every two years, (i.e. you pool 2 years worth of tithing into one tax year). The year you pay tithing, you itemize. The year you don't, you take the standard deduction.

Or if you were really sophisticated, you and a close friend/relative, can take turns paying each other's tithing. One year he pays his and your tithing, the next year you do the same.


I thought about that too, but it felt more wrong to me, for some reason. I guess the yearly interview is what makes me feel like I need to pay annually. Otherwise, I suppose I could simply amass tithing for the next three decades and pay it all at the end, having earned a boatload of interest in the meantime.

[TheSizzle36]

The church won't go under or disappear if I quit paying tithing, no matter how much I make. The Lord would find a way to get through without the tithing I believe. However, I can assure that from personal experience, I can't make it through without paying tithing.

[Cali Coug]

First time I've ever heard that.

What exactly do you mean?

Ha! That is what I was thinking. The idea that I am making more money for the church by investing it and paying tithing on the investment is sound, but only if the church would not be similarly investing the money and earning more return on my money. If that is the case, I would be "costing" the church some money.

I really don't know what to think about this idea. Perhaps it is a question for the bishop.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Wow. You all have inspired me. I am going to put all of my tithing into an aggressive mutual fund or some other kind of investment. Then I am going to redo my will indicating that all principal plus 10% of the interest from these investments be donated to the church upon my death. The rest goes to my kids. :)

[ute4ever]

The church has billions and billions in assets, so I agree it does not need our money. However tithing is a principle of sacrifice. It is preparatory to the law of consecration. I feel like finding ways to make that ten percent seem like only eight percent on your bottom line is not robbing God of His principal, but robbing you of His principle.

[tooblue]

The Lord asks that you pay 10% of your increase -be it at the end of, or through out the year ... Everything you have IS the Lords, ergo your money is his money -it's not even a matter of him needing your money ;-)

What the Lord, and your Bishop can truly use is a generous Fast Offering on top of tithing!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Come on, man. I was joking.

[JohnnyLingo]

So if I understand correctly, those who say, "the church doesn't need me to pay tithing" are saying that if every member of the church stopped paying it today, the church would be fine?

[SteelBlue]

The church does have a statement on this matter. The "blue book" advises local leaders to encourage members to pay tithing as they receive their income but that those who wish to pay annually may do so. My guess is that they encourage the payment as income is received because there are many who lack the discipline to pay yearly.

[fusnik11]

So if I understand correctly, those who say, "the church doesn't need me to pay tithing" are saying that if every member of the church stopped paying it today, the church would be fine?

The church currently has enough liquid assests that they do not need tithing to function at the level they currently are....

[JohnnyLingo]

Interesting...

[fusnik11]

Ask fuegote how he pays his tithing...

He works for an ogranization that matches charitable donations to a charity of his choice....

If fuegote was smart, he would open a mutual fund, high interest savings account, etc, place his tithing money in there, let it grow, earn interest, etc, and after two years take the money he originally placed donate it to the church in the form of tithing, and have his institution match his tithing to a donation to the Utah Ute Athletic Program...

That way maybe I can see him on the sidelines this year....

;)

[fusnik11]

Interesting...

Old news for anybody who cares about their church...

[JohnnyLingo]

Old news for anybody who cares about their church...


http://www.thediabetesblog.com/images/2005/12/baby%20crying.jpg

[Surfah]

There are a few members of my ward who pay anually, several who pay quarterly, and others who pay weekly like myself. I would love to roll my tithing into an account or fund to grow it but I do not know if I am disciplined enough to do so.

I also know of a member who runs his own business and pays his tithing anually as well...at the beginning of the year after tithing settlement. The tithing represents how much he will pay himself and he makes adjustments at settlement if he needs to, but rarely does.

[Mormon Red Death]

Now that I have your attention, would it be bad to invest all of your tithing money from every paycheck into an ING account or other safe savings account bearing 5% interest or so? You could make quite a bit of money on the interest over the course of a year, withdraw all of the money in December to pay tithing, and then pay tithing on the interest that had accrued.

I suppose the only question would be, does the church need the money immediately or would the money be of more value to the church immediately than it would be to me? I assume the church has hundreds of millions in cash reserves, if not more, and doesn't need my meager contribution right away. Then again, if everyone did it, it could put the church in a crunch.

We only need to account for tithing once a year. Does that mean we only need to pay once a year?

Thoughts?

I need to weigh in on this one. As the financial clerk of my ward there are several people who pay yearly and personally I find it interesting when we do the tithing to take a huge deposit to the bank. We had one gentleman who was CEO of a company and when he retired they gave him the golden parachute. That was one one of those sundays where the tithing slips reached 6 figures. Personally it would be a lot easier if people only paid once a year. I spend an hour each sunday doing tithing and offerings. Some people pay every week. Some people pay with two different checks (that drives me nuts). Just write one check for two weeks its not that big of a deal. <rant over> One thing I do know for sure. is that Fast offerings are needed as soon as possible and the bishop can use whatever he get during the year. so if you pay at the end of the year the bishop really doesnt get to use that money for your ward as its all cleared out and they start anew for next year.

I am hoping for the day when we can just log in and pay our tithing on line. Automatic deduction would be just fine by me.

As far as the whole savings account idea would it really be worth it? Lets say you paid tithing of $500 a month (this fictional person is not a high roller like John Haddow) that would yield an interest at 5% of a whopping $139 after the tithing you would have made an extra $125. If you held out for two years it get you $593 or interest or an extra $534

[All-American]

You know, you could save even more money by not paying tithing at all.

Just to keep our eye on the ball, remember that the law of tithing, like any other commandment, is an appendage to the greater commandment to love God with all our heart. The Lord asks for 10 percent. The way you pay it, whether you like it or not, is a reflection of your relationship with Him.

That is all that I need to know about when, where, and how to pay tithing.

[Detroitdad]

after all would the lord let you lose the tithing money on a flier? With power like that behind you what have you got to lose?

[Cali Coug]

I need to weigh in on this one. As the financial clerk of my ward there are several people who pay yearly and personally I find it interesting when we do the tithing to take a huge deposit to the bank. We had one gentleman who was CEO of a company and when he retired they gave him the golden parachute. That was one one of those sundays where the tithing slips reached 6 figures. Personally it would be a lot easier if people only paid once a year. I spend an hour each sunday doing tithing and offerings. Some people pay every week. Some people pay with two different checks (that drives me nuts). Just write one check for two weeks its not that big of a deal. <rant over> One thing I do know for sure. is that Fast offerings are needed as soon as possible and the bishop can use whatever he get during the year. so if you pay at the end of the year the bishop really doesnt get to use that money for your ward as its all cleared out and they start anew for next year.

I am hoping for the day when we can just log in and pay our tithing on line. Automatic deduction would be just fine by me.

As far as the whole savings account idea would it really be worth it? Lets say you paid tithing of $500 a month (this fictional person is not a high roller like John Haddow) that would yield an interest at 5% of a whopping $139 after the tithing you would have made an extra $125. If you held out for two years it get you $593 or interest or an extra $534


I could certainly be calculating this wrong, but I think you are forgetting about compounding interest. If I have figured it right, on $550 deposit in our hypothetical, the interest after a year would be about $800.


Not bad for no work. As I said earlier, I believe we must pay at least annually, so my only dilemma is if the church needs that money more than I do for immediate purposes. Otherwise, I am comfortable with this idea.

[Cali Coug]

after all would the lord let you lose the tithing money on a flier? With power like that behind you what have you got to lose?


LOL! I was thinking more along the lines of junk bonds. I hear Sudan has bonds going for dirt cheap right now!!!

[Cali Coug]

I could certainly be calculating this wrong, but I think you are forgetting about compounding interest. If I have figured it right, on $550 deposit in our hypothetical, the interest after a year would be about $800.


Not bad for no work. As I said earlier, I believe we must pay at least annually, so my only dilemma is if the church needs that money more than I do for immediate purposes. Otherwise, I am comfortable with this idea.


Oops- that is for 2 years of interest!

[cougjunkie]

Ask Big Ute about how he pays his tithing he has some very good ideas on how to invest the money and keep it in stocks then donate the stocks to the church.

[creekster]

We have always paid tithing annually while paying fast offerings monthly. This is my wife's plan and she makes all of these deciisons at my house which is a very good thing for me.

[Jeff Lebowski]

For the record, we pay our tithing at the end of the year, during tithing settlement and we do fast offerings monthly. I have never had a bishop say one word about it, one way or the other.

[RockyBalboa]

[QUOTE=hoyacoug]Now that I have your attention, would it be bad to invest all of your tithing money from every paycheck into an ING account or other safe savings account bearing 5% interest or so? You could make quite a bit of money on the interest over the course of a year, withdraw all of the money in December to pay tithing, and then pay tithing on the interest that had accrued.

I suppose the only question would be, does the church need the money immediately or would the money be of more value to the church immediately than it would be to me? I assume the church has hundreds of millions in cash reserves, if not more, and doesn't need my meager contribution right away. Then again, if everyone did it, it could put the church in a crunch.

We only need to account for tithing once a year. Does that mean we only need to pay once a year?"


Personally I pay on every check. I just know from my own personal experience that if I don't pay my tithing in a timely manner that really weird and bad things happen to me. I wish I were making that up, but I just don't mess with tithing karma anymore. I know, sounds strange, but those are my personal experiences.

[YardTime]

I wouldn't tell others what to do, but for me, I try to pay when I earn the money.....the firstlings of the flock so to speak.

[realtall]

My understanding is that tithing is not 'due' until December of each year. If someone chooses to wait until then to pay their tithing then that is fine so long as it corresponds to their income for that year. Any interest accrued in the mean time would, of course, be included in that yearly income. Most just pay as they get paid because it is easier to do so or it does not occur to them to do otherwise.

Fast Offering should be paid every month.

[FMCoug]

I need to weigh in on this one. As the financial clerk of my ward there are several people who pay yearly and personally I find it interesting when we do the tithing to take a huge deposit to the bank. We had one gentleman who was CEO of a company and when he retired they gave him the golden parachute. That was one one of those sundays where the tithing slips reached 6 figures.

I once processed a 600K tithing check when I was a clerk. As for the FMCoug family, we pay annually. We started doing it that way when I was self-employed and determining income before taxes were file was next to impossible. I've been told by more than one Bishop that annual is completely appropriate.