My Story
Going back to my paper route days, it seems that I've always been good at earning money. As for managing money, well, I didn't develop much of an interest in that until I turned a $60,000 inheritance into $20,000 of credit card debt!
I received the inheritance from an uncle when I was 25 years old, and used it to create a business centered on my passions for golf and travel: Links Review, a newsletter about golf courses at great golf vacation destinations. While the publication enabled me to play amazing courses from northern California to southern Spain, it suffered from one fairly important problem: very few subscribers. Blind to my financial situation, I kept pouring money into the venture. The turning point came two years after receiving the inheritance when I woke up to the hard reality that I had dug myself deeply into debt.
That experience, including six humbling months of living in my parents' basement and over four years of paying off my debts, changed my life. For starters, it prompted me to reevaluate the overall direction of my life. Ultimately, that path led me to turn a casual interest in spiritual matters into a committed Christian faith. Secondly, it forced me to face the fact that I had a lot to learn about managing money. So I began to study, and haven't stopped.
Early in that journey, I heard about and began volunteering with Good $ense , a ministry that teaches biblical principles of money management. Good $ense was founded in the late 1980's at Willow Creek Community Church, one of the nation's largest interdenominational churches, and is now active in over 2,000 churches. I have counseled many people one-on-one, taught countless workshops, and now write a monthly eNewsletter read by nearly 5,000 people who serve in Good $ense or other stewardship ministries throughout the U.S. and Canada.
In 2005, with the amazing support of my adventurous wife, I left a lucrative corporate job to pursue a long-held dream of writing and speaking about wise money management full-time. Doing so is one of my greatest joys.
Managing Money by The Book
- "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." - Genesis 1:27
“We had Matt come and speak at our Generosity Conference. He did our Debt Reduction breakout session, and Matt delivered the perfect balance of scriptural basis, practical tools, and humor for an excellent presentation. Our attenders not only raved about the session for weeks afterward, but they have put many of his tools into practice and are challenging one another through their small groups. I’d recommend Matt for any gathering dealing with stewardship and finances, especially as it relates to debt reduction and financial freedom.”