Hello, I am…

Greetings.  My name is Shane Barkley, follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Val for 16+ years, and daddy to three wonderful daughters.  In my spare time I run a ministry

Greetings.  My name is Shane Barkley, follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Val for 16+ years, and daddy to three wonderful daughters.  In my spare time I run a ministry

called Dad the Family Shepherd, facilitate and present Savvy Dads Conferences with Ken Canfield, PhD.  I have also authored a book entitled, Dad Cents: Teach Your Children Biblical Principles of Money. 

This blog as well as my book Dad Cents, are devoted to helping dads (& moms because they need to be on the same page too) teach their children about money.  In my 10 years of experience in financial consulting I saw the results of families' inability or simple disregard for passing financial education from generation to generation.  One question I ask regularly is "Do you want your children to know more about money than you did when you left your parents'  home?"  The answer is always, "Yes."  I then follow up by asking "What are you doing to make that happen?"  The typical answer to this follow up question is "Not much!"

If you are not a dad and are already thinking, "This blog is not for me", I want to challenge your thinking in two ways.  First, it is true, I will be helping adults think about money in a way to communicate as effectively as possible with children, but if you left home lacking in financial knowledge, this blog may help you as well. 

My second challenge is really for every man reading this post to consider the following question.  "How many children in your church or neighborhood do not have a father figure in their life?"  A pastor recently told me that in his church, of 600 who attended regularly, 100 were single moms.  Many kids in your church and mine do not have fathers in the home which means they have a significant need to see how Godly men live, utilize money and function in the family.  Will you consider becoming a father figure to the fatherless? 

Another group who might question the usefulness of this blog are those who have kids that are out of the house.  If you are not a grandparent yet more than likely you will have grandchildren in the future.  I pose this question to you; "How well did you teach your children about money? " You may now have the opportunity to help your children and your grandchildren learn everything they need to know about money.  I, personally,  continue to seek my dad's help and have come to realize that being a dad is a job you have the rest of your life.    

Every other week I will dive into the topic of money, with some posts concerning foundational ideas and other weeks with practical application.  My ultimate goal will be to give you the tools to necessary to teach children Biblical principles of money.