Click below to listen to Episode 165 – Navigating The Minefields Of Sudden Wealth Part 2
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Navigating The Minefields Of Sudden Wealth Part 2
Check out part 2 on our series on sudden wealth on managing money wisely and avoiding the many pitfalls surrounding sudden wealth.
Welcome to part 2 of our series on Sudden Wealth, where Bob and Shawn continue their discussion on “Navigating the Minefields of Sudden Wealth”. They dive into the dangers associated with sudden wealth, and how to manage it wisely with topics like entitlement, arrogance, and becoming a target for manipulation due to newfound wealth.
While sudden wealth is a blessing, there are also many pitfalls that may surround it. Therefore, Bob and Shawn emphasize the importance of Biblical teachings in handling wealth responsibly. The episode also touches on the idea of testing inheritors with a ‘pre-inheritance’ to gauge their financial responsibility.
HOSTED BY: Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
CO-HOST: Shawn Peters
Mentioned In This Episode
Christian Financial Advisors
Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
Shawn Peters
Bible Verses In This Episode
PROVERBS 13:11
Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, But the one who gathers by labor increases it.
LUKE 12:15
Then He said to them, ‘Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.’
PROVERBS 23:4-5
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
ECCLESIASTES 5:10
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.
1 TIMOTHY 6:17-19
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
MATTHEW 6:21
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Intro:
Welcome to the Christian Financial Perspectives Podcast, where you will learn what the Bible says about stewardship and finance. Here you will gain insight, wisdom, and knowledge of how to integrate your Christian faith with your finances. Here’s your Christian Financial advisor’s host, Bob Barber and his co-host, Shawn Peters.
Shawn:
Welcome back to another episode of Christian Financial Perspectives. So glad that you joined us today. My name is Shawn Peters, and as always, my esteemed co-host is with me, Bob Barber, who’s also my father-in-law. And today we’re gonna be talking about how to integrate your faith and finances together with a part 2 of “Navigating the Minefields of Sudden Wealth”. If you enjoy these kinds of topics that we’re covering, we’d love for you to hit that subscribe button so you can stay up to date with all of our latest content. All right, so last week we discovered the first part of navigating the Minefields of sudden wealth, and we discussed the common sources as well as the mistakes people tend to make when having sudden wealth. So today we’re gonna be covering the dangers of sudden wealth and what to do with sudden wealth. All right, Bob, you wanna take us from there?
Bob:
You bet. So again, last week we shared the definition of sudden wealth Syndrome as as stated in Investopedia and I think that’s good to say that again today. For those that didn’t hear part one. And by the way, if you didn’t hear part one, I would emphasize you go back and listen to that after today’s episode because it is two entirely different things.
Shawn:
If you’re watching this on YouTube, we’ll have that linked on the video as well as in the description. Otherwise, I guess just go back to the most recent post before.
Bob:
So Investopedia says that sudden wealth syndrome is a type of distress that afflicts individuals who suddenly come into large sums of money. I know most of you’re thinking, Hey, I’d like to come into a large sum of money, okay, but becoming suddenly wealth, not over time, but just suddenly can cause people to make decisions they might not have otherwise made. Amen to that. That’s a good definition. So, as always, Shawn, we have the two scriptures that we like, several scriptures we like to do. These are several scriptures I know that you came up with and I would like you to share these now.
Shawn:
Sure thing. Happy to. Proverbs 23:4-5, “Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it is gone, for wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.”
Bob:
That’s a good one for sudden wealth, isn’t it? Cause it sure can, it can fly right off as quick as it came in.
Shawn:
That’s right. And our second scripture is 1 Timothy 6:17-19, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy, instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”
Bob:
The exciting things, Shawn, in working with so many Christians that we do, so many times when they do receive a large inheritance, which is more times than not, they want to tithe from that. And they want to give from that inheritance that they got. So, that scripture really speaks into that. That not letting wealth consume us, but realizing it belongs to God and it was his in the first place.
Shawn:
And I like what Proverbs said about “do not weary yourself to gain wealth” and talking about how if you’re setting your focus on gaining wealth effectively for the sake of gaining wealth, it’s gone. It’s gonna fly away quick. But if you set your eyes on God, whether or not you come into sudden wealth or not, if you set your eyes on God and you do come into sudden wealth, you’re gonna be a lot more likely to be able to handle it properly because your eyes are on God, not the money.
Bob:
Yep. That’s exactly right. So now we’re gonna get into the two areas we’re gonna talk about today which is the dangers of sudden wealth to yourself and from others because there’s danger that can come from others as well. So we’re gonna share five of these. And the first one that the danger of sudden wealth is it can make existing behavioral problems much worse. I think this is something that parents and grandparents who have saved a lot and have a few million over 30, 35 years, need to really understand as they’re passing that wealth down to the next generation. Any of those children that have behavioral problems, it’s only going to compound it and make it much, much worse. Exacerbate it for sure. It does.
Shawn:
Sure. It reminds me again, like I believe last part, part one, we talked about The Parable of the Talents, or at least we’ve talked about multiple times recently. And with your kids or whoever’s receiving the money, it’s just like that if you are able to be faithful with whatever you have been given, whether it’s a little or a lot or somewhere in between when you are gifted with more, especially a lot more, you are more likely to be able to handle that well. But if someone can’t handle the little bit they’ve been given already and they receive a lot, it’s, again, it just exacerbates whatever those issues that they have or those insecurities that they’re trying to fill that void with the money, they’ll just spend more money faster.
Bob:
I call this a pre inheritance experience, where I think it’s really good for grandparents or parents that are going to be passing down substantial wealth to give those children, give them $10,000 or $5,000 and see what they do with it over six months and come back in six months and see what they’ve done with it.
Shawn:
That’s a good point. That reminds me of the Parable of the Lost Son. If they spend all of it and blow it on parties and stuff with the friends, well maybe you need to put some language in your estate planning to help them from spending all of it right away.
Bob:
Anyway, so the second danger I see is what we call a sense of entitlement. Now that I’ve gotten that, Shawn, it’s like okay, I’m entitled to all these things now that I was never entitled to before and I can see where that’s some pent up demand there, but you gotta be careful of allowing that to grab hold of you.
Shawn:
That’s right. Again, that kind of goes back to what we’ve said many times before. Your self worth should never be tied to your net worth. And whether that’s money you’ve earned little by little on your own or it was something that was the result of sudden wealth, in either case, your self-worth is in God, not in the money that you have. So don’t be entitled.
Bob:
Experience again. And this third one is another danger. These are all kind of major dangers, and I’ve seen this one over and over, is that all of a sudden when you get this wealth, I’m smarter than everybody else. You can become arrogant, boastful, and even pretentious. I was looking for the right word and Rachael helped me with that the other day. I was like, Rachael, what is that? That word I’m looking for. She said pretentious. And I’ve seen that many times over. I don’t need anybody’s advice now. I got all this money, I know it all. Be careful of that because you’ll get in trouble with that, trust me. I’ve seen that happen.
Shawn:
So our number four is that you can become a target for theft or manipulation by others who are just wanting to get your money.
Bob:
Oh, the family members can come out of the woodwork. And all of a sudden they need something from you. And be careful of this, the persuasive and high commissioned salespeople out there that wanna sell you their products because now they know you have the wealth and you can afford it. And they’ll pressure you into it. Be careful, especially, in the financial services industry of those salesmen that try to sell that high commission annuity to you, that fixed indexed annuity that, once you get in, it’s kind like the hotel California, you can’t leave. You can check in but you can’t leave or it’s gonna take you 10 years to get out because of the high commission
Shawn:
And I think one way you can kind of spot that is, is it someone who’s trying to target you? Someone who maybe is working on a high commission? If they’re pressuring you to move right now or absolutely can’t wait until tomorrow because you’re gonna miss out on the opportunity or something like that, probably not a good sign. I know just to share a personal experience, I always try to end any kind of sales call that I have with someone with number one, I like to pray to close us out, and I pray that God would give wisdom and peace and that if our firm in particular is the right place for someone, that God would give them peace about it. And if not, that God would direct their steps. So whoever you’re talking to, if they’re expressing a desire for what’s best for you and they’re not pressuring you, it might be a good person to continue talking to.
Bob:
Don’t ever believe it when you go buy that car that they say, well this is the last one, there’s not gonna be anymore.
Shawn:
Yeah. Don’t believe that.
Bob:
Look out at the highway and see all the cars going by.
Shawn:
So those are the dangers. So the next section we’re gonna cover is what should you do with sudden wealth? And I think the rest of that might be what should you do with sudden wealth to make it last?
Bob:
Yeah.
Shawn:
And to avoid some of these dangers.
Bob:
I’m glad you added that to it. Yes, that’s right. So, number one is keep it to yourself, keep it confidential. You can tell a few people, but be extremely careful about who knows that you’ve come into this sudden wealth.
Shawn:
Okay. For example, you should definitely tell your spouse
Bob:
Oh yeah.
Shawn:
If it was one of those where you’re both still around. And I would definitely say if you have someone that, especially if they already have money and they have shown themselves to be very fiscally responsible, that would be a good person to talk to because they could maybe help point you in the right direction.
Bob:
And maybe even if you do tell somebody be careful of all the different friends and family members out there, and if you do tell somebody, why not have them sign a confidentiality agreement to not go and tell anyone else about this. And again, don’t take advice with sudden wealth from any commission based financial advisors because they could have a potential conflict of interest.
Shawn:
That’s right. Okay.
Bob:
All right.
Shawn:
Yeah. And so number four, do seek advice from someone who is a fee only fiduciary based advisor that’s paid by you. They’re not paid by a company or any particular investment product and preferably with many years of experience and a good reputation online and in the community. And the reason of course, again, that’s very important is if someone is a fee only fiduciary based advisor, what they recommend isn’t going to change any sort of short term fee that they collect. A good example…
Bob:
They’re not making money by what they recommend. Exactly.
Shawn:
Right. Good analogy is that if a client came to our firm, because we start at 1% for an annual fee, there’s a lot of commissionable products that might pay 10% upfront day one. We would have to maintain a good ongoing relationship with you as a client for 10 years, assuming no change or growth or anything, to make the same amount. So if you’re working with someone in that situation, they’re not incentivized to push you, rush you, or give you bad advice because they want you to stick around long term.
Bob:
Right. It’s all about the long term. This is a big one too. Don’t do anything financially for three to six months. And I know that may be hard to do because you’re thinking, I need to get that invested. No you don’t. Just back off relax, there’s no rush.
Shawn:
Let the emotions settle, because if you do something quickly, you’re just so much more likely to do something with it based on how you’re feeling and not based on what’s needed and what’s financially sound. So I think that would be a good way to kind of remember why you’re waiting three to six months is you just don’t wanna act out of emotions.
Bob:
And the last thing for today is look for a well-known experienced CPA and also an estate planning attorney to structure your sudden wealth for protection from others and from liabilities, because we know about here in our area the 4, 4, 4, 4 guy’s trying to sue you if you were to back your car into someone accidentally. And so, it really needs to be structured in a wise way.
Shawn:
And that’s also good advice because if you got all this sudden wealth and then something happened to you unexpectedly and you hadn’t talked to the CPA and got things worked out with the estate planning attorney, well all of a sudden there might be a whole lot of taxes that wouldn’t have been necessary. So whatever did go to your spouse or kids, you’re spending half that with the government.
Bob:
Well, like we mentioned last week, one of the first things was, in part one, was if you’re coming into sudden wealth and you know you’re coming into it, please seek some tax advice before that. Alright. So there you have it. That’s part one. Parts one and two of “Navigating the Minefields of Sudden Wealth”. If you didn’t hear that first part, we recommend listening to both of these as they go together. And if you need help navigating these minefields of sudden wealth or you know somebody that needs help with this, we would love to reach out to them and help. You can reach out to us during business hours by phone or text at (830) 609-6986. Or you can go to our website www.christianfinancialadvisors.com.
Shawn:
That’s right. And again, thank you so much for joining us and if you have any topic you’d like us to cover in the future, make sure to comment that down below. And until next time, God bless.
[CONCLUSION]
That’s all for now.
We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.
[DISCLOSURES]
Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.