An Epiphany

Most financial advice starts with the same goal: grow your money. Maximize returns. Build more wealth.

But what if that's the wrong starting point?

In this episode, John shares a personal turning point that changed how he views money and financial planning. Instead of asking, "How do I get more?" he explores a different question: "What if I'm managing resources rather than owning them?"

You'll learn the difference between traditional money management and a stewardship-based approach, including practical ways this mindset can influence investing, retirement planning, debt decisions, and charitable giving.

John also discusses common misconceptions about stewardship, the importance of defining "enough," and how aligning money with purpose can bring greater clarity to financial decisions.

Whether you're motivated by faith, personal values, or simply a desire for a more intentional approach to money, this conversation offers a different perspective on what financial success can mean.

Transcript

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Securities and investment advisory services offered through LPL Enterprise. LPL, a registered investment advisor member, FINRA, SIPC, and an affiliate of LPL Financial. LPL and LPL Financial are not affiliated with Iron Eagle Advisors. Content in this material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Any guests are not affiliated with or endorsed by LPL Enterprise, LPL Financial, or Iron Eagle Advisors.

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Welcome back to Iron Eagle's Real World Money Show. I'm your host, John Flick, and today's episode is a little different. I'm not going to talk about the stock market or interest rates or tax strategies. I'm going to tell you about an epiphany that I had, one that completely changed how I think about money, how I work with clients, and what I'm actually trying to accomplish as a financial advisor. And it all started in church. I was sitting there a few months ago and I was watching how the whole thing worked. The church welcomes people every week. No charge, no sales pitch, just an open door. They deliver a message designed to give people hope, to make them feel like their life has purpose, to convince them to come back next week. And here's the thing, it works. People come back week after week, year after year. And not only do they come back, they give voluntarily, generously, because they believe in the mission. The church has built a loyal community not through pressure or manipulation, but through value, through hope, and through a shared sense of purpose. And I thought, what if financial planning worked like that? What if instead of leading with fear we led with hope? What if instead of pressuring people to buy products we just delivered value and let them decide if they wanted to work with us? What if money was not just about accumulation, but about mission? That question sent me down a rabbit hole, and what I found changed everything. Most financial advisors, and I include myself in this, are trained to ask one question. How do we maximize your wealth? It might be phrased different, something like, how do we get the highest return? Or how do we grow your portfolio? How do we accumulate as much as possible? That's the entire industry. Maximize, grow, accumulate. And I realized that question assumes something. It assumes you own the money. But what if you don't? What if you're not an owner? What if you're a manager, a steward of resources that were entrusted to you? That shift from owner to steward changes everything. And that's what we're going to talk about today. So let's talk about the difference between money management and stewardship because they sound similar, but they're completely different philosophies. The money management approach says you have, let's say, $100,000. How do we turn it into $200,000? How do we beat the market? How do we maximize growth? It's all about performance, returns, and beating benchmarks. And there's nothing wrong with wanting good returns, but if that's the only question you're asking, you may be missing something bigger. The stewardship approach says you've got, in that scenario, $100,000. Why do you have it? What is it for? What are you supposed to do with it? It's not about maximizing, it's about managing it well. And managing it well might mean different things for different people. For one person, it might mean providing for their family and leaving an inheritance for their children. For another, it might mean living simply so they can give generously. For yet another one, it might mean building a business that employs people and serves the community. The stewardship question isn't how much can I get, it's what am I called to do with this. The money management approach has no finish line. More is always better. If you have a million dollars, why not two? If you have two million, maybe you should have five. Stewardship approach says figure out what you actually need. What does a good life cost? What does security look like? What is enough? And then once you have enough, what do you do with the excess? Do you keep accumulating just to see the number get bigger? Or do you deploy it towards something meaningful? Maybe that's giving. Maybe that's helping your kids get started in life. Maybe that's funding a cause that you believe in. Maybe it's starting that business. But the point is there's a concept of enough. And beyond enough, the money has a purpose. The money management approach is defensive. Build walls around your wealth, minimize taxes, minimize risk, preserve what's yours. Again, there's nothing wrong with preserving your assets, but if that's your only posture, you're living in fear. The stewardship approach says, ultimately, this is not mine. I'm just managing it and I'm accountable for how I manage it. That's a completely different posture. It removes the ego, it removes greed, it removes fear. Because if I'm a steward, my job isn't to hoard the money, my job is to manage it faithfully. Now, I'm not going to turn this into a sermon, but if you're familiar with the Bible, this is not a new idea. Psalm 24, verse 1 says, The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. That's a foundational statement. You don't own anything, it all belongs to God, you're just managing it while you're here. And if that's true, then the question changes. It's not how do I get more, it's how do I manage what I've been given in a way that honors the one who gave it to me? That is stewardship. And once you see it, you can't unsee it. Okay, so if stewardship is the philosophy, what does that actually look like in practice? Well, I've been working on a framework that I call stewardship-based investing, and it's built on five pillars. These aren't just nice ideas, they are principles that change how you invest, how you plan, and how you think about money. Pillar number one is own nothing, manage everything. This is a foundational mindset shift. You don't own your money, you just manage it. And that changes everything. If I own my money, I'm going to be greedy. I'm going to hoard. I'm going to panic when the market drops because I'm losing what's mine. But if I'm managing someone else's money, I'm going to be prudent. I'm going to think long term, I'm going to stay calm during volatility because I'm accountable to someone bigger than the market. This pillar removes ego from investment decisions, and ego is what causes most financial mistakes. Pillar number two, plan long, resist short. The Bible is full of stories about patience. Joseph plans for 14 years, Abraham waits decades for promises to materialize. Proverbs constantly mocks the person chasing get rich quick schemes. A stewardship-based approach is long-term. No market timing, no chasing trends, no panic selling. You build a plan, you stick to the plan, you let time and compounding do the work. This is the opposite of what most people do. Most people are reactive. The market drops, they sell. The market rallies, they buy. You're always chasing. Stewardship-based investing says resist that. Plan long, be patient, and trust the process. Pillar number three is diversify wisely. Now here's one of my favorite verses when it comes to investing. Ecclesiastes 11, verse 2. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land. That's King Solomon 3,000 years ago talking about diversification. Don't put all your money in one place. Spread it across multiple ventures, because you don't know what's going to happen. That's not just good theology, that's good investing. Diversification is not the lack of conviction. It's wisdom, it's humility. It's acknowledging that you don't know the future, so you spread the risk. And that's a core principle of stewardship-based investing. Pillar number four, avoid exploitation. Folks, this is where it gets a little uncomfortable. The Bible has a lot to say about exploiting the poor, about unjust business practices, and profiting from other people's misery. The prophets, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, they're brutal on this. Jesus talks about it constantly. And if you take that seriously, it affects where you invest. A stewardship-based approach says, I'm not going to invest in companies whose business model is built on exploitation. Predatory lending, payday loans, gambling, industries that profit from addiction or desperation. Now, this doesn't mean you have to screen out every company that's imperfect. We do live in a fallen world. Every company has flaws, but there's a difference between imperfection and exploitation. And if you're serious about stewardship, you have to draw a line somewhere. You say I'm not going to profit from businesses that fundamentally harm people. That's an ethical screen and it's part of the framework. Pillar number five is give generously. The final pillar, generosity. Proverbs three verses nine and ten, honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all of your crops. First fruits, not leftovers, not whatever's left after you've taken care of yourself. First fruits. A stewardship based approach says giving isn't what you do after you've accumulated enough. Giving is part of the plan from the beginning. And here's the thing generosity changes you. When you give, you loosen your grip on money. You stop worshipping it. You start seeing it as a tool, not a trophy. And that makes you a better investor because you're not emotionally tied to every dollar, you're free. So a quick summary, the five pillars. One, own nothing, manage everything. Two, plan long, resist short. Three, diversify wisely. Four, avoid exploitation. Five, give generously. That's the framework. That is stewardship-based investing. So now we know the philosophy. Let's talk about what actually changes when you sit down and build a financial plan. If you're avoiding exploitation, you're going to screen your investments differently. You're going to look at what companies actually do, how do they treat their employees, whether their business model is built on helping people or taking advantage of people. This is not about being naive. You can still invest in profitable companies. You still have the possibility of good returns. But you're being intentional about where the money goes. And by the way, this is different from ESG investing. ESG is often politically driven. It's about climate scores, diversity metrics, that sort of thing. Stewardship-based investing is values driven. It's about avoiding exploitation and aligning your investments with a coherent worldview. Next is a different debt philosophy. A lot of faith-based financial advice says that all debt is bad. Get out of debt as fast as possible. Debt is sin. I don't think that's what the Bible actually says. The Bible warns against debt slavery. It warns against cosigning for someone you cannot cover. It warns against being trapped by debt, but it doesn't flatly prohibit borrowing. A stewardship-based approach says debt is a tool, a tool with serious risk. So use it carefully, use it sparingly, and eliminate it with urgency if it becomes a burden. But it's not inherently sinful to have a mortgage or a car loan. The question is, are you using debt wisely or is debt using you? Next up is a different giving strategy. In a traditional financial plan, giving is optional. It's what you do if you have money left over after you've funded retirement, paid for college, bought the vacation home. In a stewardship-based plan, giving is part of the plan from the beginning. First fruits, not leftovers. You decide what percentage of your income you're going to give, and you build the rest of the plan around that. For some people, that's 10%. For some, it's more. For some, it's less. But it's intentional. It's built into the plan. It's not an afterthought. How about different retirement planning? Traditional retirement planning says accumulate as much as possible because you don't know how long you'll live or what expenses you'll have. So more is always better. Stewardship-based retirement planning says figure out what enough looks like. What does a good retirement cost? What do you actually need? And then once you've hit enough, stop accumulating just to accumulate. Maybe you dial back your savings rate, increase your giving, maybe you help your kids, maybe you retire earlier and spend your time doing something meaningful. But the point is there is a finish line. There is a concept of enough, and that is liberating. Because once you know you have enough, you're free. So let's bring this home to Charlottesville. I work with blue-collar families, middle income families, people who work hard, live within their means, and want to do the right things with their money. And here's what I've learned. Those families aren't impressed by fancy charts and complex financial jargon. They're looking for someone who shares their values and speaks plain English. They're looking for someone they feel they can trust, someone whose values align with theirs. And a lot of people in Charlottesville have a faith background. They go to church, they believe in something bigger than themselves. And when they sit down with a financial advisor who talks about maximizing wealth and beating the market and accumulating as much as possible, something feels off. Because that's not how they think about life. They think about providing for their family, being generous, living with integrity, leaving things better than they found them. And traditional financial planning doesn't really speak to that. But stewardship-based investing does. It says your money has a purpose. It's not just about the number in your account, it's about what you do with it. And that resonates. And not just for those who are avid churchgoers, because here's the thing: you don't have to be a Christian to appreciate this philosophy. Stewardship is a concept that makes sense to anyone who thinks deeply about money. The idea that you're managing resources, not hoarding them, the idea that there's a concept of enough, the idea that your investments should align with your values, those are universal principles. So this isn't just for church people, it's for anyone who wants their money to have meaning beyond just a bigger number. So if you do have a faith background and you're looking for a financial advisor who sees the world the way you do, this may just be it. It may just be exactly what you've been looking for. I want to talk about one more thing, the parable of the talents. If you're not familiar with it, here's the story. A master is going on a journey, but before he leaves, he gives three of his servants different amounts of money to manage while he's gone. One servant gets five talents, one gets two talents, and one gets one talent. The first two servants invest the money, they take risks, they grow it. When the master comes back, the five talent servant had turned it into ten, the two talent servant has turned it into four. The master is thrilled. He says, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a little, I will put you in charge of much more. But the third servant, he buries his talent in the ground. He does not invest it. He does not take any risk, he just preserves it. When the master comes back, the servant says, I knew you were a hard man, I was afraid of losing your money, so I buried it. Here it is, I did not lose any of it. The master was furious. He calls the servant wicked and lazy. He takes the talent away and gives it to the servant who had ten. And here's the lesson. Stewardship is not about playing it safe, it's not about burying your money in the ground and avoiding all risk. Stewardship is about faithful management, wise investment, taking calculated risks to grow what you've been given. The master didn't praise the servant who preserved the money, he praised the servants who invested it and grew it. So when I talk about stewardship-based investing, I'm not talking about being overly cautious or avoiding the stock market or putting everything in a savings account. I'm talking about investing wisely, diversification, planning long term, taking appropriate risks, but doing it with purpose. Doing it as a steward, not as an owner. That's the difference. The third servant was fearful. He was so afraid of losing the money that he didn't do anything with it. And that's what a lot of people do with their finances. They're so afraid of making a mistake, they don't make any moves at all. That leaves money sitting in checking accounts, earning 0% interest. They don't invest it because they're afraid of the market. They don't give because they're worried they won't have enough. That's not stewardship, that is fear. Stewardship says, I'm going to be faithful with what I've been given. I'm going to invest wisely. I'm going to take appropriate risks, and I'm on a plan for the future, and I'm going to trust that if I manage it well, it's going to be okay. And before we move on, I need to address something because as soon as you start talking about faith and money, people make assumptions. And the biggest assumption is that I'm talking about the prosperity gospel. And you know what I mean, even if you don't know it by name. We're talking about the televangelists who say, God wants you to be rich, sow a seed into this ministry, and God will give you a hundredfold return. That's not what I'm talking about at all. So let me be very clear about the difference between stewardship and the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel says God wants you to be wealthy. The prosperity gospel teaches that financial wealth is a sign of God's blessing, and if you have faith, God will make you rich. If you're not rich, it's because you don't have enough faith. That's garbage theology and it's dangerous. The Bible is full of faithful people who were poor. Jesus Himself had nowhere to lay his head. The apostles owned nothing. Paul worked as a tent maker. Wealth is not a measure of faithfulness, and poverty is not a sign of weak faith. Stewardship says manage well whatever you've been given. Stewardship does not promise wealth. It doesn't say be a good steward and God will make you a millionaire. It says manage faithfully whatever you've been entrusted with, whether that's a little or a lot. The parable of the talents is not about getting rich, it's about being faithful with what you have. The servant with five talents did not get more talents because he had more faith. His job was to manage them well, and he did. That's stewardship. The prosperity gospel says give to get. It's transactional. Give to get. That is not generosity. That's investment with God as your mutual fund. Stewardship says give because you've been given to. Stewardship says you've been you give because you've been blessed, not to get more blessings. You give out of gratitude, out of obedience, out of a desire to honor God and help others. And yes, there are promises in the Bible about generosity. Proverbs talks about generous people being blessed. Jesus talks about giving and it being given back to you. But that's not a formula. It's not give ten dollars and get a hundred back. It's a principle. Generous people tend to live blessed lives, not because God is repaying them, but because generosity changes you fundamentally. It opens your hands, it shifts your focus from getting to giving. The prosperity gospel says more is always better. The prosperity gospel has no concept of the word enough. More money is always better, bigger house, fancier car, more toys. Because wealth is a sign of blessing, you should always be pursuing more. But stewardship says figure out what enough is. Says there is such a thing as enough, and beyond enough, the question is not how do I get more, the question is what do I do with the excess. Paul says in Philippians four, verse twelve, I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Contentment. That's the opposite of the prosperity gospel. Stewardship says if God blesses you with wealth, great. Manage it well, use it for good, but don't make it your goal and don't measure your faithfulness by the size of your bank account. I'm bringing this up because I don't want anyone to hear this episode and think I'm selling prosperity gospel with a financial planning twist, because I'm not. I'm not promising that if you become a steward, God will make you rich. I'm saying if you shift your mindset from owner to steward, you'll make better financial decisions. You'll have more peace. You'll live with a purpose instead of just chasing more. And that that is true whether you end up wealthy or middle class or barely scraping by. Stewardship is not about the outcome, it's about the posture. Are you managing what you've been given faithfully? Are you living with integrity? Are you generous? Are you content? Those are the questions that matter, not how big is my portfolio. The bottom line is the prosperity gospel is about getting, stewardship is about managing. Prosperity Gospel promises wealth, stewardship promises faithfulness. Prosperity Gospel says more is always better. Stewardship says enough is enough. Big difference. So all of this is well and good, but if you don't do anything about it, nothing's going to change. So let's make this actionable. Here's what you should consider doing this week. Step one is ask yourself the stewardship question. Sit down with a piece of paper and ask yourself, if I'm a steward and not an owner, what am I supposed to do with the money I've been given? Don't overthink it. Just write down what comes to mind. Is it provide for my family, give generously, help my kids, leave an inheritance, find a cause I believe in? Whatever it is, write it down. Because once you know what the money is for, then you can build a plan around it. Step two is to figure out what enough looks like. How much do you actually need to live well, to retire comfortably, to have security? Run the numbers, be honest. Don't inflate it, don't lowball it. Just figure out what enough actually is. And then ask yourself, what do I do with everything beyond that? Do I keep accumulating it or do I deploy it towards something meaningful? Let me give you a good example. This is a recent conversation that I had. Got a gentleman who is in his 50s, makes good money, has about $800,000 saved for retirement. He said, How much do I need? So we ran the numbers. His expenses in retirement would be about $60,000 a year. Social Security would cover about $30,000. So he needs his portfolio to generate another $30,000 a year. Even at a 4% withdrawal rate, that's about $750,000. So he already has that. He's already at enough. So I asked him, what are you going to do with everything beyond that? Keep working just to see the number get bigger or do something else? And that is the stewardship question. Figure out what enough is, then decide what the rest is for. Step three is look at your investments. Are your investments aligned with your values? Are you invested in companies that exploit people? Predatory lenders, payday loan companies, businesses built on addiction? If so, why? You don't have to divest from everything, but ask yourself, is this where I want my money to grow? Step four, build giving into your plan. If you're not giving regularly, start. Pick a percentage. 5%, 10%, whatever feels right. Build that into your budget. Make it automatic, make it a priority. Because giving changes you. It loosens your grip on money. It reminds you that you're a steward, not an owner. Step five, call us if you need help. If you've been looking for a financial advisor who sees money this way, who thinks about stewardship and purposes and value, give us a call. This is what we do. This is how we build plans. We're not trying to maximize your wealth just to see the number get bigger. We're trying to help you manage what you've been given in a way that's faithful, purposeful, and aligned with what you actually believe. If that resonates with you, let's talk. Alright, folks, so let's wrap this up. You know, I had this epiphany a few months ago sitting in the church. I was watching how the whole thing worked, and it sent me down a path that changed how I think about money. The shift from owner to steward, from maximizing wealth to managing faithfully, from endless accumulation to purposeful deployment. That shift has changed every client conversation I have, every financial plan I build, and every investment decision that I make. And look, I'm going to be completely honest, making this shift was not easy for me. I was trained to think like every other advisor, maximize returns, beat the benchmark, grow the portfolio. And when I started thinking about stewardship instead of ownership, I had to rethink everything. What am I actually trying to accomplish here? Am I just trying to make my clients' numbers bigger? Or am I trying to help them live well and manage faithfully? That's a different job. And once I saw it, I could not go back to the old way. I can't go back to the old way. I don't want to. Because once you see that money is not ultimately yours, that you're just managing it for a season, that you're accountable for how you use it, everything changes. You stop being greedy, you stop being fearful, you stop chasing returns just to chase returns. And you start asking better questions. What's this money for? What am I called to do with it? How much is enough? Those are stewardship questions, and those are the questions that lead to peace. Not just to financial security, but peace. If you've been feeling like something's missing and how you are thinking about money, maybe this is it. Maybe the question is not how do I get more, maybe the question is what am I supposed to do with what I've been given? Think about it. And if you want to talk about it, give us a call. If you've been looking for a financial advisor who thinks about money the way you do, who sees it as a tool for purpose, and not just a number to maximize, this is what we do at Iron Eagle Advisors. We sit down and build a plan around stewardship, not just accumulation. We look at all the moving parts, your investments, insurance, debt, your retirement, your giving, your goals. And we help you figure out what enough looks like and what the rest is for. We're not trying to sell you products or beat you over the head with performance numbers. We're helping you manage what you've been given in a way that's faithful, purposeful, and aligned with what you actually believe. If you'd like to schedule a conversation, you can go to Iron EagleAdvisors.com and click on the Let's Get Started link. Or you can call our office at 434-465-6485. Again, that's Iron EagleAdvisors.com or 434-465-6485. No pressure, no gimmicks. We'll talk. We'll see if this approach fits how you think about money. And if it does, great. If not, you'll walk away with more clarity than you had before. This is John Flick with Iron Eagle Advisors. Manage well what you've been given, and we'll see you next week.