The Root of “Wants”
Why do we buy the things we buy? Why does the person choose to buy a $400,000 car as compared to buying a $40,000 car? They both accomplish the basic needs of transportation. Why does a person buy a $4,000 purse as compared to buying a purse at Walmart for $25? Again, they accomplish the same task of carrying your items. What is the definition between want and need? I think the answer is found in materialism. We are concerned about what others think of us. What is profoundly strange is, we care about the perception of others who don’t even know us. The man driving a luxury car envisions others sitting at the stoplight looking over and being impressed by their car. A woman walking in the mall with her $5,000 purse carries it in a manner so that other women can see it. Women she doesn’t even know. Materialism is the root of these purchases. Materialism shakes us from buying an item to satisfy a need versus buying an item we want to impress others. Scripture speaks about this topic in detail.
Luke 12:15
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
2 Corinthians 4:18
So we fix our eyes on not what is seen, but on the unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal
Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.
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A time to buy and a time to sell
Why Save?
I spent the first 12 years of my adult life in a position of law enforcement. One of the elements of my training was how to interview and what questions were important. Those questions were laid out as the 5 W’s. We asked who, what, where, when and why during the course of an investigation. I think the last question is extremely important as we learn how to be obedient stewards. “Why” is good stewardship important? The question is critical in understanding God’s plan for us. The most simple money issues in our life can cause massive destruction if improperly handled. “Why” do we need to avoid debt? Debt is the number one cause for divorce today. Ow many times have you worried about paying bills? How many times have you avoided answering the phone because it may be a debt collector? How much stress could be removed from your lives by not having debt? “Why” do we save for our later years? One of the leading demographics in the work force are previously retired people. Most who return are doing so because they cannot live on social security income alone. Many cannot pay their basic living requirements such as food, healthcare, and utilities. If a person had saved a portion of their income, this issue could have possibly been avoided. There are several money issues surrounding us that can improved on or avoided by knowing the “why” of the stewardship instruction. As a pastor, I have been involved in several end of life experiences. What is similar in every situation is that not one of these people are concerned about their material possessions, how much money they have or how much money they made. They are concerned about what comes next. Our stewardship will be reviewed at our death. What will God say about your stewardship? Did you have more concern for the Kingdom or have more concern about worldly comforts? This is another “Why” question. Why is stewardship important? Because it allows is to honor and glorify God with what has been entrusted to us.
Automatic Savings
It’s up to You!
As we strive to be good stewards, we face multiple obstacles. We have pressure from work, demands from children, debt issues, church issues, spouse issues, and a magnitude of hurdles which cause us to stumble. I have found that if we set our Biblical priorities of importance, we can often relieve much of the anxiety and stress we carry. I am a self-admitted workaholic. For years I have worked 7 days a week which caused other relationships to bend. As a person who has a day job, and then pastoring a church, I literally had no time off. It was my badge of honor. When people asked how I was, my answer was always the same, busy, busy, busy. I actually bragged about how much I worked. As I have matured in my faith, I come to recognize, that is not what God intended. Our priorities according to scripture are God, Spouse, children, parents, extended family, brother and sister in Christ, and then the world. When we fail to follow that priority list, the anxiety begins to show. God did not intend for us to work ourselves to the point relationships fail, including our relationship with God. In Psalm 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Focus on BE STILL. God is teaching us something here of great importance. Sometimes we need a break to strengthen those relationships. When we allow the world to interfere, trouble begins. My friends, when is the last time you were still? When is the last time you took time to talk to God, your spouse, your children without scrolling through social media or going to kids ball tournaments on Sundays? When is the last time you and your spouse took some alone time without any outside noise? Turn the phones off. Shut out the world, be still and then you will know God. Focusing on financial gain or financial stress is many times counter-productive.
Guide to Marketing
Every storm that we survive in our lives is a learning opportunity. How do we react to a similar storm in the future? Those who do not learn, are trapped in a vicious cycle destined to make the same mistakes and expose themselves to the same pain over and over again. We are all still recovering from the Covid pandemic. Depending on where you live, your experiences may be different than others. Those in Chicago have experienced the pandemic differently than those living in Orlando. Reviewing some of the things that happened to many people, here are items for attention that should be adhered to in preparation for another similar storm. First, make sure you have an emergency fund. There were many people who lost their paycheck involuntarily and suffered financially. An emergency fund could have made the negative experience more bearable. Secondly, have your affairs in order. Make sure your beneficiaries are updated as well as having a will or trust in place naming a durable power of attorney and healthcare representative. Thirdly, make sure your loved ones know where your important documents and accounts are. Do not assume they can find everything upon your death or illness. Make sure you are prepared by having non-perishable food in the house along with paper products, water, and gas. We all remember the toilet paper fiasco! Prepare your affairs as if this is your last day on Earth because it may be. Procrastination regarding financial stewardship is dangerous and irresponsible. If you need help, please seek good attorney and financial planner. You may also request a review from myself. Feel free to give me a call at 88-226-7614. God Bless
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What Is a REIT?
Guard Against Greed. I have had the pleasure of sharing God’s word concerning financial stewardship for many years. I have witnessed the great good that comes from the blessings that God bestows on us all. Unfortunately, the evil that originates from the lack of good stewardship is profound. I see people divorcing because of money issues. I see dangerous depression because people have allowed themselves to be buried in debt. I have seen greed destroy relationships time and time again. Money isn’t evil, but the love of money is. It creates so many avoidable problems. God knew we were going to struggle with money. God gave us very clear instructions on how to manage money to the point it is the most discussed topic in scripture. I want to focus on Luke 12:15
The topic of inflation has been a topic for a couple of weeks now across the news stations as well within the financial markets. We talk about hedging against inflation by investing in certain cyclical and noncyclical sectors. What the public doesn’t discuss is the topic of hedging against politics. Inflation is predictable to a certain extent. What the politicians say or do can be very unpredictable. Most recently, the CDC relaxed mask requirement. You and I both know that was politically driven. If you had the vaccine, you may go without a mask. My wife and I both had the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and we both caught the virus after the fact. You hear that we are following science. That is nonsense. This virus has been political from day one and really became profound during the 2020 election. We see the conflicts rising in the Middle East with Israel and Hamas. The United States is silent, yet still funding those people who are attacking Israel. What are we to do with the bumbling government in regards to our stewardship. The best advice still comes from King Solomon.
I feel the need to revisit the topic of inflation as is has been all over the news stations this past week. Inflation is simply the value of our dollar is less than what it was previously because the cost of some goods have increased. We have seen the cost of gas increase $1 a gallon in the last 4 months. The cost of lumber has increased 30% in many cases. Real estate prices are skyrocketing. Some medications are at all-time highs. Inflation is basically a tax on everyone, but affects the poor and middle class more than the wealthy. For those that are on a fixed income, inflation is dangerous. As of today, we haven’t seen a response from the Biden administration on how they are going to fight this. The fact is, they are responsible for much of it as printing money causes inflation. There is more money than goods which cause the cost of goods to increase. That is 8th grade economics. The solution for those of us on the street is complicated. Many will need to cut spending. We made need to travel less, eat out less, reduce our grocery spending. The unfortunate issue is that some people cannot cut anything else from their budget. If you are an investor, it is imperative you speak with an advisor who is knowledgeable on the topic of hedging against inflation. I don’t have a positive outlook on a quick fix to our current inflationary situation. On an individual basis, if you would like to discuss your current financial plan and it’s exposure to inflation, I would be happy to help you. God Bless and please pray for our elected officials .
A topic that I have not discussed for several years is now a cause for concern again. That topic is inflation. Inflation has been relatively low for several years, but now, it is being monitored closely. We can see inflation in lumber prices, real estate, and gasoline over the last few months among several other items. What is Inflation:
Evolution is happening right in front of us. Evolution of communicating. The Pandemic put this evolution into warp speed. In my opinion, this change in our ability to communicate with one another is destructive. When is the last time you phoned or visited someone on their birthday to wish them well? Did you do as so many choose to do now and send them a text, or maybe a Facebook post? How many of you choose to buy things online, such as car insurance or life insurance because you do not want to deal with a salesman? How many of you manage investment accounts online to avoid dealing with a broker? You make excuses about saving money, but in reality, you just don’t want to talk with someone. My brothers and sisters in Christ, this is unhealthy. We need to interact personally with one another. From a position of being a Financial Planner, I can see the destruction of a person’s good intentions when they attempt to do everything themselves. What actually happens is they leave their estate in disarray at death. Things that a professional could have prevented are now a problem for the loved ones of the deceased. I have seen this time and time again and it’s getting much more frequent. Beneficiaries of an estate coming to me for advice because they are at a loss on how to settle an estate. Many of the issues I see could have been prevented if the deceased had a professional planner in their life in lieu of a customer service representative available at a toll free number in the Philippines call center for an online financial company! You must avoid the trend of avoiding personal contact. People have lost their ability to communicate, have lost their ability to disagree, and have lost their ability to problem solve with other human beings. God gave us the ability to speak with one another, put it to use.
Do you think the world is more morally intact in 2021 than what is was 10 years ago? What about 20, 30, or even 50 years ago? Are cities safer? Are television shows cleaner? With the invention of social media, has the world become a better place to live in? I think most of us would say no. We don’t let our kids play in the street anymore. We don’t let our families go to certain neighborhoods. We turn on the news and see nothing but division, hate, violence, and the media burns those things as fuel to keep their engine running. What if I imply that the situation we are in today is our fault? I believe it is. For too long, we have become fearful of being labeled racist, homophobe, and bigot among many other things. Those labels are as meaningless as the term Christian now. People who call themselves Christians, but live a life contrary to Biblical instruction. We as believers have taken a seat in the stands and watched as the world has imploded around us. Maybe we are too busy looking at that 4” x 6” cell phone screen to even recognize that Satan is running freely among us and even being celebrated. As believers, we need to stop being pathetic sheep. Stop spending your money at places of sin. Stop investing in companies that profit and support abortion, pornography, anti-family entertainment, and alternative lifestyle. You can make a difference in this world by how you spend and invest those assets God has entrusted you with.
So often, I receive phone calls asking for help after a person receives disturbing news about their health or loss of a loved one. People who may have procrastinated about getting their financial affairs in order now are frantic about completing things. Many times, it is too late to properly put needed items into the plan due to health situations such as Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, or Long-Term Care insurance.
A valuable lesson I have learned over the past 25 years as a financial planner is that there is a enormous difference between those who plan or fail to plan because they think they will live forever and those who know that our days are numbered. Over the last year, I have unfortunately been involved in the settling of many estates. Those that had up to date financial plans in place made the passing a little more tolerable. Those that did not have a financial plan or did, but it was not current, made the loss of life that much worse. My friends, our days are numbered. It is imperative that those things we can control, be managed properly. I can without hesitation tell you that mortality is 100%. We are not staying here and when we leave, there are only two destinations. Please stop procrastinating when it comes to your stewardship and relationships.
There are many misconceptions about annuities. In this podcast episode we discuss the different types of annuities and the benefits and negatives to each.
We are living in a new society where people expect things to be given to them rather than earning them. I have seen numerous instances where an adult child is asking their retired parents for financial help when dealing with excessive credit card debt while they still vacation, have a nice home, nice cars, and having a weekend BBQs. Rather than dealing with the problem directly, it has become standard to not make sacrifices and work additional overtime, a second job, and giving up material possessions. The United States is a land of opportunity. You are only limited by your imagination. You can create your own business which many people across the globe do not have the opportunity to do the same. You can write your own story you simply need to put the idea into motion. Scripture is clear about providing for our families and laziness.
The foundation of estate planning should include three professionals. Those three professionals include a financial advisor, CPA, and an attorney. These three professionals must be working together to facilitate a plan that matches your wishes. Unfortunately, we often see one out of the three professionals mentioned attempting to drive the planning car without the help of the other two. That is not in the best interest of a client. A well designed plan almost always involved all three. Scripture tells us to use many advisors:
The importance of making a budget is a financial lesson that cannot be overemphasized. If you and your family want financial security, following a 
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Responsible Stimulus Spending
Starting a Business
Purchasing a Vehicle
Church Debt
Are you aware that there is an anecdote for the struggles we have with money? When people come to me and say they are having issues with debt and materialism, my first question to them is, “Are you tithing?” Seem a strange question, but based on scripture, I do not believe we will ever conquer our issues with money unless we are good givers. Through personal observation as a faith-based financial planner, I can attest that those stewards who focus on giving first have very few debts and materialism problems.
What is your idea of a perfect retirement? Over the last 25 years as a financial planner, I have heard many similar answers to that question. Many men say they want to play golf every day. People want to travel and buy homes near the beach. Often, the answers revolve around buying things or spending all their time focused on leisure. My friends, I have yet to witness any of the retirees finding happiness with 100% leisure and attempting to buy happiness. In fact, when a retired person focuses on those things, I see divorces happen, I see nervous breakdowns, I see depression, and simply people being unhappy. On the opposite end of the spectrum, when retirees have a Kingdom focus during their elder years and devote their time, talent, and treasures to serving the Kingdom, I am witness to believers who are content. Contentment is a state of peaceful happiness. You cannot buy contentment, but you can surely earn it. It is difficult for people nearing retirement age as the advisors world is focused on marketing to those things that look good. Pull up any advisors website that works with retirees and you will see people on the golf course, on a sailboat, walking the beach, etc.. What you don’t see from the marketing world are those truly content retirees who are donating their time at the local thrift shop, foodbank, or children’s services. The world view of retirement happiness is a short-lived venture. I encourage you to approach retirement with a Kingdom focus, where contentment can be found.
As we conclude the podcast series on our “Final Tithe”, I want to share with you the reasoning behind the need to include the Kingdom in your estate plan. As we follow our faith throughout our natural lives, many of us have a clear understanding of good stewardship. Good Stewardship includes avoiding debt, providing for your family, and being charitable. The world influences our stewardship both in our life and at our death. The world says that you divide everything equally among your surviving family members at death. Very few estate plans ever venture into a Kingdom oriented conversation. An estate plan becomes Kingdom oriented when we review our quest to be charitable. A Kingdom oriented plan does not simply divide everything equally without any investigation into the impact or influence money will have on those designated as beneficiaries.
The Final Tithe: Tax Efficiency – Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging, during a person’s life, for the management and disposal of that person’s estate during the person’s life, in the event the person becomes incapacitated and after death. The planning includes the bequest of assets to heirs and may include minimizing gift, estate, generation skipping transfer, and taxes. Estate planning includes planning for incapacity as well as a process of reducing or eliminating uncertainties over the administration of a probate and maximizing the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. The ultimate goal of estate planning can only be determined by the specific goals of the estate owner and may be as simple or complex as the owner’s wishes and needs directs. Guardians are often designated for minor children and beneficiaries in incapacity.
As we continue the series on “The Final Tithe” and how to include the Kingdom in our estate plan, I want to share with you a missed opportunity to easily name people or entities as beneficiaries. Beneficiary planning is so important and should carry I high importance in your estate plan. The first area I see people missing an opportunity to name beneficiaries is on their banking accounts. You can utilize a feature at your bank called Payable on Death (POD). A POD allows you to name beneficiaries. By naming beneficiaries, you can avoid sending those assets through costly probate. Another issue I see is on non-qualified investment accounts that are individually owned or jointly owned. You can add a feature called Transfer on Death (TOD) that will prevent those assets from being pushed into probate. More commonly known beneficiary designations are found on life insurance, annuities, and retirement accounts. It is extremely important to conduct a tax efficient review of your estate plan to retain as much of the asset(s) as possible without paying unnecessary taxes and attorney fees. We would be happy to assist you with your Biblically Responsible estate planning. You can reach Jay D Schurz at 888-226-7614 or by email at 
In our third episode in the current series of “The Final Tithe”, I discuss the use of a Trust and how it can serve our purpose in a non-secular estate plan. A trust is an opportunity for “Grasp beyond the Grave”. Not everyone needs a trust. Those that do need a trust, should utilize an estate planning attorney to develop the trust for them. There are several different types of trusts which I have included explanations of below. I encourage you to review your stewardship needs in regards to your estate planning. We can help with that review and give you an opinion on what types of planning you should consider. Many of our final wishes can be accomplished without the need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on legal planning. Other times, more aggressive planning is needed. You can find our contact information at 
As we continue the podcast series discussing your “Final Tithe”, I want to discuss the importance of a will. The will accomplishes many tasks for your estate, primarily handling those tangible assets that must be distributed. Additionally, having a Durable Power of Attorney and Living Will in place can make handling your wishes much easier. I suggest you utilize a local attorney with expertise in estate planning in the construction of your legal documents. I am including explanations of topics I discuss in this Podcast. If you have questions regarding the subject of a will, please call my office at 888-226-7614. You can request a consultation at 
I am going to begin a series of podcasts titled “The Final Tithe”. I will discuss the need to include the Kingdom in your estate planning. To fully understand estate planning with a Biblical perspective, one must first understand ownership. The following verses all describe the fact that God is the creator and owner of all things. To claim ownership of his assets at our death does not coincide with the belief that God owns it all, in fact, it is my belief that estate planning that does not include the Kingdom is theft. I will explain in the next several podcasts why I believe that. My objective is to take you from A-Z in planning your Final Tithe!
The Market Roller Coaster – We have seen some prime examples of an emotional stock market in recent weeks. There has been a competition of individual investors versus hedge fund managers, a modern day David versus Goliath. We are witnessing a market reaction to political influence as the new administration is making big moves in the areas of energy, social governance, and healthcare. It all can be overwhelming if a person is attached to the minute to minute news that is flowing through a biased media and various social media outlets. In times like these, many people become alarmed and even immersed in deep worry.
Buying a home is often one of the largest financial decision a person makes in their lifetime. The process can be stressful without the proper guidance regarding the home purchase. I have seen many people make serious mistakes during their home buying event. I am going to give you some common sense advice that I pray will help you.
I have fielded many questions over the last three weeks regarding the new administration and what impact this change may have on a person’s financial plan and investment accounts. First, let me begin by saying that news programs, whatever they may be, should have little to do with your long-term financial plan. The stock market is an individual entity that reacts differently according to financial criteria. Seldom can one predict the reaction of the market to public information that is spread via biased news outlets. If the market responded accordingly during the Trump administration and the multitude of negative news stories, one would think the market and the economy would have been dismal the last four years. The fact is, the economy and market set many new positive records in various areas during those four years of the Trump presidency. Now we have a new President and new administration. People have legitimate causes for concern, but I want to stress to you that we should not be reactionary in our planning and stewardship. A good steward will follow the guidance established by a proper risk tolerance questionnaire and seek the advice of a trilogy of professionals such as an investment advisor, CPA, and attorney in accordance with their needs. The advice provided by these professionals should be void of emotion and founded in research of your specific situation.
Scripture mentioning financial issues is throughout the bible, in fact, there are over 2300 verses detailing how we should handle money. God knew we were going to struggle with stewardship of the “treasures” he has blessed us with. As I counsel people of all denominations, ethnic groups, ages, and genders, I see the struggles that people have with money. To be good stewards, we must first understand obedience and ownership. God owns it all and we manage those assets belonging to God which is the definition on a steward. The focus begins with obedience after we realize ownership and we must strive to honor God in our stewardship. There are many scriptures teaching us to honor God of which I have shared a few. The simple question regarding stewardship decisions is “Would God approve of this financial decision?”.
What are the non-verbal characteristics of a Christian? What would make someone who sees you in public think that you are a believer? I have taught many lessons on the non-verbal characteristics if a Christian and those identifiers include showing love, showing kindness, being joyful, being charitable, and having self-control. When we are unable to show those characteristics, many times it is because we have lost control of the physical, or “free will”. If we are unhappy and angry, it’s very difficult to show love, joy, kindness, and to be charitable. When we lose control of the physical, we start to treat our unhappiness with a number of sinful activities such as buying material things to make us feel better, being promiscuous, gambling, drinking, and addictions. Those symptoms are evidence of losing control of the PHYSICAL and our God given free will allowed us to slide down that path of sin. Free will can be used to glorify God or rebel against God.
You often see commercials on television offering “Guaranteed Life Insurance”. Those commercials are talking about Graded Death Benefit Life insurance and I think it is important to understand these types of life insurance contracts
You may or may not need to do any rebalancing at that time, but reviewing your portfolio periodically is a good exercise. Rebalancing is a way to control portfolio risk. Rebalancing can help you keep your portfolio on track with your overall financial plan.
As we enter into a new year, here are three pieces of advice I recommend.
As believers, we are often given an opportunity to travel abroad to the mission field. In this podcast I discuss various tips regarding international travel and the need for travel insurance.
The primary concern for retirees is how inflation affects their purchasing power. This is true even if inflation remains low because seniors are more likely than younger consumers to spend money on things that tend to increase in price, such as healthcare.
One way we can raise good stewards is to begin teaching a child early in their life God’s plan for obedient stewardship. A unique opportunity to teach a child about investing is to create an investment account and include the child in the conversations regarding, management of the assets. There are three types of accounts that I choose to recommend based on the financial situation of the investor. The three plans are:
I am often asked questions regarding the subject of co-signing for a loan. Scripture gives us an abundance of advice regarding financial stewardship, and although it does not specifically say “co-signing”, we can gather enough information relating to the topic to know that it is not a good idea and here is why:
We are in high gear with just a few weeks remaining until Christmas. Christmas has turned from a day of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ into the devil’s holiday as materialism consumes our thoughts. God knew we would struggle with materialism as it is valuing the physical over the spiritual. Matthew 6:19-24 Jesus warned about the three deadly dangers of materialism.
Give it away?
The Bible has over 2300 verses that discuss money and financial stewardship. Scripture relating to debt, investing, giving, and sin is found throughout the gospels. God knew we would struggle with stewardship and the amount of instruction on money management within the Bible is proof of this. With money being such an important topic, I find that the trend of investing online with Robo Advisors and cheap online stock trades alarming. People become very confident in their investing abilities during bull market runs and under confident when a correction or recession occurs. At no time does the act of obedient stewardship come into play as people avoid the use of God honoring advisors and do it themselves through online opportunities. Would you perform brain surgery on yourself? Would you self-diagnose a cancer and treat yourself without expert advice? Why is the most discussed topic in scripture any different? Avoiding using counsel to help you align your beliefs with management of God’s assets is poor stewardship. Tax planning and estate planning are no different. Avoid the cheap alternatives that are offered online and pursue professional, God Honoring advise. It is important to avoid worldview advisors, tax professionals, and attorneys. Seek those advisors that understand obedience to God is the first criteria to be met. What does scripture say about using or seeking advice?
In times of economic uncertainty, I like to focus the conversation regarding investing to risk tolerance and diversification. These are tumultuous times. We have the issues with the pandemic, politics, and social divisions across the globe. People are genuinely concerned. During these troubled times it is important to focus on the guidance God has delivered to us regarding our stewardship. King Solomon gave wonderful advice concerning diversification.
A non-qualifying investment is an investment that does not qualify for any level of tax-deferred or tax-exempt status. Investments of this sort are made with after-tax money. They are purchased and held in tax-deferred accounts, plans or trusts. Returns from these investments are taxed on an annual basis.
As we continue to discuss building a God honoring financial plan, we begin to discuss the third building block of the plan, which is qualified investing. The most common options for qualified investing are dependent upon your type of employment. For those that are self-employed or work at an employer that does not offer a retirement plan, the traditional IRA and Roth IRA may be an option you use.
Over the last several podcasts, we have discussed the building block of a financial plan and the important of protection planning and emergency fund needs. A question that is asked in regards to starting a financial plan is “Should I pay off my debt before I start a financial plan?” That is a great question and one that needs addressed. My opinion is that starting a financial plan by having your protection planning (Life insurance, health insurance, home and auto insurance) is a priority to attacking the debt issue. Creating an aggressive plan to pay off unsecured debt requires one critical point, and that is you are alive to earn the income to eliminate the debt. What happens if you pass away from an accident or illness without protection in place to replace you and your earned income? Now, you are leaving debt and lack of income because you prioritized debt reduction before protection planning. When looking for funds to cerate the foundation of the financial plan and elimination of debt, we must realize that we may have to give up some luxuries such as cable television, eating out frequently, daily Pumpkin Spice Lattes, car payments, and the newest and greatest Apple I-phone. When we look at our budget, many times we can create the necessary means to create the financial plan foundation and attack debt burdens. I understand reduction in many of the luxuries of our materialistic lives isn’t what we want to do, but it may be necessary to be an obedient steward. If you have questions or need a review of your current situation, please feel free to contact us at 888-226-7614. You can visit our website at 
An emergency fund is an often discussed topic among financial planners and consultants. An emergency fund is the 2nd building block of a financial plan and is critical to have in place for a myriad of reasons. Many planners advise that 6 months of income is an adequate amount of funds to set aside for emergencies. I believe that the amount depends on your circumstances. If you are a small business owner, then your emergency fund may need to be larger to bridge you through things such as non-essential business closures. I would suggest for the average family, a minimum of two months of income set aside for emergencies such as home, auto, and medical issues. You must realize, even with a good insurance program in place, the average claim is paid in 60 days. Your family will need access to funds while the death claim is being processed. You do not want you family cashing in IRAs and 401ks to survive while waiting on insurance proceeds. An emergency fund must be liquid and accessible. Do not categorize your retirement assets as emergency funds. Even qualified funds require distribution request and may incur early withdraw penalties and taxes. I suggest emergency funds be held in a checking, savings, money market, or 30 day CD. I believe emergency funds are assets that you can get your hands on with 24-48 hrs. You must be obedient to your financial plan and possibly need to change your budget to create the emergency fund as quickly as possible. Once the emergency plan is in place, avoid using the funds for anything other than emergencies and review your current needs frequently to make sure that your emergency fund requirements are adequate at all times.
Life insurance is the building block of a financial plan. Life insurance allows a financial plan to be self-completing if you fail to survive until the goals of your plan are met. Determining the amount of life insurance need is an exact science. You can discover the number by answering an in-depth series of questions. The first number needed in the equation is current debt. Add you mortgage, car loans, student loans, and credit cards to find this number. The second question to be answered is the amount of funds needed to replace your income. I use the number of 5%. For example; if I made 50,000 annually, I would need 1M dollars invested at 5% to replace my income. The third question to be answered are financial goals. These goals can include sending your children or grandchildren to college. As obedient stewards, I recommend we leave funds to the Kingdom at our passing as well. Lastly, the actual cost of burial. A number often used is 15k. By answering these questions, a person a make a good determination of the amount of insurance needed to replace them. We can never be replaced as a spouse, father or mother from an emotional standpoint, but leaving your survivors without adequate funds to carry on with their life and the goals you made together can be devastating. Once you have determined the need, solving the need can be done in several ways by laddering term insurance. Often, the needs carry a different time frame. By structuring term insurance based on the length of years the need is present can save you money that can be used within the financial plan in other areas such as creating an emergency fund, retirement funds, or being aggressive in eliminating current debt.
Tax Efficient Estate Planning – Life insurance is an instrumental piece of a financial plan for a myriad of reasons. One characteristic of life insurance is that the death benefit is tax free to the named beneficiaries under normal circumstances. A majority of assets held in the United States today are held within qualified accounts, such as 401ks, IRAs, 457 and 403B plans. These qualified accounts are taxable upon distribution to your spouse, children, and other people. You can pass a qualified account to a spouse without creating a taxable event until the surviving spouse takes distributions. Non-spouse beneficiaries are required to drain the qualified account within 10 years. Life insurance creates an estate of tax free funds without the taxation burden. By utilizing tax efficient estate planning, a person can blend the taxable and non-taxable estate. This tax efficient planning is a wonderful opportunity to include the Kingdom in your estate planning.
Concerning discussions regarding uses of Life Insurance, we need to look at life insurance as a tool that uses leverage to accomplish a task. One of these uses addresses eliminating a potential problem with people who are partners or co-owners of a business. What happens when one owner passes away? What happens to their share of the business? Life Insurance can be used to provide a remedy for this issue by providing financial funds for a Buy-Sell agreement.
In today’s podcast, we discuss the 3 types of Life Insurance.
Life insurance is a topic that many people avoid. People do not like to talk about dying, and many more people don’t like the idea of paying premiums associated with life insurance. 1 Tim 5:8 states that “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” In regards to financial planning, people have many financial goals such as sending their children to college, retiring early, paying off their home and being debt free which are all achievable goals, but require for the bread winner(s) to be alive and earning an income. Life insurance allows a financial plan to be self-completing and allows the surviving family to not have a severe financial disruption associated with the death of a spouse or parent.
How much money is enough? The world says that money provides success, security, and significance. The world says we will be happier if we have more. Do people with more money find happiness? We see people playing Powerball, Mega Millions, and scratch off tickets daily attempting to “get rich”. Through investigation, we see that many of those people who have won millions playing their state lottery have found nothing but misery in the form of divorce, loss of friends and family, and even death from suicide and murder. Biblical view of money shows us that God owns it all and we are stewards of those assets. The power of money is broken by being a generous giver, not by attaining more.
Long Term Care may easily be one of our largest financial expenditures in our lifetime. A person has a 68% chance of needing care to assist them with one or more activities of daily living. With a national average of $8,300 a month for full-time custodial care, lack of planning for this event can be financially devastating. There are a number of options available to plan for this event. A combination of Long-Term Care insurance, Medicaid friendly trusts, life insurance with accelerated benefit riders, and proper ownership of assets are a some of options available to someone as they plan for long-term care needs.
Healthcare is a major topic for all of us, but especially for those that are self-employed. Those people who are need of their own health plans are dealing with issues in relation to premium cost, deductibles, exclusions, and doctor acceptance of their plan. Healthcare.gov is an option for people to purchase “Obamacare” in their individual states. The deadline for signing up for Jan 1, 2021 plans is November 1, 2020 through December 15, 2020. Another option that can be considered and compared to the Healthcare.gov plans are Christian cost-share plans. There are several plans available, and may be a viable option for you and your family. They are not traditional health insurance, but by participating in a Christian cost-share plan, you will satisfy the government mandate to have health insurance.
The term fiduciary is a buzz word in the financial planning arena. The term is also applicable to our stewardship of God’s assets. Review the definition of fiduciary and envision how this applies to your personal financial stewardship. If God were looking to hire an advisor, what would your resume look like based on your past and current stewardship responsibilities?
Retirement is a hot topic. We are involved in IRAs, 401ks, and pensions. Investment companies and advisory firms bombard us with marketing that is infiltrated with worldview. Many websites created by retirement consultants have photos of retirees on the golf course, on a sailboat, or relaxing on the beach. I have yet to see any retirement marketing that shows anyone serving the Kingdom as they transition to a different season in their life. Retirement isn’t biblical. It is mentioned one time regarding the church of Corinth and not one of us are priests from the church of Corinth. As a believer, what should our focus be as we prepare for that period in our lives. The answer is to do the only thing that brings contentment, and that is serving the Kingdom. That change of focus from worldview to Kingdom service directly contradicts what we are told will bring us happiness from worldview marketing. The God honoring plan should involve being an obedient steward, avoiding investments that violate our faith as we save, to avoid the use of debt, and finally to be financially stable and free from the worries associated with income issues. To serve the Kingdom without worry! Whether it be volunteering at a foodbank, orphanage, ministry, church, or mission. You can have a very rewarding and happy “retirement” serving our Lord. You must simply refocus on what you are called to do.
Change is often necessary regarding our financial stewardship. Sometimes change happens voluntarily and sometimes involuntarily. We are destined to make the same mistakes and stay in a rut of poor stewardship if we are not willing to make a change. Change may require us to stop using debt, may require us to live with less, may require us to be more aggressive with the amount of money we save. The world says there is no need for change, but scripture gives us a path to contentment we cannot find elsewhere.
We are living in a world that has been turned upside down. Many people have lost their jobs, lost income, and have been restricted because of the pandemic. We have been limited to online worship instead of attending the church. Travel is restricted and there is no end in sight. In these times of trouble, I look to 1 Samuel chapter 17 and read how David overcame his hurdle, the 9 ft giant named Goliath. David did not overcome this problem based on what he had in material things, David overcame the hurdle based on his faith and obedience to God. His problem was not bigger than his faith!
Who do you serve? God or money? In today’s world, the overwhelming issue is that money is dictating the behavior of people. In 1 Tim 6:10 we are told that the love of money is the root of all evil. I can attest to validity of that statement. Money cannot physically harm us, but the decisions we make on how we use the money or the thoughts we have on how to save, give away, or spend that money is a mirror of our faith.
The church is an organism, not an institution. There is a whole demographic of people who have changed churches or have left their church who feel bitterness because the relationships they believed were real, ceased upon leaving their church. God has not forgotten you and God still loves you. Don’t allow the failures of man to dictate your relationship with your creator.
Your important documents and final wishes should not become a treasure hunt for your loved ones or executor. In this episode, I discuss the types of documents that need to be available for your beneficiaries and executor of your estate. Regardless of age, this topic needs to be addressed and followed.
Definition of being proactive versus reactive. There is a difference between being a subscriber of a service to being an owner of a company providing that service. As a subscriber, we can choose to avoid those things that are contrary to our beliefs. An example is subscribing to Netflix and choosing to watch family oriented programming and avoiding watching programs that are sexually explicit, show nudity and violence. If you have internet service, you can choose to avoid pornography and use the internet service to research scripture. It is all in the hands of the subscriber and how they use those services. If you own shares of a company that provide internet services or programming, you may be profiting from those things you disagree with. As a shareholder you can be proactive and voice your opinion to shareholder services or vote on key issues. Ultimately, you can divest yourself of those companies you own that profit from and support those activities that are contrary. It is a question of being proactive versus being reactive. Many times, it is an ownership issue.
Creating a financial plan isn’t simply talking about investing. A financial plan has many moving parts that can and will change over your lifetime. There are topics within the financial plan that people like to discuss and there are issues that people avoid because of the sensitivity to the topic. Death is one of those subjects that people avoid, especially when discussing the potential loss of a child. Avoiding the subject does not prevent the devastating possibility from happening. We, as responsible stewards, must be prepared for the unexpected.
An alarming trend that I see as a financial planner is the high number of Christians who’s estate would be insolvent at death. Insolvency is when your you owe more than what you are worth. I also see a larger number of people accumulating debt past the age of 65. These issues have the strong potential to leave a disaster for you loved ones. Simple planning based on God’s word can lead us out of the quicksand before it becomes a devastating financial issue after you have moved on to your eternal home.
In Ecclesiastes Chapter 3, King Soloman observed and journaled many things pertaining to the seasons of our lives. His conclusion was that everything is meaningless without God’s eternal perspective he has placed in our heart. Financial Stewardship is meaningless without that eternal perspective and how it guides us through the decisions we make.
When will the seed produce a harvest? Listeners fall into 4 groups in regards to how they receive and respond to the gospel. Each group is uniquely different and response to the message is acted upon at various velocities. I discuss the characteristics of these groups in today’s message.
What are you doing to Glorify God? Great things are happening globally in regard to spreading the Gospel. There are missionaries risking their lives to save souls in all nations. Unfortunately, many Americans allow attending a church to define their Christianity. We have lost our vision. We have lost our drive to be part of the Christian Revolution. As believers, you can have a major impact on yourselves, your families, and those abroad by being good stewards. It’s time to be proactive, obedient, and aware of the different aspects of our financial stewardship.
As an obedient steward, you have an opportunity and obligation to honor God with your investments. Biblically Responsible Investing aligns a person’s beliefs with their investments by avoiding those companies that profit from and support issues contrary to their moral compass. You can choose to own investments that mirror your theology and beliefs. As a steward, you are either honoring God or rebelling against God in how you manage those assets entrusted to you.
Could I identify you as being a Christian by reviewing your financial stewardship? How we handle or mishandle God’s assets is very important regarding our obedience to God. Has debt, materialism, coveting, and addictions invaded your financial stewardship and preventing you from being content? Are you obedient with your investments? Do they profit from or support issues contrary to your moral compass? In this episode, we discuss the financial trail we leave as good or poor stewards.
Are you aware that money is the most discussed topic in scripture? In fact, it is discussed over 2300 times. The Lord knew we were going to struggle with our financial stewardship and gave us a magnitude of instruction on how to handle those issues. The Revolutionary Stewardship Podcast is a program centered on discussing modern day financial concerns and applying Biblical wisdom to guide us. We dig deep into God’s guidance on investing, estate planning, and wealth transfer.