Some . . . people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings. . . . There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed. . . . We are carrying a message of self-reliance through out the Church. Self-reliance cannot be obtained when there is serious debt hanging over a household. One has neither independence nor freedom from bondage when he is obligated to others. . . . I urge you, brethren, to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage. . . . That's all I have to say about it, but I wish to say it with all the emphasis of which I am capable. (President Gordon B. Hinckley, To the Boys and to the Men, Ensign, November 1998)