Focus on the Family with Jim Daly Best of 2025: Transform Your Finances: Smart Steps for a Secure Future
Jan 5, 2026
Russ Crosson, a Christian financial advisor and author with 45+ years helping families steward resources. He shares stories of early money struggles and reframing budgets as planned spending. Conversations cover living on one income to jumpstart savings, prioritizing cash over excess retirement contributions, and purposeful giving and legacy choices.
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How Russ And Julie Made Money A Non Issue
- Russ and Julie started with different money habits and spent months creating a system so money became a non-issue in their marriage.
- He remembers Julie's checkbook showing no subtractions and how they learned to agree on spending for 45 years of marriage.
Start Married Life Living On One Income
- Live on one income when you start as a couple and save the second income to build a runway and avoid early debt.
- Russ Crosson recalls living without a dining room table and cutting a tree limb for a Christmas tree to get ahead financially.
Reframe Budgeting As Planned Spending
- Treat budgeting as planned spending that controls living expenses, not as a punitive exercise.
- Russ defines taxes, giving, and minimum debt payments as non-discretionary, so plan only your variable living expenses to achieve financial freedom.
