Introduction: The Why
I’m starting a blog. How very 90’s, right? Well to be honest it’s how I think. I would love to be able to put together 30 second videos that get millions of views on the various doom-scroll social media platforms, but that’s not me. I want to think through things a bit more deeply and the way I do that is to write about it. So I’m tackling this blog.
I’ve called the blog “Working Capital: Held Loosely. Used faithfully”. It’s a play on words with the concept of working capital in a business. Working capital is the money a business has available to pay for its daily operations and short-term debts, the money they put to work. That’s where I want to camp with this blog, where I want to sit and think. Because ultimately we all have working capital at various amounts. Our working capital is whatever we have been given, no matter how big, in both time and money.
Right up front I want to be clear that this entire blog is going to be faith-forward. I’m wrestling with how we use and see money from a Christ-following, Biblical stand point and so everything I write about will be based on the assumption that the Bible is the Standard as the Word of God. If that’s not for you, that’s fine, this blog might now be for you. You’re welcome to read regardless. I’m going to use Bible references and I’m going to approach money from as Biblical world-view as much as possible. That said, I’ve never been to Seminary, I double majored in Bible and Psychology in undergraduate school. I have grown up in the faith with parents who modeled Biblical living for me as best as they could (and who did a great job of it). I truly want to write this blog to explore what the Bible says about money and financial topics. I know it’s not a new topic, but it will help me sort through my own thoughts and hopefully help someone else along the way.
Something else to mention is that, I’m a financial advisor. Let’s get that out in the open. Nothing in this blog is meant to be specific financial, investment, or tax advice for you. I don't know your situation, your goals, your debt, your family, or your risk tolerance, and anything written here is general in nature. Think of this more as me thinking out loud about principles, not a recommendation for your portfolio or your paycheck. If something here resonates and you want to talk about how it actually applies to your life, that's a conversation for a real advisor who knows your specifics (if you don’t have one we’d be happy to help). But you won't find stock picks or "do this with your 401(k)" advice on this blog. That's not what this is for.
I hope you join me on this journey. I live in a world where day in and day out we think about money. We think about ways to make money, save money, spend money. You probably think about money every day as well, it's just the world we live in. So come along on this journey with me. We’ll start with a 4-part series that dives into why we get anxious when we see our investments drop in value as the market fluctuates, I call this series “Holding Loosely”. We'll walk through where that anxiety might actually come from, what it reveals about what we're really trusting in, and what it might look like to hold our money a little differently. It won't be a series about how to avoid market drops (nobody can promise you that), but about what to do with the anxiety they create. I'll be honest about my own wrestling with this along the way, not just talking at you from some place I've already arrived at. If any of this sounds like your own internal monologue during the next bit of market volatility, I think you'll get something out of it. If you want to follow along, I'll be posting weekly as this first series unfolds. I'd love to hear what resonates (or what you push back on) as we go. And if any of this strikes a chord with someone you know, feel free to pass it along.
