7 Questions For Strategic Giving with Ron Blue

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That means we must also be discerning. I am Rob West. We should always give with our hearts out of a passion for advancing God's Kingdom, but we must also use our heads to strategically choose which organizations or causes receive our financial support. Ron Blue joins us today with some advice before you write that check. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Ron Blue is co-founder of Kingdom Advisors and the author of many books on biblical personal finance. He's counseled many people over the years about effective, strategic giving. Ron, great to have you back. Always great, Rob.

Looking forward to it. Ron, I recommend Splitting Heirs as the go-to book for folks on wealth transfer, and in addition to helping them think through, is the next steward chosen and prepared? You lay out a series of questions in that book that we should ask before financially supporting a ministry, and we want to talk through those today, but what made you want to include this teaching in this particular book? Well, I was told by the head of a Christian ministry one time something that I have found to be true experientially, and that is that most people give to an appeal. They don't necessarily give through thoughtful, giving thoughts to, is this the right ministry to accomplish the right purpose?

Is this the right leader? Things like that. So most people give emotionally, and consequently they don't give as much as what they could.

Yeah. So we want to help you give strategically today. All right, Ron, let's make our way through some of these questions that you've included in Splitting Heirs.

Where do you want to start? Well, one of them is leadership. And, you know, ministries typically are founded by entrepreneurial-type people. Yes. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm an entrepreneur. But they sometimes get ahead of themselves, and their vision outpaces their ability to pull it off. However, if they are godly men or women, they're looking for accountability, and that's going to keep them in line. So to me, a godly characteristic for a leader would be someone that is being held accountable by their choice. Yes.

That's a key idea. Are the leaders marked by godly characteristics? The next question you include is, is the ministry active in God's hot spots? Explain that for us. Well, you know, somebody said one time, I want to find out what God is doing and get in on it.

Yes. And that's not bad counsel at all. And by God's hot spots, it could be different things. You know, it could be an orphanage in Uganda, where God is doing some just wonderful things. Or it could be an international, it could be an event-type ministry, like Billy Graham used to do. So God's hot spots are typically where you see God at work.

And it's demonstrated by, not necessarily the number of results, but really the people results. Yes. So are people's lives being changed into disciples of Christ would be a good question to ask myself. Ron, another question is, is the ministry growing and cooperative? And I think this is a big idea, because so often ministries kind of get walled off and don't work well together with others.

But unpack this for us. Well, I think that's very, very true. You know, my philosophy is that everything comes from God, so I don't own anything, including my ministry and the results of my ministry. And so what I want to see is, is God causing growth? Or is there growth that you couldn't even discriminate it from a worldly appeal? So what's the appeal?

And the appeal, to me, needs to be around people and changed lives, ultimately. And that may mean buildings and things to help, but the end result are changed lives of people. And so is the ministry doing that? And also, are they cooperating with others in ministry? God doesn't do everything through one ministry, so we need to collaborate. Excellent.

Well, a few of the others, is the ministry goal-oriented, and is the ministry accountable? There's also several more, so you're going to want to pick up a copy of Splitting Heirs so you can be effective and strategic in your own giving. Ron, thanks for stopping by. Thank you, Rob. I enjoyed it, again. That's Ron Blue, author of Splitting Heirs. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000.

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That's kingdomadvisors.com. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. It's time to take your calls and questions today. 800-525-7000.

Whatever is on your mind today, I'd love to chat about it. We can hear from you right now at 800-525-7000. We've got lines open. Our team is ready to take your call. Also, if you have a testimony today, perhaps you'd like to share how God has been at work in your financial life, how you've applied these principles, maybe by living in God's economy rather than the world's.

You've been able to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit to give more than you thought you might or to make a change in your financial life or just to enjoy the peace of mind that comes from trusting God for your provision and living within it. Well, we'd love to hear those stories as well. You can call with those, and we'll take them at 800-525-7000. Let's go out to Mississippi. Michael, how can I serve you?

Yes, sir. So I'm on a variable income. So during the summer, I do HVAC, but during the summer, you know, I have plenty of work, just plenty of business.

And then during the winter, it closed down almost to a complete halt. So I mean, I still have some income during the winter, but not as much. So my income kind of almost cuts in half. I was wondering, like, what should I be doing or what resources are available to help me during that downtime?

Yeah, boy, that's a challenging one, I know. And there are strategies, and we can talk about those here in a moment, around variable income budgeting so you don't get caught off guard because we know it's coming. So we've got to have a plan to kind of smooth out your income. Let me ask you, is there a way for you to in the off months to kind of refocus whether it means adding a new skill set or something else where, you know, you're cleaning the ducks in the winter, and that becomes the priority or you're obviously servicing heating, you know, the heating portion of the units? I mean, are there other things that you could really focus on marketing during that off season to smooth that out on the income side before we address the spending?

Absolutely. So we're a small company, it's just me and my boss, and he tries to keep me as busy as he can during the winter. And we do have some heat calls, but not nearly as much for my income as, you know, AC calls. So it's kind of like he would need me at the, you know, at the drop of a hat or, you know, on call or something like that in case, you know, we had any calls. So, like, getting another job isn't exactly viable.

Yeah, yeah, no, that makes total sense. I think the key would be to try to expand your services so that maybe there's something else that you focus on during those winter months. I mean, obviously, the heat that we've been encountering the last month or so, as I'm sure played in your favor, you probably got more work than you can handle right now. In terms of what's called variable income budgeting, you know, this is going to sound simpler than it is, because I realize this is challenging to do. But the big idea here is to look over your income and expenses for the past year. And, you know, look at that 12 month expenses and then set up a budget based on your needs.

But essentially, what you'd want to do is have your paychecks paid to a savings account during the summer, and then put yourself on a regular recurring income. And we're going to need to base the budget on the average over 12 months. And so obviously, we need to include those winter months, as we're looking at the income that you're going to have available over a 12 month timeframe.

And then the question will be, and I realize this is, you know, not going to be easy, especially with expenses up so dramatically like they are over the last four years. But if we could get that 12 month number divided by 12, and then build your budget around that, not only right up to the edge, but even with a little bit of cushion there, then what you could do is actually set up that automatic transfer from savings of that lower amount into your operating or your checking account, and then budget accordingly on that. And then obviously, if we do this right over a year's time, then you know, what you have or what you need to supplement in the winter is going to be sitting there in savings. And so we can smooth out, you know, that, that amount that's coming into checking, and it's almost like you put yourself on a salary. And then the key will be to have a system to control not only the the flow of money, but in but the flow of money out. And that's where I think our faith by app could be really helpful, where you use a digital envelope system as that monthly check comes in from savings or that monthly transfer, it automatically funds electronically your envelopes, it's not actually moving money, but in the app, it's taking the dollars and allocating them to your various envelopes. And then when you connect to your checking or savings or credit card accounts, as those transactions come in, the system over time, learns where they go automatically categorizes them. And the key is, at any point during the month, you can open up the faith by app and see, okay, what do I have left this month? Until I, you know, pay myself again in eating out? What do I have in clothing?

What do I have an entertainment and all the rest. So I think that could be a great approach to you. If we haven't been doing this, you know, it's going to be challenging until you get a full year cycle under your belt. But if you can do it, you know, I think it'll smooth things out. Give me your thoughts on that, though.

Oh, no, I'm absolutely not. Yeah, it's not something I've actually thought about before. But yeah, that makes sense. And I think that would actually. So yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense.

I think that would actually help me make it through the winter. All right, let's do this. Here's, here's what I feel. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. So you'd even have your checks go directly into savings and then pay yourself out of that. The key is to right size the budget so that you're working off of, you know, a 12 month average of your total income for the year. And we're budgeting within that so that you've got enough left, and you truly are building up those surpluses in the in the summer months when when things are really happening. Here's what I'd like to do for you, Michael.

Two things. One is I'm going to give you a six month subscription to the FaitFi app, just to get you started. But the other thing I want to do if you'd take advantage of it is I'd love to connect you with one of our certified Christian financial counselors.

We have several of them on our team here. And as our gift to you, I'd like to gift you several sessions with that certified Christian financial counselor to actually help you get all the pieces in place and bring another perspective on the budget and just kind of get all that in place so that it's really humming for you. If that's something you'd take advantage of, we'd be happy to cover the cost on that. Thank you so much.

All right, happy to do it. So you stay on the line, we'll get your information, we'll get you that six month pro subscription to the FaitFi app. And we'll get a cert CFC in touch with you to get you moving to get you moving forward.

And hopefully, things will be much better come this winter, or at least on your way to things improving. Here's my only ask of you, Michael is at some point down the road when this is all working the way that it should give us a call and tell us how it's going. Okay. Absolutely.

All right. Hang on the line. Our team will get your information. God bless you, my friend. Thanks for thanks for calling today. You got to love the HVAC guys, especially this time of year.

Man, I love my air conditioning. And so when it's not working, we, we know it in a hurry. But, you know, variable income budgeting can be challenging folks, I think the key is, and this is just true, so much of our financial lives is we just need to have a plan, right, we need to have a plan that allows us to kind of smooth out those ebbs and flows, whether it's, you know, getting a bonus every year and, and not kind of spreading that out over the year, but using it for high ticket items, rather than kind of getting it baked back into the budget, or maybe it's a tax refund, rather than changing that w four and getting that back into your paycheck, you use that once a year to buy, you know, take a vacation or buy big ticket items.

It's just all about planning. By the way, if you're looking for advice from a financial professional, and you'd like someone who shares your values and has met high standards and character and competence and ethics, well, we trust the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation, the only financial services industry designation out there that is around biblically wise financial advice, pastor and client references, annual continuing education, experience, character and ethics requirements all having been met, you can find a CK in your area and I'd interview at least two or three, just go to faith fi.com. Click find a professional that's faith fi.com. Hey, back with more in our final segment right around the corner. Stick around.

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Maybe it's that spending plan that's tripping you up or trying to get that debt paid off once and for all. Maybe it's saving for the future and how to navigate the volatility in the stock market as you save in your 401k or other investments accounts or maybe it's giving generously. How do we give in a way that aligns with the heart of God and make sense in terms of a plan or maybe it's giving out of assets which is your greatest opportunity for generosity would be coming from your ballot sheet.

Well there are very specific ways to do that that can allow you to give even more perhaps than you ever considered any of those questions are in play today. The number to call right now with lines open 800-525-7000. We'd love to hear from you today. Let's go back to the phones to Ohio we go. Hi Lois go ahead.

Hi how exciting to talk to you. Well I'm thrilled you're on the program thank you. Okay so I belong to a church in an affluent suburb and we have many faithful and well-off members so our church has plenty of money it always has had. We just finished a building project debt free with money left over and now someone has just given us 2.4 million dollars unrestricted. So this is great but my question is I've always supported my church as well as other ministries and nonprofits. It seems a little silly to give money just to sit in the bank but I also don't feel right about not supporting my church.

Yeah yeah. So I wonder what your thoughts were on that. I certainly resonate with that Lois you know here's the thing I think the key idea is is to realize that God doesn't need our money and giving is not for his sake but for our sake you could say it this way it's not what God wants from us it's what God wants for us and so I think the primary motivator of our giving is really an overflow of our gratitude to the Lord for starting with the fact that he's given us his son who paid the penalty for our sins on the cross that we might be reconciled with the father and be in a right-standing relationship with him and you know out of that you know overflow of our gratitude to God one way we can express that is through our giving and I think based on the admonition of scripture that that should start with the local church. Now we're no longer under the law of Moses and so I don't think we have a you know necessarily the tithe is a requirement in the way that it was in the old testament covenant but I will say that I think it's not a ceiling it's a floor and I think it's a good guideline or a starting point for our giving and I would you know take back us back to maybe second Corinthians you know chapter nine each of you should give what you've decided in your heart not reluctantly or under compulsion so this is not a must do it's a get to and then he goes on to say for God loves a cheerful giver and so I think we give cheerfully I think we give at a minimum that tithe as a guideline for our giving that systematic gift to the Lord starting with the local church is the place to give and I would say that's irrespective of the financial status of the church. Now I think one opportunity would be and hopefully this is already underway especially just given what you described about some of the recent giving that has been done you know maybe there's an opportunity for the church leadership lay leadership pastoral staff to think about what do they do with that money because I don't think we should just be building up larger and larger reserves that money was to be was given to be get and get it into circulation in God's economy and so perhaps there's more mission work that can be done more programming to take the gospel to your community maybe you serve on one of those committees but as to giving I would say absolutely continue giving to your local church thanks for your call let's finish out the broadcast today we'll head to Kansas. Hi Marty go ahead. Yeah I about three years ago I had saved up some money and I bought about fifteen thousand dollars of the gold and since then I have saved another ten thousand and I just want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing by buying gold and not leaving it sitting in a savings account in a in a bank what's your thoughts about that? Yeah well I like gold a lot and obviously you've been rewarded handsomely as of late the you know gold has done well it's flattened out you know more recently but it has done well it it typically does not do as well as just an overall properly diversified stock and bond portfolio so the S&P 500 outpaces gold over the longer term and on top of that it doesn't have any income associated with it so we tend to say on this program although there's a place for gold Marty you should probably think about perhaps a five percent forever allocation that you might just buy and hold and plan to to leave to your heirs where you might take the physical gold but but only five percent of your total investable assets and then if you wanted to go another five percent you could do that either in more physical gold or through one of the tracker funds which is basically where you'd buy and sell an exchange traded fund just like you'd buy a stock you know five days a week when the markets open but you don't have to take physical possession of it and they keep the gold in those big vaults and you know you don't have the added hassle of the premium to buy and sell you don't have to store it and that's an easy way to kind of dial up your percentage but even then I generally recommend you don't go above ten percent so I wouldn't get overweighted there for the reasons I mentioned it's fairly illiquid it's expensive to sell because you've got the markups doesn't have any income and it tends to be a bit more volatile with less overall long-term performance so it's a great way to be to add some diversification to your portfolio I just wouldn't you know put all my eggs in one basket there but what is this if you added another ten thousand what does that twenty five thousand represent in light of your total investable assets about half okay yeah so that's a good bit more so if it were me I'd probably stop at the fifteen thousand that you've got and just kind of leave that there and then maybe take this ten thousand and if you're wanting to stay on the very safe end of the risk spectrum perhaps look at at CDs or high yield savings certainly if you don't have an emergency fund you know that's liquid I'd put it in high yield savings if you do then you could lock it up in a one or two or three year CD or you know you could look at treasury bonds from the U.S. government something like that does that make sense yeah it does here okay but I think just given the the amount that you already have you know fifteen thousand on a fifty thousand dollar portfolio I mean you're talking you're at about thirty percent right yeah you are at thirty percent of fifty thousand so you're you're already overweighted so I'd look at either lightning that or if you want to just leave that there I certainly wouldn't add any more to it Marty thanks for calling today sir we appreciate you being on the program and Lord bless you folks such a privilege to come alongside you each day to encourage you to hear your stories we count it a privilege that you invite us into your journey as a steward of God's resources and our goal is to be hopeful to be encouraging to be reverent as we deal with and approach God's word but always to point you back to Jesus here's my experience when we get this area of our lives right our finances it has a ripple effect through every other area of our lives and ultimately will lead to a more intimate relationship with the Lord that's our goal a big thanks to my team today Taylor Devin and Pat and we'll see you next time right here on faith and finance faith and finance is provided by faith buy and listeners like you