The purpose of this last section is to help realize that your financial future begins now and that you have critical decisions you need to make today. As you come to understand these important topics, you will be better prepared to achieve your financial goals. This section also serves as a review of the topics we have discussed in this series. The topic for this section is taken from a talk by President Spencer W. Kimball in which he said, “Decide to decide.”

You have many challenges ahead of you. Some of these challenges may include going to graduate school, paying back student loans and credit card debt, budgeting, spending, saving, investing, getting married, having children, going on missions yourself or sending children on missions, and retiring. With so many challenges ahead of you, it is critical that you keep your priorities and your personal and financial goals in order.

There are many critical decisions that were discussed in this series that I hope you will be well equipped to make as you do what President Kimball counseled and “decide to decide!” The following are the final pieces of advice I hope you will take away from this course: decide to believe, learn, work, set goals, budget, protect yourself, save and invest wisely, give, and remember, and above all, decide to decide.

The purpose of this series was, using Dallin H. Oaks’s words, for you learn the “dedication of a lifetime.” The “dedication of a lifetime” is the daily, constant, sometimes boring, challenge of keeping your priorities in order, your checkbook balanced, your budget in check, and yourself on track to achieving your personal and family goals. The most important advice contained in this section is “decide now”—decide just once, and then follow those decisions for the rest of your life. Your performance should be “the steady 100 percent of a committed servant, not the frenzied and occasional 120 percent of the fanatic” (Dallin H. Oaks, “The Dedication of a Lifetime,” CES Fireside, California, May 1, 2005).

Finally, in addition to the readings available on this website, I added a list of readings that I have found helpful. These readings will help you on your quest for greater financial understanding.

Now that you have completed this section, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Have you realized that your future begins today?
2. Do you understand some of the key decisions you must make to become truly successful in life?
3. Do you know of resources for additional readings on the subject of personal finance?

You can make important decisions now that will never have to be made again. In the inspired words of a prophet, “decide to decide.”