Welcome to a unique discussion that intersects your faith with your financial well-being.
Given recent events, both in the United States and abroad, now is the time to focus our actions on more meaningful use of our wealth by injecting biblical values into our financial plans and investment strategies.
Based on continued market volatility, persistent inflation, and an upcoming Presidential election in 2024, many high-net-worth individuals in San Antonio and elsewhere are exploring how to blend their financial choices with their Christian values.
As a San Antonio wealth management firm that respects Judeo-Christian values, we help affluent individuals and families sort through today’s financial complexities with a Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) process. In this article, we’ll look at five financial tactics we recommend using as a way to incorporate your biblical values into a modern financial strategy:
- Stewardship: Understand the responsibility of substantial financial assets and how you can manage them in a way that honors God.
- Generosity: Explore the concept of charitable giving that goes beyond mere obligation while enriching your spiritual and financial life.
- Ethical Investing: Learn how to align your investments with Christian values without sacrificing profitability.
- Debt Management: Leverage the wisdom of biblical teachings to manage and reduce your debt while avoiding frequent pitfalls.
- Long-term Planning: Adapt the virtues of patience and foresight into your financial plans without compromising your beliefs.
Listen to our Podcast: Retire in Texas: Faith and Business
Stewardship
“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”
Proverbs 3:9-10
Stewardship, within the context of biblically responsive investing and financial planning, embodies a fundamental principle rooted in Christian values: Utilize your financial resources to follow biblical teachings. You’re using your wealth not just for financial gain but for a higher purpose that benefits others.
Practicing good stewardship involves managing your financial resources wisely and responsibly. This means creating a budget, living within your means, and avoiding expensive debt. It means creating financial plans and making investment choices that not only aim for financial security but also reflect moral and ethical considerations.
This approach includes aligning investments with companies or initiatives that share similar values and beliefs, avoiding investments in industries contrary to biblical principles, and giving generously to causes that promote social good and faith-based missions.
How The Biblical Principle Of Investing Works
Generosity
“A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” – Proverbs [11:25]
Incorporating generosity into your financial plan can involve regular charitable donations and helping those with the greatest needs. Your generosity can have a profound impact on the San Antonio community and beyond.
By strategically incorporating charitable giving into your financial and estate plan, you can support causes that resonate with your values while minimizing personal tax liabilities. This allows you to make a more significant impact on the charitable organizations you believe in and the causes they serve. This legacy planning can also ensure that your assets are used in ways that reflect your biblical values long after you and your spouse are gone.
Your generosity can also provide substantial tax deductions, reducing overall tax liability.
Ethical Investing
“Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.” – Proverbs 28:6
Ethical investing, also known as Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI), is a financial approach that aligns investment strategies with Christian and biblical values. It’s a method practiced by Christian financial planners, such as CFP® professionals in San Antonio, Texas, to help individuals plan for retirement while staying true to their faith-based principles.
With BRI, investment decisions are made based on morals, values, and ethics that are important to you. This can include avoiding investments in companies or industries that go against biblical values. For instance, BRI portfolios may exclude businesses involved in activities like birth control, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or those that promote values that are inconsistent with Christian beliefs.
Debt Management
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8
The Bible advises against excessive debt, and conservative financial wisdom echoes this sentiment. Remember, minimizing debt requires discipline and control. However, when applicable, implementing these guidelines can help you regain control of your financial life.
Here are three debt management tactics worth considering:
- Choose between the debt snowball method (paying off smaller debts first) or the debt avalanche method (prioritizing debts with the highest interest rates). Select the one that aligns with your financial goals and capabilities.
- Working with a San Antonio CFP® professional, create a comprehensive budget that details your income and expenses. Identify areas where you can cut unnecessary spending to allocate more of your income towards debt repayment.
- Explore debt consolidation options, such as balance transfer credit cards or personal loans with lower interest rates. This can simplify payments, reduce interest expenses, and free up income to pay down remaining debt faster.
Long-Term Planning
“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5
Just as Joseph in the Bible advised Pharaoh to save during times of plenty for times of famine, having a long-term financial plan, including retirement savings and emergency reserves, is crucial for weathering life’s financial ups and downs.
Long-term financial planning holds significant importance, particularly when guided by Christian principles and facilitated by a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) in San Antonio who understands the relevance of biblical values when making important financial decisions.
Long-term financial planning can serve as a roadmap for the next chapter of your financial life if you are nearing retirement and living in Texas. Your financial plan should be based on the achievement of your long-term goals.
Get to Know PAX Financial Group
At PAX Financial Group, our skills and know-how are focused on serving individuals and families from various backgrounds, lifestyles, and financial well-being. Our team has decades of experience helping people just like you.
Your financial situation is unique, so pursuing your goals does not require a one-size-fits-all solution. Whether you want to grow your assets, thereby optimizing your wealth, or safeguard your financial future as you plan for retirement, our experienced financial advisors will craft a tailored plan for you.
At PAX, we believe that the investment process is more than just a numbers game. It’s about forging strong relationships with our clients. The better we know you, the more relevant our advice is. Decades of experience show that our financial planning and investment advice can empower you to make informed choices that enable you to live a comfortable lifestyle and leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
Connect with us to learn more about our biblically responsible investing strategies.
