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  • 111 – Questions For Down Markets
    Click below to listen to Episode 111 – Questions For Down Markets
    Questions For Down Markets

    Ask yourself these 7 questions when a down market hits.

    More episodes >>

    The only guarantee we have in the stock market is that it will have ups and downs. This is also true of anything with a value like real estate, bonds, precious metals like gold and silver, commodities, collectibles, etc, not just the stock market.

    However, when the market starts going down, even the best of us start to question our decisions. Instead of questioning all of our choices, Bob and Shawn pose 7 questions we should be asking ourselves in order to try and remain confident. So, what questions should you ask yourself when the stock markets are in a downward trend? Find out by listening!

    HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®

    CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

    Mentioned In This Episode
    Christian Financial Advisors
    Website
    Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
    Shawn Peters

    Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.

    SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENTDid you enjoy this episode? Sign up for email updates and never miss an episode.
    EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    [INTRODUCTION]

    Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

    [EPISODE]

    Bob:

    Hi Shawn!

    Shawn:

    Morning, Bob. Well, depending on when someone’s listening.

    Bob:

    It could be nighttime, right? We have had a real bear market this year. It dropped the most in the first three weeks of January. If you look at the average, like, if you look at a growth or a moderate portfolio, it dropped about 7% in the first three weeks, and then it’s dropped another six, 5 or 6%. most of your indexes or moderate indexes since then, of course, if you’re in growth or aggressive growth, you’ve dropped a lot more. And today we’re going to continue in our series about how to handle these bear markets. The last few episodes that we did, we talked about a Christian’s response, how Christian should respond and then investing during turbulent times.

    Shawn:

    And so for today, we’ve got questions for a down market or down markets.

    Bob:

    These are really good questions you need to ask yourself during a down market like this, because you don’t wanna let your emotions get involved. Emotions should not be a part of investing. At all.

    Shawn:

    And that is hard. I mean, we wanna make sure people, either watching or listening, don’t think we just look at it as, “Well. Just remove emotions.” Obviously, we know as human beings, we’re emotional creatures. We have emotions, but in the interest of what we’re talking about, you’re right. You’ve got to do your best to set your emotions aside and look at the facts.

    Bob:

    So today, we’re gonna have a discussion about questions asked during a down market. We had this in our last special bear market newsletter, which is on our website at christianfinancialadvisors.com. That’s all you gotta do. Christian financial advisors. If you want to abbreviate the financial advisors, you can go Christianfa.com and go to the newsletter area, the educational area under articles. And that will get you to the part that we’re gonna cover today. But it really is good to hear it through video because we’re gonna be discussing these questions.

    Shawn:

    Right. Right. What’s interesting too, Bob, is obviously, there’s a lot of signs that you can look at to see if we’re in a bear market, such as are the market down, but what, what I always find interesting is we know we’re definitely getting into a bear market when all of a sudden our clients start contacting us without us having to reach out to them.

    Bob:

    That’s the truth, isn’t it? During the up market, we’re reaching out for account reviews and updates.

    Shawn:

    And if we get a response, people are like, I’m good.

    Bob:

    I’m good. I don’t need to talk to you. Well, today they want to talk with us.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. That’s our first sign.

    Bob:

    One of the things I wanna say, before we get to these questions, is the only guarantee in the stop market. There is a guarantee.

    Shawn:

    That you will have ups and downs.

    Bob:

    You’ll have ups and downs. Exactly.

    Shawn:

    And sometimes sideways.

    Bob:

    I remember when we had Sal that worked for us many, many years ago, and you would ask him, so what’s the stop market gonna do? He’d always say where it’s gonna go up and it’s gonna go down. And I like that. He always had a real dry sense of humor that I loved. And this is true with anything that has a value. I mean, you look at real estate, bonds, precious metals like gold, silver commodities, any kind of collectible.

    Shawn:

    It’s not just the stock market.

    Bob:

    But the one thing about the stock market is you’re getting an appraisal every second of the day. You think about real estate, unless you go get an appraisal every single day or every week, which you couldn’t do, you really don’t understand when the value of that real estate is dropping, which right now people don’t understand it is dropping because of the interest rate increases. I would invite you to go back and listen to the program we made. Gosh, was it last year we made that?

    Shawn:

    I think…

    Bob:

    It was about we’re investing in real estate right now and should you, cause we covered the interest rates.

    Shawn:

    It’s been within the last six months.

    Bob:

    It was amazing to me that, the things we were predicting are now happening with the interest rates going up

    Shawn:

    The craziest part was you had talked about the math of what if interest rates go from an average of 3% to 4% and yet we’ve gone from 3% to almost 6. And now, the analysts are predicting. I mean, we’re within the next year or two, I mean, we’re talking about easily being at 7% – as a norm.

    Bob:

    You think the stock market is dropping, and you look at the purchasing power of the average person that buys a home, which I looked at. The national association of realtors just came out with an article about two weeks ago that said that 87% of the buyers in the last two years have financed. 87%. So that’s 87% of your market now has purchasing power that’s half of what it was. So, let’s get into the questions. We’ve got seven questions that we’re gonna be talking about. I think this first question is really important when you’re thinking about when you’re in a bear market and how you’re invested.

    Shawn:

    When you’re in that downward trend.

    Bob:

    Right. And I believe that everybody should have a diversified portfolio. So the question you gotta ask yourself is if you have a diversified portfolio, are you gonna need all of it in the next one to three years? And why do I say one to three years?

    Shawn:

    So what you’re saying is, are you going to need to, effectively, withdraw and actually actually spend all of that money in the portfolio over the next one to three years.

    Bob:

    Exactly.

    Shawn:

    Okay. So I’m assuming you’re saying that one to three years because of the time that typically it takes for us to get through a bear market since average bear market has been, over the last 73 years, about 11 to 12 months?

    Bob:

    11 to 13 months to be exact. Okay. So people get panicky when the markets drop over a four or five or six month period, but if they have a diversified portfolio and what I mean by diversified, if they’ve got bonds and then they’ve got stocks and then they’ve got cash and then they’ve got real estate, and they’re diversified over a lot of different things. Unless you need all of that in the next average bear market of 11 to 13 months, and sometimes bear markets can go two or three years, but unless you need all of that, there’s really no reason to panic because you can pull from – usually there’s a side that you can pull from that is not down while you’re waiting for the other side to come up. So, if you have your bonds and then you have your cash and you have your stocks, just don’t touch the stock part of the diversified portfolio. Now, if you’re in 100% stocks and the stock market’s down and you’re needing money that’s, you’re diversified wrong.

    Shawn:

    That is absolutely correct.

    Bob:

    That is not a good plan, but that’s a strong first question. I’m at peace about this cause I’m very diversified. I’ve got enough easily to last one to three years.

    Shawn:

    As far as your income needs.

    Bob:

    Right. Exactly.

    Shawn:

    So, you practice with your preach, Bob.

    Bob:

    I do. And that takes us just to the second question, do you have enough in cash and bonds to live on while waiting for the rebound portion of your stock portfolio to come back?

    Shawn:

    Gotcha.

    Bob:

    And it helps with some, like, if you have a balanced portfolio, you’ll see that whole thing down. Sometimes, it helps and you’ve seen me do this, is that we will separate that portfolio.

    Shawn:

    Create a second account if there isn’t already an account that we move it to, but create a separate account that is the same kind. So if you have an IRA, we have another IRA, and that way our clients can easily see Account number 1, 2, 3, 4 is our stock portion and account number 1, 2, 3, 5 is our bonds and our cash.

    Bob:

    So, you separate it completely out because within a balanced or a moderate portfolio, you’ve got a part of it that is stocks and a part of it that is bonds and fixed income. So, when you see it going down, you’re thinking it’s all going down.

    Shawn:

    It’s a little harder to separate that out and see, okay, well, how have the bonds, the fixed income, the cash, how have they been doing versus the stock portion when it’s in that one account.

    Bob:

    And while interest rates have risen, while we’ve had some downturn in bonds, it’s been nothing like stocks.

    Shawn:

    Oh yeah.

    Bob:

    Yeah, yeah. 3 or 4%, nothing like the 15-20%. I mean, you’ll see some of these stocks come out and they’ll be down 25% in one day. A lot of that has happened.

    Shawn:

    There is that streaming service that has a red letter and a black background. I’m not gonna mention any names that has dropped a little bit over the last six months like 50%.

    Bob:

    A lot. A whole lot. As we’re coming out of the pandemic and people are not gonna sit around and watch TV anymore. Thank goodness.

    Shawn:

    And there’s a lot more competition, but anyway, that’s a different topic.

    Bob:

    So first question, you have a diversified portfolio. Second, do you have enough in cash in bonds? Third question.

    Shawn:

    Are you smart enough to perfectly time the market by getting out at the perfect time and getting back in at the perfect time?

    Bob:

    How many times do I say perfect in there?

    Shawn:

    I think you’re trying to drive a point. Yeah.

    Bob:

    If you look at the charts and we have a chart that we need to put up here.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. We’ll include the chart. If you’re listening, you’ll have to go to our website to check it out. But if you’re watching it, we’ll pull it up on screen. But you’re talking about the chart over the last 70 plus years.

    Bob:

    Well, I’m talking about the one that’s in the last 15 to 20 years of where if you just miss the 3-5 days in how the returns – in an all stock portfolio, right? How the returns in an all stock portfolio go from like an average of 10% down to 5% by missing just 5 to 10 of the updates. Cause the updates, you never know when they’re gonna hit. And then missing the next 5 to 10 of the updates, your return goes from 10 down to 1%. So, it’s really important that you’re there because markets move fast and what people will do is the markets will be down and they’ll say, I want to get out. And then they’ll say, well, I wanna get back in after it’s recovered and you’ve missed those days.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. You’ve missed a huge percentage of the potential comeback.

    Bob:

    Next question is if you have a well diversified portfolio. Do you believe that people are gonna quit using things like technology, healthcare, medicine, utilities, gas, transportation, food, shelter, clothing? No, I don’t. I mean, I’m still putting gas in my car as expensive as it is right now.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. Cause we have to.

    Bob:

    We’re using technology right now to record, and we’ve got our Google apps here to stay with our outline. We’re using utilities. We’ve got the lights on, got our clothes on. Thank goodness. We’ve got our drinks. I had a good breakfast this morning. That’s the normal thing. The things that we use. If you are invested in those companies, do you believe they’re just gonna completely go away because it’s a bear market?

    Shawn:

    No. I guess another way to look at that. Yes, the price, the stock price, of those companies may have fluctuated, but are they gonna go to zero? Are they gonna completely go outta business? Like for these like critical industries? No. It’s a bear. You look at the bear market, you look at the bull markets, your bull market lasts multiple years on average, typically, and your bear market lasts about a year. It’s just math.

    Bob:

    We’ve said that one before.

    Shawn:

    We have.

    Bob:

    This is so important to know in a down market like we’re in and in this bear market. Question number five, go ahead, Shawn.

    Shawn:

    Will I allow short term thinking to get in the way of long term success? That’s a good one.

    Bob:

    Need I say more?

    Shawn:

    Well, you can. I mean, we are describing the questions right now.

    Bob:

    Well, it is. People get caught up in just the time, and for some reason…

    Shawn:

    The last six months – what’s been going on.

    Bob:

    Or the last three months. And they think it’s different this time, and we talked about that a little bit on the last podcast video that we did. It’s not different this time.

    Shawn:

    But yet everybody thinks that. Every single time there’s been a downturn, people think it’s different this time. And yet, so far a hundred percent of the time, it’s not been different this time.

    Bob:

    I like that. 100% of the time.

    Shawn:

    It’s been a few years since Solomon said it originally. Yeah. But he did say at one point in the Bible that there’s nothing new under the sun, so if he said it however many thousands of years ago, it’s still true.

    Bob:

    One of our clients, they listened to the podcast, because they said that yesterday. There’s nothing new under the sun. I’m not worried about it right now. And also they said, I’m not watching the news all day long. I’m living life.

    Shawn:

    Well, especially most of your major news. It’s not news. Like, I mean, they have they have the word news in it. But if you look at them, they’re entertainment companies. Their goal isn’t to accurately portray what’s going on or what you should or shouldn’t be scared about. It’s they want to get you to come back after the commercial break. They wanna get you to tune in and freak out and buy the supplements.

    Bob:

    I’ve noticed another thing from watching the entertainment channels for so long. The new entertainment news channels. Especially, I’m not gonna name the channel, but just the major financial channel. They have this little bank of bear advisors and bull advisors, and when the bear market’s happening, they go get all their guys. It’s doomsday. It’s the end of times, and they play on those emotions. And then when the market starts to turn back, they’ll go get their bull advisors. Their advisors that are positive. So they have their negative and positive, and it’s amazing how they play that game. They do it over and over again.

    Shawn:

    Well, if the markets are going down, let’s bring our negative nellies on. let’s bring the bear market guys on. And then vice versa. If it’s going up, oh, it’s gonna go nothing but up from here, you know?

    Bob:

    And it’s always the market plunged or the market skyrocketed. It plunged! It went down 4% or it went down 3% or 2%. Plunged would sound like you’re off the cliff. When the markets are down, this is question number six. And this is my number one thing. Number one. When the markets are down, I look at it as a buying opportunity instead of a selling one. Shawn, it amazes me that over and over, everybody wants to buy everything on sale. If you go to Walmart or Target or Costco or Sam’s Club, or wherever, you wanna buy when it’s on sale, right? Like the day after Thanksgiving, everybody wants to buy everything on sale.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. When you see all those clearance signs or 25% discount or buy three, get one free. You have all this stuff. That’s like, oh, it’s a great deal. Look at how much money I saved. But yet, I feel like with the stock market, people do the exact opposite. They want to buy low. They wanna sell high, and yet the majority of investors and consumers, they end up doing the opposite.

    Bob:

    They buy high and they sell low.

    Shawn:

    They sell low in the panic.

    Bob:

    Exactly the opposite. So look at this right now during a bear market, as…

    Shawn:

    A buying opportunity.

    Bob:

    A buying opportunity.

    Shawn:

    So if you do have capital set aside, you do have something that has been more conservative. If anything, I mean, just start dollar cost averaging into the equities, into the market, because the more you do that now, the more of a buying opportunity you have.

    Bob:

    And do we know we’re at a bottom? No, we don’t. No, we can’t predict anything here.

    Shawn:

    But it’s already, just again, just look at the last six months or so. I mean, just compared to the last six months, how much of a discount are we already at, in general?

    Bob:

    Everything’s at a discount.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. You might get a little bit more of a discount, but you don’t need to wait for the Memorial Day sale. It’s already 20% off or 30% off.

    Bob:

    Which takes us through our last question of the day.

    Shawn:

    Do great investors like Warren Buffet go with the crowd and run away from the markets when they’re correcting or buy stocks at lower prices. I guess he would be considered probably the most famous person to date as far as what’s considered a contrarian investor, which is exactly what you were talking about on question number six, where when the majority of people think it’s gonna go nowhere but up from here, that’s when a contrarian investor says, I should probably sell off some of my positions because if everybody thinks it’s going nowhere but up, up, it’s probably about to have a correction.

    Bob:

    But everybody wants to buy, buy, buy, sell. When everybody wants to sell, sell, sell, and buy.

    Shawn:

    Everybody’s panicking. You’ve got all the bear analysts that are coming onto the news channels and talking about how it’s just going to continue to plunge from here. Okay. Well, that’s a good indication that even if you don’t move everything in, maybe you should start making some purchases each month and start moving in because it’s already to discount and you go against what most people are doing.

    Bob:

    As we’re at the end of today’s video podcast. One of the things I like to do is we’ve been going out to eat a lot lately cause of the pent up demand from COVID. I’ve noticed every restaurant’s full to the brink. As we’re making this, it’s right before Memorial Day. And they were saying the airports are just packed. It doesn’t look like we’re in a recession.

    Shawn:

    No, not really.

    Bob:

    So, while they may say that and they love to talk about that, look around. Are people still driving their cars, or are they still going out to eat? Are they still going to the grocery store? Are they still using technology?

    Shawn:

    Are you getting stuck in traffic on your way to work and back or going to the movie or restaurant?

    Bob:

    Yeah, exactly. So, I hope this has helped you with questions to ask during a bear market. And if you have any questions, we’d love to answer.

    Shawn:

    Yep. The Lord doesn’t give us a spirit of fear, but he gives us one of sound mind.

    Bob:

    That’s right. So you can call text us at 830-609-6986 during business hours.

    Shawn:

    And you can check out our podcast episodes on our website www.christianfinancialpodcast.com or you can search for Christian Financial Perspectives. Thank you, and God bless.

    [CONCLUSION]

    That’s all for now.

    We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

    [DISCLOSURES]

    Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

    21 min
  • 110 – A Christian’s Response To Today’s Investment Uncertainty
    Click below to listen to Episode 110 – A Christian’s Response To Today’s Investment Uncertainty
    A Christian’s Response To Today’s Investment Uncertainty

    Listen in as we discuss ways a Christian should react to investment uncertainty based on scriptures.

    More episodes >>

    Listen in as Bob and Shawn discuss how a Christian should respond to investment uncertainty. There is always some form of uncertainty and risk when it comes to investing, but how we react to that risk makes a big difference. Do we panic and let our emotions get the better of us, or do we react calmly and with wisdom?

    Understanding the typical cycles of bull and bear markets allows us to better understand trends and have more confidence in our decisions. The last thing we want to do is let pure emotions dictate our decisions. More importantly, looking towards scripture is one way to try and gain peace and confidence when it comes to our investments. It all belongs to God anyways, doesn’t it?

    HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®

    CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

    Mentioned In This Episode
    Christian Financial Advisors
    Website
    Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
    Shawn Peters

    Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.

    SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENTDid you enjoy this episode? Sign up for email updates and never miss an episode.
    EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    [INTRODUCTION]

    Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

    [EPISODE]

    Bob:

    Hello, Shawn.

    Shawn:

    Hey Bob. What’s up?

    Bob:

    Well, I tell you what what’s up is we’re gonna have a very good podcast and video today. This is our second time to do the video. We’re very excited about this, and I just love our media. What do you call this? A video room.

    Shawn:

    You can call it a media room, video room, whatever.

    Bob:

    Yeah, it’s so cool. Last time, we talked about how to respond to all this craziness that’s going on in the markets. And today, we’re gonna talk about a Christian’s response to today’s market volatility. I put this together last night, Shawn, probably in 20-25 minutes. That normally doesn’t happen to me.

    Shawn:

    No, normally you spend a lot more time than that.

    Bob:

    Exactly. So the Lord has laid this on my heart because there is a way to respond to this volatility that is going on right now for a Christian. And a Christian’s response should be different.

    Shawn:

    Yep. Absolutely.

    Bob:

    Then somebody with a secular worldview. So first of all, we’re in this bear market. There’s no doubt we’re heading to a bear market. As we make this, just yesterday, the markets fell nearly 4%. Some blue chip companies yesterday fell 15 and 20% and that can really eat with your emotions and your feelings.

    Shawn:

    I mean, when you’re four months into the markets not going up after how many years we go, pretty much?

    Bob:

    Yeah. And you know what, it’s only been two years since we had a bear market. Now for those that you that don’t know, a bear market is a down market, because a bear comes down on you, and a bull kind of goes up. So a bull market is up market, if you don’t know what that means.

    Shawn:

    As our little models here demonstrate.

    Bob:

    Exactly. Yeah. We got the, we got the little logo that’s over there. So we got bears and bulls all over this office. Because that’s what we do. We manage investments from a biblically responsible perspective. Shawn, you know that there is a foundation for a Christian’s response to every time when you think about finances. And that foundation, what is that?

    Shawn:

    God owns it all. You gotta start from there.

    Bob:

    You gotta start with that foundation. If you don’t start with that foundation, you have cracks in the foundation as a Christian. So, God owns it all. Psalms 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lords and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Now, do we believe that?

    Shawn:

    Amen. Yes, we do.

    Bob:

    I remember going through the truth project many years ago, Focus on the Family and Dr. Dale Tackett said, do you believe that what you believe is really real? And if we really believe that, then God owns it all. There should be no fretting from a Christian worldview, a biblical worldview.

    Shawn:

    And that’s where that idea of the stewardship comes into play. The assets that we are investing, managing our home, anything really that we have, it doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to God, but he’s entrusted that to us. And we will ultimately be held accountable for how we manage that, which is why that’s important to be number one, God owns it all.

    Bob:

    The next thing is there is a time for everything. And we’ve mentioned this many times in the podcast. There’s a time for economic booms and bust and booms again. Because there’s a time. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.” I believe that. I’ve lived it. The older you get, the more you’re gonna realize there’s good and bad times. And when you’re into good times, you better get ready for the bad. But even when you’re in bad times, you gotta look at the good.

    Shawn:

    Ecclesiastes – we won’t read the entire section because there’s a lot of “time for this, time for that”, but the one that always sticks out to me, especially when you’re talking about markets, is there’s a time to plant and there’s a time to reap. There’s a time for joy and there’s a time for sorrow. So right now, people are feeling a little sorrowful a little bit like, “Maybe I should have pulled some money out sooner. I don’t know. Like what do I do now?”

    Bob:

    But you could consider that gambling in a way, trying to time it. And that is my third point today is that it’s time – not gambling and trying to time the markets that creates long term wealth. And we went over the traits of wealthy people. You remember that? That’s a podcast that was four or five podcasts ago that we would invite you to go back and listen to. There were 21 traits of wealthy people and one was “they do not gamble”.

    Shawn:

    Now, Bob, just wanna make sure to clarify for our listeners or viewers. Timing the markets does not mean that like, especially for us as professional money managers, it does not mean that we don’t ever take take capital aside.

    Bob:

    Some off the table, put some back.

    Shawn:

    Exactly. So we stay, like even now, we’ve been invested, but we obviously made a very pointed decision towards the fourth quarter of 2021 to actually pull some back. Some of that capital after two years of plenty, which kind of reminds me of the famine in Egypt and Joseph, like there was gonna be 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine. So like, Hey, we’ve had two years of really great returns. There’s not a lot of good things on horizon. Let’s pull a little bit back, but that’s not timing the markets from day to day and week to week.

    Bob:

    Yeah. I’m talking about the day traders and trying to time that. It just doesn’t work.

    Shawn:

    Doesn’t work very long. It might work for a month or two.

    Bob:

    Yeah. There’s a great scripture I have for that.

    Shawn:

    Proverbs 13:11, “Dishonest money dwindles away. But whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.”

    Bob:

    It’s not hitting it all at once. It’s little by little and growing over time.

    Shawn:

    So consistency, maybe, is another way to say that.

    Bob:

    Yeah. You gotta realize, too, that your portfolio, if you have an investment portfolio, it’s gonna go up and down month to month. And right now, while we’re in this bear market, it could go down a lot. I’ve seen people get depressed over this. I’ve seen my Christian brothers and sisters get depressed over it.

    Shawn:

    Just the value of their account changing?

    Bob:

    Exactly. Over the value. I’m thinking, this concerns me because is the value of your portfolio tied to your self worth?

    Shawn:

    It shouldn’t be. I mean, hey, going back to number one, God owns it all. We wanna be good stewards. But ultimately the value of the portfolio should not determine your self worth. That comes from God.

    Bob:

    And contentment comes from that relationship with God. Philippians 4:11-13. Would you read that for us?

    Shawn:

    Sure. “I am not saying I need anything. I have learned to be happy with whatever I have. I know how to get along with little and how to live when I have much. I have learned the secret of being happy at all times. If I am full of food and have all I need, I am happy. If I’m hungry and need more, I’m happy. I can do all things because Christ gives me the strength.”

    Bob:

    That contentment comes through Christ. The contentment doesn’t come from the value of your portfolio, whether it’s up today or down tomorrow. And the Christian’s response to this should be that of contentment, not your self worth based on what the portfolio says today.

    Shawn:

    Yep. And number five definitely jumps out to me because we hear it all the time with people calling in or emailing or texting and talking to us in person about like, well, I saw this on Facebook or Instagram or whatever. Just something on social media, or I was listening to so, and so (I’m not gonna name any names), somebody talking about how this time it’s different, the world’s ending. So to that end, number five, I will not allow social media or professional doomsayers with conspiracy theories, deceptions, lies and alternative motives to influence me.

    Bob:

    You like that?

    Shawn:

    Yeah. It’s weird, too, because I’ve noticed, and maybe you’ve seen this, Bob, all of the guys and ladies, I guess, who are talking about how this is all gonna end and here’s what’s going on. They almost always seem to have this plug for a book that they just so happened to have released.

    Bob:

    Exactly.

    Shawn:

    Or this how to guide about, “But by the way, I talk about all these things in my new book. Buy it now.”

    Bob:

    Or maybe go buy gold, high commission products.

    Shawn:

    No incentive there, right?

    Bob:

    It’s amazing to me how they have these alternative motives. It’s a conflict of interest to try to influence us. So be very careful of that social media, the internet, all the doomsayers. I mean, they’re out there and they’re out there everywhere.

    Shawn:

    Just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s true.

    Bob:

    Oh, no kidding.

    Shawn:

    It’s a platform. It used to be if you had, no offense to anybody, but if you had the village idiot, they could only talk to the people in the village. But now with social media and everything else, they can talk to somebody across the world. So, it’s not that really anything’s changed. It’s just more people have a voice and can say things without having to provide any basis or facts.

    Bob:

    You’re gonna really love the scripture I picked for this. Go ahead.

    Shawn:

    1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind, your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

    Bob:

    Does that fit?

    Shawn:

    Yeah. That’s pretty straightforward.

    Bob:

    That really fits. A response to this. The next one is believe in biblical guidelines. Biblical guidelines are not going to lead you astray. And one of the biblical guidelines that we’ve talked about over and over is diversification. And if you have good diversification and it’s not all in real estate, or it’s not all in stocks or it’s not all in bonds or it’s not all international, it’s not all in one sector, but you had diversification and it tells us to do that.

    Shawn:

    There’s a scripture for that.

    Bob:

    Ecclesiastes 11:2.

    Shawn:

    “Invest in seven ventures. Yes, in eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” It’s just amazing how many scriptures there are for just about everything in life. I mean, especially when we’re talking about stewardship. Our mindset and stewardship and money it all belongs to God and what do you do with it? And how do you prepare?

    Bob:

    Well, remember biblical scholars say that there’s over 1500 scriptures that have to do with stewardship. So we’re just sharing a few. It’s a lot of scriptures. There’s nothing new under the sun. When the markets drop like this and causes all this emotional turmoil, this is nothing new. This is the kind of stuff that’s happened over and over. It’s not different this time. Okay. It’s not different this time.

    Shawn:

    But when it’s been dropping for awhile, it always feels like it’s different this time.

    Bob:

    We may be in for a lot longer. How do we know? We don’t know. A day is like a thousand years to the Lord. I hope we’re not in for that long, but the average bear market is around 3 to 11 months and we’re maybe three or four months into this, and this may go another year. We don’t know. It may go another couple of months. I can tell you this. The economy seems to be doing pretty well right now. And it’s very different than some of the other times it’s dropped. And there seems to be a lot of panic over just two or three things. And one is the federal reserve raising interest rates.

    Shawn:

    We’ll share that on the podcast episode online, but we might be able to show it on the screen. I’m getting used to that part, but there’s that chart for the last 73 years of the markets and showing how the average duration was 11 months. And the only reason why it was 11 months is because there was a few outliers at like 15, 18, 25 months, but like you said, most of them, if you took the total number, were in that 3 to 11 month range.

    Bob:

    We’ll get him to put that chart up so y’all can see that chart. And you’ll notice in that chart the majority of the time, the markets are up, but when the markets are down is always so emotional. You gotta keep your emotions out of that. Number seven, I will pray and seek God’s word over social media, the news, the internet, and TV. That really is driven by fear. The TV likes to use fear in all those areas, kinda like the doomsayers that we talked about in the other episode.

    Shawn:

    Well, it gets viewership numbers up. Tune in after this break on how the world’s about to end. Okay. I guess I need to tune in cuz that sounds important.

    Bob:

    Sometimes, we need to get away from that and go into God’s word and read God’s word and pray and just turn off the noise, because there’s so much noise. I’ve got Psalms 91:1 here, Psalms 91 is a chapter I prayed over my family for forever. It’s the protection chapter, but the first verse is one I really like, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the almighty.” See, the key to that word is rest in there. God does not want us living in a spirit of fear and chaos. It’s not about that, but the media can sure do that to you. And all the fear mongers out there, which takes us to the next one.

    Shawn:

    Number eight, we have, I refuse to live in a spirit of fear over what the markets are doing from day to day. So, don’t look at it every day.

    Bob:

    You might wanna just check out and look at it next year. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.”

    Shawn:

    Amen.

    Bob:

    And number nine.

    Shawn:

    I choose not to go it alone. And we’ve got Proverbs 15:22. Actually, we have two scriptures here.

    Shawn:

    Proverbs 15:22, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed.” I think that might be one of the top three verses that we quote here.

    Bob:

    Oh, it is. And the time one is one we quote here a lot, too. And then we have Ecclesiastes 4:11-13, “If two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?” Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” And that third strand is the Holy Spirit guiding you and leading you and God did not call for us to go it alone.

    Shawn:

    We have the church.

    Bob:

    But the advertisements, the big online brokerage firms, they call you to go it alone. You can do this. You don’t need anyone to help you. Just use our tool. Use this app. And that has really hurt a lot of people. And in a bull market, when the market’s just up, up, up the day traders, they really push that. Day traders get caught up in it. It broke my heart yesterday, talking to someone I knew that loves the Lord that got caught up in that. And now they owe tremendous – over six figures many times over – in income tax and in capital gains tax, short term capital gains tax from last year. And then they got caught and they were trying to make their money back. And now, they have less than what they started with.

    Shawn:

    And owe the taxes.

    Bob:

    And owe the taxes. Exactly. So yeah, it’s very, very sad. I hope we’ve given you something today about what you should be. What should the Christians response be to the markets when they’re falling and these bear markets, not to get caught up in that, but look to God’s word. He has the answer and our next episode, we’re gonna cover seven questions everybody should be asking themselves when the markets are down. Now, this is something I’ve shared in some articles. And actually, you can go to our website, to Christianfinancialadvisors.com under the articles area and find that. But we’re gonna share that in a video.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. Well actually in the video, unless you’re listening right now, but if you’re currently watching this video, we’ll have it in the video description with a link to some of the things we referenced, like the bear market, bear market and bull market cycles, as well as the seven questions Bob was alluding to, and then we’ll cover that in a future video.

    Bob:

    And we are here for you. We want you to know that. We love you, our brothers and sisters in Christ out there. We don’t want you going through this alone. You can always give us a call at 830-609-6986 during business hours. Don’t go it alone. We’re here to help walk together through this.

    Shawn:

    And if you like this video, we would definitely encourage you to please like, share, and subscribe. If you subscribe, it should help you with getting that notification bell and find out as soon as we post a new video. Thank you. God. Bless.

    [CONCLUSION]

    That’s all for now.

    We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

    [DISCLOSURES]

    Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

    20 min
  • 109 – Investing During Turbulent Times
    Click below to listen to Episode 109 – Investing During Turbulent Times
    Investing During Turbulent Times

    Do you let your emotions get the better of you during bear markets?

    More episodes >>

    In this episode, Bob and Shawn discuss all of the emotions that we go through when the market isn’t exactly doing what we want (i.e usually a bear market). However, just because there are turbulent times in investments doesn’t mean we need to forget everything that we know and panic. In fact, this is the exact time that we need to sit back and trust that all of the decisions that we have made up to this point have prepared us for turbulent market times.

    The stock market and investing always has ups and downs. It’s part of what makes investments both a risk and a benefit. Volatility is part of the natural cycle of a stock market, and while it’s okay to be a little nervous, it’s not okay to act based solely on emotions. Bob and Shawn cover various scriptures that may help bring us wisdom and peace during these turbulent times and how to best combat these emotions.

    HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®

    CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

    Mentioned In This Episode
    Christian Financial Advisors
    Website
    Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
    Shawn Peters

    Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.

    SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENTDid you enjoy this episode? Sign up for email updates and never miss an episode.
    EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    [INTRODUCTION]

    Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

    [EPISODE]

    Bob:

    Welcome to our 109th podcast. Wow.

    Bob:

    There’s something in here today. I can’t tell what it is. It’s all these cameras.

    Shawn:

    Well, yeah, this is our 109th episode and we figured let’s take the lens cap off, you know? I know. This whole time has been audio only.

    Bob:

    The lens cap has been on all this time.

    Shawn:

    I know. And you told me that you took ’em off, and it took us 108 episodes to realize that they were on the whole time. So, anyway, welcome to our first actual video. Not just audio, unless of course you’re currently listening to the video or the podcast.

    Bob:

    Yeah. So if you’re listening to the video, get this, you can go see really two good looking guys. Yeah.

    Shawn:

    And we are super humble about it.

    Bob:

    So, got a good subject for today.

    Shawn:

    All right. Hit me with it.

    Bob:

    Investing during turbulent times.

    Shawn:

    Does that ever happen?

    Bob:

    I don’t know. Is it happening right now?

    Shawn:

    Well, it depends on when someone’s watching or listening to this, but as the time of this recording, most would probably say yes, we’re in some turbulent times.

    Bob:

    We’re in some very turbulent times.

    Shawn:

    Not just in the markets, but as a whole. Seems a little crazy.

    Bob:

    As we’ve shared so many times in Ecclesiastes, it says there’s a time for this. There’s a time for that. I mean, there’s all different types of times and there’s gonna be good times and bad times, there’s gonna be times to heal. There’s gonna be times that you’re gonna get hurt. I look at everything from a perspective of when it’s bad, it’s gonna get good. Yeah. But when it’s good, you gotta be prepared for when it’s gonna get bad.

    Shawn:

    Well, everything goes through cycles, whether it’s the stock markets, the real estate markets, which I wonder if there’s anything going on with that right now.

    Bob:

    Oh my goodness.

    Shawn:

    Everything goes through cycles. There are times of growth, and there are times of decline.

    Bob:

    We’ll talk about that real estate market here in a little bit. So, today’s podcast is called investing during turbulent times. And these are very turbulent times and I think it’s good to talk about what’s causing these turbulent times first. We’ve got a good outline in front of us to help us keep along.

    Shawn:

    Our first one, we got the Ukraine-Russia war. Yes. There’s the fear of escalation, possibly the use of nuclear hypersonic missiles. I mean, there’s a lot going on with that. There’s all the stuff with the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline, or Nord 2 for the pipeline. Billions of dollars have been invested in this, and now it’s just completely halted. Yeah.

    Bob:

    That is a very big concern. And as anybody knows that’s been watching the news, Putin is kind of a madman. He’s just very unpredictable. So, that is definitely causing turbulence in the markets and is causing turbulence in our own lives. The second thing of course, you can go to the grocery store, you can go take your car to to the gas station. I mean, it’s record high inflation. That was really caused by all of this government stimulus.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. Well, we had the artificially low interest rates. There was the government spending – let’s just throw more money at it. It’s not like it would cause a problem.

    Bob:

    Too many dollars trying to chase too few goods.

    Shawn:

    Good. Exactly. What would you say is a healthy inflation rate. It’s around the 2 to 2.25%, right. Isn’t that what the fed usually targets?

    Bob:

    Well, yeah, but I don’t mind an inflation rate that’s around 3-4% myself. Where we are today, 7-8%. And I think if you go really compare what you paid for things a year ago, it’s more like 15%.

    Shawn:

    And especially for people who their income has not been increasing by 10%+ per year that can really start to hurt.

    Bob:

    We’ve got the fear of the higher interest rates right now, too. The tighter money supply. And what I mean by that is the federal reserve. they’ve knocked these interest rates down so low to extreme lows. I mean, just up to about three months ago, you could get a mortgage and be it a 3% rate.

    Shawn:

    For a 30 year.

    Bob:

    I looked at it this morning for a 30 year. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was seeing 6-6.5%. It’s double what it was just two or three months ago. And then the fed was buying. They were putting 130 to 150 billion dollars into mortgage backed securities and buying all that. They haven’t even raised rates but one time.

    Shawn:

    So just by reducing that amount that they’re buying back, as well as what was a half percent, right? Or a quarter percent? The actual artificial change to it? Just between those two things is what has been causing all these changes, right?

    Bob:

    Yeah. And the mortgage market is tighter now. Yeah. So, it’s a lot tighter than it than it was. There’s the fear of those higher interest rates and a tighter money supply and what it could do to the economy and the markets really overreact. You’ll see the markets, and you’ll hear this – never fight the fed. The feds, for a long time, has been saying we’re gonna raise interest rates. Well, now they’re actually doing it.

    Shawn:

    Wait, what? You’re doing the thing you said you’re gonna do?

    Bob:

    Exactly. And now, there’s a real concern amongst many, including myself, of a major real estate bubble pop. That bubble’s just gonna pop.

    Shawn:

    Well, that goes into the interest rates. It’s a matter of interest rates and price and that relationship where if your average interest rates are going up, it’s just math. The prices will drop.

    Bob:

    Well, the reason a lot of this is cause I just want you to think of something. When we were at a 3% interest rate just a couple months ago. On a hundred thousand dollars, the interest is 3000 a year. Okay. 3%. Yeah.

    Shawn:

    Easy. Just real simple interest.

    Bob:

    Now we’re at six. Yeah. The interest of $3,000 at 6% is 50,000. 50,000 times 6% is 3000.

    Shawn:

    Or you’ve gotta jump to 6,000 a year in interest.

    Bob:

    So here’s what’s happened. What’s happened is the purchasing power of 70-75% of the buyers in this country has gone down by half. So, what is this gonna do to the economy?

    Shawn:

    So all those people who were planning on a certain payment that they were comfortable with, if all of a sudden the interest rate has gone from 3% to 6%, it’s drastically reduced the end price that they can afford at that same payment.

    Bob:

    There’s only one thing that can happen – either interest rates have to come back down, which they’re not gonna do, or the builders are gonna have to lower their prices.

    Shawn:

    As well as other homeowners who are trying to sell.

    Bob:

    Yeah. And I would’ve not wanted to buy a home a couple months ago because now you’ve bought at a peak. Okay. You like my fifth one?

    Shawn:

    Yeah. Political leaders that seem incompetent to do their job. Which, in my opinion, also doesn’t really seem any like anything new. . But more so right now.

    Bob:

    That is a real cause of concern and the markets don’t like it. There’s also the computer chip shortages that continue.

    Shawn:

    Takes a while to rebuild.

    Bob:

    By the way, the Ford Explorer I ordered back in December. It finally came in. It’s about to be in in a week or two.

    Shawn:

    #NotSponsoredByFord

    Bob:

    Yeah. Well, that’s true. That’s true. But I’ve been waiting forever. But that’s one thing that people really notice. I mean, you go by all the car dealerships and you just see very few cars.

    Shawn:

    And for most people, the purchasing a car. That’s typically the second largest purchase most people make after buying a home.

    Bob:

    Exactly right.

    Shawn:

    With the chip shortage, most companies have been trying to ramp up their production in domestic, but building that manufacturing back up when it hasn’t been in place, that takes time. So even though we’ve been needing to make a change, it’s not like a light switch. You can’t just turn that on. Once we get that up and running, however much longer that’s gonna take, it’ll be great long term for us domestically for the economy, but it’s not a quick fix.

    Bob:

    So we got the computer chip shortage. And then the seventh thing – a real concern right now, of course, is the continued supply chain disruptions that are coming about.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. Which is still continuing to be exacerbated with countries like China. They made these weird changes where the ships that would come in, to say our main ports like LA, a lot of times these semi trucks, they would be coming in with say an empty container and they would swap. So the empty container would go back on the ship and the full container would go on and then they leave. Well, what’s been weird is that China is not allowing the empty containers to come back. I guess it was with COVID or whatever. They just didn’t want to bring stuff in. And so, what’s happening is the truck drivers have to basically offload those empty containers and then get in line to actually get a full one. It’s basically causing unnecessary, extra time wasted. And on top of that, it slows the supply chain, because we’re still trying to catch up.

    Bob:

    Let’s get to last one because I’m feel like we’re depressing people by now, but we wanna point these out.

    Shawn:

    We do have some good news.

    Bob:

    We do. Of course we do. There’s also been the shortage of workers to fill the vital positions in the marketplace, even with unemployment at record lows. I heard just about a week ago, week and a half ago – I’m just on the news all the time – that there was about 50,000 more jobs than could be filled. That’s a real concern. So what do you do during all this? How do you invest during these turbulent times? Because they’re turbulent. By the way, I think people have short memories because turbulent times come along every couple years. It was just a couple years ago when we were going through COVID and we went through a two or three month major turbulent time in the markets there. It was back in 18 we had some turbulence, of course we know 2008 was major turbulence, but there is turbulence. Turbulence is normal and will come along into markets every couple years.

    Shawn:

    You could argue it’s part of a healthy market that those things happen. You have times of growth, you have times of pull back. That’s just normal. And even Solomon said it first. There’s nothing new under the sun.

    Bob:

    Exactly, exactly.

    Shawn:

    All the way back then.

    Bob:

    We’re gonna go through about eight or nine points here, and we’re gonna try to zip through these pretty quick. The first thing is look at what you’re investing in. Are the companies you’re investing in, are they needed to sustain a normal lifestyle? I look at things like, do they produce food or are they in the grocery business or clothing, shelter, technology, energy, utilities, healthcare, transportation? All those things that we use on a daily basis.

    Shawn:

    They’re not really going anywhere. It’s kinda like back in 2020 when COVID hit and everything was crazy and the markets dropped 30-40%, depending on what you’re looking at, and shortly after that, within a few months, but there was a lot of areas in the market, especially technology sectors that had popped back up. And yet, for a considerable amount of time, energy was still vastly undervalued compared to what it was. We’re using electricity to film this. Like we still even then, and now, we need energy. So those are great examples of things that they’re not going anywhere, even though they might fluctuate some.

    Bob:

    Things that you gotta have. Now, do you have to have streaming for your television?

    Shawn:

    No, but it’s nice.

    Bob:

    Well, we all know about a certain company just within the last week or two, depending on when you’re listening to this, they’re down 30-40% in just the last six months. So, you don’t have to have TV streaming, but you do have to have shelter. You do have to have clothing. I hope. Sometimes, your son doesn’t think that, by the way.

    Shawn:

    Well, it depends. Hey, if you’re a surfer. I mean, a pair of shorts is about all you need.

    Bob:

    I’m just talking about the grandson. He is just so funny. Shawn is my son-in-law. That’s why I give him a hard time.

    Shawn:

    Yes. My son has a habit of clothing optional.

    Bob:

    Another thing is during turbulent times, you really wanna have a well thought out investment process.

    Shawn:

    So strategy, if you will.

    Bob:

    Exactly, and we have that. We have our seven strategies on our website. Website, by the way, Christianfinancialadvisors.com. But I’m amazed at how many people don’t have an investment strategy, Shawn. I mean, they just don’t have one. So we have one that’s laid out and thought out and it’s not based on emotion. You don’t base this on emotion. Number three is understand that turbulent times are nothing new. They’re always gonna come along every two to three years, but it always feels like when you’re in the middle of it. Right before you came on today, you had a call from an older client and all of a sudden, they’re just like, I want out. And this has only been going on for two or three months. And the average bear market lasts…

    Shawn:

    11 months.

    Bob:

    Right. So we’re already four months into it.

    Shawn:

    As of this year, it was the last 73 years. Average bear market is about 11 months, but we had one as short as, what was it? Was it two or three months?

    Bob:

    Oh, that was during COVID. Yeah. It just came right out out of that. Do you like my number four? I mean, that is really big.

    Shawn:

    Yes. Keep emotions and feelings out of investing, which is exactly what we’re talking about with the plan. You need to have a plan that you can stick to and execute, not just when things are going great, but when you’re starting to panic.Don’t let your short term emotions and panic or fear dictate your long-term strategy.

    Bob:

    Emotions should have nothing to do with investing, bottom line, not a thing to do with it. You just have to keep your emotions out of it.

    Shawn:

    I know for us, we usually have to pray for that. Like, let’s just stop for a second. Let’s pray.

    Bob:

    And we have the emotions chart that, by the way, we have on our website too. The emotions chart that helps remind us when you’re getting real emotional and you think it’s doomsday and it’s just time to throw the bag in. You know what, a lot of times, that’s the very best time to invest some more. But number five behind this emotion, because there are people that just, they prey on it. They prey on these emotions and that’s professional doomsdayers, doomsayers – however you wanna say that. You can say doomsdayers or doomsayers.

    Shawn:

    I think it’s doomsayers is the official word. It’s doomsday.

    Bob:

    Exactly. But they they’re out there, and they make a living from selling fear. They take advantage of people during these turbulent times.

    Shawn:

    Yeah. And if you’re watching this in 2022 near the time of this recording, it is when the sharks and the predators really start to come out because people are scared. If you’ve been in a couple months or so in the markets and things haven’t been going up, they’re like, oh, well let me dangle this fruit in front of you. I have the solution for you. All you have to do is buy now.

    Bob:

    Yes. That’s the truth. They just take advantage. They’re selling high commission products like gold and silver and high fee indexed annuities. Or even subscription based newsletters that you have to subscribe to, so these professional doomsayers are all over social media. They’re all over the internet. They’re in television and they’re melling out thousands of seminar invitations right now. I’m getting them.

    Shawn:

    Those free steak dinners to try to lure you in.

    Bob:

    There’s a free steak dinner. Come see us. And you know what, to put on one of those seminars cost thousands. They’ll send out like 10,000 invitations. There’s $10,000 right there. And then, they’re buying all the free steak dinners.

    Shawn:

    Of the 10,000 people, they had a couple hundred, maybe a hundred people, if that. Maybe 30 that show up. But they show up. They caught a few.

    Bob:

    But still, there’s possibly another $2000-3000 in food they’re gonna have to pay. So now they got $13,000-14,000 sitting in that seminar.

    Shawn:

    And they only need what one or two to sign up. High commission. If you sign now, you get a bonus. Like, no, the person selling it to you gets a bonus. And you’re stuck with someone for 10 plus years. You can’t touch it.

    Bob:

    Yep. So let’s get on our sixth point. Our sixth point is during turbulent times, instead of looking at it like a time to get out, hey, let look at it like an opportunity. This could be a great opportunity. You have to go against your emotions. Like today, it’s a pretty big down market, and I’m looking at it closely, but I’m thinking it could be a bigger down market in a couple weeks when they actually do raise rates that they’re talking about in May.

    Shawn:

    But part of that is the strategy, too. See, our strategy allowed us to move some of the capital that would have been in, say, equity, move some of that to cash into fixed income. So, when we get that strong buying opportunity, we actually have some capital to do it.

    Bob:

    And the reason we did that is because back in September and October when emotions and everybody wanted to get in. Buy, buy, buy, buy. That was the time I said, you know what? We need to take some off. So in our moderate accounts, we went from a 60 to 65% exposure in equities and stocks down to 35%. And then we entered about 6% or 7% in a couple weeks ago, and I’m looking for entering in another 6-7%. I’m looking at that as an opportunity, not a time to sell, but a time to buy.

    Shawn:

    What’s that phrase that you say it’s the pigs get fat and hogs gets slaughtered.

    Bob:

    That’s true. Yeah. That was during the up times. So, just keep that in mind. Look at it as an opportunity. So yeah, when we had that one client call today and they’re in a panic say, oh, you wanna invest more?

    Shawn:

    Yeah. We kind of use those calls when people are thinking like, “I think I need to get rid of everything.” You and I are looking that as, Hmm. Might be on the verge of some good buying opportunities. When most people are starting to panic, that’s a good sign. Might be a buying opportunity.

    Bob:

    During these turbulent times like this, you gotta stay cautious. This is our number seven point that we wanna make. Stay cautious of the tendency to chase returns. Because even during times like this, there’s some things that are way up. Energy is way, way up. It’s not the time to get into energy now. Not when it’s way up.

    Shawn:

    You missed the time to get into energy.

    Bob:

    So, there’s that point of wanting to chase it. And that’s just a normal tendency. You hear somebody else is doing so great. But be careful buying high. Don’t buy high. Buy low.

    Shawn:

    It’s that the grass is always greener somewhere else, except it’s not, usually.

    Bob:

    That’s what cows find out, isn’t it? They get on the other side of the fence. They’re like, I think I want back now. Number eight.

    Shawn:

    Stay patient. Stay patient. Stay patient. It is not a time to panic.

    Bob:

    That’s exactly right.

    Shawn:

    If anything, if you’re thinking of panicking, like we said in the previous one, it’s probably a good time to buy.

    Bob:

    The fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and gentleness and self control. Patience is a good thing. And this is something you really gotta exercise during turbulent times is stay patient. We’ve said that a lot of times now, so we’ll go to the next point.

    Shawn:

    So number nine is think long term, like 3 to 10 year increments, not 3 to 24 months.

    Bob:

    Yeah. See, so what’s happening right now. We see some panic going on. It’s been going on for three or four months.

    Shawn:

    They’re thinking, well, this is the new normal, it’s just gonna continue to go down.

    Bob:

    Yeah. Right. It’s never gonna come back again. Yeah.

    Shawn:

    Never again. Yep.

    Bob:

    If Jesus wants to take me back today, I’m ready to go though.

    Shawn:

    It reminds me of, I talked to with a client about a week ago, and they were asking me like, well what about the economy? Like, what about if we lose all of our currency and the government collapses. My first thought was, well, then what does the money and the investments matter anyway. Like, I mean, do you have canned goods and a bunker? I mean, because that’s gonna be a whole lot more useful than buying a bunch of really heavy, pretty metal like gold or worrying about whether or not the currency’s gonna be useful.

    Bob:

    And what did Paul say in Philippians? I’ve learned to be content in all things., whether well fed or hungry. The contentment comes in Christ, and it’s not gonna come in anything else. And so, I hope you’ve enjoyed this today talking about investing in turbulent times. We want you to know that Shawn and I are here, along with our staff, to help get you through these turbulence times. They’re tough right now. Feel free to give us a call at (830) 609-6986, or go to our website. There’s a lot of good resources going to the education center under articles. And you’ll see a lot of great commentaries. We had a webinar we did about a month or so ago, and those are time proven principles and a lot of great charts that you’ll wanna see.

    Shawn:

    Plus, as of now, the other 108 podcast episodes on various topics. So, those are free, also.

    Bob:

    Go to Christian financial Perspectives.

    Bob:

    There you go. Don’t you love it. The sign right behind us. By the way, those that are listening by audio don’t see that.

    Shawn:

    There is a sign. Bob’s motioning towards a sign, but one thing I’d like to say, too, that we would use here is, “Hope that Jesus is coming back tomorrow, but plan like he’s coming back in a thousand years.”

    Bob:

    Huh? You know who said that?

    Shawn:

    No, who said that?

    Bob:

    Chuck Swindoll. Thank you. That’s all for today.

    [CONCLUSION]

    That’s all for now.

    We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

    [DISCLOSURES]

    Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

    24 min
  • 108 – Christian Financial Principles Part 2
    Click below to listen to Episode 108 – Christian Financial Principles Part 2
    Christian Financial Principles Part 2

    Part 2 presenting the last 6 of 12 Christian Financial Principles to live by.

    More episodes >>

    Welcome to part 2 of our 2 part series on Christian financial principles. In this episode, Bob and Shawn cover another 6 Christian financial principles to live by. All of these principles are directly backed by biblical scriptures that transcend time and are still just as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago.

    The second 6 Christian financial principles that we are covering in this episode include:

    1. Pay others fairly
    2. Store up provisions for hard times
    3. Diversify using biblical principles
    4. Provide for your family
    5. Spend wisely
    6. Seek Godly, financial counsel

      7. HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®

      CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

      Mentioned In This Episode
      Christian Financial Advisors
      Website
      Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
      Shawn Peters
      Inspire Insight
      Website

      Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.

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      EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

      [INTRODUCTION]

      Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

      [EPISODE]

      Bob:

      Welcome to our 108th podcast for Christian Financial Perspectives.

      Shawn:

      Today, we’ll be sharing part two of a two part series Bob developed called 12 Christian Financial Principles. In the last podcast, we shared the first 6 of the 12 principles. So today, we’ll be sharing 7 through 12 of Christian financial principles. These 12 Christian financial principles are something we should all strive to live by and are just as relevant today as they have been for thousands of years.

      Bob:

      Absolutely. These principles that we’re sharing today are just so timeless and full of wisdom because they come directly from God’s Word. Shawn, I love the part that it’s timeless. You don’t have to worry are these only going to apply to today? No, they’re gonna apply to today and they’re gonna apply 10 years from now and they’re gonna apply 50 years from now and a 1,000 years from now. Like I said in our last podcast, and this is a pretty strong statement, in my 37 years in business, in May it’s gonna be 38. So I’m heading right at the 38 years.

      Shawn:

      Yes, sir.

      Bob:

      I’ve seen a lot of people hurt financially by not following these Christian financial principles we’re gonna share today in this second part series, but I’ve never seen anyone hurt financially by following them. So, I’ve seen a lot of people hurt by not following them, but I’ve never seen anyone hurt that does follow these Christian financial principles. That’s a strong statement. I realize that.

      Shawn:

      It is. And that’s an excellent track record to say, you’ve never seen anyone hurt by following them. Then what do you have to lose? Right?

      Bob:

      And it just boils down to following God’s word and the scriptures.

      Shawn:

      So with that introduction, let’s quickly go over the first 6 Christian financial principles for those who didn’t hear the last podcast, or maybe it’s been a little bit since they listened to that episode. So they are principle number one, God owns it all. Number two, work is good. Number three, honesty in all financial dealings. Number four, pay your taxes. Yes. Pay your taxes.

      Bob:

      That’s correct. Remember that’s God’s provision. Remember, I told you in that last podcast, I was very convicted when a good Christian brother of mine, Ron Blue said, don’t complain about paying your taxes. That’s God’s provision. Ooh, that was a good one.

      Shawn:

      Number five, be careful with deb,t and number six, give generously. So if you didn’t hear our last podcast, I would suggest you go back and listen to that first as we went into great detail how each of those Christian Financial Principles applies today. So Bob, for today’s podcast, what is the seventh Christian financial principle?

      Bob:

      The seventh Christian financial principle, Shawn, is pay others fairly. Again, pay others fairly. Romans 13:7 tells us, “Give to everyone what you owe them. If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue, if respect then respect, if honor, then honor.”

      Shawn:

      That’s a great verse.

      Bob:

      It is.

      Shawn:

      Another one for you today is Matthew 22:36-40, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself, all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.'” Love that scripture. I don’t remember who said it first, but it’s been summarized as what are you supposed to do? Love God. Love people.

      Bob:

      Love others. Yeah.

      Shawn:

      Love God. Love people. Yeah. Do those two things.

      Bob:

      And can you see how this scripture, when the financial principle of paying others fairly, how that comes into play?

      Shawn:

      Absolutely. Yeah. It does make sense because it kind of goes into the second commandment, loving your neighbor as yourself. Well, would you want to be paid fairly? Yes. So do you think your neighbor would want to be paid fairly? Okay. Then pay ’em fairly,

      Bob:

      Here are two examples that I can immediately think of being that I’m a business owner and have been for many years and that is, am I paying my employees a fair wage? And any Christian business owner needs to think of that? Am I paying my employees fairly where they can provide for their families? Another example that always hits me. I went out today for lunch. We prayed over lunch and it was with a client. We had a good prayer, hopefully that person’s thinking good thoughts. They were praying, and they’re Christian, cause we talked a lot about Christian and things over the lunch. This just reminded me, am I tipping my server appropriately at the restaurant that waits on me. These are just two examples I can immediately think of about paying others fairly because I’ve heard it said that many times on a Sunday, Christians are the worst tippers. That’s a sad thing because we should treat others fairly. I don’t like making that statement at all, but it’s very important. There’s a scriptural background for that. And that is, do we really love God? And do we really love others? It’s given to us in Romans 13 to pay people fairly and to respect them.

      Shawn:

      That’s great. Those are great examples, Bob. One of the complaints that I’ve heard from people is that why do I have to tip so much cuz restaurants should pay their staff a fair wage. And in most countries outside the United States, that is true. Like there’s actually laws about that. But just because the restaurant isn’t paying someone what you would think is a fair wage, doesn’t give you an excuse to not pay them. That’s the culture that we live in. And so, especially as a believer, what kind of example are you setting for these people who are like service people, right. They live off of tips. So you want them to think, oh well Christians, they don’t care about people. I mean not tipping them well, tipping them 10%, you know like okay, well that’s not really loving your neighbor as yourself, is it?

      Bob:

      Not when the average tip would be 15 to 20% today.

      Shawn:

      Exactly. So you know another thing too with paying your employees a fair wage, I think an example would be internships.

      Bob:

      That’s a very good example. Yeah. I’ve never thought of that one.

      Shawn:

      Many companies will use the excuse of an internship to either not pay their staff or to significantly underpay their staff by someone who’s like, oh, it’s an internship. There’s a stipend to help with fuel. But the purpose of an internship and the reason why we have them is to provide, typically students, with real world experience and an education, not to get free or almost free labor.

      Bob:

      Now that really hit home with us because we have a daughter that has tried to get into the music industry and talk about an industry that just uses these young people. It is terrible. And they get them excited like we’re gonna hire you and they never hire ’em. I watched this go on with my youngest daughter for years and years. She would get so excited, and then soon as the internship was over, they were outta there. That’s just the world’s way. But that’s not God’s way. That’s not the way we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, should act. Paying others fairly is truly a witness to our Christian faith. It demonstrates the spiritual principle of loving your neighbor as yourself. And we should never take advantage of another person just because we can.

      Shawn:

      Agreed.

      Bob:

      The principle paying others fairly is one of love. And it shows others that we care about them and we care about their self-worth. This Christian principle, Shawn, really tackles selfishness head on.

      Shawn:

      Agreed. Let’s go into our eighth Christian financial principle then, Bob, which is store up provisions for hard times. We’re gonna start with Proverbs 21:20, “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but the foolish devours all he has.” And we have Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “There is an appointed time for everything and there is a time for every matter under heaven, a time to give birth and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing, a time to search and a time to give up as lost, a time to keep and a time to throw away a time to tear apart and a time to sew together, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” And that last part of that verse made really think because of everything that has been going on.

      Bob:

      Yeah. And this is why it’s so important that this scriptural principle about storing up provisions for hard times, because everybody seems to forget to do that during the good times. But if they do do that during the good times, they’re glad that they did for the tough times. And like you said, Proverbs 20:21, “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but the foolish man – or woman, person – devours all they have.” Proverbs 30:25 is another scripture. And you know me, I love Proverbs, “Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.” Now, I’m not saying to go store up and build bigger and bigger barns. I know the scriptural principle. I’m not saying to do that. I’m just saying to be wise and store up provision for hard times.

      Shawn:

      That’s a good point then, Bob. So how would we apply these scriptural principles of storing up provisions for our finances?

      Bob:

      Don’t devour everything that you earn during those good times on stuff that rusts and decays. Now, I’m referring to vehicles. I’m referring to boats. I’m referring to things that everything’s gonna burn in the fire, just rusts and decays, but instead save a portion of our earnings for those tough times, cause we’re gonna need ’em. And the second thing is living a disciplined lifestyle that is not based on materialism. Don’t associate your self worth with what kind of car you drive or what kind of home you live in. And realizing that spending money on just newer and bigger things over giving and saving, it is not wise, and it’s not going to bring that everlasting joy and contentment.

      Shawn:

      Let’s go to the next one. We are on the ninth Christian financial principle. This one is diversify using biblical principles. We’ve got a few scriptures here. Ecclesiastes 11:2, one of my favorites, “Invest in seven ventures. Yes, in eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” Ephesians 5:11, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” And 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers, for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common or what fellowship can light have with darkness.” So Bob, how do we apply these scriptures for this principle to diversifying using biblical principles?

      Bob:

      You notice it’s interesting. We came off with Ecclesiastes 11:2 about diversifying. And then with these last two scriptures, what does that have to do with it?

      Shawn:

      Right. It’s investing. It’s like mixing oil and water or mixing light and dark. So what does that have to do with this?

      Bob:

      It’s using biblical principles? So the way that we apply these scriptural principles to diversifying using biblical principles is first by never investing everything in just one thing because that one thing is not always gonna be in favor. While at the same time, we need to stay alert of what investments we are investing in or supporting because when you buy into something, you own it and whatever that is doing, if you buy into a company, if that company is involved in immoral activities, that’s going against scriptural principles. So, you wanna be diversified. Right? But at the same time, you don’t wanna buy companies that would be involved in immoral agendas.

      Shawn:

      So in 2 Corinthians 6:14, you would be yoked together with unbelievers or you are a part owner in something that you would not do yourself. And you’re gonna have to be accountable for that to God.

      Bob:

      Yeah. That’s exactly right.

      Shawn:

      So going off of that then, Bob, what would you say an example of investing everything in just one thing would be?

      Bob:

      Well, that would be like putting everything in one basket. As an example, look at myself. I’ve been a business owner. I’ve owned Christian Financial Advisors for many, many years, but actually Shawn, more than half my wealth is outside of this business. Okay. I don’t have everything tied up in just this one business. Another example I see a lot of, especially in the town that we are, I mean it’s big. We’re in New Braunfels, Texas in between Austin and San Antonio, Central Texas, a very hot area. One of the hottest in the United States, if not the hottest for moving to in real estate. So man, I see so many people putting everything in real estate. So that’s an example. Or how about this? Just putting everything in just all cash with only one bank or one credit union as well. So, those are three different examples right there. And there’s many others.

      Shawn:

      What would an example of staying alert of what the investment may be supporting or involved in?

      Bob:

      Well does the real estate you’re buying have an objectable – like, does it have an adult bookstore in it?

      Shawn:

      Okay, yeah.

      Bob:

      Or is it promoting alcoholism?

      Shawn:

      So like who’s the tenant, like if it’s commercial real estate?

      Bob:

      That’s right. The bank – is the bank involved in possible immoral agendas? You’re like, well, how could the bank be supporting anti-family values? Pushing certain agendas.

      Shawn:

      Like activism and giving to non-Christian ideals.

      Bob:

      Exactly. That’s right. Stocks or bonds, same thing. Are you investing in companies or the bank or real estate that may be involved in any immoral activities like gambling, abortion, or supporting causes that violate biblical principles. And Shawn you’d be surprised how many, maybe you wouldn’t, but I think many people are surprised by that.

      Shawn:

      Yeah. I know we have programs that help with faith-based investing. Do you want to talk about that a little bit?

      Bob:

      We use one from our good friend, Robert Nestley of Inspire Investing. He has Inspire Insight, and you’re able to go pull up any publicly traded company and see what the company may be involved in on the immoral side and then the good things that they may be involved in, too. And they give them a score. We also have the eVALUEator, which is another program that we use.

      Shawn:

      Which Inspire, their screens, they actually will show not just negative screens, but it shows those positive things. So their overall score is not just, hey, are they avoiding certain negatives, but hey, what positive impacts are they making?

      Bob:

      And they can have a negative score from, I’ve seen -50, -30, or -10 all the way up. I’ve seen +50. So, you can go to that really good website. We ought to put a link for that in this podcast.

      Shawn:

      Yeah. For anyone who wants to go to it, it’s inspireinsight.com.

      Bob:

      Yeah. By the way, I was just texting with Robert this morning. He’s a good Christian brother friend of mine. I remember when he came to the office here, what, 12 or 15 years ago. And we told him about biblically responsible investing and he started an ETF, a biblically responsible ETF. So I love my brother there.

      Shawn:

      Yeah. That’s awesome. One other question for you, Bob, what about biblical diversification? Maybe talk about that a little bit.

      Bob:

      Man. Can I?

      Shawn:

      Have you had a little of experience with that, Bob?

      Bob:

      Absolutely. So when we say diversify using biblical principles as our ninth Christian financial principle, so I’m going to give you a little bit of a future podcast that we have coming. It’s not gonna be our next podcast cause our next podcast is gonna be on cryptocurrency. And then the following podcast is gonna be on the Ecclesiastes model, but I’m gonna give you a little example of that. So what do we mean by biblical diversification? Well, remember it says to divide your portions of six or seven or even eight portions. So, a good example is to take $10,000 and divide that by seven or eight portions. And this means for every $10,000 in investments, say if you divide that up, then that would be $1,250 to $1,400 per investment.

      Shawn:

      Depending if it’s seven or eight.

      Bob:

      Right. That’s right. The next one, a lot of people may understand better would be 100,000. That would be 12,000 to 14,000 in seven or eight different areas. What about 500,000? That would be 62,000 to 70,000 per type of investment. So what I mean is…

      Shawn:

      Depending on the size of the account that you’re talking about or the investment.

      Bob:

      You’re divided up, like it says here, give your ventures to eight. Yes, to seven, because you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. So you’re taking your money and you’re dividing it up.

      Shawn:

      Okay. That’s great. So another diversification that we’ve obviously seen, Bob, and I would say it’s pretty common for people to think about this, but what about diversification between investment advisors? You have multiple advisors that you’re working with. What’s the potential danger in diversifying in this way?

      Bob:

      The danger in that way is you don’t see the full picture. So it’s like, you’re gonna build a house. Would you take the blueprints and tear ’em in two or three or four and have four different different builders build that house.

      Shawn:

      That doesn’t make any sense.

      Bob:

      Think about all their scheduling all the subs at different points and times. They’re using different materials. They’re not coming off in one place and they wouldn’t know, well, did you order enough studs? Okay. So I’m using that as a parable example of that, be very careful that you may not be diversified at all. And I’ve seen this many times where you could be with three different advisors, but if they all have you in a moderate type portfolio, your exposure is going to be the same.

      Shawn:

      No, not to mention, depending on how much in assets you have, your fees may end up actually being higher because you only have a certain amount with each advisor and you don’t get any kind of price break points, which is common not just for us, but other advisors. Using your house example kind of makes me think of, there’s nothing wrong with having different contractors, but you wanna make sure they’re all working off the same plan. Maybe a way to combat that would be if you go that route, make sure each advisor knows what else that you have to make sure that you actually are within your risk tolerance and objectives. Right?

      Bob:

      Exactly. They need to be talking to each other. It’s just like if you’re gonna have heart surgery, right. The doctor is talking to all the other doctors because they wanna know what they’ve been giving you.

      Shawn:

      Or if you’re on certain medications or other kind of medical history. If they’re operating in that isolation, you’re creating more potential problems, and it’s okay that that one doctor doesn’t do everything for you medically. Same thing with your financial advisor. It’s okay. As long as the advisor knows about it, they can treat it more holistically instead of in a vacuum. Bob, what about some examples using the Ecclesiastes 11:2 model for investing. Can you give us some of those?

      Bob:

      Yeah. So here’s six or seven of ’em that I thought of. And one is I believe that everybody should have that portion just sitting in cash.

      Shawn:

      Why would you need just cash sitting there, Bob? I know the answer.

      Bob:

      Okay, that should be obvious. Like when the market’s down, that’s where you’re gonna draw from many types of real estate or, I mean, if they’re not publicly traded, it’s not easy to liquidate. So you answer that one, too. I want to hear what you have to say.

      Shawn:

      I would think the other reason you’d want to have some in cash, too, is it kind of goes into the emergency fund and having those opportunities as well. Because if it’s in cash, you can do something with it. But if it’s tied up in some other types of investments or certain type of investment accounts, you can’t touch it without penalties or liquidation issues. So having that cash, I mean emergency fund, but also for those opportunities when there’s a buying opportunity.

      Bob:

      And we are starting to see some buying opportunities. Definitely we’ve seen some. Yeah. The second area I like is real estate, but that needs to be diversified between residential and commercial and land. Shawn, I personally like publicly traded real estate investment trusts that are referred to as REITs because they offer all these sectors, but they’re very easy to buy into and very easy to sell without all the large title company fees and real estate commissions that come with them. Even within stocks, you need to think about all the different sectors to invest in like healthcare and technology and consumer staples and energy. I mean, you’re not gonna put it all in healthcare. You’re not gonna put it all in technology. You’re not gonna put it all in energy, even though right now, energy’s awful good. You wouldn’t put it all in the industrial sector materials or utilities, you’ll spread it around. Next would be bonds across many sectors of the economy from government to corporate bonds and stagger them across different maturities.

      Shawn:

      Maturities being how long.

      Bob:

      Exactly. Then you have your alternative investments that are not listed in any of the above, like possibly gold and silver, and then possibly a fixed annuity if it doesn’t carry a bunch of large commissions and surrender penalties. And last, maybe a safe business venture. I didn’t do this just a few months ago, but I looked at one as a different business adventure. It was investing in a septic cleaning system company. And you talk about recession proof.

      Shawn:

      Yep. Cause everybody poops, even when it’s bad or good times.

      Bob:

      Exactly.

      Shawn:

      I have that book for my son.

      Bob:

      So, I tell you what. I really looked at that and I said, wouldn’t that be a good business venture? Probably would. I mean, it’s pretty recession proof.

      Shawn:

      I’m gonna hold back on all the jokes that kept coming to mind.

      Bob:

      I know somebody laughed at that one.

      Shawn:

      So Bob, it seems like with all the sectors of stocks and bonds and cash, I mean, you could pretty easily hit all seven areas for investing, especially if you include real estate through say like the REITs.

      Bob:

      Yeah. You can. The wisdom behind the scriptural principle goes very deep to not only diversify many types of investments, but also Shawn, you wanna diversify by location. You just think about right now with what’s going on in Europe and Ukraine. Think if all of your investments were in that one country. So, you wanna diversify by location, especially like real estate because a hurricane can hit. You can have financial disaster hitting that one area.

      Shawn:

      That could kind of go into the idea we have domestic stocks and bonds and we have foreign or international. So like you said, you don’t wanna all be in European because what if something happens in Europe, you want to have some diversification there. Let’s go over our 10th principle.

      Bob:

      We got a lot of principles here.

      Shawn:

      Yeah, we do. So the 10th Christian financial principle is provide for your family. We’ve got a couple scriptures on this, starting with 1 Timothy 5:8, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an believer.” That’s a little harsh.

      Bob:

      Yeah. It’s pretty tough. Isn’t it?

      Shawn:

      Yep. Proverbs 11:29, “Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.” Also pretty straightforward.

      Bob:

      I’m pretty straightforward. I mean, this is a very powerful scripture providing for your family.

      Shawn:

      Yeah. So Bob, how do we apply these scriptural principles to finance?

      Bob:

      Well, I think it’s very clear about how important it is that we take care of the needs of our family. And when it says that those who don’t are actually worse than an unbeliever, I never want to be accused of that. I take this, as a believer, to be one of the most powerful and convicting scriptures in the entire Bible, especially when it comes to stewardship. I personally believe that the most important job for me, Bob Barber as a believer, is to protect and provide it for my family without any excuses, except if I am just totally physically and mentally unable to do so.

      Shawn:

      Yeah. Well that goes right into one of the things I wanted to share is the word “work”. I think we’ve said this, I don’t know if it was on the last episode, but I know we’ve said in recent episodes, the word work appears in the Bible over 500 times, but the word retire only appears once and not in the context of retirement the way we think of it today. If I remember correctly, the time it does appear, it was actually talking about the priest, right? The chief priest.

      Bob:

      Teaching the younger priest, exactly. They weren’t going into retirement in the way that we think of in America or in the west.

      Shawn:

      They were retiring to teach. Yeah. Which kind of makes me think of that idea of maybe you go into like a, I guess you call it a semi-retirement where you’re not doing what you’ve been doing, but you’re doing something else that God’s calling you to.

      Bob:

      Well, it’s like I’ve told you, God’s called me to do this. And this is where I feel I’m gonna be doing the podcast for many, many, many years to come.

      Shawn:

      Well it’s a lot, it easier to have a co-host.

      Bob:

      Yeah. It is.

      Shawn:

      I’ll share another scripture for this. Proverb 6:10-11, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” So bottom line, God calls us to provide for our families.

      Bob:

      He does.

      Shawn:

      And if you’re not sure why we said that, read those scriptures again.

      Bob:

      So now we’re gonna go into the 11th Christian financial principle. We’re getting down here to the end.

      Shawn:

      We’re getting there. So 11th one is spend wisely. We’re gonna go into Luke 16:10-12, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches. And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” Matthew 25:14-30. We’re not gonna read the whole thing. It’s the parable of the talents, which is a very long one, but I would definitely encourage you read Matthew 25:14-30 where it talks about the three servants and you’ve got two of ’em that they did a good job. They took what their master had given them and they did something with it. And then you had the one who said, well, I knew you were hard. So I decided to just be lazy and stick it in the ground. Why would you do that? Don’t be like the third one. So how do we apply these important scriptural principles to finance for spend wisely, Bob?

      Bob:

      Okay. First and for most, I think it’s very important that we know where God’s money is going. You notice how I said that?

      Shawn:

      Amen. Yeah.

      Bob:

      Okay. Because we’re managers. That’s God’s money. We need to know where that’s going. And what’s so neat about today is – you can tell what generation I’m from – or cool.

      Shawn:

      Neat-o.

      Bob:

      What’s neat-o about today is we have all these financial apps and programs that make it easier than ever before. Shawn, I used the old envelope budgeting system back then.

      Shawn:

      With actual envelopes?

      Bob:

      Actual envelopes, and we would go get the cash out and put all the cash in each one. I mean, that was hard. But with these apps today, it makes it so easy. And it really comes down to just simple budgeting and tracking your spending when it comes to Christian principles. Spend wisely and real life examples include being wise about buying things like buying new cars too often that are just guaranteed to depreciate over a three year period. And new toys, like boats and other things when the old ones are working fine.

      Shawn:

      Yeah. That’s a good example. Like, do you really need that new one? Is it you want one or is it you need it? Like maybe your family’s growing. I know Jenna and I have been struggling with that where we want to get a slightly larger vehicle because we’ve got that second baby coming, but it’s not that we need a brand new one either.

      Bob:

      But the color is so pretty on the new one.

      Shawn:

      I refuse to even consider the brand new one when it comes to that stuff. I’m gonna get the used one. Anyway. So another one, I guess, Bob would be being careful of allowing programs like HGTV to persuade you to remodel a kitchen and buy all new appliances when your old kitchen and appliances are working fine. I can’t help but think how people in other countries must think about how wasteful Americans are.

      Bob:

      I know it. I mean, like, what’s wrong with that countertop. It’s not the right color, but it it’s not…

      Shawn:

      It’s last year’s color.

      Bob:

      Exactly. Yeah. Gotta realize this is all about marketing. Isn’t it? It’s all about getting you to go spend more money.

      Shawn:

      Yeah. That is true, Bob. It almost seems like there’s a connection. You see all of these manufacturers and stuff that you can buy for the home, counters, and countertops. They seem to be sponsors a lot of times for these home remodeling shows. I wonder if there’s a connection there.

      Bob:

      Shawn, I’ve been around a long time. I’ll be 60 in June. And it’s funny to watch stuff come around, but that was a popular color 25 years ago. Well, it’s time to bring it back.

      Shawn:

      Right? Exactly.

      Bob:

      Because you could have just kept your house like it was, and everything was functional, but you changed it to the new color last year. Now you gotta go back to this old color.

      Shawn:

      Yeah.

      Bob:

      So, we are down to the 12th principle aren’t we, Shawn?

      Shawn:

      Yes, sir. So we’re gonna go with number 12, seeking Godly financial council.

      Bob:

      Oh, so important.

      Shawn:

      Yes, sir. Let’s do a couple scriptures here. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up, but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” Psalm 1:1-3, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit and season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever they do prospers.” We just went over that in our church, too. Psalm 1:1-3 talks about, “Blessed is one who does not walk in the step with the wicked, stand in the way that centers take or sit in the company of mockers.” Do you notice there’s that progression there? It’s the walking and now you’re just standing there and now you’ve sat down with them.

      Bob:

      It’s good. I think of the beautiful trees here in the Texas hill country, these big Cypress trees that are on the Guadalupe River and how just big and majestic they are because they are planted by streams of water – God’s word. And they yield his fruit in season and they don’t ever whither and they’re prospering, which comes right down to godly financial council. You wanna seek that. I love the scripture from 1 Timothy 3:2-3, “Now the overseer is above reproach.” This is the kind of counsel you want to get from people that are above reproach, faithful to their spouse. Temperate. Self-Controlled. Respectable. Hospitable. Able to teach. Not giving in to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle. Not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

      Shawn:

      That seems like someone you’d wanna get advice from.

      Bob:

      Exactly. Yeah. And who had the fruits of the Holy Spirit that we have in Galatians 5:22-23, “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.”

      Shawn:

      So we have a few scriptures to kind of help show us how to apply these principles. I would say so. Bob, do you wanna try to maybe summarize these a little bit?

      Bob:

      I do. So when you’re looking for that Godly council from anyone, you wanna look for someone that has wisdom in life’s experiences, a little gray in the hair is not bad. Okay. A lot of gray is not bad, either. A good reputation in the community. One who has strong roots in the community and is a stable person. One that has a humble attitude and is gentle and patient, is a good communicator and listener. Has a willingness to answer questions and to teach you. One that believes an absolute truth and that truth is not relative, so they’re not double minded.

      Shawn:

      There you have it, everyone. The 12 Christian financial principles, well between the last episode and this episode. So to sum them up all in order, we have God owns it all. Work is good. Honesty protects. Pay your taxes. Be careful with debt. Give generously. Pay others fairly. Store up provisions for hard times. Diversify using biblical principles. Provide for your family. Spend wisely. And seek Godly, financial counsel. Now you can see why we had to split this into two episodes.

      Bob:

      It’s a lot there.

      Shawn:

      Yeah. We encourage you to not only live out all these Christian financial principles yourself, but to teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

      Bob:

      And Shawn, I’d like to say at the end here, like I said in the beginning, and I said in the last podcast and the beginning of this one. In my 37 years in business, I’ve seen a lot of people hurt financially by not following these Christian financial principles, but I’ve never seen anyone hurt by following them.

      Shawn:

      Amen. One way, for those of you listening, that you could help those you love is to tell them about these Christian financial principles and show them how to listen to the podcast, Christian Financial Perspectives. Today was our 108th podcast, and if you’ve not heard all of them, I would encourage you to go back and listen to all the different financial subjects we’ve covered from a Christian perspective. There’s 108 of them. I think I said that. Our podcast is available on every major podcast app on any smartphone. And you can also go to our website. We’d love for you to give us a positive review and let others know about our podcast just to get the word out. We’re always here to personally answer any questions you may have by calling or texting 830-609-6986 during normal business hours, or visit our website at christianfinancialadvisors.com and our podcast website is Christianfinancialpodcast.com. God bless and take care.

      [CONCLUSION]

      That’s all for now.

      We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

      [DISCLOSURES]

      Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

      37 min
    7. 107 – Christian Financial Principles Part 1
      Click below to listen to Episode 107 – Christian Financial Principles Part 1
      Christian Financial Principles Part 1

      Learn about the first 6 of 12 Christian financial principles to live by.

      More episodes >>

      Tune in to part 1 of our 2 part series on 12 Christian Financial Principles. In this episode, Bob and Shawn cover the first 6 principles out of 12 that we, as Christians, should all strive to live by. These Christian financial principles are full of wisdom since they come directly from scripture. What’s amazing is that these are just as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. This is what is so great about Biblical scriptures – their ability to transcend time and find relevance even in today’s world.

      The first 6 Christian financial principles that we are covering today include:

      1. God Owns It All
      2. Work Is Good
      3. Honesty, Truthfulness, and Integrity
      4. Pay Your Taxes
      5. Be Careful With Debt
      6. Give Generously

        7. HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®

        CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

        Mentioned In This Episode
        Christian Financial Advisors
        Website
        Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
        Shawn Peters
        National Christian Foundation
        Website
        AutoGiving.org
        Website

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        EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

        [INTRODUCTION]

        Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

        [EPISODE]

        Bob:

        Welcome to our hundred and seventh podcast for Christian Financial Perspectives. Today, we’re gonna be sharing part one of a two part series that I developed called 12 Christian financial principles. So today we’re gonna go over six of those and then the next podcast will go over the last six of them. These 12 Christian financial principles are something I think we should all strive to live by. And it doesn’t matter what the times are. Christian principles, biblical principles, they’re timeless, and these financial principles that we’re gonna share with you today have been used for thousands of years across every economic cycle you can possibly think of. And they’re so full of wisdoms since they come directly from God’s word. And I’ll let you know, in my 37 years in business, I’ve seen a lot of people really hurt financially by not following Christian financial principles, but I’ve never seen anyone hurt financially by following them.

        Shawn:

        Well, that’s an excellent track record. And with that wonderful introduction, Bob, are you ready to get started on the first six of the 12 Christian financial principles today?

        Bob:

        I am. And as you know, Shawn, this took me a while to develop.

        Shawn:

        Yes. It’s been interesting to come in with you as a new co-host and see how much work and research goes into every one of these episodes for something that ends up being what, 20, 30 minutes.

        Bob:

        And as you know, too, we’ve talked about this many times and many biblical scholars know that there’s over 1500 scriptures that has to do with stewardship. I didn’t want to come with 1500 principles or even a hundred.

        Shawn:

        So we narrowed it down a little bit more.

        Bob:

        Yeah. I had to narrow it down. So here they are. The first Christian financial principle for a believer is they gotta understand Shawn, that God owns it all. This is truly the foundation of all Christian financial principles and what they’re built on – that God is the owner.

        Shawn:

        So the first principle, God owns it all. And we’ve got a couple scriptures for that Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the Lords and all it contains, the world and those who live in it.” We also have Haggai 2:8, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine declares the Lord of armies.”

        Bob:

        It’s interesting both of these scriptural references and those who live in it, the world, God’s talking about everything, the silver is his, the gold is his. And when it comes to this foundational principle, many people don’t think of everything. They think, oh yeah, God owns it. Okay. Yeah. But everything, when I start thinking of about that, that’s every dollar. That’s what’s in my wallet right now. That’s my bank accounts, my investment accounts, my retirement accounts, my automobiles. That’s why I wanna treat them well, because God gave me that. Yeah. My home, investment real estate, if you own several businesses, God owns those businesses if we’re a believer and we believe in God’s word and we wanna apply Christian financial principles.

        Shawn:

        So everything means everything with no exceptions.

        Bob:

        That is exactly right. And we’re managers, we’re not owners. How well we manage what God has given us can determine how much we can manage.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. So in other words, Bob, if you were house sitting for someone, the owner would want you to take good care of their house, right? So how would the owner feel if they return to their home with trash everywhere, damaged walls, and missing items?

        Bob:

        I think they would be upset. Yeah.

        Shawn:

        A little upset.

        Bob:

        Like, wow, I entrusted you with this home, but you didn’t treat it well. I trusted you with this property.

        Shawn:

        So in the same way, this goes back to our first principle. God owns it all. Matthew 25:14-30. I summarize this because it is a fairly long passage, but I would encourage you to read it in its entirety, Matthew 25:14-30. So, the master entrusts his possessions to his servants before going on a long journey. We don’t know how long he was gonna be gone, but it was a long journey. And each of his servants were given a different amount with two servants working hard to not just protect it, but to increase their value. The third servant buried what he’d been given in the ground. When the master returned, the first two servants were praised and rewarded for having been faithful with their master’s possessions. The third servant was rebuked. And what he had was taken and given to one of the faithful servants.

        Bob:

        That’s a very deep scripture, and it is very long. I mean, it would take us several minutes to read that, but I would encourage anyone to go to Matthew 25. That’s the parable of the talents.

        Shawn:

        Exactly.

        Bob:

        And so, whether you’ve been given little, much, or somewhere in between, we should all understand the responsibility as Christians given to us that we are managers of what God has given to us. And something along these lines too that is so neat is that when you do that, it releases all that selfishness. No one can see, but you can see me holding my hand like a fist. So if I hold it and I hold things too tightly, it strangles them. But when I let loose and go, okay, God, this is yours. There is a lot of freedom of knowing that God owns it as well.

        Shawn:

        So if God owns it all in order to combat that mentality, that selfishness, you have to think of it not as what am I gonna do with my possessions, but what you should do is like the faithful servants. What does my master, what does God, want me to do with what he’s entrusted to me? And if you come from it with that mindset, God can open up doors and show you opportunities that you may not have thought of because it is better to give than to receive. If it doesn’t belong to you in the first place, what would God want me to do with this?

        Bob:

        And that’s one of our principles we’ll go into later about giving. The second Christian financial principle that really flies in the face of everything today is that work is good.

        Shawn:

        Work is good?

        Bob:

        Yeah, exactly. Yes. Genesis 2:15. This is before the fall, by the way, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” So work is a good thing. It’s not a bad thing.

        Shawn:

        That is interesting because people, a lot of times, will quote Genesis and you talk about how, when sin entered into the war world, that death entered into the world, pain and childbearing was a thing, and much worse, but it also talked about how the ground, it would be difficult to grow things and to harvest. But this scripture, like you said, it’s before the fall. So it wasn’t that work came about as a result of sin. It’s just that work became even harder. Like the earth and everything you’re doing, in a way, is fighting against you working. But you were still working even before sin.

        Bob:

        And so I’m gonna have you read a couple more scriptures that we have in this, but just think about this. Work appears in the Bible 555 times in an NIV version.

        Shawn:

        Wow.

        Bob:

        And retire only appears one time. And it’s not in the context of the way we think of retirement today. Yeah.

        Shawn:

        From Numbers 8:25, we talked about retirement. So yeah. Two more scriptures, Proverbs 12:11, “Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.” Proverbs 14:23, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Yeah. That is a hard hitting one.

        Bob:

        Yeah . Working is good, and it’s not a bad thing, but for some reason in Europe and now it’s starting to affect the United States, work is being thought of as a bad thing, and we always try to make our work week shorter and shorter. The world was made in six days. God worked six days, and then he rested.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. That’s an interesting concept, Bob. The shorter work week. I don’t think it’s wrong in the sense that, oh, we should never have a shorter work week. I think the problem though, is that you’re not coming to that discussion from a biblical perspective. It’s from the perspective of we should have a shorter work week so everybody can retire early and play more. And it’s not with purpose. If you had a shorter work week because you found that employees and your staff and like everything actually worked more efficiently because people had better mental health, they could spend a little bit more time with their families throughout the week, but it made you actually better at work, that would make sense. But if it’s just from the perspective of, I don’t wanna work as much because I just wanna be able to play more. Well, that’s kind of pointless in my opinion.

        Bob:

        In some of our past podcasts, I had Lloyd Reeb on talking about halftime and he says some of the most miserable men are men that are retired because they don’t feel they have a purpose. And depression is a real big thing with retirees. So, work is a good thing. It’s a biblical thing.

        Shawn:

        Absolutely. So let’s go to our third Christian financial principle, which is honesty, truthfulness, and integrity. Starting with Exodus 20:15-16, “You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”

        Bob:

        That’s right from the 10 commandments.

        Shawn:

        Thought that sounded familiar. Yep.

        Bob:

        So when you’re honest and truthful in all of your dealings with everyone, you never have to worry about covering your tracks behind you. Do you? You never have to worry about hiding anything and building honesty. I mean being honest and all your dealings with everyone, it creates trust in others, and it kind of comes back to that biblical principle. You handle a little well, I can give you more. And also, what’s interesting about honesty and integrity and trustworthiness is that it actually gives us protection and security along with a good reputation.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. Because you’re the same person no matter the situation that you’re in. People know that if you say yes, I’m gonna do this or yes, I can help with that or yes, this is something that I like, they know they can take that to the bank.

        Bob:

        Yes. Well, there’s a good scripture of more principles.

        Shawn:

        Psalm 25:20-21, “Guard my life and rescue me. Do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me because my hope, Lord, is in you.”

        Bob:

        You notice that – may integrity and up righteousness protect me. It protects. Honesty, integrity. It protects you.

        Shawn:

        Makes me think of David, when he stayed home instead of doing what he should have done and went to lead his armies, he stayed home. So number one, he wasn’t working. But number two, he was setting himself up for failure because if he’s home, all the men are away at war and he’s got nothing to do. He’s got idle hands and he ends up committing adultery. And then, because he wasn’t honest about that in the first place, everything just kept getting worse and worse.

        Bob:

        Snowball effect going. It’s a downward slope. Proverbs 10:9 is another great scripture. “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.” It’s going to find you, and the biblical principle of being honest and having integrity and trustworthiness and not being a liar, but telling the truth. It’s so evident in scripture of the protection that it gives. Proverbs 13:6 is another one. “Righteousness guards the person of integrity.” It guards, you it’s like putting a hedge of protection around you, but wickedness over throws a sin. I mean, honesty, truthfulness, integrity. You know another thing it does is it glorifies Christ and it’s a witness to nonbelievers.

        Shawn:

        Absolutely. Yeah. Titus 2:6-8 is our last scripture for this principle, “Similarly ,encourage the young men to be self controlled. In everything, set them an example by doing what is good. In your teachings, show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”

        Bob:

        Isn’t that a beautiful scripture?

        Shawn:

        Great scripture.

        Bob:

        It is a beautiful scripture. So much in there. Soundness of speech cannot be condemned. Those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about you.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. Yeah.

        Bob:

        The fourth Christian financial principal – pay your taxes.

        Shawn:

        What? Pay taxes? I don’t like paying taxes.

        Bob:

        I know. You’re like, where did this come from in the Christian financial principles where it all goes back when they came to Jesus and tried to trap him Matthew 22:19-21, they were like, should we pay these taxes? The Pharisees are coming to Jesus. He says, show me the coin used for paying the tax. And they bought him a denarius and he asked, so whose image is on this? Whose inscription? Well, they said Caesar’s. Then he said to them, so give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what isGod’s.

        Shawn:

        Man. It is always amazing to read the words of Jesus, especially those times when people were trying to trip him up.

        Bob:

        They went right to the heart there, man.

        Shawn:

        They didn’t believe at the time of course that this is God, that this is God and man like all in one, this is Jesus. Okay. But it’s still so amazing for us to look back and think you’re trying to trick God? I mean, yeah. You lost a long time ago that argument.

        Bob:

        Just goes to show, they didn’t wanna pay their taxes. Did they?

        Shawn:

        Even back then, I mean, it’s not a new thing to not wanna pay taxes.

        Bob:

        No, it’s the same today and yesterday. You’re right.

        Shawn:

        God’s word calls for us to pay taxes. That’s right. We can always pay less by giving more or making less. When we complain about paying taxes, aren’t we also complaining about God’s provision since it is that provision that enables us to pay taxes in the first place?

        Bob:

        Now, you know where I got this from? I got this from Ron Blue. He actually nailed me on it because I was complaining about paying taxes. And when he said, when we complain about that, aren’t we complaining about God’s provision since it’s that provision that enables us to pay taxes? And I went, yeah, you’re right. It is.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. My dad, I remember him always saying growing up, well, you don’t want to pay any more taxes than you have to, but be thankful that you’re paying taxes because that means you’re making money. I mean, it could be worse. If you weren’t paying any taxes. well, that’s a different problem.

        Bob:

        I am not saying at all that you should not do everything in your legal power to lower them as much as possible. Yeah.

        Shawn:

        There’s nothing wrong with that. But I agree. We shouldn’t complain about paying taxes, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. That’s what Jesus said.

        Bob:

        Let’s see what Romans 13:1-3 says about that.

        Shawn:

        All right. “So let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted. And those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right. But for those who do wrong, do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.”

        Bob:

        That means to legally pay the tax that we’re owed. Do not even think about cheating. When I have somebody that says, I want you to pay me in cash and I can give better deal. And I’m like, well, what do you mean? I always ask ’em that. And I know where they’re coming from cause they’re trying to cheat all their taxes. And I’m like, no, I’m not gonna do that. So now, we get to the fifth Christian principle. We just got the fifth and the sixth for today. And then, like I say, on the next podcast, we’ll share the next 6. Be careful with debt. This is definitely a Christian financial principle. Proverbs 22:26-27 says, “Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts. If you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched out from under you.” We’re putting some more scriptures up on our walls here. And this is one of the ones that we’re going to put up on our walls.

        Shawn:

        Right when you walk in.

        Bob:

        The thing about debt, and we’ve said this before, is that debt always presumes upon a future that we really don’t know is gonna happen. There’s no guarantee that the future’s going to happen for any of us. We don’t know if we’re gonna be here tomorrow. James 4:14 says, “Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow? What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” When I was thinking about this about debt, it’s so easy to get into it, but it’s so hard to get out of. An example – I go look at a new car and I get all caught up emotionally in that. I wanna buy it, but I can’t afford it, and now I finance it. So one day, an emotional decision to buy a car and I finance it for five years to get out of debt – or listen to this 1,825 days to pay it off. An emotional decision to buy anything can cost you thousands of dollars.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. So what if your health turned or the economy went into recession and it affected your pay or bonuses or you even lost your job? Could you still make that car payment? Just be careful and never allow emotions to dictate large, financial decisions. Never get into the thinking that could never happen to me. Stay humble. Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility, value others above yourselves.” One thing with that, be careful with debt. No one can control everything. I get it. People lose their jobs. Sometimes, people have to change jobs. People have to move. But I think that also goes onto one of those things where it’s important that if you’re gonna be taking on more debt for something, whether it’s a car, whether it’s your home, whatever that might be. I think that goes back to some other financial principles of make sure you have an emergency fund, make sure you have some savings. So that way, if you did lose your job, do you have enough for the next 6 months or the next 12 months? Because then you may be in a better position where hopefully you should be able to get a job within 12 months.

        Bob:

        Scripture does not say that debt is evil, and it really doesn’t say not to go in debt, but it says be careful of debt. Be careful. Be careful, and don’t put up security for debts. Cause like it says, if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched out from under you. So let’s get to the last Christian financial principle for today’s podcast, and that is give generously. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, “Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.” Shawn, this principle that we read in scripture, it really releases selfishness. And that mentality that it’s all about me and it belongs to me. And I have a saying – we put this together a long time ago, and Jenna actually helped me with this. I remember she drew a pond and you throw a rock in a pond. And when that rock goes in that pond, it creates a ripple effect, and it’s like, God gives to us so we receive it. Right? So God’s giving it, we’re receiving it. But when we turn around and we give it, others receive it. And this is causing kind of a ripple effect of generosity because God’s given it to us, we’re giving it to others.

        Shawn:

        That’s a beautiful picture. Yeah. So God gives and we receive. We give and others receive, causing a ripple effect of generosity.

        Bob:

        Amen.

        Shawn:

        Well, Matthew 25:35-36, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Most people. They never really think about ways to give other than cash, but there are actually a lot of other ways that people can give, including real estate, investment properties, and raw land. You can donate that to benefit others. Individual stocks and bonds – you can give from retirement accounts like IRAs, 401ks, 403bs, thrifts savings accounts, and typically that would be through, say, a qualified charitable contribution or QCD.

        Bob:

        And that would be done during the RMD phase of somebody that’s above 72. So, we need to point that out. Yeah.

        Shawn:

        If you have required minimum distributions and you don’t need the money, you could use that option, that qualified charitable contribution and give it to a church, give it to a ministry. Another way is giving away collectibles like art and classic vehicles that a charity can turn into cash. And not even just the classic vehicles, but vehicles. If you have been blessed and you have the opportunity to be able to buy a new vehicle and you have a vehicle that’s still working. instead of trading it in, you can actually donate it. A website you can go to is autogiving.org. You can choose the charity you want it to go to, and it’s a great process. The last one, of course, is even giving interest in a business you own to a charity. Maybe you have stocks in a business. You could donate those to a charity.

        Bob:

        Or if you own a business, the National Christian Foundation works this way where you could say, well, I’m gonna make you a 10% owner in my business.

        Shawn:

        That’s right. Yes.

        Bob:

        See, most people only think about giving when it comes to cash or giving of their time, which is fantastic, which is that scriptural reference of feeding others and visiting those in prison. But the other ways to give, too, that most people never think about, is giving way some of their assets at their death to the charities through their wills and estate planning, including a percentage of an estate that’s gonna go to a nonprofit or making a beneficiary of a retirement account. It doesn’t have to be the 100% beneficiary. You could make them 30% beneficiary of a retirement account, like an IRA or 401k, 403b, annuity to a nonprofit.

        Shawn:

        And that doesn’t even require super advanced estate planning. If you’ve got one of those retirement accounts, it’s just a simple form. Say for this beneficiary, I want X percent to go to my church.

        Bob:

        And it makes so much sense because that’s money that’s never been taxed. That money that’s gonna go to your family, they’re gonna have to spend all that within 10 years. It’s a very efficient way. Giving all or partially some of their income now from an asset like a rental property, bank CD, stock dividend while keeping the asset. That’s another way. Or actually, you can do this with some planning. You can give away an asset like real estate or a business or a stock, but you can keep the income from it for your lifetime. And then at your death, it will go to the charity. We use things like a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust to accomplish some of this.

        Shawn:

        You’re donating asset to the charity. But for the duration of your life, you are receiving an income off of that. But then whenever at the time of your death, it basically reverts to that charity.

        Bob:

        That’s correct.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. That’s great. Well, there you have it for today. Then the first 6 of the 12 Christian financial principles. Bob, you wanna sum it up for us?

        Bob:

        I’m gonna sum it up. The first one is God owns it all. The second one is work is good. The third one is honesty, trustfulness, and integrity. The fourth is pay your taxes. The fifth is be careful with debt, and the sixth was give generously. So, in our next 108th podcast coming out in a few weeks, we’ll cover the last 6 Christian financial principles of the 12. You don’t wanna miss it. We wanna encourage you not just to listen to this yourself, but to tell others about these Christian financial principles. Tell folks in your church or in your Sunday school class, your children, your grandchildren, about these principles. Tell ’em about the podcast so they can hear it. And it’ll be on the website.

        Shawn:

        One way you can actually help us with that or help those you love, tell them about the show and how they can listen to the podcast, Christian Financial Perspectives. And Bob, I cannot believe that today was our 107th podcast. If you’ve not heard all of them, we encourage you to go back and listen to all the different financial subjects we’ve covered from a Christian perspective. Our podcast is on every major podcasting app on any smartphone. And also, we’d love for you to please give us a positive review and let others know about it just to get the word out. We’re always here to personally answer any questions you may have by calling or texting our office line at (830) 609-6986 during business hours or visiting our website at christianfinancialadvisors.com. Thank you, and God bless.

        [CONCLUSION]

        That’s all for now.

        We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

        [DISCLOSURES]

        Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

        28 min
      7. 106 – Should You Wait To Build Or Buy A Home Today? It’s Just Math
        Click below to listen to Episode 106 – Should You Wait To Build or Buy A Home Today? It’s Just Math.
        Should You Wait To Build or Buy A Home Today? It’s Just Math.

        We put together some basic numbers to show why it might be better to wait to buy or build a home.

        More episodes >>

        In this podcast, Bob and Shawn discuss the math behind why you should wait to build or buy a home right now. When COVID-19 hit, the Federal Reserve and government put over 8 trillion dollars into the economy to stimulate it. That’s over $24,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States. This created massive inflation, especially in real estate. Now, with the federal reserve saying they are going to raise interest rates back to normal, taper bond-buying by the billions of mortgage-backed securities, and reduce their balance sheet, homes prices will have to decline dramatically to compensate.

        It’s just math.

        HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®

        CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

        Mentioned In This Episode
        Christian Financial Advisors
        Website
        Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
        Shawn Peters
        COVID Money Tracker

        Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.

        SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENTDid you enjoy this episode? Sign up for email updates and never miss an episode.
        EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

        [INTRODUCTION]

        Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

        [EPISODE]

        Bob:

        Welcome to the 106th podcast today. And we are going to share something with you that you just don’t hear often. It’s called, “Should you wait to buy a home?” Now, Shawn, you hear me talk about this a lot around here, about the economy and the federal reserve. These halls are always talking about economic stuff because that’s what we do. I really love this stuff. Some people are like, do you like anything else? But I really love economics.

        Shawn:

        Well, I think this is the perfect combination, to be honest, for a topic for us to be covering today because it’s an intersection of real estate, which really real estate, investing, and construction is where you got originally started, intersected with investing in the economy and what’s going on with the fed, you know? So like it’s kind of this perfect intersection of those two things that you’ve got a lot of experience, a lot of passionate about. So, I’m very excited to be talking about this today with you.

        Bob:

        Did uou get the chat I sent you this morning? I don’t know if you got it or not about rates starting to go up.

        Shawn:

        Yes. I saw that with the rates starting to go up. It’s interesting to see. Okay. Well, people including you have been sane for a while now, if the fed pulls back on how much money’s been getting put in.

        Bob:

        Yeah. All the bond buying.

        Shawn:

        If they start pulling back, even if they don’t artificially change the rates, it’s going to increase rates, and now it’s happening.

        Bob:

        You don’t even have to increase rates for the interest rate to increase. We have had an economy in the past 12 to 18 months that truly has been on amphetamines. We’ve had stimulus beyond comprehension, over $8 trillion so far. You can see I have a link in here and I found this link. I really like it. It’s by the committee for responsible federal budgeting. It’s called the COVID money tracker. If you want to go to that.

        Shawn:

        It’s covidmoneytracker.org if you’re listening and not looking at the website.

        Bob:

        I’m looking at it right now, and it’s just telling you how much money has been put into the economy. And you think about all this artificial stimulus. I think of it like amphetamines. When you take the 8 trillion that’s been thrown into the economy by the government and the federal reserve buying up of the bonds and the lowering of the interest rates. But if you take that 8 trillion, by the way, there’s 12 zeros in a trillion, and you divide that by every man, woman, and child in the United States, that comes out to approximately $24,000 per person. Now take a household, take your household of three, about to be four. Yeah. That’s $75,000 many people have two or three children. That’s over a $100,000 for an average household with children. Rachael and I, we’re empty nesters now, but I think about that much stimulus going into the economy, is that stimulus not going to drive prices up?

        Shawn:

        Absolutely, yeah. And part of me thinks a little bit of maybe they could have just sent the check to the house. Cause there’s a lot that I could have used that for, especially with baby number two due in March. I could have used an extra $75,000.

        Bob:

        Well, Shawn, they did send those checks to a lot of people, but maybe you didn’t get one.

        Shawn:

        Not that much though. Yeah. It was like, here’s your $1,500.

        Bob:

        Profits for the S&P 500 last year in the fourth quarter rose 22% just in the fourth quarter. And for the whole year, it nearly rose 50%. When you have that kind of money chasing this amount of goods. And we know also at the same time, because of COVID, we’ve all heard about all the containers sitting in Long Beach, California, where they come in from other countries.

        Shawn:

        They’re so delayed.

        Bob:

        You add on top of that historically low mortgage interest rates that’s gonna stimulate housing. It’s a perfect storm. And this is why we’re doing a podcast. Should you wait to buy a home now? And it’s just gonna be math that I’m gonna give you.

        Shawn:

        So when you say perfect storm, you are talking about perfect storm of just historically high prices for homes.

        Bob:

        Yeah. That’s right. We’ve created inflation housing that’s historic levels. Shawn, many are saying that we’ve got a bigger bubble today in housing than we did in 2008. You’ve just got too many dollars chasing too few goods. And I’m really concerned about this bubble. Not as much in the markets as I am in real estate. I’m really concerned about the bubble in real estate. We have that emotions buying chart that we follow around here. Six months ago, it was just buy, buy, buy real estate no matter the price. You would hear of someone putting their home on the market, and they put their home on the market at $350,000 and it sells for $400,000 because you’ve got 10 people wanting to buy that home. Yeah.

        Shawn:

        And out of 10 people, you had three or four people offering cash. And then the rest, everybody else was getting a loan for it. And yet it still goes for way over. I mean, it’s basically a bidding war.

        Bob:

        It has been, it’s been a bidding war. So you’ve got these artificially low interest rates that have really allowed builders and sellers and all the materials that go into homes. It’s allowed them to raise the prices with these artificially low rates because the buyers really didn’t care if the prices were raised, because the rates were so low, it still equaled the same payment. Do you understand what I mean by that?

        Shawn:

        For most home buyers, the family isn’t looking at really what the purchase price is, what they’re looking at is, okay, what interest rate can I get based on my credit and everything else. And what payment is that gonna end up being? So if their payment is $1,500 a month and they’re okay with that, well then interest rates being really low, obviously that’s gonna mean that the purchase price, what they can afford and what they can offer, is gonna be much higher. And as soon as interest rates start increasing even a little bit, that can drastically change. Okay, well, if it’s still $1500 for the payment, but the interest rate has gone up. Well, see the purchase price is gonna have to drop.

        Bob:

        It has to. It’s just math, right? It’s just math.

        Shawn:

        It’s just math. A lower interest rate for a certain dollar amount per month means a higher purchase price. A higher interest rate, certain payment per month, lower purchase price.

        Bob:

        The federal reserve is saying, you know what? We’re tired of giving out the free candy. All this stimulus over the next 18 months. You know what they’re promising, they’re promising interest rate increases. They’re tapering all this bond buying that they’ve been doing by the billions, over 130 billion per month, which is computed to over a trillion in wealth, in the trillions of dollars. At the same time, the fed is saying, we’re gonna reduce our balance sheet to get things back in balance. So you’ve got three kind of a triple which situation happening. The problem today is is interest rates have been so extremely low. We know last year, interest rates went as low as 2.5% to 3%. I remember hearing some people saying I’m getting 2.5% Percent on my mortgage. That’s insane.

        Shawn:

        I remember when Jenna and I bought our home. It’s been what, 12 years, I guess, 11 years, however long. But we were happy that we got under 5% at the time. Yeah. And to see the rates the way they’ve been for a number of years now, I mean, that’s crazy.

        Bob:

        And here’s the problem. I’m gonna use a whole number. They’re not even near anywhere this, but let’s say you have an interest rate of 10% and you increase the interest rate by 1%. It’s kind of a trick question. So you go from 10 to 11. Percentage wise, what have you increased the interest by, percentage wise?

        Shawn:

        That’s 10% right.

        Bob:

        Got it. That’s right.

        Shawn:

        The increase is relative to what the interest rate was, it was a 10% increase going from 10 to 11.

        Bob:

        That’s right.

        Shawn:

        I think I see where you’re going with this. If you have a really low interest rate and you increase by 1%, that’s much bigger difference.

        Bob:

        You go from 3% to just 4%. See, most people just think, well, you’ve only increased it by one. What have you increased?

        Shawn:

        You’ve actually increased it by 33%.

        Bob:

        That’s correct. That’s right.

        Shawn:

        Which is obviously, then if you’ve increased interest rates by 33%, then with how many people purchase based on the payment, like the monthly payment, then it may not necessarily be a direct correlation that housing prices will drop 33%, but they are going to have to drop significantly because of that interest rate change.

        Bob:

        That’s correct. That’s right. Remember, it’s just math. It’s just math. I have people and they look at me with this kind of deer in the headlights look. By the way, Shawn, have this as an article in our next newsletter. Should you build or buy a home now? I told you this, I sent it out to five realtors. I got one response. One. Now I don’t know why, but the one response I did get of the five realtors was the oldest. He said, Bob, you are dead on. You’re right on with what you’re are saying.

        Shawn:

        Because that realtor’s been around long enough to realize that that’s what happens.

        Bob:

        They don’t like hearing it.

        Shawn:

        It comes in cycles. There are times where prices are increasing. There are times where prices are coming back down.

        Bob:

        Have you ever met a realtor that wasn’t bullish? When we say bullish, like a bull market, it’s gonna go up. They don’t like to talk about being bearish. It doesn’t work out exactly like that, but I’ve got a real life example. I picked a home today, cause home prices have risen. The average home is gonna be around $400,000, 350k-450k. So I picked a home, a typical home, around $400-450,000, and let’s say you’re gonna go out and you’re gonna get a $400,000 mortgage. The payment on a $400,000 mortgage at a 3% fixed interest rate for 30 years is $1,686 with principle and interest. Does it make sense so far? So if rates go up by just 1%, which by the way, in just the past couple of months, they’ve risen. Since they’re getting tighter on the bond buying of the mortgages, they’ve risen by nearly 75 basis points as of today. Now, that could go down by the time the podcast comes out.

        Shawn:

        So, we’re already approaching almost a 1% increase overall.

        Bob:

        We’re getting close. So if rates go up by just 1% on that mortgage, the price of that home is gonna have to drop by $46,800 to equal the same payment at 3%.

        Shawn:

        Wow. Okay.

        Bob:

        You’re with me.

        Shawn:

        So in that case, if that family who’s looking at purchasing a home, they’ve got around $1,700 that they can spend between principal and interest. And if the interest rate goes up by 1%, now all of a sudden, instead of being able to offer $400,000, it’s gotta drop by that.

        Bob:

        To give them that same payment. Yeah, it does. It won’t happen at first.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. And well, it doesn’t mean that oh, interest rates went up by 1% and now all of a sudden go offer the seller $50,000 less. It doesn’t mean that it’ll happen immediately, but over time.

        Bob:

        Yeah. But over time, math is real. Sometimes our Congressman and senators don’t believe in math, but math is real. It’s just math. The crazy thing about all this is it’s already tightening, and the rates haven’t even gone up yet. It’s tightening because the fed is not buying all the mortgage backed bonds I’m expecting over the next 18-24 months that rates could go by up as much as 2%.

        Shawn:

        So would the math be on that?

        Bob:

        The math would be on that $400,000 mortgage, you’d have to drop the mortgage down by $86,000 to equal the same payment.

        Shawn:

        So it’s just math.

        Bob:

        It’s just math. You heard me last week when they came out and said, you better get going and go buy that home now before rates go up. Wait a second. Would you rather owe more at a lower interest rate or owe less at a higher interest rate if the payment was the same? I’m gonna say that again. Okay. Cuz you gotta really get this. Would you rather owe more at a lower interest rate or owe less at a higher interest rate if the payment was the same?

        Shawn:

        I would rather owe less even at a higher interest rate because with the payments being the same, it gives me more of an opportunity to pay it off sooner if I have the opportunity to do so. For my wife and I, we didn’t get a 2.5% interest rate cuz when we bought the house, but it wasn’t bad, especially for the time. But for us, we’ve made a commitment for the last number of years that we’ve been paying more than the minimum payment or the normal monthly payment for many, many years. And that’s helped us to where now we’re just a few short years from having it completely paid off. But part of that is because rather than having a lower interest rate and much higher purchase price, we had a slightly higher interest rate with a lower purchase price, which has given us the opportunity to save interest and cut the time down in how soon we can pay it off.

        Bob:

        We’ve only covered one side of this too, Shawn. What about when you wanna sell your home? And most people don’t stay in homes today more than three to five, six years. That’s true. So if you wanna sell your home, I’d rather have the higher interest rates, as long as my payment was the same, and owe less.

        Shawn:

        All right. Because then it’s easier to avoid getting upside down. But if you go and rush out because you’re thinking, oh no interest rates are about to go up and you buy a house at a higher purchase price. Well, what that means then is you’re actually increasing the chances that when you move – cuz you’re right – a lot of people move more often for a lot of different reasons, maybe for a better job, but you’re increasing the chances that you’re gonna have to sell it at or below maybe what you purchased it for.

        Bob:

        And I will tell you, anyone that lived and owned a home during the mid to late 1980s to the early 1990s, they’ll tell you it was painful owing more on their home than it was worth. You see? Like I said, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the builders are going to immediately drop their prices by that much for the same type of home, but they will be giving into that pressure.

        Shawn:

        Well, they have to cause it’s the market demand. If your buyers are not willing or able.

        Bob:

        They’re not able, they’re already maxed out on payments.

        Shawn:

        If they’re not able to pay as much as they have been paying, you either don’t sell the home or you lower the price.

        Bob:

        And it happened in the eighties. Let me tell you right here in my hometown of New Braunfels. Which by the way, is one of the hottest spots in America right now. We know the Austin/San Antonio corridor is one of the hottest places to be in. And when I tell people New Braunfels has had a bear market in real estate, they look at me like a deer in the headlights look, like really? Yes. In the 1980s, there was a subdivision here in town that we were building and my brother was building. Remember, I was head of the financial part of it. Homes that were selling for around $120,000 – $130,000 in 1985, 86, we were able to come in and build that same home in 87/88 for $70,000 to $85,000. So those people were way upside down. Like, how were you able to do that? Because when the economy went bad or we were forced to because of math, okay. I remember framers – now framers are so much more expensive today. They’ll charge $5 to frame of house today, but back then they were charging a $1.50 before the downturn, they went as low as 50 cents a square foot to frame a home. And we just saw materials go down, the prices of land and lots went way down.

        Shawn:

        So the materials, the labor, the land, when all that stuff has dropped, the average price for the market, obviously that means as a builder, you would be able to drop what you’re selling the homes for significantly and still be profitable.

        Bob:

        And the builders will do it. The builders, they wanna keep employed. All the subcontract and tradesmen want to keep employed. We saw the same thing, not in the building business, but we saw the same thing in the Eagle Ford shell oil boom when oil was selling at $80, $90, $100 a barrel. And when it dropped down to below $30, everybody thought that’s the end of the oil boom in South Texas, everyone lowered their prices by 50-60% and 70% it can be done. So, I am very concerned right now for anyone that wants to build or buy a new home. They’re going to be upside down in that home because the interest rates are increasing at nearly historic links, percentage wise. Cause when you go from 3% to 5%, you’re raising interest rates by 67%. We gave the example of just a $400,000 home, having to lower that by $86,000, you know that compounds, Shawn. You look at a $700,000 or an $800,000 home, now you’re talking $150,000 that you may need to lower that home by.

        Shawn:

        Now really, Bob, it’s not so much that you’re telling everyone that if you’re looking at buying a home, you’re going to be upside down. It’s more of again, it’s the math. Statistically, and with the way this plays out in the markets, the chances of you being upside down if you’re rushing to purchase something now at a higher price to get that lower interest rate, the chances of you being upside down in the near future is much higher. So it’s just obviously, like you said, it’s just something to consider. So if you’re in one of those positions where you don’t have to buy right now, maybe wait a little bit.

        Bob:

        Good time to sell, but not a really good time to buy. Because it’s just math. It’s just math. Okay. If you’re hearing this and you’re going, Bob, you’re crazy. Look, it’s just math. That’s all it is. All I’m doing is just sharing with you math and my advice. This is just me and I’ve been wrong. I’m not the perfect analyst.

        Shawn:

        And certain markets may be slightly different or they may be delayed.

        Bob:

        It may be. And people here in Texas are going. Yeah. But the Californians keep selling. They keep coming. Well, the Californians may not be able to sell. I’ve talked with several Californians that say your prices in Central Texas are becoming high as our prices.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. In certain areas. Yeah.

        Bob:

        Like in Austin. Yeah. My advice is, if you’re thinking about buying or building home today is to be patient. Be patient and possibly wait, cause I do have a feeling you’re gonna be very glad you did. And like I said earlier, we’re in a bigger bubble today than we were back in 2008 because rates have never been this slow and even a slight increase in those interest rates is a large percentage up.

        Shawn:

        That’s a great point. Yep.

        Bob:

        Any last things you wanna say, Shawn, as you hear this.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. I mean, I know people talk a lot about the joys of home ownership and how everyone should own a home, but at the same time, it doesn’t mean there has to be a rush for it. There’s nothing wrong with renting until it’s the right time to buy. If we’re running into this situation, like we are now, where we’ve had such low rates for a long period of time, we’ve seen continued increase in home prices. You don’t have to buy. There’s another option. Either wait or maybe rent for a little while. Because that’s the other thing too, is people move into a new area for a job and may not really know the area yet. And even if they think they’re getting a good deal, it may not be somewhere you really wanna live and plant your roots. So if you have to move for a job and you’re like, well I have to buy soon because entry’s gonna increase. I would argue to say, wait a little bit, rent somewhere maybe for a year, and get to know the area if you’re moving into there. Because inevitably, we’re gonna see lower prices.

        Bob:

        Based on math.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. And don’t take that risk for yourself or your family of moving into something quickly, only to turn around a few years later when you need to sell and realize I can’t even sell my house for what I bought it for.

        Bob:

        I saw it happen back in the early nineties where they would want to sell their home cause they needed to and guess what they’re having to do on the day of closing? They’re having to come up with money out of their pocket to sell. And I have heard several clients, because we’ve talked about this conversation, in my office in just the past two or three weeks I’ve had several that have had to do that. I don’t want you as my podcast listener having to do that. I would recommend that if you know anybody that’s thinking about buying or building a home right now, send a link to this podcast and tell ’em about this particular program. Should you wait to build or buy a new home today?

        Shawn:

        So I guess in summary, it sounds like sell quick if you are needing to sell because you may not sell for any higher, so sell quick. But when you are looking at buying or building, maybe rent for a little bit, hold off, don’t rush to buy. Cuz interest rates are going up. You’re actually doing the opposite of probably what you should do because it’s just math.

        Bob:

        It’s just math and we hope this has been helpful. We wanna thank you for listening to today’s podcast. If you wanna talk about this, feel free to give us a call at (830) 609-6986. You can call or text to that number, and our website address is Christianfinancialadvisors.com. Thank you for listening.

        [CONCLUSION]

        That’s all for now.

        We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

        [DISCLOSURES]

        Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

        25 min
      8. 105 – New Year’s Resolutions, Goals, and Targets
        Click below to listen to Episode 105 – New Year’s Resolutions, Goals, and Targets
        New Year’s Resolutions, Goals, and Targets

        Tune in to listen to how you can make 2022 the year for you!

        More episodes >>

        The new year is a time for new beginnings. Most of us take the opportunity of a new beginning to make life changes and goals (about 60% of us), but many never succeed in forming these new habits. What is holding us back? Is it fear of failure or just forgetfulness? Is it indifference or complacency? What can help us be more successful in achieving these goals?

        Bob and Shawn discuss writing down goals and other methodologies (like the SMAC method – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, and Compatible) to help you be more successful in obtaining your personal goals for the year. Writing down a goal/having a list makes you about 10x more likely to succeed. Not only does writing down a goal put things into perspective, but it also allows you to have a more clearly defined picture of what you want for the future.

        HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®

        CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

        Mentioned In This Episode
        Christian Financial Advisors
        Website
        Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
        Shawn Peters
        Crown Financial Ministries
        WebsiteInstagram
        Mint Budgeting App
        WebsiteFacebook
        Quicken Budget
        Website

        Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.

        SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENTDid you enjoy this episode? Sign up for email updates and never miss an episode.
        EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

        [INTRODUCTION]

        Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

        [EPISODE]

        Bob:

        Welcome to our 105th podcast for Christian Financial Perspectives and our first podcast of 2022. I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year, and we are going to be coming at you with some great information this year. Cause I want you to live this year with intention on purpose. I don’t want you to go through 2022 just living a life of mediocrity and just going from day to day, but living each day with purpose in what God has for your life. And that’s what we’re gonna talk today about. We’re gonna talk about hitting those new year’s resolutions, goals, and targets.

        Shawn:

        And it’s hard to believe we’re in 2022. We had a crazy year last year, 2021, it seemed like.

        Bob:

        It is. I’m kind of ready to move forward, Shawn. I hope that COVID is about done. I’m ready to get on with life and I believe that many others, millions around world, are ready for that too. They’re ready to be able to get back together and give each other hugs and high fives and have parties together and not worry about getting COVID.

        Shawn:

        Yeah, I agree. I think people are still hoping that this can be considered no longer a pandemic, but I think the word endemic is what they call it, where it’s more of like the flu. Each year the flu, there’s a bunch of different strains and of course you wanna try to protect yourself from it, but it’s just kind of business as usual to an extent. Well, we’ve got a top 10 new year’s resolutions list and this is something that people set over and over again, it was from a bunch of surveys and polls that were done. And this is in order of importance or at least the number of people who said yes. This is one of their’s.

        Bob:

        The top one, that first one you’re gonna mention, is gonna be the most important one.

        Shawn:

        Eat healthier.

        Bob:

        I can raise my hand to that one. I definitely want to eat healthier, especially after coming off of Christmas, right. Just all those cookies and sweets and high fat things.

        Shawn:

        Well, it’s all the fun Christmas stuff. And then number two is get more exercise. The first three were actually tied as far as the percentage of respondents that said that that was something that they wanted to do. And then we’ve got another one – save money or save more money, always a pretty popular one. I’m gonna manage my budget this year. And then you’ve got focus on self care. Could obviously mean a lot of different things. That’s kinda the general category.

        Bob:

        Kind of goes along that line of get more exercise, and eat right.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. Or maybe it’s just, Hey, I’m gonna take a little me time everyone once in a while and de-stres. So another one is read more, always a good one.

        Bob:

        I’m kind of surprised by that one, but I’m glad to see that because…

        Shawn:

        It may not necessarily be a paper book. It may still be a digital reader of some kind.

        Bob:

        That’s true, but some are on their iPhones so much and media, reading, I believe, has become a lost art and I’m glad to see that that’s in the top five, actually.

        Shawn:

        I really like the reading. If you’re not gonna read on a paperback, at least if you have something that’s one of those E-Ink kind of a screen because it doesn’t make your eyes tired. And it reads more like a real book, which is definitely nice. Another one is learn a new skill. Definitely can see that as being popular, even more so probably this past year with so many people working from home, it’s like, well, I need to learn new skill. Maybe I can find a job I can work from home.

        Bob:

        Learn a new skill, especially with what plumbers and electricians charge, at least here in Central Texas, just to show up. They’re like, that’d be $200 or $300 if I just show up at your front door. So, learn how to do some of those things.

        Shawn:

        So maybe learn how to do plumbing or electrical work. On the electrical work, I would definitely say, make sure you go through something that’s accredited. Don’t try to mess with the electricity on your own. Just a little disclaimer there.

        Bob:

        There are some things I will always hire out. One of those is always if our metal roof needs fixing, I’m not getting up there, no matter what they charge, it’s gonna be cheaper than the hospital bill.

        Shawn:

        I agree. I’m the same way. I’m only in my thirties, but I’m not gonna try to replace a roof. So another one would be, make new friends. Definitely can understand that one. Sometimes, it’s hard to make new friends. Get a job or get a new job. No, Bob I’m not one of those looking for that one. We’re good.

        Bob:

        And we’re down nearly to the end, too. So I’m glad to hear that one.

        Shawn:

        Take up a new hobby and also focus more on relationships.

        Bob:

        So that’s the top 10. I’m glad to see that one too, the focus more on relationships. Those relationships with our family members, especially. So researchers say about 60% of us make these new year’s resolutions, Shawn, but only 8% are actually successful in achieving them. Why is that? Why is it every year we make these resolutions, but only 8% are successful in achieving them?

        Shawn:

        I’m glad you asked Bob. Cause I kind of have the answer. It helps when you can write things down, right? So, a famous Harvard business school study from years ago found that 83 out of 100 people do not have any clearly defined goals or a target to aim at – 83 out of 100. Then we have of the 17 people left that did have some goals, only 3 out of 100 – only 3 of them actually ever wrote down their goals on a sheet of paper.

        Bob:

        The key we’re gonna find, right, is writing those down on paper.

        Shawn:

        That’s a little foreshadowing. So, when Harvard concluded the study, the 3 out of the 100 people that had written goals were earning 10 times the income of the 83 people that didn’t have any written goals. And they tended to be in both better health and have happier marriages.

        Bob:

        Wow. I know. They had 10 times.

        Shawn:

        That’s crazy.

        Bob:

        Yeah. That’s why it’s so important that we need to write down a goal and have a target. Speaking of a target, not Target the store, but like a target…

        Shawn:

        Like something you’re going to aim for.

        Bob:

        Yeah. Something you’re gonna aim for or goal. So Shawn, I’m gonna set you up with a question. What’s the first thing that you have to do when you want to hit a target?

        Shawn:

        Well, first thing I think of when I have to hit a target is to take aim, whether it’s a firearm or bow or something in my life, take aim and get ready.

        Bob:

        You’re absolutely right. You do. You have to aim with the target, but there’s something you have to do before that. Am I setting you up?

        Shawn:

        Sounds like you’re setting me up a little bit.

        Bob:

        You gotta have the target. You gotta go put the target out there. You gotta put that target out there 40 or 50 yards that you’re gonna aim that bow and arrow at to hit it, right, or the gun.

        Shawn:

        So maybe if I went to the gun range, I don’t just start shooting, but I’ve gotta use that little arm thing that you put the target on and then just send it out however far you want. Yeah. That’s fair.

        Bob:

        You gotta have the target to aim for. So if you don’t have the target to aim for in the first place, you’re just shooting off into nowhere.

        Shawn:

        That’s a really good point. So, speaking of setting those targets, Bob, I know there are many different target and goal setting methodologies. So do you think maybe you could share a little bit on those?

        Bob:

        I wanna share one I have personally used for many years, and it’s proven to be very effective in helping me to hit my goals and targets. And this goal system is called the SMAC method. S-M-A-C and it’s an acronym. So each one of those means something. The S in SMAC means “specific” – setting your goals and target specifically for you personally, not what someone else wants, but what you want personally. The M in SMAC means “measurable”. That’s where you set those goals that you can measure them along the way as it’s going to hit that target. So don’t think of it like when you’re going to the hunting range or shooting range, that you’re just gonna hit that target immediately, it could take awhile. So we’ve got specific and measurable. That A in SMAC means “achievable”. Aiming high is good, but not so high that it’s impossible to reasonably reach your goal. Cause what you’re doing, if you do that, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

        Shawn:

        So if you just started at the gun range and you say, I wanna be able to shoot this target at a thousand yards, maybe set your goal a little bit lower cause maybe that’s not achievable.

        Bob:

        If you’ve never done it, just set it up at 30 yards.

        Shawn:

        Exactly. So setting those achievable goals.

        Bob:

        And the C in SMAC the last means “compatible”. In other words, set goals and targets that are compatible with your values, your beliefs, and that you can physically hit and mentally hit. Yeah. I mean, I physically, I could say I wanna set a goal of running a 100 yard dash in nine seconds. That is an unreasonable goal for me. It’s not achievable, not at nearly 60 years old. I’ll be 60 in June. It’s not compatible. So to set something like that, I’m setting myself up for failure. So when I say specific, that means being very specific with your goals over the years and putting them in writing, as we mentioned. The key to this is you gotta put ’em in writing and I’ve reached nearly 100% of my goals over time.

        Shawn:

        So instead of having something like, I want to eat healthier. Sure. That’s a goal, but I guess the issue with that is it’s not specific. It’s pretty vague. Eat healthier. What does that mean? Does that mean eating half as much cake you normally do? Does that mean going vegan? What does that really mean, right? That wouldn’t really fit the SMAC method by saying, I want to eat healthier. It’s like, okay, well, what does that mean? Maybe it means I want to start following the macro diet or the paleo diet.

        Bob:

        Or maybe that means I’m not going to put sugar in my tea. I’m my Southern boy. I love my sweet tea.

        Shawn:

        You like a little bit of tea with your sugar?

        Bob:

        I love my coconut cake. Saying that I’m going to not put sugar in my tea or I’m only gonna put one teaspoon instead of three.

        Shawn:

        The one defining either no sugar or how much sugar you allow yourself. If normally you do, say three spoonfuls and you say, well, I’m only gonna do one spoonful when I have that tea, then that makes it something that’s not only specific, but it’s also measurable.

        Bob:

        And I’ve already started doing this one and I actually started doing it a couple months ago. I’m noticing, over time, I’m getting where I can drink that tea without all that sugar in it.

        Shawn:

        But it tastes okay now.

        Bob:

        But if I’d have gone cold Turkey from three teaspoons of sugar and then two, and then it’s down to zero, I don’t think I would’ve made it, but I’ve done it gradually. I’ve done the same thing. I don’t drink coffee anymore.

        Shawn:

        I guess that would be more of the achievable side of it, too. Yes, it would. So, when someone’s trying to eat healthier, if you’ve had a hard time, I know for me chips, anything with salt, it’s hard for me to resist. I shouldn’t start with a goal that is, at least maybe for say this year, but I shouldn’t have a goal of I’m not gonna eat chips anymore. Well, that’s not realistic.

        Bob:

        Especially in Texas.

        Shawn:

        I really love chips. We have a few restaurants with chips and salsa and queso, but maybe the goal would be that I’m more specific and more measurable on how many servings of chips am I allowing myself per day and per week to make sure that I have, kinda like what you’re talking about with the sweet tea, that I have a way to slowly be able to scale that back and it be manageable and achievable.

        Bob:

        Yeah. And when it comes to that salt, I’ve watched, you’ll take that salt and you’ll shake, shake, shake, shake, and you’re putting that salt on there instead of going four times, do it once or do it twice until eventually you’ll get where – that’s an example. Once you get off the salt, you’ll taste the salt that’s already there on the chips. We can all have different goals and targets. There’s many different areas of our lives. And that’s just what I want to encourage all of our podcast listeners is set five or six or seven different goals and targets for yourselves, but make them to you, not to somebody else.

        Shawn:

        And in different areas of your life, which kind of goes into this next part. We’ve talked about a number of things that you would consider more physical with the sweet tea and the chips and eating healthier, but the different goals and targets, these can be spiritually related. They of course can be physically related like we’ve already talked about. They could be financially related. They can be mentally related. Maybe it’s the reading more. Are you wanting to read more and improve your memory and your cognition? You have relationally related. So people in your life – your spouse, your friends, your family. You have professionally related. Maybe there’s something like, I know for myself, I’m trying to pass my CFA exams, which are very difficult, but professionally for me, that’s one.

        Shawn:

        And then charitably related – something with giving back to the community, giving back to your church, giving to ministries. These are all different examples. An example of spiritual goals. This one could be enrolling in a small group Bible study, spending more time alone with God and prayer and meditation. Getting back involved in your local church if you’ve been at home and not going back at all yet, or even making sure you read the Bible daily. In getting involved in a local church, just think about, even if you are still a little nervous with whatever’s going on with COVID, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be involved with a church in a small group or like I’ve been helping with middle school at my church even before Jenna and I started going back. Just remember, the key is to make it SMAC.

        Bob:

        Yeah. You gotta make it SMAC.

        Shawn:

        Specific, measurable, achievable, and compatible. Now, I’ll give you another example. So for physical goals, you wanna be healthier. You wanna work out more. Well, maybe some specific examples would be taking a daily walk or you are going to do some sort of aerobic exercise three to five times a week, whatever it is that you need to start with. Maybe it’s weightlifting two to three times a week, something like that, eating healthier meals, or even eating less like you talked about Bob. I’m gonna do one tablespoon instead of three tablespoons of sugar, right? Another one could be getting in enough shape to jog a 5k. So, not only do you have a SMAC goal of trying to get in better shape, but you have something that you can set as that specific target is, “Okay, on this date in April or May of this year, there’s a 5k in my town. I want to be able to complete that 5k.” And so now from here forward, you can set that SMAC goal and figure out what do you need to do to get there cuz you don’t just do it overnight.

        Bob:

        No. You don’t with any of these goals. At first, you just maybe wanna run a quarter of a mile and then a half mile.

        Shawn:

        Or just start with walking a quarter of a mile. Yeah. But just again, the key is to keep it SMAC.

        Bob:

        Examples of financial goals could be paying off an old debt, building up cash reserves, getting on a daily and monthly budget and actually sticking to that budget. Today, there’s so many great tools to help you do that. There’s Quicken and then there’s Mint and a lot of the credit unions and banks are all coming out with really good apps to help you with that for that financial goal.

        Shawn:

        Another good one would be actually from Crown – Crown Financial. They have a one pager budget planner. And what’s so great about that, especially before you use like a digital tool, is it kind of helps you think about all these different areas that when you think, how much do we spend per month or how much do we need to spend per month? Well, this gives you so many different categories that you may not even think about and go, oh, we do spend money on that. And then once you have those goals, then you could use the plethora of tools that are available for free.

        Bob:

        Their website is crown.org.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. If you just look up crown.org and budget worksheet, you should be able to find it.

        Bob:

        There’s also, of course, Dave Ramsey, who’s so well known and I’ve taught financial piece university many times and you can go onto his website, just Google Dave Ramsey. You’ll find him.

        Shawn:

        Which is also a good one. Even if you’re not in debt, it’s still a really good program to go through, especially if you’re earlier in your career, your family, maybe you’ve been doing this for a while, but yeah, it’s a great program.

        Bob:

        You used to have to wait to go to one in a church and now everything’s online, too. So you can do that. But again, that key, you gotta make it SMAC.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. Or SMAC it. Another area, mental goals. So examples of that could be sharpening your mind through, like we said, reading more, could be challenging yourself with mental and cognition games. Hey, that would be a good thing to use your phone for. You’re not just on social media, but do something that actually helps you with your memory and cognition. Just, again, keep it SMAC.

        Bob:

        An example we talked about, we said relational goals. Well, this could be where you’re spending more quality time with your spouse or kids or grandkids. And let me tell you, I love the saying – and a lot of our listeners will remember a program called Family Life with Dennis Rainey. And Dennis used to say something. I knew Dennis Rainey. He knew our family real well. And he had a program that was nationwide on Christian talk radio. And he said I’ve never met a man on his deathbed that says I wish I’d worked more, but he wishes he’d spend more time, And we’re talking quality time, not five minutes but just time, spend time with those you love. They really want that time with you.

        Shawn:

        I would agree with that. I’m very thankful that I get to work here at our firm as well, because that’s something that has been really important to me, with our son and now our daughter coming due in March. Just take that time when you have it, because yeah, nobody’s gonna be on their death bed saying I wish I’d worked more at the office, but don’t miss out on that family time.

        Bob:

        We mentioned the professional goals. Shawn, I know you’re getting a special designation. You’re actually trying for two, the Chartered Financial Analyst and the Certified Financial Planner.

        Shawn:

        No pressure, right, now that it’s been on air.

        Bob:

        That’s a pretty hard one. And I know you have a last one here.

        Shawn:

        Yes, sir. The last one is gonna be our charitable goals. So these could be, maybe it’s working several days a quarter with Habitat for Humanity or going on a mission trip this year just to help out. Give more time or financial resources.

        Bob:

        You don’t have to take a mission trip over to Africa. I mean, not to say that you shouldn’t, but you don’t have to go all the way across the world. You could do some mission work right in your own town. There’s plenty of it. I can tell you here in New Braunfels, there’s a lot of it.

        Shawn:

        One of my favorite things for that is I know each year – our church is not very old, only about three years old – but each year we have joined together for putting together meals and working with food banks and stuff to be able to actually deliver meals to families who are not necessarily homeless, but it’s just people who are undernourished or as far as like just income that they’re not gonna have a full Thanksgiving meal. And so that’s something where we didn’t have to go to Africa or Mexico or something like that for it. It’s right here in town.

        Bob:

        What’s some other examples of goals we didn’t touch on today?

        Shawn:

        Yeah. So some other ones which may kind of still fall underneath the ones we mentioned, but family goals. Maybe I might be able to spend more time with my kids, like specifically or something else with your family. It could be a special skill you may wanna learn. Like we mentioned the plumbing. Again, don’t try the electrical unless you’re with a trained professional. That’s not probably one you wanna pick up by yourself. Another one might be a travel goal for the year. Maybe hiking the Appalachian Trail, kinda like the 5k. But I probably wouldn’t say if you’ve never done a 5k, you should go straight to Appalachian Trail. But if you are a more avid hiker, that could be a really cool goal to say, coming up whatever month I’m gonna go hike the Appalachian Trail.

        Bob:

        I put that one in there because that’s one my wife keeps mentioning that she wants to do.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. I had a feeling that was very specific.

        Bob:

        So one of the things I wanna mention, getting this down to the very end, is something I do with all of my goals too, is I have a form and we’ll have a copy of this on the website for Christian Financial Perspectives, which by the way, the website address is Christianfinancialpodcast.com. And what I do with this personal goal form and I’m holding it in my hand. I wish you could see it.

        Shawn:

        I can verify he has it.

        Bob:

        It’s about three inches by five inches. You could just do it on a card if you wanted to. But I write down each one of these, like spiritually, physically, financially, relationally, mentally, professionally, and charitably. And I’ve got all of these written. I’ve already got my 2022 goals on this three by five card written out, not just one card, but I make five or six of these cards.

        Shawn:

        Put them all over. Put one in the bathroom. You’ve got one at your desk. You’ve got one in the car.

        Bob:

        I put one in my Bible. I have another journal that I write in. So I’m looking at this and I’m seeing this every single day again, what we mentioned in the beginning, the 3 out of the 100 people are the only ones that write down their goals. If you listen to this and you’re not gonna write down your goals, I’m not saying you’re wasting your time, but I nearly am.

        Shawn:

        But you’re not utilizing it to your full potential.

        Bob:

        You’ve gotta write these goals down.

        Shawn:

        Now, Bob, since our listeners can’t see your card, it looks like from what I’m seeing, you’ve got two to three, maybe four different goals in each category.

        Bob:

        I do. I do.

        Shawn:

        Is that because it’s the idea that if you have too many overall in each area that you’re not gonna really going to be able to keep track of it?

        Bob:

        Exactly. So like I’ve got spiritually – read the Bible daily, pray for family and clients, pray for Christian influence in our world. Physically, I’ve got aerobic exercise and workout five to six times per week, eat healthier and wiser, veggies over chips, fruits over candy.

        Shawn:

        That one hits close to home.

        Bob:

        I’ve got the weight I want to get down to, my waist actually. And this year I wanna try getting those eyes fixed so I don’t have to have these glasses anymore. Financially. I’ve got what I wanna do. Relationships, have a positive attitude towards my wife and travel more with her and be less critical. Professionally, focus more on the podcast. Charitably, make sure our Compassion kids are getting personal attention. We sponsor, between the business and our personal sales, 15 kids with Compassion International. Take several long trips with Rachael and start planning now. We’ve already started doing that. Travel is one of ’em because Rachael wants to travel. As we’re getting older, she’s like, we need to do it now while we’re still healthy.

        Shawn:

        Exactly. Do it while you’re still able to walk around.

        Bob:

        It’s really interesting, Shawn. I wrote this out last week for my 2022 goals, and I’ve already started making plans. I’ve already contacted the eye doctor, by the way, and making plans on that.

        Shawn:

        Well, it looks like you actually got some clear scotch tape over that to laminate it?

        Bob:

        I just got some wide tape and taped over it.

        Shawn:

        Same effect. You don’t have to have a laminate machine to get a little bit cheap, clear Scotch tape and put some tape over it and you’re done.

        Bob:

        So let’s end today’s podcast on this scripture.

        Shawn:

        Sounds good. So this scripture is Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

        Bob:

        I hope you hit all your goals and your targets this year. You gotta write ’em down and submit that before the Lord and say, God, is this something that falls within your will as well? We’re going to get to those videos eventually where we’re gonna be bringing this.

        Shawn:

        It is on our goals list. The actual process is a little more involved than when we first started this journey. And it’s kind of nice with the podcast. We’ve got a couple mics and the recorder. And then, when all of a sudden you get into video, there’s not just the audio, but there’s the lights. There’s the sound treatment in the room. There’s not only the right cameras, but having the lighting and the cameras in the right place. I mean, there’s a lot.

        Bob:

        Cause if we’re gonna do our goal, we’re gonna do it right.

        Shawn:

        Exactly. That was on the goal. We wanna do it right.

        Bob:

        Well, thank you for listening to the first podcast of 2022. There’s many more to come that are going to be very informative and educational.

        Shawn:

        God bless you all. And remember you can find this information on Christianfinancialpodcast.com. Have a happy new year.

        [CONCLUSION]

        That’s all for now.

        We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

        [DISCLOSURES]

        Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

        27 min
      9. 104 – The True Financial Meaning of Christmas
        Click below to listen to Episode 104 – The True Financial Meaning of Christmas
        The True Financial Meaning of Christmas

        What is your true financial motivation during Christmas?

        More episodes >>

        Bob and Shawn discuss meaningful, financial giving recommendations on this episode, including Donor Advised Funds, donating to a food bank, or giving coats to a homeless shelter. Unfortunately, for many, consumerism and materialism has become the true meaning of Christmas. Instead of celebrating the birth of our Lord through giving, Christmas has turned into a time of financial stress and burdens. Instead, it should be a time of peace and joy as God intended it to be.

        Has the true meaning of Christmas been hijacked by Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals? Or, are you still seeing the true meaning while still enjoying giving to friends and family, giving to charities, and supporting the poor? It’s time for America to again find the true financial meaning of Christmas where it’s truly about joy, meaningful giving and the gift of God’s son.

        HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®

        CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

        Mentioned In This Episode
        Christian Financial Advisors
        Website
        Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
        Shawn Peters
        The Signatry
        Website
        National Christian Foundation
        Website
        Eventide Funds
        Website

        Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.

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        EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

        [INTRODUCTION]

        Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

        [EPISODE]

        Bob:

        Well, hello, Shawn. Here we are just a couple weeks away, a week away, from Christmas.

        Shawn:

        About a week, about 10 days.

        Bob:

        I can’t believe it. I’ll tell you. Time goes by so fast. Next year, we’re gonna be going into 2022. I remember when it turned to the year 2000, and now we’re going 22 years later. So we got three twos in next year.

        Shawn:

        Thankfully, this next year coming up is not the year 2000 where all of our computers stopped working and all of technology and planes crash to the ground cause they couldn’t fly anymore. So thankfully, that won’t happen. Well, we’re not planning on that for next year.

        Bob:

        My wife can tell you in the year 2000, that’s when we were living out on 10 acres on the east side of 35 here in New Braunfels, and we had a little mini farm, and that very night at about right at midnight, I went all the way out to the edge of our property, where you can turn the breaker on and off and it turned off everything. So at midnight I snuck out there and flipped the breaker, everything went off and I go, there it is. everything’s gone.

        Shawn:

        All right, I’m gonna have to ask Jenna to verify if she remembers that.

        Bob:

        Girls were all screaming like, oh. So welcome to 104th podcast. And as always, Bob has a tendency, which is me, to pick hard subjects, but this is a subject I think really needs to be talked about. We talk about the true meaning of Christmas in the Christian community a lot. We understand what the true meaning of Christmas is. It’s about the birth of our savior. It’s not about consumerism, but today we’re gonna talk about the true, financial meaning of Christmas. And the scripture I picked – lo and behold – I go to my Bible app today and that was the scripture, the one that I picked today. Yeah. And I picked this several days ago before I put the podcast together. So I think it’s interesting during this Christmas season that that scripture is the scripture today. And this is one I picked and it’s from Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also. That’s a good scripture. It’s a good one, always, when it comes to finances for anyone to read. I saw a quote when I was researching today’s subject talking about the true financial meaning of Christmas is that Americans have commercialized Christmas and worry way too much about what to get for others, spending money, and what they desire for themselves, where Christmas should be about the birth of Jesus, giving to charity and the less fortunate. So, , I’ll put you on a spot a little bit here, but I told you I’ll be asking you this. Okay. And it’s kind of the easy question, but what is that true meaning of Christmas?

        Shawn:

        Well obviously, we’ll get into a little more details on this later, but when it comes down to what is the true meaning Christmas. It’s about the fact that God sent his only son to this earth to die for our sins, to pave a way back for us to not just be redeemed from our sins, but to be adopted into God’s family, because Jesus was the only one that could do that. And so Christmas, of course, is a celebration of when Jesus was born. So, it’s kind of the start of that part of the story. And then obviously, Easter is a whole other topic.

        Bob:

        And sometimes I wonder, I mean, we celebrate Easter, but it seems like Christmas is so much more celebrated here in America. Maybe that is because of consumerism, where Easter’s not. Easter’s really the biggest celebration.

        Shawn:

        It really is. I mean, the birth of Jesus is the culmination of so many years. I mean, if I remember correctly, I apologize to any Bible scholars if I get it wrong, but I believe it was about 400 years from the last book of the Old Testament -The last time God had spoke through a prophet – and it was about 400 years from the last prophet that God had on earth until the birth of Jesus. And so, I know looking back at the history, like the Israelites had been, basically, it seemed like God was silent.

        Bob:

        400 years is a long time.

        Shawn:

        A long time. It’s a long time. Yeah. I mean, our country is not very old, like maybe for other countries that 400 years isn’t that long when they have thousands of years of history. But especially for us in United States, 400 years is long time . Yeah. But what was really interesting was my pastor actually, this past Sunday, he talked about how, and it wasn’t necessarily exactly for this purpose, but it about how just because God seems to be silent doesn’t mean that he’s not active. It doesn’t mean that he’s not hearing you. And it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a plan that he’s enacting. And so, after 400 years of silence, the reason why Christmas is so impactful and meaningful is it’s because all of these promises that God had made about birth of a Virgin, the birth of the savior would be through a Virgin birth, and all of these things. And so you start all of a sudden having all of these promises fulfilled exactly as God said that they would be fulfilled. And then throughout the rest of Jesus’ life, all of these prophecies that come true, but that birth, right then, it’s like all of these things coming true. And all of a sudden God went from seeming like he was silent and distant to I told you I had a plan. I’m doing it.

        Bob:

        I think about the meaning of Christmas, I think of the imaculate conception. I mean, and that had to do…

        Shawn:

        How hard was that for Mary and Joseph? Oh, think about for them. I’m sure there were people in their family and their friends that are like, I mean, they even talk about Joseph was gonna quietly divorce his wife. But yet, God sent an angel to Joseph as well to say, she’s telling the truth, this is my son, and you need to stay by her.

        Bob:

        The true meaning of Christmas to me is truly giving. It’s God giving us his son and to come down and live amongst all of us bozos. I mean, to really see what we go through. And he went through what we went through and lived a sinless life. So, the meaning of Christmas is where it starts. So, I was thinking about this at Christmas. It’s just so much going on during Christmas. What’s your favorite memory of a gift at Christmas, and why did that mean a lot to you?

        Shawn:

        Sure. So, I actually talked about this with Jenna. We did our special episode, but I think obviously it’s relevant today as well. But for me, it was surprisingly something called K’nex and some people may not know about that. Everybody knows Lego. It’s kinda like Legos, but Legos is a bunch of blocks, whereas K’nex was this idea of having these different link rods and connectors. And so, you could create a lot more functional things with K’nex, especially because some of the kits would even include little motors. You can connect these little plastic chains and stuff too. And the reason why I remember that so much is it has nothing to do with it being super expensive. But what I loved about it is I got to create and build these things. And I know for my parents, my mom even not that long ago mentioned something, remember, you used to like K’nex you think Rhonan would them? Yeah, but he’s a little too young still. I think maybe in a couple years. But she and my dad even enjoyed watching me with that because they got to see like this creative side and doing stuff with my hands.

        Bob:

        It’s like that funny saying we know in Christmas Vacation, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. it does. Cause I would build something. I’d play with it for a while. Then I’d tear it all down and build something again.

        Bob:

        So when you’re giving a gift, you think about that? That gift is meaningful. It is the gift that can keep on giving. I was telling you yesterday, I remember two of my favorite gifts as a child. It was baseball mitt, and it was a football. And I used to wait for my dad to come home every day. As soon as my dad would get home, poor guy, I mean, he been working all day. I was like, Dad! He had a glove too. I’d give him the glove, I’d get a glove. And It meant that gives me time with my dad and playing pitch, and like the movie “Field of Dreams”, that to me is such precious memories.

        Shawn:

        I love that. You say that’s one of your favorite memories because now – I’m sure your dad was tired. But now, when I come home, and my son Rhonan is like, “Dada!” He runs to the door and then he wants to gimme a hug and he wants me to pick him up. And then he’s like, “Dada airplane!” And wants me to hold him horizontal, puts his arms out, and I have to run around the house like he’s flying, and then I put him down and I’m a little tired. He’s like, “Okay, Again!” Okay. Like, so yeah, I’m tired. But also, I’m not gonna tell him no, like that brings so much joy, no matter how tired I feel like I am when your child is asking you play with me, spend time with me. And you’re like, Okay.

        Bob:

        So, it’s those gifts that really don’t cost a lot. But it’s the gifts, like you say, that keep on giving. I was telling you, Jenna, she goes out and she gets my favorite drink and my favorite snacks, all this and puts all this together for me. And that’s my favorite every year.

        Shawn:

        All the coconut themed everything?

        Bob:

        Yeah. You know how I like coconut? So we’ve talked about the mean of Christmas and our favorite memories of gifts, but I’m already thinking, now today, we’re talking about the financial meaning of Christmas and I’m just thinking, what do you think, Shawn? What do you think about the financial meaning of Christmas is?

        Shawn:

        When we think about this from the non-Christian or we call it, I guess you’d call it secular point of view. I think there’s a lot of expectations, anxiety, and stress all focused around this because everywhere you look is about buying new stuff. One of the things I remember Jenna had even mentioned was, oh, stocking stuffers at $25, $40, $50 for one item. It’s like, what? And in my opinion, that’s crazy. That much to put something in a stocking. So people just get so wrapped up and like, I have to spend all of this money and I have to buy all these gifts, or they get into Black Friday or Cyber Monday – a new washer and dryer that you don’t need, but oh, but it’s on sale. So I gotta get it. I gotta brace the crowds or fight on. Hopefully, I get it online.

        Bob:

        So there’s several things I think of with the financial meaning of Christmas. You think of the Black Friday sale. The Cyber Monday. And then now they’re having all these other online…

        Shawn:

        And it’s not even necessarily stuff you’re getting for gifts. That’s just stuff that maybe you want.

        Bob:

        So they’ve taken away, around Christmas time, the true meaning of Christmas which is about Jesus Christ and what he did. And they’ve refocused it all on commercial.

        Shawn:

        And what’s even sadder, if you think about it is, even when it was focused on gifts, like, oh, getting gifts for people now it’s not even necessarily getting gifts for other people. It’s oh, treat yourself. Get something for yourself. Oh, you know that new TV that you wanted cuz you’re 50 inch isn’t big enough. Now you need a 60 inch or a 70 inch. And it’s not even gifts for other people.

        Bob:

        Oh. When think about the financial meaning of Christmas, it sounds like to me, and as I was putting this podcast together, it has really become a financial burden that’s full of stress and debt instead of peace and joy the way God intended it to be.

        Shawn:

        Summarizing the commercialization of Christmas in America.

        Bob:

        It’s hijacking. I mean, consumerism has hijacked the true meaning of Christmas. I found the definition of American consumerism that kind of goes with this. And really, the goal is to create a sense of wellbeing in people and get happiness from attaining consumer goods and material possessions. So the more stuff I can get, the happier I will be.

        Shawn:

        Which sounds like the definition of son. It’s fun for a time, for a short period of time, but it’s not lasting. And it leaves you feeling empty. And it’s really the same thing. The goal of consumerism is the opposite of what an actual, joyful, fulfilling life is in the Lord because you’re trying to fill this void. You’re trying to fill this hole with something that is never going to be able to do that.

        Bob:

        The stuff is always just gonna give temporary happiness, you know? And it was interesting. I was writing this down and redefining this consumerism goal where I could say it easily on the podcast. I thought about myself and I have to admit, and I’ve even noticed this. After I’ve done a lot of shopping or bought something big and new, I feel like I’ve accomplished something. But really, have I? And that’s weird. We’re gonna go out. We’re gonna shop a lot, and we’re gonna go have a nice meal. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that.

        Shawn:

        If it goes beyond just like a job well done, like you’re getting gifts for people and hey, if I had a budget and I came well under that budget. So, I mean, to an extent some accomplishment, like something you might do at work. But it’s not gonna last, obviously that feeling isn’t gonna last that long.

        Bob:

        So, it’s really time for America to reach back, isn’t it?

        Shawn:

        Yeah. It’s time for us to find the true financial meaning of Christmas, where it’s truly about joy and meaningful giving and the gift of God’s son.

        Bob:

        Yeah. God never intended for Christmas to be about materialism. It’s not supposed to be about materialism, but somewhere along the way, we got caught up in that from the American consumerism.

        Shawn:

        So how can we turn this materialistic thinking in America, behind Christmas, right on its head.

        Bob:

        I think we’re gonna look at scripture.

        Shawn:

        I agree. Let’s go. Let’s go to a scripture. So we’re gonna read Matthew 25:34-40 is the NIV in case anyone wants to read along. Verse 34, “Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my father. Take your inheritance. The kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirst and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him. Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you with a stranger invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” And this is my favorite part. Verse 40. “The king will reply, Truly, I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

        Bob:

        This is a scripture we can apply directly to Christmas. We need to think of the financial part of Christmas as a way to help the poor and the sick and the less fortunate, all those things that were you just named in scripture, because we helped the poor less fortunate and feed them. So we’re doing it for Christ.

        Shawn:

        So Bob, what are some ideas that we can give our listeners today?

        Bob:

        First of all, I know this podcast is just coming out 2, 3, 4 days before Christmas. So I’m like, okay, I’ve already done all my Christmas shopping 90% of it. Now, it’s guys like me that usually wait till the 23rd or 24th. I’m walking around kinda with my head cut off.

        Shawn:

        You’ve never gone by Walgreens on Christmas Eve and grabbed some stuff.

        Bob:

        Never. One of the things is I want you to think of not just Christmas as one day, but think of Christmas as giving and God giving his son. Think of it as year round. It’s especially a good time right now to think. Here’s an idea. Open up a donor advised giving fund for you and the family, and fund it with maybe half of that Christmas budget that you spent and then get with your kids and grandkids and discuss how you’re going to give that money away that you’ve put into a donor advised fund.

        Shawn:

        Interesting. So, Bob, what is a donor advised fund? I know you probably have a few examples.

        Bob:

        I do. And we’ve had a few podcasts on donor advised funds, but a donor advised fund is a nonprofit fund.

        Shawn:

        OK. So the first one that we have for our listeners, if you guys wanna write this down or we’ll have it on the website, too. The National Giving Foundation, which is NCFgiving.org.

        Bob:

        And that’s one of the podcasts where I had Ryan Assunto on, and he talks about what a donor advised fund is. So a donor advised fund, think of it as a giving fund. Also think about, I’m not sure what ministries I wanna give to or what I wanna give to right now, you can open up this giving fund, like through the National Christian Foundation, NCFgiving.org and there’s also waterstone.org and thesignatry.com, several other donor advised funds that we’ll have on our website. Okay. So you open up this fund and then you can fund it with whatever amount you wanna fund it with.

        Shawn:

        Like if you may a donation to your church, right. You can donate wherever you want to.

        Bob:

        Exactly. You can donate stocks to it, appreciated assets, most anything to it. Now, once you’ve donated that to that donor advised fund, you can’t take it back, but the difference in versus giving the funds to your church, where your church is just going to use all that. When you give to a donor advised fund, the money can sit there for a while until you decide who you want to give it to, whether that be one ministry or multiple ministries. And that’s where you get with the family. And you get your kids involved in giving and saying, we’ve got so $5,000 in this, or we’ve got $50,000 or $500,000 in this donor advised fund. And we can decide what ministries we wanna give to.

        Shawn:

        So to maybe summarize it, would you say it’s similar to putting money into a savings account where you’re putting that money in there and you’re not necessarily spending it right now, but you’re earmarking that the savings account, but by putting it in a donor advised fund, from a tax perspective, monetary perspective, it’s the same as if you had already donated to your church, with the difference being that it doesn’t have to be spent immediately. Like say, a family wanted to save up to a certain amount and then donate to a clean water project and it cost $10,000 to do a new well. You could wait to donate until, maybe over a few years or however long it’s gonna take, there’s enough in there now we can now give the money to this charity and they can build a new well somewhere that needs it.

        Bob:

        You named it exactly right. Whether it’s a well or giving to the food bank, as long as it’s 501c3 and it’s truly a nonprofit organization. Now remember, it’s a savings account for giving, but you can’t take the money back.

        Shawn:

        Well, of course, yes. It’s as good as if you gave it to the church, the only difference is once it’s been given, it doesn’t then have to exit the fund to a charity until you’re ready.

        Bob:

        That’s right. That’s correct.

        Shawn:

        So you could save throughout the year. Jenna and I talked about how you save up for for Christmas throughout the year instead of, “Oh no, we’re gonna go into debt. We’ll just save up throughout the year.” Well, this could be part of that. And something you could even talk to your family about is that, hey, every month we’re putting this much into our donor advised fund. So then at Christmastime, this is who we’re gonna be giving to.

        Bob:

        And as you hear this podcast, you could go online right now to either NCFgiving.org or there’s another organization I’ve used a lot over the years called Waterstone in Colorado Springs, waterstone.org. Yep. Or the Signatry, which I’ve had Bill High as a guest on one of my podcasts too, called the signatry.org. We’ll have this on our website. You could open up any of these online. You hear this today. You can literally have a giving fund up and running within 15 minutes, and then you can even fund it with a credit card as long as you pay it off.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. But we might recommend funding with an account.

        Bob:

        Funding with your bank account, it can be funded. And you can to give this is a gift to your family. Say that we’ve opened up a family giving fund. And we’re going to decide as a family what ministries to give to. It gets your whole family involved in ministry. I love that. That’s a strong, easy idea you can do quickly that’s really thinking outside the box.

        Shawn:

        So some other ideas of meaningful giving during the Christmas season, which some of these could be done obviously through the donor advised funds as well. But just some more specific examples. Donor advised fund is more of the instrument that maybe you could give with. But what do you give to? So some examples, give the gift of water. I mentioned a little earlier, there are a lot of wonderful nonprofits that are what are called clean water projects. They go in and they dig wells and maybe other things that tie to that for a community or a village to have clean drinking water, which here in the United States, we think, what are you talking about? I mean, we just turn the tap on. Like, we’re very blessed, but there are a lot of areas in the world that they don’t have access to clean drinking water and might have to walk miles to go get water every day just to be able to drink. Another one might be giving the gift of food. So there are food banks, probably at least one, in a short drive distance from where you are. I know in our area here, there are multiple wonderful food banks, but there also might be – I know sometimes like our church at Thanksgiving and Christmas – we actually all get together and we coordinate with food banks and other places to find families in the area who are either undernourished or they are hungry and we get to deliver food to them and invite them to church. You could do something like that. Another one might be helping a homeless person. If you see them and during this Christmas season, have some extra coats and clothing in your car, and if you see one, give a coat or give ’em a gift card to a restaurant. Don’t give them your leftovers you’re gonna give to Goodwill anyway, like give them a new coat.

        Bob:

        Or go buy that good meal and offer them, you know? Just stop and offer it. Homeless people are not homeless cause they choose to be. I mean, maybe 1%, but 99% of them, they’re not choosing this. I really feel for them. We’ve had Eventide Funds on our program before, and they’re very much into helping homeless people because they said so much of that is caused from schizophrenia.

        Shawn:

        It’s a lot of mental health.

        Bob:

        Yeah. And that’s what caused it. Another thing that doesn’t cost anything to do during the season is visit the hurting and lonely. And I’ll tell you, nursing homes are full of people needing a visit. When I go see my mom, I see so many of these people sitting by themselves, and I love to go pat them on the back and just say, hi, how are you today? And it makes their day

        Shawn:

        Yeah. It doesn’t have to be your grandma or your aunt.

        Bob:

        Yeah. It can be someone else. Invite a lonely person that you may know that’s gonna be by themselves over to your home for Christmas dinner or any other time.

        Shawn:

        You might have a friend who is in the military or someone who is newer to the area, and they’re not married. They don’t have a significant other of some kind, and they’re far away from family. If you know that they’re alone, invite ’em. Make sure they have somewhere to spend a holiday.

        Bob:

        I still remember a couple years ago when we invited some of the military over to have Christmas dinner with us. Yeah. And it was very meaningful. See, it’s not about the size and the cost of the gift, the financial cost that matters, but it’s really about the love that’s behind it.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. Well, it makes me think of, Bob, you may know the exact verse, but remember when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and he described them as whitewashed tombs because they did all these things. They prayed on the street corner. They put ash on their face when they were fasting. They did all these things because they wanted people to see, oh, look how holy they are. Look how loyal to God they are. Look at all of this. And yet they have their reward because they did it in public. But yet on the flip side, those who cleaned their faces if they’re fasting, those who prayed in secret to the Lord, they have their reward because they did it for the Lord not to be seen, and that comes back to it’s the heart. And as we read earlier, Matthew 25:40 says, “The king will reply, Truly, I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” And during this Christmas season, think about a gift that creates lasting memories and joy with you, your children, grandchildren, and others.

        Bob:

        Think about what is this gift about? How will it help someone, and is it really needed and really think about those things heavily.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. What gifts can you remember were the most meaningful from past Christmases yourself? We talked about ours. Why do you remember it?

        Bob:

        It is interesting that you say that because I was thinking can remember just five things that you got last Christmas or the Christmas before? Just five.

        Shawn:

        And obviously I’m sure most households average more than five gifts per person per year. And when you asked me that, we were kind of looking through what we wanted to talk about today, and even now even having thought about it more, I can’t think of that many. And it’s not that I shouldn’t have even received the gifts in the first place, but it’s just to kind of drive home the point that it’s not ultimately about the stress and the potential debt and all these things you might struggle with if that’s something that’s been a struggle for you for Christmas. It doesn’t need to be that way, because no matter how many gifts you get, people aren’t going to be able to remember all of those gifts, but what they will remember, and my family loves – because my wife, Jenna, has been doing a photo book for the year of our son, Rhonan, like every year, since he was born – and that is the thing that my side of the family, and I know Rachael, they keep that. They remember that. What does it cost? It takes some time on Jenna’s part. It’s $20-$30 for getting the book printed, but it means more $500. If someone said, Hey, do you just have pictures of Rhonan? Do you have pictures of your grandson? You’re like, oh, well, here’s my book from year one, year two, year three, year…. Like you know where they are and you can show ’em to people.

        Bob:

        The way to really think about giving is how will a gift be remembered in the long run? I mean, here you and I are talking, I don’t think I could list five things I got several years ago. I can remember some of the gifts my children got me because they know dad likes food, but when they go to the effort of fixing something or making something for me, it means more to me.

        Shawn:

        Cause you could buy all of those things easily for yourself, but it’s the fact that someone took the time to remember, I know he likes this. It’s more than just what they put together, it’s the fact that they know you, and they care about you.

        Bob:

        So how can you make your giving truly impactful? We’re coming to the end here. How can you make your giving impactful and remembered in the long run? As we come down to the end here, think about Christmas. I mean, Christmas is just one day.

        Shawn:

        But we shouldn’t think of the giving of Christmas as just one day. Turn around and think of it as a lifestyle change for, for you and your family. That’s the true meaning of Christmas. the ultimate gift of Christmas is the gift from God who sent his one and only son, Jesus Christ. He was born out of a miraculous conception from a Virgin mother, untainted by the sin of mankind. He lived among us so he could feel what we feel, while remaining sinless throughout his life. Then as a perfect sinless man, he bore our sins on the cross and defeated death on the third day when he rose again. All who accept him receive the gift of eternal life and are adopted into the family of God as his children.

        Bob:

        So I gotta ask you as we end today’s podcast, do you know this savior? Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Christmas season is a great time. There’s just no better time of the year than to accept this free gift that you cannot earn, but Jesus has given you. And if you’re not sure who this Jesus is, and life has become all about you and materialism that just really never fills that void inside of you, we would love to bring you to that personal relationship with God. You can stop where you are in your car. You can keep driving and say, Lord I need you, but if you wanna talk to someone about it. It’s never too late and it’s never too early in life to give your heart to Christ and watch him transform your life and turn from happiness into joy. There’s no amount of money or Christmas gifts made of material things that will truly feel that void. It’s always gonna be, “I just gotta have a little bit more and a little bit more,” because that’s what materialism does. It does not bring lasting joy, but Christ does. We are here if you would like to give us a call at (830) 609-6986, or you can text that number as well. We don’t want you walking another day without Christ as the center of your life. Merry Christmas.

        Shawn:

        Merry Christmas.

        [CONCLUSION]

        That’s all for now.

        We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

        [DISCLOSURES]

        Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

        35 min
      10. BONUS – How To Make Your Christmas Budget Go Further
        Click below to listen to Bonus Episode – How To Make Your Christmas Budget Go Further
        BONUS – How To Make Your Christmas Budget Go Further

        Check out these Christmas shopping tips from Shawn and Jenna.

        More episodes >>

        Is Christmas shopping stressful? How do you get the best prices? Shawn is joined by his wife (and Bob’s daughter), Jenna, in this special Bonus Christmas episode. Jenna is usually behind the scenes of podcast editing, but wanted to step in front of the mic this time to share some of the strategies that she uses when it comes to Christmas shopping. Therefore, the flow and style of this bonus episode is completely different! They mention everything from stocking stuffers to hitting up lightning deals to try and obtain the best prices around holiday shopping.

        You may already know many of these shopping hacks, but this is a great refresher episode! Not only can these suggestions be used for Christmas shopping, but they can be used all year round for birthday gifts, purchasing during Memorial and Labor Day sales, and more. Enjoy this laid back episode of Christian Financial Perspectives!

        GUEST: Jenna Peters

        HOSTED BY: Shawn Peters

        Mentioned In This Episode
        Christian Financial Advisors
        Website
        Shawn Peters
        Jenna Peters
        What We Discuss
        How To Save On Stocking Stuffers
        Cyber Monday/Black Friday Deals
        The Tape Method of Toddler Painting
        Creating The Perfect Wish List
        Getting Crafty With Your Presents
        Social Media Guidance And Finding Deals

        Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.

        SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENTDid you enjoy this episode? Sign up for email updates and never miss an episode.
        EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

        [INTRODUCTION]

        Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

        [INTRO DISCLOSURE]

        The following bonus episode is a little different flow and style than what you are usually used to hearing on Christian Financial Perspectives. We also give a lot of different names of companies as examples only. These are only mentioned as examples, and aren’t meant to be recommendations when it comes to either an investment portfolio nor for purchasing their products. They are solely mentioned as guidance for Christmas budgeting.

        [EPISODE]

        Shawn:

        Welcome to a special episode of Christian Financial Perspectives. I’m your host today, Shawn Peters. And we have decided to kick Bob off for this one for a special episode. My wife, Jenna, is gonna be joining us. And as you all know, shopping at Christmas can be pretty stressful, not to mention expensive. And for that, I’m glad my wife does pretty much all of it for our family. Speaking of, that’s why we thought it would be fun to have Jenna on with us for this special episode, and we’re gonna be sharing some of our favorite ways to save money on gifts during the holiday season.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. I thought this would be a fun thing to kind of go over that I seem to be pretty good at with being cheap and saving money when it comes to stuff.

        Shawn:

        I think the word is frugal.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. Frugal. We don’t like the word cheap, right? Yeah. I’m frugal. So I’m normally behind the podcast doing the editing. So, it’s a little different to be kind of on the front end of it, doing the recordings. So that’ll be interesting listening to my voice instead and having to record it. I hate that but yeah, so we’re starting with some Christmas shopping and how to save money. Christmas, of course, is always a special time for all of us. I know as a kid, I think one of my biggest memories is getting a playground, and I still remember running out and seeing the whole thing, having the slide, the swing set. That was one of my favorite Christmas memories and one favorite Christmas gifts.

        Shawn:

        Was this one of the wooden ones? The metal ones?

        Jenna:

        Yeah, this is a wooden one. This isn’t the nice one that like my mom and dad have bought for Rhonan where you don’t get splinters in your butt when you’re like going down the slide or burnt. I’m pretty sure we probably got some good burns on our thighs and butts from going down this slide. No, this is like your old school wooden one. I just think of splinters when I touch it.

        Shawn:

        It worked.

        Jenna:

        Yeah, it worked. It did its job.

        Shawn:

        Back when the safety regulations were mostly nonexistent.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. Oh my gosh. I can still remember that metal side and how hot it was in the summer.

        Shawn:

        I got some second and third degree burns from metal sides when I was a kid too.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. But I still remember that was one of my favorite gifts.

        Shawn:

        Why did it stick out so much? Besides the wood?

        Jenna:

        Besides the splinters sticking out of our behinds? I just remember playing on it a lot and always wanting a swing set. We were very energetic girls, so I loved swinging really, really, really high and then trying to jump out and I remember like leaning back and trying to do flips and stuff. We weren’t that much better than boys really. I don’t know. It was just one of the big gifts that sticks out. The other one that sticks out, which was a gift that our parents did for us when I was in college and my sisters were in high school, we got to go to Hawaii and have a, what I call, a white sand Christmas, which is way better than, I feel like, a white snowy Christmas.

        Shawn:

        It sounds better to me. I mean, I definitely like snow, but if it is a really nice beach, that’s pretty nice.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. I feel like Hawaiian beach trumps like Colorado slopes most of the time. Don’t quote me on that.

        Shawn:

        Not sponsored by Hawaii tourism board.

        Jenna:

        Or anything. Yeah. yeah. What was your favorite Christmas gift as a kid?

        Shawn:

        I think my favorite gift that sticks out more than anything else is would’ve been K’nex. And I feel like I don’t ever talk to people that knew about ’em. So I don’t know how my parents originally found out, but everybody talks about Legos and even now it’s almost like cool to have Legos. And you’ve got these sets. I have a friend of mine who has an entire area of the top floor of their house dedicated to Legos. Just, I don’t even know how many thousands of dollars.

        Jenna:

        They’ve come a long way.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. They’ve come a long way and my brother had Legos, my older brother, but for me, my parents got me a K’nex set. I don’t remember the first K’nex set, but the one that sticks out was this set where you could build one of two things. You could build this four and a half foot tall, like Rube Goldberg machine thing where it had a bunch of little balls and they would go up the chain and then down and round and back up and spin stuff. And then there was also like this rollercoaster you could make, so K’nex were different in that there was like all these different length rods. And then you had these like connector pieces anywhere from one to like 10 things you connect into. So you can make a lot of different, more functional shapes. But I remember that was so much fun because I would just spend hours like building something and then I’d get to play with it for a while and then tear it down and build something else.

        Jenna:

        Yeah, and your parents probably had fun with it because you were off for hours and they didn’t have to watch you.

        Shawn:

        My high energy, high talkingness was offset for hours at a time. That probably was their favorite gift as well for that same.

        Jenna:

        And that’s why one of our favorite, or one of my favorite gifts coming up for Rhonan, cause we have a three year old who’s super hyper. We got him a little trampoline and I cannot wait for him to jump on that thing. I wanna give it to him early so he can just jump on it now and get all of his energy out when I’m trying to work from home. But I think that’s what I’m really looking forward to with Rhonan is giving him fun gifts like that. That will also have a great effect on us as parents as well with getting all of his hyperness and energy out.

        Shawn:

        It’s odd. There’s like a direct correlation between something that has a calming effect and distracting effect on a child also has a calming effect on the parents. Which until now, we did not understand. And now I very fully understand that. So yeah. But I’m actually, I think most looking forward to stockings this year for Rhonan, because it’s always fun with all the little things in the stocking. I feel like the first year where he’ll like, get the concept more.

        Jenna:

        He definitely understands the gift concept.

        Shawn:

        Last year was kinda like, eh, okay, cool. I’m just handing things to him. He didn’t even know what was going on.

        Jenna:

        And that kind of gets into our first thinga – stockings, which are one of my favorite items to do for Christmas, always has been, and how to save money on those. Because you look at some of these stuffers and examples they have on Amazon right now. And it’s like $20 or $30 for one little stocking stuffer.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. For one item, and they’re listed as great stocking stuffers. Twenty dollars for one item!? You gotta put like 30 to 50 things in there depending on how big they are. You’ve gotta put a lot of stuff in that stocking.

        Jenna:

        Like for us, at least for like a kid stocking, I’d say maybe $30 tops. If we’re doing ’em for each other, like a spouse or a parent maybe an older kid, I’d say maybe $40 to $50.

        Shawn:

        Not $250 not even including gifts.

        Jenna:

        With some of the stocking stuffers places are including, I’m like this is not gonna work. So some ideas that we had to help save on stocking stuffers is looking at, for examples, Target has a little front section, right when you walk in. They’ve always had it, and around Christmas time, they have like…

        Shawn:

        It’s like their value items.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. Their value items. And they have lots of cool little dollar things. Same with dollar store. Your kid, especially if they’re younger, is not gonna care. If they have an off brand matchbox car in their stocking.

        Shawn:

        As we can attest with Rhonan. Cause it doesn’t matter what the brand is, he just likes that it has wheels. Yeah.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. I mean, exactly. So we really like to, or I say we, I should say I, because I usually do most of the shopping. I like to hit those up right when Target is doing that transition, maybe like right after Thanksgiving, of putting all that stuff together.

        Shawn:

        Which should be right around the time of releasing this episode. So if you’re hearing this for the first time, you may still have a chance.

        Jenna:

        I know there’s still some items. I’ve got a really cute pair of socks for a dollar for Rhonan’s stocking. Another thing is you can add gift cards. It’s not gonna make up that much space, but just like a $5 or $10 gift cards to a movie. If it’s somebody that’s older, an adult, maybe like Starbucks, a coffee shop. Yeah. A Target gift card or TJ Maxx.

        Shawn:

        Maybe spend like $20 or $25 on the gift card if you have a bunch of other small items, for something that they really enjoy. Not the kid though, if you do more than $10, it’s kind of a waste.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. Kids just like to pull things out and destroy especially like with our toddler and I’m sure up to like age seven. So just pulling stuff out of a stocking is enough joy for them that don’t really worry as much about the quality of the content as just filling it with candy.

        Shawn:

        Which kind of goes into one of the other things that we’re gonna suggest. And this applies both for the kids because they just have to pull stuff out. But also for your older children and the adults – getting small toiletry items that are gonna be needed throughout the year anyway. So like for your kid, toothpaste. Again, it doesn’t matter. Yes. It’s technically a necessity. It’s a toiletry, but it’s still little things that they can pull out. If you find the cheapo ones that are brightly colored, it’s even more fun. Deodorant, mints, and gum. Just be careful the kids don’t keep it and immediately start eating them all. Nail Polish for the girls. Chapstick and nail clippers. I think that’s a good one because for me, they always seem to disappear throughout the year. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a thing of chapstick and I’m pretty sure we get at least three replacement nail clippers every year. Yeah.

        Jenna:

        They’re like socks.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. Like socks in the dryer.

        Jenna:

        Which kind of goes into the next point. So what I love to put in are maybe even a cute pair of socks. Again, I got a dollar pair of socks at Target.

        Shawn:

        Or like the ones that have fun sayings.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. Or soft socks they can wear around the house. I absolutely love my Bombas socks. This is not an ad. #NotSponsored, but I love Bombas and they last so long and they’re so comfortable. So buying like a nice pair too, just like rolled up and stuffed in that stocking, is a great gift, especially for your athletic people in your life that love soft socks for working out.

        Shawn:

        For anybody not familiar with those it’s Bombas, B O M B A S.

        Jenna:

        They’re the bomb. Yeah, exactly. They’re great socks.

        Shawn:

        So another one you know, HEB, well for us. It’d be your local grocery store, I guess, if you are not in Texas.

        Jenna:

        If you don’t have HEB, I’m so sorry.

        Shawn:

        We’re sorry. We’ll pray for you. But HEB or local grocers have entire sections of bath items and other fun things that are typically under or at $10. So it’s a nice area.

        Jenna:

        Bath bombs, bath salts.

        Shawn:

        Exactly. Favorite candy. I know Jenna loves Twix, so that’s kind of a nice one. You fill the stocking and as you’re filling it, it’s kinda like you put the bigger items that are odd shaped, and you get the little fun size candies or whatever it is, you pack it in between. So then when they pick that stocking up, it’s completely full. And there’s always like these little, extra little things falling out as they’re pulling stuff out.

        Jenna:

        That’s like my yearly chocolate stash are the mini Twixes. I just keep those, and it lasts till next year.

        Shawn:

        Every once in a while you find like a random Twix in a drawer or the cabinet. So like, oh, Christmas candy. Yeah. The other thing would be filling it up with a bunch of items that you’ll use throughout the year. And we promise you, kids just want to pull stuff out and unwrap them. They don’t really care that much of what’s in it.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. I’m not sure what age that changes. Cause we only have a three year old, but I’m sure it does.

        Shawn:

        I’m sure teenage years it does start to. Yeah. Because now they hate everyone and everything and parents know nothing. So

        Jenna:

        Right. Okay. So onto the good stuff. I know it’s past Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but here’s some tips that I personally like to use for next year. And I mean, it can kinda be used all year round.

        Shawn:

        And companies have been doing this longer too, like the Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday have many times been extended where they’re going on for weeks. And it may be that they’re not quite as good as that first few days or a week. But I mean, even now, I’m still seeing a lot of brands that I like to follow that are 40% off instead of 60%

        Jenna:

        Yeah. It’s still a good deal. So like, this is a time, I don’t like telling people to be glued to their phone or like Instagram, but for me, that’s how I do it and I’m not on my phone all the time, but I’m always looking through for deals. I follow them closely on Instagram. I find the different profiles on Instagram. I’m looking at their stories when Black Friday’s coming up. Cuz a lot of times they’ll have, “Hey, these are the deals that are coming up. Keep an eye out.” So I’ll watch for some of my favorite athletic brands. Definitely sign up for the email list. And then I immediately unsubscribe. Sometimes, you’ll even get like 10% off, 15% off for signing up on top of other discounts.

        Shawn:

        Don’t forget to unsubscribe if you really don’t wanna get ’em cause then you will be getting stuff all the time.

        Jenna:

        And I absolutely hate shopping in person. So like going into a store for Black Friday…

        Shawn:

        Oh yeah, it’s not gonna happen. I used to go to Black Friday every once in a while. And that was when I was much younger. I mean, I think the last time I went was when I was 20. I mean, it’s just not worth it. With the way technology has changed, pretty much all of the deals that you’re gonna get are pretty much all available online. They’ll just be limited to where if you’re online and like say you needed a new TV or a monitor for your office or whatever it might be. A lot of times what they do now is the deal that’s available in the store will be available online. But when you purchase, you can only buy one or two of those items. And so, just something to think about.

        Jenna:

        With all of the COVID stuff that has happened over the past couple years, stores are really pushing more digital, and people are used to it now, for digital sales. So, they’ve just kept up with it.

        Shawn:

        Which is good if you’re looking and you don’t wanna have to go in store.

        Jenna:

        So if you know any brands or items that your friends or your family likes, definitely keep an eye on those. Like for example, if they want some Nike shoes, keep an eye on Nike, like day in, day out for like that day after Thanksgiving or even leading up to it. And then like up to that Monday or Tuesday afterwards. For me personally, I also buy a lot of my personal items, like face care during this time. I got 30% off of these nice face lotions that I usually use. So I went ahead and bought two because I’m saving so much, and it’s gonna last me throughout the year. So, I may as well save up on items for myself, personal items.

        Shawn:

        Also, it doesn’t have to be Christmas. It just may be a good time on things you’re gonna use to stock up.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. And if you wanna talk about Amazon, also?

        Shawn:

        So for Amazon, one of the things you can do and it doesn’t mean you have to buy it from Amazon. That’s something we’ll talk about in a second. But if you favorite items by putting them on a list – it could be a public list that you can obviously share with family and friends helps a lot for kids. Like we did that for Rhonan. And when you do that, Amazon will also, based on the list you have saved, it will recommend similar items that are part of Cyber Monday and special deals. So it kind of helps you keep an eye out for those things a little easier and maybe even find things that you hadn’t thought of. Like, oh, that’s a similar product. It’s not as expensive, but I think they’ll like it just as much. Another one that I wanted to mention that kind of ties directly into that. I believe Jenna said this before, there’s a Capital One version.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. There’s a Capital one Extension. I forget what, like Evo or Eno. I’m not exactly sure.

        Shawn:

        But the one that I have actually used my myself and have seen it, I’ve definitely seen it promoted by a lot of people that I watch videos and stuff on, but it’s called Honey, like just like the food H O N E Y, but it’s a free extension that you can install in your browser. You can download it on your phone too, whether you have Android or Apple . But for me, I do feel like the computer version’s a lot easier. So as an example, when you’re on Amazon, if you have that installed in the browser, you can very quickly see is the current price, regardless of whether it says it’s on sale, is the current price actually a good price? Is it higher than normal? Is it pretty much on par? You can even usually click on that to see a history. Say, okay, well what about the last 90 days? Like before we got into the holiday season around Thanksgiving and Christmas. And sometimes, you’ll look at it and say, oh, it’s on sale. But what happens a lot is you’ll see the regular price is $70. And then when it goes “on sale”, they bump it to $100, mark it off as on sale for the same price. So Honey deal things like that help you see, are they really a good deal or is it just fake? So speaking of deals.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. I wanted to kind of hit back on the Amazon lightning deals. You have got to keep a close eye on these. Amazon will tell you when certain deals are coming up and they can go really, really fast. Like for example, the amazing trampoline that we’re hoping will get all of Rhonan’s hyper energy out. It was normally $60, and I made sure I’d seen that was the normal price. We got it for $35 and I clicked on that for the deal right when it went live. And I think by the time I checked out, it had been maybe two minutes and 15% were already sold. So you have to be quick. Again, be glued to your phone. If you’re wanting to save money, this is a good time to just be like, okay, I gotta be ready to click.

        Shawn:

        Make sure your notifications are enabled for the Amazon app for something like that. Amazon will, on those lightning deals, it’s usually a combination of so many are available at that price, but also there’s usually a time limit. So even if it didn’t sell immediately, if you don’t make the purchase within an hour or two hours or however long they give you, it’s gone. So another thing that we would suggest, which again, doesn’t apply for Christmas 2021, but save up throughout the year. So ,we have a separate fund for our Christmas gifts, and that helps us just kind of budget and plan from between now and Christmas next year. And so, as an example, you could put $50 to $100 every month into it, or whatever your Christmas budget might normally be. Just divide by 12. Simple math. And then you save that much, put that into that separate savings account so that you know this is our budget, so let’s make sure we stick within it, but also you don’t get to the end of the year and all of a sudden carry a balance on your credit card into the next month.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. It’s not hitting you all at once.

        Shawn:

        Exactly. Yeah. Planning ahead.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. Okay. This one would be for me. If you’re wanting to save money, make it or do it yourself, DIY. And now sometimes, I know we’ve probably all heard this quote, especially as crafty people. “Why buy it for 20 bucks when you can make it for 95?” Which is so true for a lot of things. It does ring true, but also there’s things you can do and make. Shutterfly. We do a book every year and this is what the grandparents always ask for is the book of Rhonan and his photos. And then we’ll have his sister’s photos in there as well when she arrives in March.

        Shawn:

        And they have great templates and stuff too, so you don’t have to create it from scratch. It’s more of here’s your general design and then you just start adding pictures.

        Jenna:

        Adding photos in, but you have to be aware with Shutterfly. They are very sneaky with this. If you do little metallic overlays on the outside, additional pages, you make it hard cover – I always upgrade to hard cover anyways. Or if you have it lay flat, that will get you. So you have to make sure you’re within that certain amount of pages or else you’re gonna get up to like a $40 or $50 book versus a $20 to $25 book.

        Shawn:

        Just pay attention. You should be able to see it when you’re about to check out, right?

        Jenna:

        Yeah. They say, Hey, wanna add this for… Well, no, not all the time actually. Cause I just made one and I saw that the cover, like the colors looked a little off. I’m like, why is that? And why is it so much more expensive? Oh, they had done the metallic stickers from the template that I chose, but I could use the exact same template without the metallic covering. Which if you want that, that’s cool. It looks really nice and fun, but for me I’m like $7 more for a little bit of shine. I’m like, no, thank you. Yeah. I’m frugal, remember?

        Shawn:

        We’ll just throw some extra glitter on it.

        Jenna:

        And like crafting things that you can do with your kids, and they have fun doing it. It’s gonna have a little bit more meaning. I know one year my mom had gotten a candle kit from Hobby Lobby and you can get vintage teacups or cute teacups from your antique store or even just ordering online, and you pour the candles in. And you can make really, super cute candles that don’t even have to be lit, but they’re for decoration.

        Shawn:

        Or they can be used on candle warmers, which means they tend to last longer, too.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. Put some essential oils in there.

        Shawn:

        Fun saving tip. Don’t burn ’em. Just let ’em warm up. You still get the smell, but you also don’t have an open flame and it lasts longer.

        Jenna:

        Yeah, exactly. Another thing for making, I love to crochet. You can basically crochet anything. It’s gonna take a little bit longer, but they also have really cute wall hangings that you can crochet that are in right now. They look like macrame. You can crochet that. Little kids you can teach at probably like seven years old. They can learn to crochet and make stuff.

        Shawn:

        I know it’s very therapeutic for you as well. Cause you can talk and do other things or just zone out – well, once you get good at it. I know when you’ve tried to get me to do it, I have to really focus.

        Jenna:

        You have to learn, but it’s therapeutic for you, and then you can make gifts for other people, like little face scrubbies I’ve done. So there’s so many things you can do that don’t take that long with crochet.

        Shawn:

        I love the one to have your kid paint on a canvas and frame, and you can send it to different family members, grandparents. Can you maybe describe the tape method?

        Jenna:

        Yeah. Rhonan, because he just turned three, he’s not very good at painting. He just kind of scribbles everywhere.

        Shawn:

        Sometimes, he can kind of go in the lines.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. Sometimes he can do a circle-ish shape. But I ended up buying canvases. It was like a two pack of small canvases for like a dollar at the dollar store. So the tape method is I made a shape with the tape, like painters tape, I cut it out, plastered it onto the canvas. And so it made negative space that whatever he painted around now I lift up that tape – like one was a heart, one was just random, little cute, abstract line shapes. Another, I made a shape of a little cat and cat ears on the canvas. So he painted around that and colored it in. And then I helped him remove the tape, and there was that blank space left that kind of had a little shape. That was really cute.

        Shawn:

        So instead of like painting the cat, you use the tape to leave it completely blank and white, and then the kid like Rhonan paints all around everywhere else to have like a fun, random pattern. Which, by the way, ends up being a unique piece of artwork.

        Jenna:

        I’ll have to like post photos of that on the podcast site because they actually looked really, really cool.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. I really like the cat one.

        Jenna:

        And then I went in and drew little cat eyes and whiskers and a nose.

        Shawn:

        And who knows, maybe that unique artwork by the kids may have some resale value if they’re famous one day as an artist. Probably not, but it still would be very, very fun. So, another good tip is shopping in one place. So Target and Walmart, as of this recording, they both they offer free shipping for any orders $35 or more. And so, what’s nice about that is you expect all your orders to typically come around the same time in the same boxes, and so that’s a lot more efficient and less to keep track of. So we actually bought a jacket, a few ornaments, and boots that we needed for Rhonan. And Jenna actually got all of that from Target, since we had at least $35 or more, we got free shipping. So sometimes, the shipping is $10, but you may as well spend $10 or $15 more on something you do need to get free shipping.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. When you’re already up to like $20 or $25.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. And same with Amazon. Save on shipping while organizing everything in one spot. You’ll notice a lot of times on shipping where it may default to fastest, but you can actually change it to where instead of getting it two days from now, if everything comes in at the same time, I’ll get it four days from now. And sometimes they’ll even give you like a dollar or two credit because you did it in less deliveries.

        Jenna:

        It adds up. That dollar or two will add up.

        Shawn:

        Yeah. And then it’s just easier to have all this stuff delivered together.

        Jenna:

        Exactly. So when it comes to Amazon and Target, all of the online places, definitely compare pricing. There’s stuff I’ve found on the Walmart website, same brand for cheaper. There’s stuff that I’ve found on the Amazon website that’s a little bit more expensive or cheaper. And there’s companies – like all your main companies, again, I’ll just name Nike, just cause it’s at the top of my head, like will maybe sell tennis shoes through Amazon, but you also wanna check an actual Nike website or whatever website it is for that brand to see if they have better deals going on, like around Christmas time or other times, because sometimes those big brands would rather you shop through their website than going through Amazon.

        Shawn:

        And a big part of that, too, is because Amazon for sellers, whether it’s you selling stuff randomly out of your attic or a brand like Nike, Amazon makes a percentage off of sales that go through their system. And so that’s why, using Nike as example, if the shoes you wanted are currently $110 on Amazon, they may be on sale for $100 directly with Nike and they offer free shipping on anything over $50. So, a simple example, because they can sell it for $100 and make more money than $110 on Amazon. So it’s worth it to them.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. What I tell people though, because I have read reviews where it seems like a knockoff brand. So at the top of the Amazon, usually it’s like at the top left, it’ll be like brand or shop Nike store so you can click on it or shop this store. And it’ll show like a whole layout of stuff. And usually if that looks good, and it almost looks like a mini website within Amazon. I try to make sure it’s legit being sold through Nike or Reebok or whatever brand you’re looking for. I’m not endorsing any of these.

        Shawn:

        You’ll see that a lot, especially with electronics. So if you see something like some sort of electronic type of cables and chargers and screens maybe, whatever it is. But if it’s electronic, I would definitely say do that. Check the “shop this store” because there’s a lot of knockoff brands. Like the reason why this is $20 instead of $70 is because you’re not getting a working product, or it is very, very poorly made.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. So definitely check that when using Amazon.

        Shawn:

        So another thing that we would highly recommend, because thankfully Jenna was able to work it out, but this just happened recently where she had ordered something and there should have been an order confirmation email, and for whatever reason something happened where she didn’t get a confirmation. So when you order something, take a screenshot if you order it on your phone or if you know how to do that on your computer. The other option would be, as soon as you do order, maybe you can print a hard copy if you’ve got a printer, and just make sure you have the information on when you ordered and what the order number was, which is very helpful when all of a sudden they say, we don’t know what order you’re talking about and it should have arrived. So, the other one would be when you do get the email confirmation, just double check it. Make sure that you have a copy of the email, cuz if you did get a copy of the email, that also is a good chance that they did in fact receive the order. Another one would be use Google Keep or Apple Notes or whatever note program you might have on your particular phone of choice. Write down the name of the company, what you purchased, the order number, and if they provided the tracking number. If you put it in something like Google Keep or Apple Notes, you can do like the checklist option and you can start checking things off or strike through ’em as they actually come in. So, last thing is you don’t wanna forget something.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. I made a whole list like that. And then I put the link for the tracking so I could click on it. I also put the date when I expect it to arrive. So if I realize, oh, it’s December 6th and this is supposed to come on the 2nd and it’s not here yet, then I can kind of see and immediately click on that tracking number, see where it’s gone, and try to figure out, okay, what’s going on here. One last thing, it doesn’t really have to do with saving money. And it’s kind of a given for most of us, but make a wishlist. I cannot tell you how much easier it is for people to shop for you and for you to shop for other people when you have a wishlist. For me personally, just because Amazon basically rules the world at this point, they have a wishlist option that you can add in other items\ from different websites onto it. You just have to have an extension in your Chrome browser. I haven’t figured out how to do it from my phone, so that it’s kind of annoying that I have to go my laptop to do it.

        Shawn:

        But you can do it. You can put like the URL to where it is. You can put in what size, the name. So it’s very helpful. And then people that you share the wishlist with, even if it wasn’t an Amazon item, or purchased through Amazon, they can still mark it as sold. So, if you’re trying to see, okay, it’s last minute, we need to get some stuff for our kid. What did the grandparents and other people buy already? You can see what was purchased.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. It just makes it so much easier because, I guess Shawn, you can kind of talk about that. Like how it’s so much more helpful when you have kids now.

        Shawn:

        Yes. Oh yeah. I mean, obviously it was helpful for us when we didn’t have kids, when we didn’t have Rhonan. With Rhonan now, there’s all kinds of stuff you can buy a three year old, but not every kid is exactly the same. And so having the wishlist where we could more or less put as many different things on there that we could think of that we know he would really enjoy or something that would help him be more creative or stuff that would trick him into learning. Anything like that we know would be good, we can put that on there. One of the things that I saw on his list that I was like kind of excited about was this monster truck, like 3-in-1 Lego thing, but it was a younger kid’s Lego option. The actual kit was easier, but you can make like a little monster truck, you can make a couple other things. So I’m looking forward to that one, getting to help him do it.

        Jenna:

        And you control a little bit more of what grandparents are giving you. Cause our house is already covered in the same toys right now.

        Shawn:

        We’re having to already get rid of toys.

        Jenna:

        Yeah. He’s only three. So it’s like, what can we get that’s better for him. Like you said, more educational. Well, that’s all the items that I had thought of to share. I know that y’all out there probably have a lot of great advice as well that we didn’t cover because Shawn and I would love to hear that, especially as our kids get older.

        Shawn:

        As fairly new parents, if there was anything that we didn’t cover, we would love to hear your feedback. You could send us an email from our website. You could call or text our office (830) 609-6986. But yeah, we would love to get your feedback and then we can maybe pass along when we publish things online. So, I really hope you guys enjoyed this special Christmas episode. We’d love to hear from you guys on how your family prepares for Christmas and all of the potential chaos that is merchandising and gifts. And again, since we are parents of three year olds and soon to be a new baby in March next year, we would love to hear anything you guys have to share.

        Jenna:

        And if you wanna see any of these tips, we’ll have the entire script out, as always, on Christianfinancialpodcast.com, and I can put a few pictures and samples of stuff. Don’t forget about that.

        Shawn:

        It’ll all be on the podcast episode website. I guess that’s it. God bless you all. I hope you have a Merry Christmas, so thank you.

        Jenna:

        Merry Christmas.

        [CONCLUSION]

        That’s all for now.

        We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

        [DISCLOSURES]

        Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

        36 min
      11. 103 – Questions to Consider Before Making a Big Financial Decision
        Click below to listen to Episode 103 – Questions to Consider Before Making a Big Financial Decision
        Questions to Consider Before Making a Big Financial Decision

        What questions should you be asking yourself before making a large, financial decision?

        More episodes >>

        Are you about to make a large, financial decision? Are you looking at buying a new car or purchasing a vacation home? If so, this is the podcast episode for you! Making a decision that involves a large, financial purchase is both stressful and gratifying at the same time. However, there are also A LOT of questions to ask oneself before an actual decision is officially made.

        For Christians, we at Christian Financial Advisors believe that all financial decisions are also spiritual decisions (Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.”). We are managers of God’s money and should be wise about how it is spent. We are not saying to not reward yourself for hard work or to live like a pauper (unless that’s your calling), but what we are saying is to be wise, think long about any large financial decision, and also ask yourself some of the following questions:

        1. Is the potential purchase a want or a need?
        2. Can you really live without it?
        3. What is the reason I want it?
        4. What is the reason I need it?
        5. Will the purchase appreciate or depreciate in value over time?
        6. What will be the total annual cost of the purchase from the time you buy it until you sell it?
        7. What are the advantages of the purchase?
        8. What are the disadvantages of the purchase?
        9. Have I Prayed about it and sought wisdom from God’s word ?
        10. Am I positive that making this purchase decision is a smart move in the long run?
        11. Does this financial decision presume upon a financial future that may or may not happen?
        12. Will this purchase affect my giving negatively? There are only 4 ways to spend money: Live, give, owe and grow. One of these will be affected.
        13. Could this purchase take away from my cash reserves for an uncertain financial future? Will I still have enough in cash reserves after it?
        14. Am I saving enough now for my future before making this purchase?
        15. Will I still have plenty in cash reserves after the purchase in case of a catastrophe event?
        16. If married, is my spouse agreeable with the purchase?
        17. Is there an alternative to making such a large purchase?
        18. Have I sought wise, Godly counsel from someone I trust if this is a good financial decision or not?

          19. HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®

          CO-HOST: Shawn Peters

          Mentioned In This Episode
          Christian Financial Advisors
          Website
          Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
          Shawn Peters

          Want to ask a question about your specific situation? Schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone call.

          SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENTDid you enjoy this episode? Sign up for email updates and never miss an episode.
          EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

          [INTRODUCTION]

          Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

          [EPISODE]

          Bob:

          Well, Shawn it’s good to have you back from your babymoon that you’ve been on.

          Shawn:

          Although even with all the sunscreen, I still did not come back unscathed from the sun.

          Bob:

          Did you have one of those sunburned days like you had what we did went down to South Padre 10-11 years ago? I remember that.

          Shawn:

          Let’s not talk about that.

          Shawn:

          No, no, I got a little bit of color, so I’m a little less of the color of the pale Moonlight, but no, I did not get a sunburn like that, but thankfully you guys seemed like you handled things pretty well while I was gone, but yeah.

          Bob:

          No, without you, it was hard. It was hard. But I know that you and Jenna are looking forward to this next baby that you’re going to be having.

          Shawn:

          I think you’re looking forward to it, too.

          Bob:

          I am, I am. And so y’all went to Maui.

          Shawn:

          Yeah. It’s the first time I’ve ever been to Maui, but I guess Jenna went with your family, like the whole family 15-16 years ago, whenever it was. And she said she remembered the road to Hana was like all these cliffs and you’re about to fall off the side of the road. And it was certainly winding. I’ve never gotten car sick, that I remember, in my life. And I made it about two thirds of the way up the road to Hana before I had to just lean back and close my eyes. But Jenna usually has a good memory, but she said the road to Hana had less cliffs than she remembered. It was certainly winding, but I guess in her kid brain, maybe she was thinking that you were right on the edge of the cliffs more, but it was a lot of fun.

          Bob:

          Well, I have a really good podcast for us today. I’ve been working on this, and this is our 103rd podcast for Christian Financial Perspectives. We keep getting up there, and I was thinking about this. And Shawn, let me tell you where I came up with this idea and today’s podcast is going to be on questions to consider before making a big financial decision. We’ve talked about this the last couple of podcasts. I’m really getting that new car itch because I just went over a hundred thousand miles, but I’m trying very hard not to do that. And I’m telling you a big financial decision today is buying a car. I can’t believe like, you know me, I love Ford Explorers. I love the new Jeep Cherokee L, the long one.

          Shawn:

          Or the Ford Broncos that they brought back`.

          Bob:

          Yeah. But these cars, I mean, they’re like $55-60,000.

          Shawn:

          A cheap car now is, I mean, you’re lucky to get one under 20k.

          Bob:

          These are big financial decisions nowadays, but Shawn, here’s what’s hard on me. Where I live, like every guy in my subdivision is driving a brand new King Ranch Ford F-350 truck that they paid 80 grand for. So I thought I’d make a podcast called “Questions You Need to Consider Before Making a Big Financial Decision”, because I tell you, many times a big financial decision, especially with automobiles, because this is a depreciating asset, can turn into a bad one.

          Shawn:

          So this sounds like a little bit of maybe self therapy. If you’re struggling with this, even in your position, people are probably out there that are also struggling.

          Bob:

          You know I have. I mean, I am not the perfect person by any means. And so, we’re going to attempt today to look at questions that you need to consider before making that next big financial decision. Now, this is what I mean by big financial decision besides the new car. HGTV is always touting their big, nice vacation properties. And that’s tempting for me too. It’s another temptation.

          Shawn:

          Or their home renovation projects.

          Bob:

          Yep. And I was talking to a client the other day. He’s wanting to buy a new boat. And I was like, yeah, yup. I was actually talking to another client, they’re looking at an RV. I was like, no, no. And believe it or not, we have several clients that have airplanes. So these are big financial decisions. So, you’ve got the major remodel. You’ve got the boat.

          Shawn:

          To me, those are ongoing financial decisions, too. It’s not even just that initial purchase.

          Bob:

          Yeah. And so we’re going to discuss, and we’re going to post all this all on our website, things that you need to think about.

          Shawn:

          So that’ll be posted at Christianfinancialadvisors.com/podcast. I’m really excited about this episode, Bob, because I know there are many out there who might not have ever thought of some of these questions, along with some who will actually be surprised that financial decisions are always a spiritual decision as well.

          Bob:

          Well, when you’re a Christian, it should be, because if we really believe that God owns it all in Psalms 24:1. Psalms 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” So if we believe that’s God’s and God owns it all, then we’re managers. So for a Christian, a financial decision is also a spiritual decision. So Shawn, if you notice, I came up with a lot of questions and like I said, we’ll post all this on the website so you can pull them up. So, that’s that first one you see there.

          Shawn:

          First one and these are in no order of importance necessarily, but number one is is the potential purchase a want or a need? That one is, I feel like we’ve hit a lot of people. Like, is it really something you need or is it just something you want? Like, do you really need a new car, Bob? Or do you just want something because you hit 100,000 miles?

          Bob:

          Okay. Okay. It’s because I want it. I haven’t had a new car in five or six years now. I just like the new car smell and all that. But my car, I washed it really nice this weekend, cleaned it all up, and I’m like, this is really nice. Maybe I can keep this at least another year. But yeah, that’s a want. That’s not a need because the vehicle is running fine, but I’ll tell you, Shawn, people buy all the time based on wants and not needs.

          Shawn:

          Jenna and I are in a similar situation where we’re looking at maybe getting rid of one of our vehicles because we have a small, two row SUV, typical, and we have a full sized car. Well, with the new baby on the way, we’re going to have at least two car seats, plus all of the gear that it takes to take care of kids. And so, we’ve been looking at maybe even doing something a little weird, maybe even selling our car now, since used car prices are still so high, and I’ll just walk to work for a few months/

          Bob:

          Or I’ll just give you my Explorer.

          Shawn:

          I guess you could buy your new car.

          Bob:

          All right. So there’s a second question to that that I think about. So you said, is it a want or a need? Can you really live without it?

          Shawn:

          That’s a good one. Yeah.

          Bob:

          Now in this case, like what you’re talking about, because I know that’s a very small SUV that y’all have. With two children, that might be a little small. So you could live, you could absolutely if you had to, but it would be really, really tight, but can you live without it? In other words, can you live without the new airplane or the new car or the new model? I see so many times on HGTV, they’ll go in and they’ll do this major remodel that cost $50,000. And it’s all just for aesthetics. It’s not for function at all. It’s just because the color wasn’t right. That the countertops didn’t look good, but the countertops were fine. They weren’t broken or anything. But it’s because it looks better.

          Shawn:

          And want versus need, can you live without it? I feel like there’s a lot of these questions that we are going to be going over where it’s not necessarily that there’s a wrong answer for some of these. Like, it doesn’t mean that just because it’s a want versus a need that you shouldn’t do it, but it’s just some really important questions to kind of cover and make your pros and cons list. Another one is what is the reason that you or I want to make this purchase.

          Bob:

          And what is the reason I need it. So write those down. Take these questions and write them down. Why is it I want it? Some new car smell or it might be more safe.

          Shawn:

          Yeah. Or maybe our family is growing and we don’t have any room in this size car.

          Bob:

          With a purchase, is it going to appreciate or depreciate in value over time?

          Shawn:

          That’s a good one. So like a home, obviously if you ask any realtor, the price will always go up, but in general, it is true with real estate that there may be shorter periods of a down market because every market, no matter what it is, housing, stock market, they always go through cycles. But housing real estate, those do tend to appreciate over time. Now car, since we talked about that one a lot, definitely one of those depreciating assets. Most times if you buy like a boat or an RV, any of those types of vehicles probably will depreciate over time. And depending on which vehicle it is, it may depreciate a lot more over time.

          Bob:

          So that’s where you need to think about the total annual cost.

          Shawn:

          Exactly. So then what would be the total annual cost of the purchase from the time you buy it until you sell it? And so for an example, a vacation property, boat, RV, airplane. These are things that can be very expensive upfront, but especially a plane. I felt that that’s one of the biggest examples, the cost of maintaining that plane, the cost of operating that plane, it’s a lot higher than people think about. I mean, even if you did a plane card thing where you’re kind of like a part of the club, you’re talking about possibly $1,000 or more per hour of operation, not including anything else during the year. RVs, same thing, maybe on a slightly smaller scale than the plane.

          Bob:

          But they get 7-10 miles to the gallon.

          Shawn:

          Downhill.

          Bob:

          We’ve talked about this when we talked about real estate is a vacation property. I don’t think people really think now, of course you want that price appreciation. That’s on one side, but on the other side you have the taxes and the insurance and the maintenance, and they’re always showing this stuff on HDTV. They always show them the beachfront properties, and the cost of insurance to cover those properties is very, very high. And this is why you always see so many vacation properties for sale because someone goes into it and never really counted all the costs. “I never realized it was going to cost this much.”

          Shawn:

          Like, for example, if you bought a vacation property on the beach and you loved it for about a year or two, and then you just decided this isn’t worth it anymore. And especially, like a lot of people do, they’ll get a vacation home and they’re not going to be there all the time. So what are most people do? They go to VRBO, they go to AirBnB, they try to listen to themselves with a property management group. And all of that starts to add up to where yeah, you might make money on it. But also, when people look at the appreciation of an asset like that, that 30%, was that actually enough to cover all of the expenses and the maintenance and the purchasing initially and the interest, like everything involved or is that 30% more like 8%. And is that 8% over a two year period or more, then was that really a better decision, especially if you looked at it as investment versus leaving in a portfolio.

          Bob:

          Are you talking about real estate going up by 30% in one year?

          Shawn:

          Well, over a couple of years, even if it did that, that’s the point. What is your true cost and what are you actually getting out of it?

          Bob:

          See, we’re going to get down to this pretty soon, I believe. We’re going to come back down to reality, especially as they start to raise interest rates because most people don’t think right now – interest rates are 2% or 3% or even 4%. Well, if you raise interest rates by just 1%, you’ve raised it by 20-30%, and that’s going to lower the price of that house. I mean, they’re going to have to lower the price because most people don’t buy houses with cash.

          Shawn:

          What do you mean by that, Bob, if it goes up 1% on the interest rate, but it’s going up by 23%?

          Bob:

          Okay. Okay. Okay. What do I mean by that? So if you go from 3% to 4%, you’ve gone up by 33% on the interest rate, you realize? Where I come up with that formula is 1% of 3 or 1/3 is 33%, right? 1/3 of 3 is 33, which is 33%. So if it goes from a 3% interest rate to a 4% interest rate, you have raised the interest rates by 33%

          Shawn:

          And then that affects the home price…

          Bob:

          About 20 to 25%.

          Shawn:

          And now the purchasing power of the buyers is going to be reduced…

          Bob:

          By 20 to 25%.

          Shawn:

          That will affect the actual pricing.

          Bob:

          See, I think we’re going to come back to where real estate is just keeping rate with inflation, not this 20-30% appreciation. So, you talk about a vacation rental. So we get back to a vacation home of a normal appreciation of 5% a year over a two year period or three-year period in that vacation now that you’ve owned it, you have not made money. You’ve lost money. Between the time that you’re buying costs, closing costs, costs to get it and then when you sell it – the realtor fees and the title company fees and all the different fees – will knock that down. And that really pulls your yield down. Another thing that people don’t think about when they want to go buy a property or an RV or boat or a new car. And I’m going to use here an example of a $50,000 withdrawal. Let’s say they have an investment, and they’re going to withdraw that $50,000 out of an investment account, that’s making a nice 6% return on average, let’s say. Well, you realize over a 12 year period based on the rule of 72’s that 50 is not going to double to 100. So, you’ve taken money out of your investment portfolio that’s no longer growing, possibly put it into a depreciating asset. So anytime you want to make a purchase, you really want to say, well, what are the disadvantages, but what are the advantages of it, too? So there may be some advantages to the purchase, but you also need to list the disadvantages. Cause we’ve talked about the pros and cons of many of these areas.

          Shawn:

          Both the advantages and the disadvantages. Good, good idea. So another one, have I prayed about it and sought wisdom from God’s word? For a Christian, as I said earlier, all big financial decisions should be a spiritual one as well, as it’s all God’s money in the first place. And Psalms 24:1 talks about that. We are considered managers, not owners, according to the scripture.

          Bob:

          So we believe that you should pray about it and really seek and see what that wisdom says to you. Are you positive that making this purchase decision is a smart move in the long run? Yeah. And I mean, are you positive, really positive, that’s going to happen?

          Shawn:

          So another one does this financial decision presume upon a financial future that may or may not happen.

          Bob:

          That’s a good one, isn’t it?

          Shawn:

          Yeah. So you’re maybe making that decision of, well, I am supposed to get a raise of X amount coming into this next year. And as long as we hit our sale’s quota, then this will be fine. It’s totally within the budget. And then something like, I don’t know, a global pandemic hits and you have a bunch of economic shutdowns and all of a sudden sales quotas aren’t even close to what you thought it was going to be. All of a sudden that bonus or raise doesn’t happen

          Bob:

          Or an illness comes out of nowhere. Exactly. Or you’re in an accident. If you have to borrow to purchase that plane or that car or that home, you are always presuming upon a future that we really have no idea about. I got this principle from Ron Blue, a very well-known Christian financial author, and I’ve never heard anybody say it like the way he said it. It’s stuck with me ever sense that borrowing presumes upon the future.

          Shawn:

          And that’s a good way to look at it. So will this purchase affect my giving negatively? So there are only four ways to spend money. Live, Give, Owe, and Grow. One of these will be affected.

          Bob:

          It has to be. Because when you think about those four ways – live, give, owe, grow – it’s going to cost you more to live now and pay that extra bill, and it’s got to come out of either the giving part or the growing part.

          Shawn:

          And I guess that’s a good question to ask then when you’re looking at that giving, am I making this decision out of maybe a surplus or out of something that maybe something new has happened or am I going to be taking away from my growth potential, say your portfolio, or am I going to be taking away from the church or some other area that I’m giving in?

          Bob:

          That’s excellent. And could a purchase take away from your cash reserves, too? I mean, you want to keep cash reserves and maybe have plenty in cash reserves, but is it going to pull those cash reserves down to a dangerous level to do that?

          Shawn:

          The recommendation on that is at a bare minimum, you should have three months of your monthly expenses saved up in cash. You shouldn’t touch that. We always recommend here six months.

          Bob:

          Remember the formula from Genesis 41 that we did, which is 1.4 years. Because Joseph told Pharaoh to save a fifth of the harvest. It’s 20% for up to seven years, 20×7 =1.4, exactly 1.4 years. That’s astounding. When people hear that, and they’re like, where did you get that from? I got that straight from scripture.

          Shawn:

          So another one we would be looking at, am I saving enough now for my future before making this purchase? That’s a good one. So I have people ask me on a regular basis, they have X amount in cash reserves and they’re looking at making a purchase. So we’re looking at pulling money out of their portfolio. And the question I usually ask is, well, are you going to be dipping below your minimum cash reserves? Are you going to be affecting your long term retirement? So, if this is going to affect, which kind of goes back to the it’s one of four things for the way you spend the money, are you going to be taking away from your growth? And if you’re taking away from how much you’re saving, maybe it’s not a good choice.

          Bob:

          I had this one in there, Shawn, but I think we’ve already shared a little bit about the cash reserves after the purchase. So this next one is really important. I was going over this with Rachael and I said, what do you think about this one, Rachael – if married, is my spouse agreeable with the purchase. She said, yeah, you need to keep that one in there.

          Shawn:

          That is an important one. A lot of couples will say like, oh, well my wife or my husband, like, they’ll say one of them that makes the financial decisions. Oh, I let them handle the budget. That may be true. But the thing is, is when you and your spouse purchase something, whether it’s one person that purchased it or two, you’re both being affected by that. And what is the number one, typically, I think in all the polls that you see, the number one cause of divorce is usually money and financial issues. So making sure that you and your spouse are in agreement with the purchase, you’re not in opposition. That’s a huge thing. Don’t add more stress to something. It’s already hard enough to be God-fearing and love your spouse unconditionally. Don’t add another problem to it.

          Bob:

          I’ll say the large purchases are usually done by us guys, too. I got to admit it. I mean, I’ll get on Rachael for buying the extra clothes and the shoes and stuff, but then I want to go by the boat or the new car. Is there an alternative to making this large purchase? So if you’re looking at that vacation home or you’re looking at that car, or you’re looking at that RV, or even that airplane, in some cases, is there an alternative, would it be less expensive to rent that vacation home, or even to rent an RV. There’s RV rentals now. Would it be cheaper to do that less expensive than buying in the long run?

          Shawn:

          And that will come down to, in the case of the vacation home, how often are you really wanting to go down? Like, are you finding that you’re going every month taking a long weekend? Are you going once a quarter, are you going twice a year. I mean, how often are you really going to be able and want, or willing, able and willing, to go down to that home? And if you’re not going down enough based on what you’re going to be spending on it compared to renting, maybe just rent and then you don’t have the responsibility of what if something comes up and you don’t get to go for six months. We didn’t lose anything on the renting side.

          Bob:

          I’ve learned something else with vacation homes, and this is to the older generation. Don’t buy that vacation home thinking your kids want to come to it. Am I right?

          Shawn:

          Yes.

          Bob:

          Because you’re not a big beach guy. We’ve had a couple of these vacation homes…

          Shawn:

          Yeah. Now, if you had one up in Colorado, I might have to make the drive up there, but…

          Bob:

          That’s too far. That’s too far.

          Shawn:

          So, so the last but not least have I sought wise godly counsel from someone I trust if this is a good financial decision or not? As we know plans, fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they succeed.

          Bob:

          What’d it say? Two are better than one. I just had a call this morning from a wise, young man about 32 years old. And we talked about that this morning because he says I’ve really saved and I’ve done well. And I’m up to where now it’s a pretty good size sum, and I want some counsel. I feel like I’m doing this all by myself. I want some godly counselors. So we realize there’s a lot of questions. If you count all these together, there’s 18 of them. So what we’re doing is we’re putting all of this on the podcast website. You can go pull them all up. And next time you’re looking at a large purchase, pull these up and go through them, go through them with your wife, pray about it. Ask the Lord, Lord, is this really what you want? And count the cost. That’s the main thing is count the cost. It’s in Matthew where he says, look at the wise man, and he counted the cost before he went and built it. So you need to count the cost, and we want to have that for you. Go to Christianfinancialadvisors.com/podcast to find all of these questions. That’s going to do it for today.

          Shawn:

          And just remember when you’re looking at those questions, I like to keep it simple. I feel like it’s usually helpful. But when you’re looking at those questions, you may come to the decision that maybe it was a want, or maybe it is a little bit more, more money. But if you’ve prayed about it, you’ve sought wise counsel, you’ve gone through these and you still have a peace about it, probably okay. But if you’ve got something, if the Holy Spirit is kind of pulling on your heartstrings a little bit, it’s kind of nudging you, and you don’t feel that peace about it. Maybe just hold off for a second.

          Bob:

          That’s right. Yeah. We’re not saying there’s anything wrong with a new car. Not at all.

          Shawn:

          At the end of the day. I think that’s what it is. It’s just you want to make sure that between you and the Lord and with you and your spouse, that you’re at peace of whatever that decision is.

          Bob:

          Thanks, Shawn. That’s it.

          [CONCLUSION]

          That’s all for now.

          We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

          [DISCLOSURES]

          Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.

          26 min

        About Christian Financial Perspectives

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        Biblical wisdom for financial decisions and goals. Conversations about managing money according to Christian principles, featuring expert insights on budgeting, investing, giving, and building wealth…

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