So, What’s the Difference Between “Christian” Financial Planning and Just Financial Planning?

From a technical perspective, not much.

Steven Covey penned a phrase that has impacted practically every facet of American society that does any planning at all. He said, “Begin with the end in mind.” Most people see that as sound advice and many, at some level, attempt to apply it.

But what is the “end” you have in mind? That is where Christian financial planning will differ from other approaches. “The chief and highest end of man is to glorify God and to fully enjoy Him forever.”¹ For the Christian business person, the “end” in mind is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

That will impact a person’s attitudes toward wealth, work, giving, saving and anything else you can think of that touches on a person’s financial life – which is just about everything.

Frankly, for most Americans, while money is somewhat of a score card and a measure of personal “worth”, not “net worth”, but “personal worth,” it is not an end in itself. Once Americans have accumulated what is clearly “enough” wealth for themselves and they have gained enough status with their wealth, they begin looking for “significance” with their wealth. This usually gets played out with some form of philanthropy – hospitals, health research, educational institutions, etc., often furthering the individual’s status through a “naming opportunity” in which the new Business Department building is named after them. Its really sort of like major corporations naming (buying the right to name) the local professional sports franchise stadium. The difference is the commodity that is being marketed. Instead of Qualcomm’s chips or Sprint’s digital communications network, they are marketing their personal legacy. They can now “do good” and perpetuate their reputation at the same time.

I’m not writing this to criticize, merely to answer the question about what is different between Christian financial planning and the non-Christian variety.

Since Christians are simply flawed humans with scars, pimples and all that have received the gift of forgiveness and eternal life, it is important to realize that none of us (yes, I am one of them) have “arrived” at some state of perfection. So, many Christian business persons will be formed by the same values I mentioned above. Don’t expect every Christian business person to be a saintly person unaffected by these temporal values.

I suggest, however, that a person offering to provide “Christian financial planning” services should be a person who will counsel their client about the underlying values that determine their decisions for the use of their capital and income.

You see, while the financially successful American business person would like to believe that they did it themselves, the truth is that God is sovereign, even in the uneven distribution of wealth. Ouch! One more ego crashed to the ground.

All wealth belongs to God. How we use it or abuse it is our stewardship of His blessing to us. We are now coming full circle. The chief and highest end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Be sure you get both points: glorify Him and fully enjoy Him.

A Christian financial planner should be an aid to help you do both – glorify Him better and enjoy Him more fully.

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¹. Westminster Confession Larger Catachism Question 1

Charles L Stanley CFP^® ChFC AIF^® is a Wealth Manager with Trovena LLC in La Jolla CA and the founder and editor of Capital Markets U.com Magazine. He can be reached at either Charles.Stanley@Trovena.com or Charles.Stanley@capitalmarketsu.com