Worry About Money? Time to Think Differently About Stewardship and Ownership

By: Brian Seay, CFA

Founding Partner, Capital Stewards

We all wrestle with the concept of stewardship. Is money the root of all evil? Is it a tool to use for good purpose? Should we take our own “giving pledge” and give it all away? What about providing for our family and kids? I don’t have all the answers, but I can share my perspective based on our personal life and my work with clients over the years.

Our favorite thing to do about money is to ignore it and hope it works out ok in the end, so before you click away, I invite you to just pause for a few minutes and wrestle with some of these concepts in your own life. I hope you find this perspective helpful in turning struggle into empowerment.

I started by mentioning stewardship intentionally. We don’t struggle with money and giving, we struggle with our relationship with money. We struggle with our reaction to our money. How should we view money? What is a healthy approach?

You may have heard that money is the root of all evil, or something similar. This is a common misconception from biblical teaching in the Christian faith. The Bible does not say money is the root of all evil. In the book of Timothy, the Bible says the “love of money is the root of all evil.” The message Bible translation says that “if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble.”  So we see that money itself is not the problem, it is our reaction to it.

If you aren’t a Christian, the world of secular psychology provides similar perspective. The American Psychological Association studies key causes of stress in America annually, and money is the top source of stress perennially. Money consumes thoughts, creates doubt, causes worry, and even breaks up marriages. The natural assumption is that the degree of worry is correlated with income. In other words, the more money you make, the less you worry. However, money is a source of stress across all income groups. See articles from the New York Times, CNBC and Barron’s if you don’t believe me. But you probably do, because you probably worry at least some about money. Again, it’s not the money that is the issue, it’s our reaction to it.

So how should we think about money?

My interpretation is that if the money, or the vanity it provides, is the end goal, then we are headed for a world of trouble. The bigger arch of the Christian faith is that serving God is to be more desired than everything else, so an inappropriate obsession with money is problematic. Regardless of your faith, you have probably seen others make poor decisions because they are consumed by greed. Either personally or in society. Consumption for the sake of consumption leaves us devoid of meaning. Saving for the sake of saving also leaves us empty. I believe there is a healthier approach to money.

Money can be used for many things, including many good things. When we use money as a tool to create good in the world, we are closer to the real intent behind money and resources. There are numerous biblical references to stewardship and being “wise” with money. I think the illustration of a steward, also known as a caretaker, is a healthy picture of how we should approach our finances.

This requires a significant shift in our thinking, at least it did for me. What does it mean to be a good steward of capital? Does that mean I have to give away everything I own? Stewardship at its core is simply taking care of something. The implication is that the “something” being cared for is entrusted to us but not ours to consume. We need to leave it as good or better off than we found it.

We must shift our focus from money being “ours” to money being a tool for us to steward.

I know what you are thinking, “here comes the part about having to give it all away.” I don’t think that’s the point, at least not for all of us.

If we have a business, we should be growing it wisely so that it provides good jobs and earnings that can support families and the community. Providing a healthy work environment for your team probably does more good everyday than you realize. Simply selling the business and giving away the proceeds may do less good in the long-term.

The same principle applies to investment assets and the resources we have from our labor. We should be investing those assets responsibly so that we are able to be generous when opportunities arise. Even using assets to build a foundation for your family to do good long-term is not vain. If done thoughtfully, without greedy intentions, it may be endowing good in the world for generations. How great is that?

We all must wrestle with the spectrum of outcomes and come to our own conclusions about where to responsibly invest our capital. How much to give, how much to spend, how much to invest for the future.

Just because we intend to do good doesn’t absolve us from making smart, well-informed decisions. Sometimes I hear practitioners in my industry discussing purposeful planning and investing that is devoid of technical wisdom. Almost all scriptural-based references to money and resources point to making thoughtful, wise decisions. If anything, committing to stewardship raises the bar on financial planning and investment management. We should be taking advantage of tax and investment opportunities to better leverage our resources for good purposes. Being a good caretaker necessitates that we apply all available wisdom and knowledge to maintain and grow the resources entrusted to us. It also means we should be generous people.

So why are you investing?

Is it to “have more money?” If so, where does that journey end? When is the mission accomplished?

What is your broader purpose? Are you aligning your resources to accomplish that purpose over the long-term?

What are your real goals in life?

That is the real purpose of money.