About
EFSH is a program of St. Paul's Lutheran Church funded by a grant from the Thrivent Foundation
for 2007 and 2008. The primary focus of the ESFH program is to assist adults, especially seniors, in
attaining enhanced "financial health" through education and planning; thus, leading to greater
financial stability, a life lived well and the opportunity for leaving a legacy.
Moving from Focus to Action
With aging comes the challenge to maintain one's health. Considering the concept of holistic
health, this includes one's "financial condition", particularly the ability provide care for
oneself throughout the lifespan. ESFH's goal is to help individuals improve,
their financial planning and decision making through participation in education
programs--financial, legal and health-related. Success in this effort also affords the opportunity
for an individual to consider their legacy in relation to their own values and the long-term
potential for extending care to others--family, friends, institutions, charities and the church--that
are important in one's life.
Three primary themes mark the goals for the programs ESFH will design and develop in collaboration with the "partners" listed below (and those still in development):
Putting One's Financial "House" in Order
Dependent on one's stage of life, conductiing a financial asset audit and analyzing one's
long range financial needs.
Preparing for Life Transitions
An active view of living as one anticipates fundamental life transitions maintaining health,
retirement, housing, loss of loved ones, and end-of life issues.
Planning to Leave a Legacy
"What do I value most?"
"How can I extend care to those individuals and/or groups?"
"How is it best to leave my legacy and serve others?"
The ESFH project aims to develop a replicable model for financial education and planning which can be utilized by Lutheran congregations (and others) to enhance the lives of their members as well as the broader Lutheran community.