5 Money Decisions To Make Or Break Your Money Dependence With David Sandhu

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Summary:

[125] – Where do you sit on the scale of financial dependence?

In this episode, Jeremy Keil speaks with David Sandhu about money dependence. Specifically, David shares 5 money decisions to make or break your money dependence. He goes over stewardship, generosity, faith, contentment, and wisdom with a biblical perspective and details how these concepts lead to 5 important decisions everyone needs to make about their finances.

David discusses:

• Why we should think about stewarding our money instead of owning our money
• How being generous gives us more than greed does
• How to demonstrate your faith in the way that you handle your finances
• Why “enough” is difficult to determine when it comes to finances
• Whether God’s wisdom is available and relevant to your financial situation
• And more

5 Money Decisions To Make Or Break Your Money Dependence

Stewardship and Ownership

Christians believe we don’t own our money, but God does. It’s our job to act as a steward, not an owner. David Sandhu says stewardship is one of the key concepts for money dependence out of Jesus’s teachings.

In one story, Jesus talks about three servants who each received a different amount of money to take care of from their master. Three stewards, and each received a different amount. The stewards are essentially responsible for growing money. When the master in the story, we see that two of the servants invested the money and returned more than they were given, but the third servant buried the money and did nothing with it.

The lesson learned from this story is that you’re not measured by what you have (or accumulated) but by what you do with what you’re given.

Generosity And Greed

Next on David’s list are generosity and greed. He paraphrases Paul and says that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive.

It makes us happier to give than receive; we often get more out of giving to others than keeping things for ourselves.

This concept also relates to the abundance and scarcity mindsets, where greed is something people can see and don’t necessarily find good in others. People will sometimes dismiss or hide their own greed, but don’t find it to be a good characteristic of others.

It’s easy to continue to want more than what you have, especially when saving for retirement, but there’s a lot more good that can come out of being generous with an abundance mindset.

When we loosen our grip from greed, we open our hands to more possibilities to give and sometimes we even get a benefit from that generosity!

Faith

You’ve probably read this subheading and asked, “what does my faith have to do with my finances?”

David believes his faith in God can be demonstrated through how he handles his finances.

Think of the quote “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  This quote can be read almost both ways – if you want to know what you truly treasure in life then check your bank account and you’ll see the evidence!

At the same time, the things you spend money on (perhaps a car, or kids sports, or your charitable donations) become the things you treasure.

Sometimes the actions follow the thoughts; other times your thoughts follow your actions!

Discontentment or Contentment

Contentment is a difficult one for many of us. We often struggle with knowing what’s enough.

Do you believe what God has given you right now is enough? This goes hand-in-hand with greed, but are you building and collecting more just for the sake of having more, just because you can?

A lot of us have “just one more” syndrome where we never really feel or believe that what we have is enough for us because we constantly compare ourselves to others.

Stop comparing yourself to others.

There are a lot of surveys about how much people think they need for retirement, and the answer is almost universally “25% more than I have.”

The next time you reach your retirement finance goal and think “oh, just a little bit more to be safe won’t hurt.” take a step back and assess whether you’re looking for more out of contentment or need.

The concept of contentment is mentioned in Randy Alcorn’s book, Money, Possessions and Eternity. For more information and guidance about contentment, we recommend reading that book.

Wisdom

Biblical wisdom is our fifth money decision concept.

Counter culturally, David was part of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement for a little over a decade. He was ready to retire early and was super happy up until his father passed away, when David re-evaluated his life.

He wanted to figure out “is it financial independence that I’m seeking, or is it financial contentment?”

David emphasizes, when you are studying financial contentment, you have to understand who is defining contentment for you. And that, for him, came out of the Bible, where this fifth question came from, “do I believe that God’s wisdom is available and relevant to my financial situation?”

He shares the story of Daniel, where Daniel is brought in front of a King and was asked to eat luxurious food and wine, but declined and stuck to his vegetables and water. David stuck to his convictions as he didn’t want to be bribed into following what the king wanted him to do. The king was impressed with David’s commitment and eventually said to him, king said you’re 10 times wiser than my council. 

This story stuck with David because Daniel, who rejected the world’s view on what was important, embraced God’s view on what was important. David emphasizes what a powerful story that is to him because when he thinks about his finances, how he wants to save, give, invest and manage God’s resources, he knows all of the truths that he needs can be found in the Bible.

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To learn more about money dependence, check out the resources below!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us or our guest, David Sandhu, using the contact information provided below!

Resources:

• More Than Money Facebook Group
• The More Than Money Podcast: Episode 115 | 8 Important 401(k) Questions Answered | Guest: Jeremy Keil
• Money, Possessions and Eternity by Randy Alcorn
• More of Randy Alcorn’s Books
• FinCon
• Free Retirement Planning Video Course: 5stepretirementplan.com
• 3 Things You Should Know Before Choosing A Financial Advisor
• 7 Questions That Could Make or Break Your Retirement
• Subscribe to Retirement Revealed on Google Podcasts
• Subscribe to Retirement Revealed on Apple Podcasts

Connect With David Sandhu:

• Faith-Driven Financial Planning
• Youtube: Faith Driven Financial Planning with David Sandhu
• LinkedIn: David Sandhu
• Book a call with David

Connect With Jeremy Keil:

• Keil Financial Partners
• LinkedIn: Jeremy Keil
• Facebook: Jeremy Keil
• LinkedIn: Keil Financial Partners
• Book a call with Jeremy
• Retirement Revealed YouTube Channel

About Our Guest:

David loves helping Christians understand the true purpose of their money and become better stewards of the wealth God has given them.

After spending over a decade as a rocket scientist, the unexpected happened, David’s father passed away. Being the money nerd of the family, he walked his mom through tough financial conversations. Helping her develop a plan sparked a passion in David to help others. He started teaching at Financial Peace University in his community while still working full-time as an engineer. Through that time, he learned about Biblically Responsible Investing and felt called to help Christians understand how to honor God with their wealth, through Biblically Responsible Investing.

David runs his firm by following the principle found in 1 Timothy 6:17-19. He endeavors to help Christians find financial freedom and “true life” by encouraging others to “do good, be rich in good deeds, be generous and willing to share.”

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