Aligning Faith & Finances

Do you want to incorporate your faith into your financial planning?

It’s a great question, and it’s a question I’ve started asking… yet I should have made it a priority to have asked it all along. Today, I meet people who find complete joy in tithing, helping others financially, and being impactful with their earthly financial treasures. It’s completely selfish on my part, but I also find joy in helping them incorporate this into their financial planning, grow their assets, and help them give their earthly treasures away.

“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.” ~ Matthew 6:19-21

While on this earth, we are stewards of God’s resources to achieve God’s purposes. It’s so easy for us to forget. None of this is ours. It’s his. We came into this world with nothing, we leave with nothing.

There are four key areas in which we have the power to direct our treasure (our resources/money): Live, Give, Owe, and Grow—LGOG for short.

Live – Covering daily expenses and ensuring our needs are met.
Give – Supporting charities, churches, and loved ones.
Owe – Managing taxes, debt, and financial obligations.
Grow – Saving and investing for the future.

These four areas are more than just financial categories. They are opportunities to put our values, and our faith, into action.

Faith isn’t meant to stay in our heads. It should shape the way we live, give, save, invest, and steward what God has entrusted to us.

We explored this idea through Bob Goff’s Love Does, a book that challenges us to move beyond simply knowing what we believe and consider what it looks like to put our faith into action. In this reflection, we explore what that idea can teach us about stewardship, generosity, financial planning, and the way we use the resources God has entrusted to us.

Read: Love Does: Why Faith Was Never Meant to Stay in Our Heads

When we approach financial planning with faith in mind, we can maximize our ability to give and make a meaningful impact about how we live today. Today, we are told that happiness is about cars, clothes, retirement accounts, my beloved big boy dog Riley, and my favorite sweatshirt—but these are all temporary. In Matthew 25:40, Jesus 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.”

How cool will it be when we can answer with what we’ve done as a steward of his treasures for others!

Financial planning through a faith-based lens is about stewardship and intentional generosity. If this sounds like the type of financial planning you want to achieve, St. Croix Advisors can help.

We get comfortable thinking this earthly stuff is forever; it’s not. I believe it’s only a pit stop. This isn’t just true about our money. We have a short time to enjoy our earthly treasures or be impactful with our earthly treasures.

If more people are honest with themselves, the answer is that we don’t need more stuff. Hey, don’t get me wrong—at times, I also struggle with this one too, so I live by these two questions before I purchase something or make a financial decision:

Does this simply my life? Do I want to spend my life energy on it?

For our secular clients, this works well. Yet, our clients who are believers often want to take a look at what the Bible says.

I like Romans 12:2 :

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

I’m not about looking to guilt anyone but instead helping others discover the joys of giving and being impactful during their time here on Earth. Ready? Let’s start.