Seeing Money God's Way: Your Guide to Biblical Stewardship

By Scott Byrom

It's Time to Look at Money Differently

In Seeing Money God's Way: Your Guide to Biblical Stewardship, you will learn:

 

• The principles followed by figures from the Bible who made and maintained wealth, and how those lessons carry over to the present
• How to consider various risks (stock market, inflationary, etc.)
• How to use various containers (Roth IRA, 401k, etc.) to maximize tax benefits
• A biblical view of giving and how to embrace opportunities to be good stewards
• An explanation of taxes with relevant tax planning techniques
• Many more elements viewed through a biblical, Christian lens

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scott Byrom
• Release date: May 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798987789322

Book preview

SEEING MONEY

GOD’S WAY

YOUR GUIDE TO

BIBLICAL STEWARDSHIP

M. SCOTT BYROM, CFP®

Copyright © 2023, M. Scott Byrom

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical (including any information storage retrieval system) without the express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations for use in articles and reviews wherein appropriate attribution of the source is made.

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Ignite Press

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www.IgnitePress.us

ISBN: 979-8-9877893-0-8

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ISBN: 979-8-9877893-2-2 (E-book)

For bulk purchase and for booking, contact:

M. Scott Byrom

[e-mail]

www.provisionfinancial.com

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, web addresses or links contained in this book may have been changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The content of this book and all expressed opinions are those of the author and do not reflect the publisher or the publishing team. The author is solely responsible for all content included herein.

Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION (KJV):

KING JAMES VERSION, public domain.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked CSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023900500

Cover design by Usman Tariq

Edited by Elizabeth Arterberry

Interior design by Jetlaunch

FIRST EDITION

To Misty, my wife of over 22 years. Thank you for being a stable source of love and encouragement to me throughout our entire relationship.

Anyone who knows us knows that I wouldn’t be who I am without you.

I love you deeply for being you!

To my older son, Bailey. I have so much respect for the decisions that you’re making in life. I’m proud to be your dad and honored to be your coworker. Thanks for being a motivation for me to be someone that you can look up to.

To my daughter, Kayte. Our friendship means more than the world to me.

When decisions have been the hardest for me, thinking of the path that would make you the most proud has helped me choose. Thank you for being a gem!

To my younger son, Preston. You’ve had the attention of everyone from the start. I can hardly wait to see the man that you will become. Use your gifts for good and the world will change as a result. Thank you for keeping me young and for bringing so much entertainment to our family.

Special thank you to the publishing team at Ignite Press. Everett, Malia, and Elizabeth are the epitome of professionals. This wouldn’t have become what it is without their unwavering help.

In Memory of Jimmy Potts

This world is a better place because Jimmy once walked here.

His life and friendship have been a motivating factor for me and many others. May we continue his legacy of being real, loving well, and always being conscious of the greater calling.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge Jesus Christ, my Savior. Without Him I would literally be nothing. His arm is not short and His ear is not heavy. He had to reach way down for me, but through Him all things are possible.

I would like to thank our amazing staff at Provision Financial for enabling my goal to operate a financial practice this way to come true. Not only is this book possible because of you, but it’s because of each of you that I look forward to coming to work every day. You all deserve a thousand thank you’s. I’ll add this one to the pile. Thank you Katherine, Tara, Stacey, Leslie, Tina, Misty, Dana, and Bailey. Special thanks to Mom (Kathy), who has always given support when I’ve needed it.

A special thank you to Phillip Barnett for his help in advising, reviewing, and helping this become what it is. To my Brochacho, Chris Hawkersmith for his friendship, encouragement, and challenges to set the bar high. Thank you to Daryl Welch for being a friend that I can lean on and for helping define the standard of always doing things the right way.

Thank you to each of our clients and friends whose stories have helped shape my experience and allowed me to become the professional that I’ve hoped to one day be. Our goals are not finished but it feels pretty special to have come this far. I’m grateful for each relationship, how you’ve helped our business and how you’ve helped support my family. My ambition is to add value to each of your lives.

Thank you to my church family. How folks make it through this world without a community of believers to help, I’m not sure. The many friends and influences who have helped—and who continue to help—me see the path are an invaluable part of my story. I think it’s supposed to be that way. Thank you for allowing me to serve alongside each of you.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. — Colossians 3:17

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1: A Lesson in General Stewardship

Making Sure We Earn a Well Done!

Chapter 2: Emotions & Money

Guilt, Greed, and Fear to Name a Few

Chapter 3: Savings Strategies

Managing Blessings

Chapter 4: Discussing Debt

Freedom is the Goal

Chapter 5: Giving & God

A Real Conversation for Every Believer

Chapter 6: Tax Planning

It’s More Fun Than You Might Think

Chapter 7: Financial Statements

How to Really See Money

Chapter 8: Business Planning

Organizing Our Business to Honor Him

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

If you’ve ever struggled with making financial decisions, let me share that you are not alone. Many of us grew up without a healthy understanding of how to deal with money. Often, even when some of us did have a great guide to follow, the hows and whys of one choice being preferred over another weren’t always explained.

Some of the questions that we’ll answer in this book stem from my own genuine curiosity about how to be faithful in the avenue of money. I’ve been involved in ministry in some shape or form for over 20 years, and my career as a tax and financial advisor has overlapped most of that same stretch of time. Even so, there have been a number of situations in which I’ve struggled to know the right choice for my family regarding giving, debt, and the right way to save. . . especially when life includes unplanned circumstances.

I recognize that not everyone who reads this book will define themselves as a follower of Jesus. Some of you may be clients or friends of mine who find yourself with a copy of this book to learn what perspective I teach. Others of you have come seeking knowledge with a spiritual hunger to learn. My goal is to take neither of those situations for granted.

In the early years of my self-employed career, I learned a sad truth. Perhaps you’ve experienced something akin to it. In my dealings, many of the most difficult businesses to work with are those that market themselves as a Christian business. It’s incredibly heartbreaking, especially as a young believer, to learn that those who promote themselves that way can be among the most deceptive, slowest to follow through with obligations, and most malicious to your own team. It should not be that way.

For right or for wrong, my approach for over two decades was to go to the other extreme. Those early situations (and many since) where I felt like I got burned by Christians put such a bad taste in my mouth that, prior to this book, I’ve not done anything that I can recall to publicly identify my business as a Christian enterprise.

That being said, I don’t think I’ve been bashful or ashamed to mention my faith. Although they weren’t hired on the basis of their faith, all of our employees are professing Christians. All along, if you came into my office, you could have easily seen references to faith in our Christian inspired artwork, lettered sayings, and likely even Bibles on desks or shelves, but I certainly didn’t want to be lumped in with that group of businesses.

When I first began to be drawn to writing this book, I suppose one element prompting me to do so was the desire to combine my career knowledge with my faith. Somewhere along the way, I realized that we could identify as a Christian business and safely be separated from the crowd by simply doing the things that we say we’ll do when we say we’ll do them, being up front and fair about pricing, and admitting our faults when we make mistakes.

The other factor that inspired me to write this book was realizing how incredibly peaceful life can become when we know that our decisions are supported by solid thought processes. As I mentioned earlier, some of the questions that we’ll answer in the following pages are born of my own search for answers.

I am not the only investment/tax professional who claims to be a Christian. There are countless people without formal training or experience who could do an equal, if not better, job explaining some of these subjects as myself. However, I do feel a burden to share what I know, as I have confidence in the things that I have studied and experienced. I feel that, if you wrestle with questions about money, there’s something in here to help you.

Whether you are a believer or not, I also think journeying through this book will give you an opportunity to explore God’s role in your life. When I started writing, I expected the content to be about 80 percent practical, financial planning based information. As the words began to come, I found myself leaning more heavily on Scripture. Some chapters lean more one way than the other, but, in the end, this is a book designed to share information about how to make financial decisions from the perspective of a Christian with real world, professional experience.

My hope is that this book will help you find not only financial peace, but that you’ll also come away with a deeper relationship with the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

"I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what is the wealth of His glorious inheritance in the saints; and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the