As a Certified Kingdom Advisor, at Affiliated Financial Planners we strive to have Faith in Finances. This obviously means a lot of things to a lot of people. Over the past 33 years, I’ve met many people who have lost faith in their financial future.
To be completely honest with you, I’ve gone through seasons where I about lost faith in my own finances. When I was young and just starting out I made some very poor financial decisions. I purchased a home, not just a home, but the home where I was raised, and purchased it before I found any real success in business.
I then began using some biblical principles and started tithing, my business quickly doubled. I’d love to tell you everything was on easy street from there forward, I found biblical principles that worked 100% of the time, and that I lived happily ever after. Instead I continued to make decisions on my own, in my own way and found myself off track.
Then there was a major health crisis in my family that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. Not only did I face huge medical bills, I self-medicated by taking my family on vacations that I could not afford. There were times I got complacent on tithing and following biblical principles was not a priority. I’m not proud to say, like millions of other Americans, I used my home as an ATM. There were seasons I didn’t save for the future.
In August 2008 I left the little bit of security I had with a firm and decided being independent was the best thing for me. I remember the fear of watching the markets daily and my business partner telling me I would lose clients and assets. My mind screamed “But I don’t have many clients or many assets! Will I lose everything?”
We’ve also gone through seasons of abiding by ancient wisdom written in that well worn text, and we pay off our debts, we save money for the future, we give generously, and the future is bright.
I don’t know what season you’re in right now, but know that we care, and we’re here to help. We’re not all on the same page with our beliefs, and we don’t expect you to even have faith in money, God, or your future. What I do know is our mission is to add value to your life even if you do not become a client. If you do become a client, I’d expect to create a financial plan and execute that plan. My prayer is that I can be honest enough with myself and with you that if you choose to depart from that plan we can have a discussion regarding the change and possible consequences of that plan. Looking back at 33 years, I look at my greatest failures where I allowed people to stray from their plan and ran out of money.
I’ve made a commitment to myself and a promise to my clients that I will never captain a sinking ship ever again.
