Evaluating Advice

As a sort of Final Presentation for the Math class I'm taking for Pathway, I'm supposed to give an oral presentation about a financial book review I wrote for the class and share thoughts about it based on Elder Richard G. Scott's April 1998 General Conference talk, Removing Barriers to Happiness. For the book review, I was supposed to select five main points from a financial self-help book and weigh them against the teachings of the gospel. In his talk, Elder Scott quoted President Howard W. Hunter as giving similar advice:

Measure whatever anyone else asks you to do, whether it be from your family, loved ones, your cultural heritage, or traditions you have inherited—measure everything against the teachings of the Savior. Where you find a variance from those teachings, set that matter aside and do not pursue it. It will not bring you happiness.

 Thankfully, the financial book I read, The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman, seemed to line up with the Gospel fairly well, especially where Orman counselled her readers to listen to their inner voices and to give money to charitable causes. After having evaluated several pieces of advice Orman gave against the teachings of the prophets, I feel sure that most of what she teaches is in harmony with the Gospel.

It's important that we make sure that the advice we follow lines up with the counsel our Saviour and His servants gave and give. Following them is the only way to real and permanent happiness. disregarding their counsel in favor of someone else's is sure to reduce our eventual, if not our immediate, happiness. We should be cautious in whose advice we choose to follow, and perhaps the best way to evaluate their counsel is to measure it against that of those we know we can trust.