|
For some of us, when we hear the word “stewardship” we
immediately start to disassociate.
For me personally, I flashback to sitting in a hard wooden pew as a
young girl (dressed in my Sunday best and doodling on the back of the bulletin)
while a preacher uncomfortably tried to talk about giving and the financial
obligations of Christians. Recently,
however, in frustration with the cacophony of the financial pundits and their
conflicting opinions, I decided to embark on my own quest to see if ancient,
Biblical principles on money management still hold value for today’s
fast-paced, complex world…regardless of
one’s spiritual beliefs.
As a Certified Financial Planner™ and a devout follower of
the latest and greatest financial strategies and products, I know a lot about
conventional financial wisdom. I
read the books, I subscribe to the financial magazines, and I get the latest
economic news delivered to my BlackBerry each morning. Here are some of the most obvious themes that I’ve found in
these conventional sources of financial wisdom.
· Financial
analysts and economists are rarely in agreement with each other (even
though they are all highly educated and credentialed).
· No
forecaster accurately and consistently predicts the future.
· And,
of course, uncertainty is certain.
With this in mind, I found myself willing to entertain the
possibility that a book written thousands of years ago might contain some
wisdom that transcends the flighty, temporal advice of Wall Street’s talking
heads. In my research, I was
surprised to learn that the Bible contains well-over a thousand verses on the
topic of money (second only to the topic of love). While I suspect many people associate “stewardship” with the
principle of tithing, there are several other themes that emerged.
· Avoid
the use of debt when possible. This is becoming a more popular notion
now as we struggle to pull out of a major recession, but back in 2007, many of
the experts recommended leverage as a means of expansion (both for businesses
and individuals). Think of how
much better off people would have been if they weren’t burdened by significant
debt prior to the recession. So
many could have avoided foreclosure and bankruptcy by avoiding debt while they
were doing well financially.
· Think
long-term. Planning for the long-range future is one of the concepts
that I find helps clients make good decisions both in their investments and in
the way they choose to give, save, or spend their money. It really is the heart of the financial
planning. However, speculators and guests on the financial news shows rarely
talk about long-term. Instead,
they fixate on the immediate crisis or too-good-to-be-true opportunity at
hand. This type of advice more
often than not leads to poor decision making.
· Maintain
emergency savings. I was surprised to see that this
concept is actually found in the Bible.
It’s another financial planner favorite.
·
Provide for your family and live generously.
Interestingly, most people that I have worked with include these ideals
among their financial objectives.
When we take time to reflect on what’s really important, these universal
values provide a strong sense of fulfillment for many people.
In conclusion, no matter what your opinion about the
Judeo-Christian tradition, the Bible contains key ingredients for financial
freedom. Conventional wisdom plays
an important role in fine-tuning your financial strategy, whether to help you
avoid estate taxes or to adjust your investment portfolio to prepare for the
next economic cycle. Yet the
Biblical principles can supply all the foundational ingredients of a solid
financial plan, and can offer a lot of guidance as to how to give, save, and
spend. It may be old, but when it
comes to making wise financial decisions, the Bible certainly is not out of
date.
| 
