A Financial Collision Course and the Strategy That Saved Them
“I just liked to spend. At the last point, I had 17 credit cards,” Angie Cabler says. “A lot of them were department stores, jewelry stores, or American Express, Visa, those kinds.”
“Any kind of debt stressed me out,” Jason says. “And we had a couple of car payments at that time also. That really stressed me out. I didn't like it.”
Like many couples, Jason and Angie Cabler had conflicting views about money. “When we fought, we fought about money,” Angie says. “I think if we would have had open communication in the beginning, I think our first seven years of marriage would not have been so hard.”
Jason grew up not quite sold on tithing. “You know, if somebody asked me to share my money or to give my money for something, it was like, ‘No, I'm not going to do that, you know,” he says. “This is my money. I want it!’”
However, by the time he married Angie, Jason had warmed up to the idea of tithing. While she managed the checkbook, he focused on building up his dental practice.
“I was trying to figure out how to run a practice, run a business. And it was very stressful. So, I gave all that over to her. But when it came right down to it, it wasn’t her natural inclination to want to deal with that.”
The stress of handling their bills finally got to Angie. “He started to just question me. And I got very defensive, like, ‘Why are you questioning what I'm doing?’ she recalls. “So much to the point that one night I threw the checkbook at him and I told him, ‘You will take care of it! I will no longer pay the bills.’ At that point, he took the lead. He kind of became the head of our household.”
Jason then began paying the bills. He also suggested the couple enroll in a financial strategy program through their church. “The first few sessions that she went to, she basically sat there with her arms crossed and, doing this number. But as time went on, she started catching the vision a little bit, and so did I. I started learning a lot of things that I didn’t know.”
At the end of one of the classes, Angie surprised Jason. “The coordinator would always, at the end of the night, he would say, ‘Is there anybody that wants to cut up their credit cards tonight?’ Angie stood up and started digging through her billfold, took out all of those credit cards, I believe it was 17 and cut every last one of them up. And I had no idea this was going to happen.”
The Cablers also took marriage counseling to help them communicate better about money.
“I had to really go through a transition, to learn how to let go and learn that really, it all belongs to God. And that it's mine to manage,” says Jason. “And it's more of a joy now to be able to give rather than a stress. And obviously, that's gotten much easier over the years.”
“Once we got on the same page, as far as finances, that’s when our marriage did a 180 and we really started flourishing,” says Angie.
Today the Cablers have no credit cards and no debt other than their mortgage. Jason’s practice has grown as well, and he even writes a weekly blog about finances. “A blessed 90% is always greater than an unblessed 100%,” Jason says. “It's not the kind of math we learned in school. But when you exercise that faith. He will bless that 10% and multiply it.”
“Be obedient with your finances and tithing and trust God,” Angie urges. “If I could encourage someone to just step out on faith and do it, try it for 90 days. Go ahead and give that ten percent and trust God and watch the miracles that will take place.”
