Every so often, the pastor of my church explains why he preaches to the choir.

He reminds the congregation that even the choir needs to steadily hear the message of salvation.

I feel the same about personal finance.

Ever since my oldest daughter was hospitalized, all I’ve wanted to write about is the importance of preparing your family for a financial crisis. My child’s life-threatening illness reminded me how quickly things can go wrong in our lives. This is one of the reasons I always preach the gospel of good money management.

But I’ve also discovered during this time the importance of building good will.

When I talk about good money management, I worry about preaching to the choir. I worry that those who aren’t financially prudent will just roll their eyes and see my sermonizing as just nagging. I wonder, is it worth repeating over and over how important it is to save and live within your means?

But then I remember why my pastor stands in the pulpit every Sunday and preaches as hard as he does. The truth is that most of us know what we need to do yet we still don’t do it. We talk a good game, but our actions often don’t follow our ideology.

For example, you know that you should pay yourself first. But do you?

Every payday, before you pay other bills, put some money aside. If you pay yourself first, you have less left over to squander on things you don’t need.

If you saved $20 per week for 10 years, you would end up with $10,400. If you invested that money and earned a 4 percent annual rate of return, the total would have increased to $12,762, as calculated by the American Savings Education Council.

It is further proof that even a small sum saved regularly can add up to a considerable amount, thanks to compound interest.

Is it worth saying again that you should be paying off your credit cards every month? You say you can’t afford to throw away money, yet every time you pay interest to a credit card company, that is exactly what you are doing.

And here’s something else many of us also fail to take into account the value of building up good will. In the world of accounting, good will is that intangible asset that exists when a business is valued at more than its fair market, usually because of its strategic location, reputation or good customer relations.

While you’re putting money in the bank, take time to build up the savings in your life bank. Strive to be the kind of relative, friend, employee or co-worker who makes people want to do whatever they can to help you out in a crisis, financial or otherwise.

So, what kind of employee are you? Are you a slacker or a stellar performer?

What kind of co-worker are you? Are you surly or sweet?

What kind of person are you? Are you quick to help or criticize?

Being a good person doesn’t guarantee your boss won’t be an ogre, or that you will get the time off you need to take care of a sick child.

Having a nice personality won’t pay the bills if a crisis hits. But it can’t hurt. In fact, you might be surprised at how it can help. You might be surprised at how much good will you can build up.