This book uses Bible verses to present the following principles and strategies of biblical wealth management. - Invest in public companies where ownership and management are separate. - Make a long-term investment with a minimum of 10 years. - Apply the principles of asset diversification and time diversification. - Do not borrow money to invest. - Invest in financial assets with periodic cash flows that can earn compound interest. - Invest in pooled financial assets such as mutual funds or exchange-traded funds. - Buy index funds in regular intervals to maximize the effect of time diversification. - Choose to invest rather than save. - Invest in sound businesses. - Do not rely on speculation. - Maximize earned income in the workplace and invest a portion of the earned income for retirement. - Equip with vision and mission from Biblical perspectives and arm oneself with Biblical work ethics to maximize earned income.
Additionally, this book explains the difference between saving, investing, and speculating through a biblical lens and describes diverse savings instruments. It defines speculation and warns that buying and selling speculative assets can drive one into poverty, destroying oneself and one's family. Moreover, this book explains retirement plans such as 401(k) and Roth IRA and teaches how to create private pensions to prepare for the 20% cut of Social Security benefits in 2034, when the Social Security Trust Funds will be exhausted.
The purpose of biblical wealth management is to be a channel of blessing for Christians through biblical investing. According to the Ten Commandments and Matthew 22:36-40, the core values of the Bible are love of God and love of neighbor. We often need money to practice love of neighbor. When we are young, we can use the income we earn from our jobs to help our neighbors. In retirement, we can use our investment income to help our neighbors. From a biblical perspective, this book teaches us how to maximize earned and investment income.
Existing devotional books on finances mainly focus on managing income and spending, including tithing. They mainly teach Christians to have good biblical values about money. This book, on the other hand, is the first on biblical investing and retirement planning. It's practical and applicable to real life. This book is a product of interdisciplinary studies between theology and finance.
The time in which the Bible was written was an agrarian society that required the labor of the entire family. Thus, there was no retirement age. However, in the case of the prophet Isaiah, he retired and established a prophet's school in his hometown of Ramah Nahor (1 Samuel 19:18- 24) to train disciples. He required great wealth to provide for his disciples. After retirement, a healthy Christian should be able to fulfill the ministry God has given them in the second act of life for more than 20 years, according to current life expectancy. This book can help us prepare financially for our ministry after retirement. If we do not invest while still earning, we will have financial hardship in retirement, making it challenging to fulfill the ministry.
Since the Bible was written so long ago, some people say that its teachings are outdated and unappealing to modern life. Of course, I do not think many of these people have read and studied the Bible correctly. Most churches today emphasize personal salvation over social salvation. In this book, I will discuss the incredible power of social salvation through Biblical wealth management.
