Should You Go at It Alone?

by | May 15, 2024 | Financial Tips

This article was written a few years ago by my CFAN colleague, Christopher Wells, and it still holds true today.

Oct 12

Written By Christopher Wells, CFP®, CKA®, MS

Money is a powerful, yet dangerous tool. If stewarded well, it can be used to fund great, eternal purposes, but it can just as easily lead to false idols. Through community and accountability in our personal financial situation we can break the power of money over our lives and better direct our wealth for kingdom purposes.

All Christian life needs community

Western culture has valued individualistic practices and values opposed to the collective, but we were actually wired for community – deep community. We can see through the triune nature of God, that he has always lived in community. The Father, Son, and Spirit have been in community with each other, loving each other, from eternity past.

Then throughout scriptures, we can see that we were created for this similar type of community.

“It is not good that the man should be alone.” 

Genesis 2:18

“Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” 

Proverbs 11:14

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.” 

Acts 2:42-47

Paul’s letters throughout the new testament are filled with “one another”s. We are made to care for one another and be involved in each other’s lives as believers.

Even neuroscience has studies supporting this design for community that we find in scripture. In John T. Cacioppo’s (a social neuroscientist at the University of Chicago) book, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, he describes how the feeling of rejection or loneliness is the same region of the brain that registers the pain of stepping on a Lego.

In Christian community we share our life’s troubles and struggles with one another and receive encouragement in the gospel from our fellow believers, but, for some reason, money has become a taboo subject even in these intimate settings. We need to bring community into all areas of our life including how we use our wealth.

Without community, wealth is dangerous

With great power comes great responsibility. Wealth is very powerful. You can think of it like fire. It can be extremely useful and good, but it also can hurt and burn when it is out of control or used incorrectly.

The dangers of wealth fall into two categories: financial and relational.

Financial dangers

Mistakes in handling your money can have significant lifelong impacts, and unfortunately, most of us do not have the tools or insights to know the full impact of our financial decisions.

For example, you may forget to pay a medical bill and consequently it goes into collections. It’s common enough for you to miss notices and calls mentioning the status of your bill. Even if the bill is small, it now has an impact on your credit score.

Then, if you’re making any large purchases with a loan (a home or car) you’re going to get a higher interest rate, and pay significantly more for it over the lifetime of the loan. Because of that, you’re going to have less money to save (while you pay down your loan) putting you behind in investing. Due to compounding growth, it becomes exponentially harder to make up the later you start investing & saving.

A relatively small slip-up can have a significant impact over time, and it’s very hard to fully see or understand the full impact a financial decision, or indecision, will have on your situation.

There are hundreds of these small misstep examples we could go through but here are just a few:

  • Not having enough insurance
  • Being too conservative in your investments
  • Taking too large a loan (home mortgage, student loans, business loans)
  • Not staying invested when the market falls
  • Not listing a beneficiary on your accounts
  • Not having a will

The list goes on and on.

Relational dangers

While this type of danger can have a significant impact on your life, this type is more dangerous. Warnings are found throughout scripture about our relationship to our wealth.

“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” 

Ecclesiastes 5:10

“And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’” 

Luke 12:19-20

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” 

1 Timothy 6:10

As our focus becomes developing financial independent or comfort in our finances, we don’t see that we’ve created less dependence on God and His providence. When we feel in control of our financial situation, we can forget our need and dependence on God.

What should we do?

As you’ve probably guessed, one way to use wealth wisely and protect against the dangers is do invite community into your financial life.

If you’re married, an easy place to start is with your spouse. Finances are one of the leading points of conflict in marriages, and, because of that, it can be easy to avoid conversation on your money in your marriage. Set up a structured time each week or month to go through your finances together. Here is a good list of pre-defined questions you can ask each other.

You don’t need to post about your personal financial situation on your Facebook page, but it is not enough to only share with only one other person. I would encourage a small group of 3-5 people to share openly with each other.

In your conversations, you can focus a lot on the relational side of money and the indicators that come from how you’re using it. The conversations in the group should point back to the fact that God owns it all, we are to be generous and open-handed with what He has entrusted us with, and God is the one that provides (not ourselves).

Similar to structuring time with your spouse, adding structure to your small group meetings will make it easier to start and share openly. In a video from Generous Giving, an organization that helps Christians Explore the Joy of Generosity, you can see how Greg (Co-Author of God and Money) and Alison Baumer have a small group to discuss their finances together.

One way that you can add to your “abundance of counselors” is to work with a Christian Financial Advisor.

This would be someone who not only brings knowledge to your personal finances, but biblical wisdom. There’s quite a bit of research that shows the quantifiable value to using a financial advisor opposed to attempting your financial planning on your own.

You may know some Christians that are financial advisors, but their help may not specifically reflect biblical advise. Advisors that belong to the Christian Financial Advisors Network have training on biblical wisdom regarding finances (as Certified Kingdom Advisors™) and are held to a fiduciary standard working as fee-only advisors that won’t sell you anything with a commission.

You can find a Christian financial advisor, here, to help be your co-steward in your financial journey.

Conclusion

While it may seem easier to go at it alone, we were created for much more. Human flourishing, as it was designed by The Creator, encompasses actively avoiding isolation in order to increase our love for our Savior and decrease our love of self. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

Christopher Wells, CFP®, CKA®, MS

Christopher is a financial planner at Flourish Financial Planning. Flourish Financial Planning is a group of tax-focused financial planners with a vision to empower Christian families, small business owners, and pastors to use their finances as a tool to live a flourishing life.