September 1st, 2025 |
Ground Financial Planning and Giving in Faithful Stewardship
By Attorney Al Spiegel
Reading Time: 3 minutes
With each announcement of a new law or administrative order affecting our finances, advisors at all levels of wisdom do their best to steer their listeners to various courses of action. Some are motivated by misunderstandings, some are motivated by fear, and most are motivated by greed (often the greed of the advisor). With all of these voices at a fever pitch, it is tempting to tune them all out and stay on whatever course we have been on. Good stewardship, however, requires more thorough consideration of (1) our resources, (2) our motives and (3) our goals. Once those three things are in clear view, wise decisions become much easier to reach, and a wise perspective becomes much harder to lose.
We will examine each of these three factors and highlight how a Godly perspective on each will allow a more peaceful and God-honoring stewardship, regardless of our present lot in life.
Our Resources
One of the many problems with online advisors is that they, by nature, have no relationship with the person who is seeking their advice. The first consequence of this lack is the fact that the advisor is not at all aware of what resources the advice-seeker has at his or her disposal. There is an enormous difference in financial complexity between a man with $50,000 in assets and a man with $5 million in assets, and there is an equally enormous difference between an 18-year-old with $10,000 and an 81-year-old with $10,000.
In each situation, the resources (time or assets) available to a person should dictate a specific plan, but the advisor has no idea of the level of those resources. If we wish to equip our advisors well, they must be aware of what resources are available to us, and it is our job to make them aware. We must certainly find advisors we trust with our sensitive information, and then share it with them honestly to equip them to equip us well.
Our Motives
The second problem with advisors who don’t know us, including advisors who market themselves as Christian, is that they don’t know our motives in making financial plans. Most assume that the goal of every individual is to accumulate as much wealth as possible during their life. After twenty years of advising Christian individuals and families about financial and estate planning matters, I have no doubt that this is far from the most important priority for many of my clients. They don’t wish to waste assets, and they wish to steward them well, but the rate of return is much less important to many of them than being the hands and feet of Jesus with their resources.
As with resources, communicating motives is necessary to preparing and executing a financial or legal plan. As such, we must take the time to clarify our motives in our own hearts and minds so that we can communicate them to the advisors we have chosen, allowing them to understand and fulfill those motives.
Our Goals
Once our resources and our motives are established and communicated, our goals are relatively easy to set. The wise decision-maker will seek counsel with goals in mind but will understand that a wise advisor may need to adjust those goals in light of our resources and motives, for God’s purposes. Make clear goals, but understand that they are only signposts to confirm that we are pursuing our motives with our resources, and they are likely to change as circumstances change.
There are a lot of clever advisors and smart advice available in public and private settings, but only a small amount of wisdom. As stewards of time, money, relationships, and other resources, we must seek wisdom so that we can steward well and see what God can do with our wisely laid plans.
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