Hope for your financial life and beyond

With God All Things Are Possible – Even Saving Rich People

“But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” – Matthew 19:26

On one occasion in the Bible a rich young ruler approached Jesus with a very serious question. The man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. After a brief back and forth exchange Jesus had this final answer for him:

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)

with god all things are possibleIt’s easy to misinterpret what Jesus was saying to the young man. He was not saying that owning possessions is bad. Nor was he saying that a person can buy their way into heaven. That can only happen through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

He also wasn’t saying that we all have to give up our wealth to enter heaven. And he certainly was not saying that God favors the poor over the rich. God looks upon all people with equal value regardless of their financial status.

So what was going on here? In essence, Jesus knew something about this particular man. It was something that was keeping him from following Jesus and inheriting eternal life. The man’s reaction to Jesus’ final instruction reveals exactly what it was.

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“I’m Rich!” – How to Handle a Lump Sum Payment of Money

I’m sure you’ve daydreamed at some point about how life would change if a large lump sum payment of money came your way. Say like a million dollars? We’ve all played this game and fantasized about all the good we could do for ourselves and others with that much money.

lump sum paymentBut let’s be completely honest. For most people, this will not happen. The better likelihood of a person becoming rich is that it will take many years of hard work accompanied by traditional saving and investing. That’s the more likely path to wealth and the financial freedom that comes with it.

However, people’s lives can change quickly because they receive a lump sum payment of money worth six or seven figures. How could this happen? Well, there are more ways than you might think. So, Ill detail a few ways here that are not get-rich-quick schemes. Then we will look at what you should do if ever faced with this situation.

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More Money More Problems: The 10 Challenges of the Wealthy

Everyone has money problems, yes, even the wealthy. Nobody likes to hear this though. For one, we get tired of the rich flaunting their wealth. Additionally, we think we’d be OK with some more problems if we could have more money. In general, there isn’t much sympathy for the problems of people with a lot of money.

The problems of the wealthy may not be the same type of problems that someone living paycheck to paycheck has. They don’t have to deal with a mountain of school loan debt. They can pretty much pay for healthcare costs out of pocket. But their problems exist nonetheless. Having more money doesn’t isolate a person from having more problems.

more money more problemsI don’t consider myself rich by any means. I’m not even sure how to accurately define whether someone is rich. What net worth number does a person have to reach before they are considered wealthy? $1 million? $5 million? $10 million plus?

I would consider someone with $10 million in net worth to be rich. If they had all that money in cash, they could retire and live off $200,000 a year for 50 years. That sounds rich to me.

I’ll never reach the $10 million dollar plateau. But my wife and I have come to the point in our financial lives where we are worrying less about money. While we don’t struggle with putting food on the table, I have noticed other problems creeping into our lives as our net worth has increased. It got me thinking about the money issues of the wealthy and what they might be dealing with on a personal level.

We haven’t experienced most of these. But I’ll admit a few of them shake me on a small scale.

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3 Reasons A Good Name Is Better Than Riches (Proverbs 22:1)

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.” – Proverbs 22:1

Have you ever thought about the status of your name? Would you say it is good? Do you even care how those around you view your name?

a good name is better than richesJust to clear up any confusion, I’m not talking about your actual name. Mine is Brian. There is nothing fancy or unique about that as over 1.2 million people in the U.S. share it. It’s statistically the 29th most popular first name as of the time of this writing. 

I’m talking about what your name implies. When people hear your name mentioned, what do they immediately think about you?

In this context, a “good name” really speaks to your integrity. It’s about your reputation and the character you possess inside. It identifies who you are from a moral and ethical standpoint. Essentially it is what you are all about.

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Richness Breeds Arrogance But There Is a Cure

Hidden Nuggets Series #35 “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, read to give, willing to share…” I Timothy 6:17

Me

Pride goes before destruction

That wealth you are accumulating sure feels good, doesn’t it. Getting a little chesty over it? Feel like showing it off a just a wee little bit? C’mon admit it…we like to have others ooh-and-ah over our toys.

It’s nothing new…been going on since, oh the dawn of time. It was certainly an issue in the New Testament church. The rich were called out by the Apostle Paul to “not be haughty” over their wealth.

Why does wealth breed arrogance and show-offiness? What is it about dollars accumulating in our bank account that prompts us to look down on others who don’t possess as much? Where does this high and mighty attitude come from?

If I’m honest, it’s a spiritual issue rooted in my selfishness, my forgetfulness as to whose responsible for those riches and my ability to slip into confusion about what’s important in life.

Debunking One Myth About God

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I’ll Take Money Over Love. Would You Ever?

Hidden Nuggets Series #14 – “…and every one of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” – Judges 16:5

money over loveWhat values would you betray for money? Would you take money over love? Would you lie or steal if you had a 100% chance of striking it rich?

Would you abandon your morals for one million dollars? Would it make a difference for $10 million? $100 million?

Even thinking about that question makes us feel dirty. We try to convince ourselves it would be impossible to forsake our core principles and beliefs for money. Deep inside, however, we know there would be serious temptation, especially if our financial situation was dire.

Such is the nature of our humanity.

Of course the scenario I set forth Hollywood has already made into a movie – the 1993 not-so-critically-acclaimed drama Indecent Proposal. (Kids need not apply to watch!) It’s not an original story line however, because the theme of someone taking money over love dates back much further than that.

She Took Money Over Love

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If You Had One Wish, Would It Be For Money?

Hidden Nuggets Series #7: “Ask! What shall I give you?” – God speaking to Solomon in II Chronicles 1:7

“Oh, no…not me. My values are nobler than that. Money doesn’t hold that kind of power in my life that it would be the first thing I would wish for.”

Genie bottle

Image at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Really?

Careful Pinocchio.

A respected gentleman in my life circle likes to say, “It’s not the money, it’s the money” in reference to decisions that have a financial related angle. Another way to say that is “money answers everything.” Know where that last phrase is found? If you said in the Bible, you would be right. Look it up, it’s there in Ecclesiastes 10:19.

I’d love to ask Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, what he meant by that. I know money can’t buy our way into heaven and I’m pretty confident he knew that also. It can buy pleasure and perhaps bring a sense of happiness but cannot produce joy. It can construct a multi-million dollar church facility to initially get people in the door but it’s not what keeps them coming back.

His statement in Ecclesiastes becomes a bit more confusing when we realize that Solomon didn’t always think that money was the answer for everything.

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Is the Effort to Get Rich Worth It? (Proverbs 23:4-5)

Hidden Nuggets Series #5 – “Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”   Proverbs 23:4-5

What’s the most hours you have ever worked in a week?

hard work to get richOne college summer, I regularly put in 80-hour workweeks shuttling between two jobs. I arrived at the construction site each morning at 7:00 and clawed my way through a grueling 9-hr. day until 4 pm.

In the next hour, I would grab a quick bite to eat, while driving to my night job as a lifeguard. From hammer to whistle, the norm that summer was 13-hr. weekdays. And, to top it off, I added more lifeguard time on the weekends.

The Effort to Get Rich

Was the effort that summer worth it? In retrospect, probably. I learned a lot about work ethic, time management and discipline. Plus, I needed the money for my car payment, work and school clothes and textbooks for my courses in the fall. And it was for only three months.

But there was a great personal cost for all my efforts:

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Legit Get Rich Quick Schemes

I have a confession to make. By nature, I am not a patient person. I would love to cash in on a few get rich quick schemes and have a enough money to be financially independent RIGHT NOW. Wouldn’t it be great to know what’s going to happen in the next 10 years RIGHT NOW and have all the problem issues of my life fixed RIGHT NOW?

get rich quick schemesI have learned though the years to monitor my impatience by reflecting on my faith and what God tells me about it in the Bible. Passages like Hebrews 12:1 have been especially valuable to me. In talking about our life journey it says,

…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”

But it’s still really hard to live this way in a culture that stresses immediacy. And we all succumb to the pressure for instant gratification, instant knowledge, instant wealth and instant fame.

Think you are immune? Try living a couple of days without watching cable news, using your microwave and neglecting Facebook. See how you feel.

Nowhere does our culture’s value of immediacy reflect itself more than in our desire to accumulate money quickly. Maybe that is why so many are vulnerable to get rich quick schemes.

Types of Get Rich Quick Schemes

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Why the Rich (And Maybe All Of Us) Can’t Sleep

can't sleepSo, you have finally accomplished your financial dreams. Through sheer hard work and sacrifice you are now able to live comfortably. You have enough money stored up so that you can purchase anything your heart desires.

Your problems are over, or so you thought. Because now there is a new problem to face, one that keeps you up for all hours of the night. You can’t sleep.

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A High Wall…Build It or Not?

In ancient times, the city wall was a symbol of strength. A finely constructed wall could ward off one’s enemies, keeping the inhabitants of the city safe. The more advanced the construction and the higher you could build the city wall the more secure you were. And when the Israelites came to the city of Jericho on their conquest of the Promised Land, they faced something they had likely never seen before…a walled-system so grand in scheme that it would dishearten the most elite of would-be invaders.

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