How Jesus Managed Money: 6 Biblical Principles For Smarter Investing | Ep 123

James
Jesus talked about money pretty much more than any other topic. And I mean, like, buy a lot. And what was cool about him was that he wasn't, he didn't just. Talk about money. He actually lived, he walked the walk, which is there's many cool things about him, but that's that's one that's really good. And I don't think many people think of him as I would call it like a Sophisticated capitalist.

Jessi
Yeah.

James
No, I would not be that when you actually look at the way he lived his life, he kind of was. And so we're going to dive into that today. This is like my hope is. I've we're looking at things that you're like, I have never seen it that way before on the for low capital real estate podcast, where we dive into the intricacies of biblical uh of what? Of biblical passive investing, I guess. Yeah, and our mission is to equip people to invest wisely, and that actually is part of that wisely, in both p property and people so that together we can build wealth while improving housing. I'm James, and this is my wife, Jessie.

Jessi
Well, you've intrigued me. I definitely wouldn't think of Jesus as a capitalist. What? You wouldn't. Why not? Whoa! I mean, May there are certain things, maybe. I'm interested to see where you go with it.

James
Okay, okay, cool.

Jessi
Yeah. I mean, it didn't say to like bury your money and sit on it. So. We know that.

James
That's true. That's true.

Jessi
We did say to make it grow. So I get that.

James
Yeah, we're going to go into it. It's going to be good. So, yeah, we obviously, Easter happened a little bit ago, and so I was just kind of. Just mulling this anchor and thinking about it. And I was like, man, I think it is interesting.

Jessi
You know, we've in the past taught different finance classes at church and from a biblical perspective. And so it is. quite fascinating to think about what Jesus taught on money. But I don't know that I've ever like put it in the perspective of how did he use money or interact with it or what did his life look like?

James
Mhm. Mhm.

Jessi
But he I mean, he had to. It's a part of living and buying food and paying for places to live and

James
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're going to talk about that. So, most investors they optimize for return, which makes sense. I think Jesus, he optimized for stewardship, which is, you know, slightly, slightly different behavior. Sure. Yeah, right. And so we're gonna think, talk about things like you, you already mentioned the parable of the talents, which is found in Matthew 25. Where a wealthy man entrusts capital to three different people, and two of them multiply it, one buries it, and thinking that it's going to be safe. But ultimately, he's wrong. And the guy's like, no, take that what guy's one, give it to the guy with the five, or now the ten. And And so the risk isn't, or the risk for in this story wasn't in deploying the capital, it was in doing nothing with it. Right. And so. There's a difference between playing it safe, which isn't what Jesus did or taught, and true stewardship. So I kind of want to dive into what is true stewardship?

Jessi
Look like. Yeah.

James
Okay. All right. So, principle number one: stewardship, not ownership. Yep. All right. So, Jesus, he consistently framed wealth. As something managed on behalf of another. Okay, so in Luke twelve, it said, To whom much is given, much is required. So that's not a guilt trip. Think of that as a fiduciary standard.

Jessi
Yeah, it's like if you're responsible for all of these different investments, people, whatever it might be. There's responsibility there.

James
You're in charge of it. Yeah.

Jessi
So you want to be accountable for it.

James
Exactly. And so you want to have this mental shift when you're thinking about your own capital. Of instead of saying, What return can I get? Instead, you want to ask, what am I responsible for doing with this capital? Okay, slightly different.

Jessi
Yeah, it it hit it does frame it kind of differently because it's like Which an investor could be asking that question as well as saying, like, I want to maximize my returns so that I can, whatever it is, provide for my family or leave a legacy or build a library or whatever it is. Which is good. Like most people have a why. Yeah. But rethinking that and having that Be your driver is important.

James
Yeah. I think it's it in some ways it's like it, you're doing, you might be doing the same things, but you're doing it for the right reason. Yeah. Exactly. Which does absolutely will tweak some of the bigger term, bigger decisions.

Jessi
Sure, which I mean, that is an interesting discussion because I feel like because we have a biblical perspective, we might manage our money differently and say, well, we want to have good returns so that we can like build good housing for people, so that we can take care of our family, so that we can give to like good causes. But someone who doesn't believe Those types of things, like, who are we to say that they're like, well, I want to maximize my return so that I never have to be hungry? It's like, okay, that's valid. I totally get that. Or they're like, my lifestyle is super wealthy and nice, and I have to support that, or whatever. And it's like, yeah. That's not really noble, it's not stewarding your money for the good of others. Yeah, but it could be seen as like, no, I'm taking care of myself so I don't become a burden on society, or whatever. So it's an interesting perspective, I feel like, to say you're a steward of the money to what ends?

James
Yes. Right. Yeah, totally. And so, again, it's not just thinking of yourself as a deal maker and trying to get the best returns. It really is as a fiduciary. Yeah. And you are accountable to something beyond your own net worth. Which is what you're trying to say there. Yeah, totally.

Jessi
It is interesting. But what that something is, it's very different.

James
Yeah, and it changes person to person. Sure. And and that's okay.

Jessi
Maybe that, yeah.

James
Yeah, I mean, that's that That's okay.

Jessi
Maybe you just want a cu a bunch of like collector cars or something because they're cool.

James
Yeah, could be that could be that. That's yeah, I don't know Jesus would endorse that one, but you know, cool. Well, yeah, it's total side quest here. There it was on a Dave Ramsey thing. They've I've had people or he's had people call into his radio show. And the guy's like, hey, I'm thinking about buying a car, but you know, it's a $60,000, $80,000 car. Like, is that okay? And Dave's like, Well, I don't know, it depends. Like, what's your situation? He's like, Well, I've been saving for retirement. My house is fully paid off. I've got like five million dollars in the bank. I've got two hundred thousand dollars cash. Yeah, it's like, and Dave's like, Yeah, I get the car, you're fine. But he had this limiting belief of, well, no, no, no, I'm supposed to live in poverty. He's like, dude, well, you're clearly not poor. And percentage-wise, this is nothing for you. It was good. He's like, no, you take care of yourself. You do what you're supposed to do. It's all right. You can get the car because you can pay cash for it. Yeah. Okay. That was principle number one. Principle number two. Gosh, I love this one so much. He was funded, not broke. It's the OPM model: OPM. Other people's money. Oh, dude.

Jessi
I mean, it's true. Yeah. Which, going back to that first one, it all comes from that because his perspective is. Your money isn't yours to begin with. Your life isn't yours to begin with. It's all a gift. You're just managing it. Yeah. And like, God could take it away at any moment. Yep. So. Like, yeah, I've I've even if he earned money, he wouldn't, I don't think he would have said, like, this is mine.

James
And now I'm going to use it and take it.

Jessi
It's like, well, no, I have money for a time. Maybe I earned it. Maybe I raised it. Maybe other people gave it to me. From the good of their heart. Like, I'm just, I'm, I'm using it while I need to now, and eventually I won't.

James
Yeah. Yeah. Specifically in Luke chapter 8, the very first part of it. It talks about how he had a network of high-status women who funded his ministry out of their own means. And it wasn't, Don't think of it as charity. It was more like this was a capital network that was built on trust and mission alignment. Interesting.

Jessi
Well, what was the mission alignment for the ladies?

James
I mean, I know he respected women and had a different mission alignment of they wanted the good news spread. Like that kind of thing in that particular case. I got you. Yeah.

Jessi
But they believed that he was the Messiah and they wanted other people to do it. Correct.

James
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They wanted him to be able to travel around and keep doing miracles and do his thing. So, but he had backers, he had. Funders. Yeah.

Jessi
It's pretty much the exact model that ministry partners and missionaries use today. Right, right. Yes, one hundred percent.

James
And I think like the the thing that I'm trying to like the investor parallel to that is that effective operators, they aren't the ones with the most capital. They're the ones who have built a reliable capital network. Okay. So again, Jesus didn't own his resources. He had access to them. Yeah. Which is the idea of other people's money. And so it was done intentionally. He didn't just say, Hey, I'm going to work super hard for thirty years, save up a ton and then I'm just going to To go do my own self. Now he built up a network. And so it's just recognizing as a passive investor, like who is someone who has that network that you can, that you, how did I word it earlier? That someone they have, that you have their trust, and they have alignment with your mission, right? So, if you're like, hey, I want to build wealth while improving housing, awesome. Mission alignment. And if, and if you're like, there's short-term deals that I think make sense, long-term deals, awesome. If you don't care about Oregon, there's not a lot of mission alignment there. Which is fine. And so it's just being understanding: like, hey, what are some of those bigger characteristics beyond, hey, how much money are they offering to To give me, or how much, what how big of a return are they promising that I'll get?

Jessi
Right. Because, well, in his case, it was a different type of return, I suppose. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, totally.

James
Yeah.

Jessi
You know, not financial, but. Okay. Oh, dude.

James
I love so many of these. I was happy with this work. Okay, principle number three: delegate it until you can't. The Judas test.

Jessi
Oh.

James
Oh, I know. So, Jesus is appointed. We're going to call him a CFO. Yeah. A chief financial officer, Judas. He delegated logistics to his team and stayed focused on his mission rather than micromanagement. That's exactly what a high-functioning passive investor does, whether they're or If they're hiring a property manager or they're investing in a sponsor, they trust the system and they let it run. Okay, so Up until a point, right? Because Judas, turns out, was stealing from the bag. That's found in John chapter 12. And here's the thing: Jesus, he knew it, right? Like, that's the thing about him. Like, it wasn't a secret that it was happening, because, and because he kind of reveals it at the end, where he's like. Like, dude, I know what you've done. And so, anyways, but he chose the mission timeline over the confrontation. Right? Because Judas had been doing it for a little while. Right. Jesus was like, Okay, all right. Like, I'm gonna let this one ride. And I think there's a real lesson there about tolerating minor operational friction when the bigger picture demands patience. But there's also a hard limit.

Jessi
Yeah, that's. I have never looked at that story from that perspective because it's like Yeah, Jesus Jes yeah, that that is one interpretation, I suppose, that you could say Jesus knew, but he waited to confront him until A proper time that other events would unfold the way that he knew they were going to. Yeah. Which, I mean, you can go super deep theologically on this and be like, okay, well. If Jesus knows everything, like, then he knew that, like, that confrontation was going to cause this and cause that. And, like, you know. I don't know. There's a whole other layer there. But I like what you're saying about that he chose people who had the skills to be able to do the management so that he could do different work.

James
Correct. And if little things happened, that's fine. It was like two points until he stepped in, said something, was effectively like, I'm taking this back. Yeah. Shouldn't last that much longer, but yeah. So here's the question I want you. Dear listener, to hear, it's do you know if your Judas is skimming, your CFO, your person in charge? And when's the last time you've actually reviewed your property manager's reports line by line, not just with a summary email? Either your sponsor, your property manager, all that stuff. Yeah. It's probably a good practice. Again, again, it's not definitely not every week. Probably not even every month, but you know, quarterlies. Kind of a good-ish cadence to go for there.

Jessi
Yeah.

James
But yeah, just double check. The old Judas test. I hate to think that I'm being compared to Judas. But I mean, he did manage the money and I managed funds for other people. Yeah.

Jessi
So. Hopefully, you're not skimming.

James
I'm not that I'm aware of. No. Not intentionally. Nope. No. Gosh. No, that would be. Oh, yeah. That would be terrible. That would be terrible.

Jessi
You'd be fired. Let's just put it that way.

James
There's creative ways to skim, I suppose. I'm trying to think through. Let's not brainstorm those. Well, I'm trying to. Well, it's to help people try to identify.

Jessi
Oh, like to identify. Okay, I see. Because it could be hidden.

James
Yeah.

Jessi
And you're just unaware.

James
Yeah, I get this. I get this in the property manager world, and I don't have an easy way of dealing with it other than just like explaining to people: here's the math. So I will like here, perfect example. I had a property, have a property that I'm managing, single-family home. The tenants paid the normal time. First or second of the month, but then they paid again at the end of the month for the following month. Okay. And everything we do, we work off of a cash basis. So we count it for when the money comes in. As opposed to an accrual basis, which is more of you count it when the charge happens. So it's slightly different. But what happened in this was because they paid twice. It was as if I had collected twice as much rent that month, and so my management fee was twice as much. To which the owner was like Dude, oh, and by the way, the way the management fee happens is it all happens the month after. So the management fee I'm charging in this month is from the funds collected the previous month. So there's a slight disconnect there, which I understand. And even the first time I saw it, I was like, wow, what is this? What am I doing here? Yeah. Because, you know, it's all based off some wizard thing that the system runs. And so I've had to explain it more than once, which tells me, like, ah, there's something here that I need to like, maybe on the onboarding process, like explain, hey, here's the math. But to this person, it looked like I charged twice as much on the management fee because he was like, What the heck? And I was like, Well, yes, good news, my management fee is zero next month. So, on average, we're right.

Jessi
That's going to be correct.

James
So, like, you can get things like that, where maybe it's from a skimming standpoint, maybe they're charging an extra percent or two, hoping you don't go do the math. And then, if you do, they go, Oh, yeah, you're right. My bad, I'll fix that or something. Interesting. I don't know.

Jessi
Yeah.

James
Or they are charging, let's say you get some work done on your property. Some management fees actually have this, like management systems have this actually built in, but sponsors can do this too. Where let's say you're getting a roof, let me think of a smaller project because a roof actually Would be it, but let's say you're getting into a new carpet and we do all the math, and they say, Oh, the new carpet's going to be $3,000 to install, or something like that. Well, for me, as a sponsor. Maybe, you know, it could be speed. Here's the pass-through of the $3,000. Or they say, you know what? Like, it was actually like three, it was like $3,300 because I managed it. I was there. And that is a thing for larger projects. Like if you are doing a roof thing and you're going out and getting multiple bids and you're overseeing it and checking it, like There can be a fee, but a fee for regular stuff. So I don't know. That could be a thing.

Jessi
Well, and as long as you know up front what they're going to charge you and how it's in there, I think, yeah, that's the likely. Do you see anything? That wasn't talked about ahead of time or that looks amiss.

James
Yeah.

Jessi
Just address it and talk about it. Fair enough. Sure.

James
That's good. I like that. Principle number four: relational return on investment, the second order return. So, parable of the unjust steward. Remember that one? Luke 16? Jesus commended a manager who used money shrewdly to build relationships and future goodwill.

Jessi
I do not remember that one.

James
Yeah, okay. So, this is the one where he gets in trouble and he knows he's going to get fired. And so then he goes around to all the people like, hey, I'm going to cut your bill in half. Let's do it. And And which I'm like, you read that story and like, wait, this is okay. And so essentially, he cuts all these bills in half, and he's like, I remember me because I'm about to be fired, you know, that kind of thing. Which is really weird. Again, I'm like, but. In the story, it's like, shrewd work, good job. Like, okay, okay, okay. So. This is explicitly what he's saying. He's saying, use worldly wealth to gain friends. That's not idealism, that's network compounding. Okay, so I don't know if I'd phrase it that way. No, how would you phrase it? Smarty pants?

Jessi
Okay, I'm put on a spot here, but that just sounds nefarious to me. He's not buying his friends. It's more like he's building trust with people.

James
It's using the capital and the influence you have to favor people. Yeah. His manager was like, I'm not getting the money. And so he was like, whatever I'm not going to optimize for this guy, I'm going to optimize for the other people. And through that, I was able to build a network so that when he eventually did get let go.

Jessi
Yeah. Well, and I think it has to do with the heart behind it, the motivation. Because if you're like, I'm going to cut your bill so that you'll owe me something later. That's like, no. But if it's like, hey, I care about, I care about people. I can't optimize this, you know, for myself now or for that person now. So I'm going to make some adjustments. Hoping that, like, in the future, you're going to continue to trust me, and we can continue to work together. You know, so it's like there's a business relationship and some trust and like What's the word where you're like loyalty, I guess?

James
Or that is a word.

Jessi
I don't know. Almost like brand loyalty or business loyalty. I don't know. It's something like that. Like, it's like. It's less about the transactional stuff and more about the heart behind God. Why you might be making Yeah, I'm with you.

James
I'm with you. Yeah. So the best deals in real estate often don't come from LoopNet or the MLS, they come from reputation, from being an investor who closes, who communicates, who treats operators with reputation. Respect. And so that's all downstream of it. So here's an example, or another way to think of it: generous investors they build reputations. that attract better deal flow. Okay, so if you're nice to people like me, I want to let people invest. And so capital follows that trust, and then trust follows how you treat people. And that's And that's and that's their money that's on the table. So I feel like I really butchered the way I said that. But again, the idea is even if it's maybe not necessarily in your like your absolute best interest, if you favor the other people, help them out, they're going to give you more. More. And honestly, I have that kind of thing where I've got people who I like where when deals come up, like I totally call them first. And I've had ones where they never make it to the general investor population because the first Couple people I call, like, yeah, I'm in, like, perfect, done. Let's go because I like working with them. Sure. So, um, so we'll do that kind of thing. Okay. Principle five of six. Okay, we're getting there. Generosity as a compounding strategy. Okay, so this is where a lot of investors kind of check out, but stay with me here, okay? Jesus consistently linked generosity to return. He said, give, and it will be given to you. Which is a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Okay, so in Luke 6, which again, okay, we've got to. I gotta be careful here. This is I am not saying I know where you're going. I know, yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta be careful. What I'm not saying is, oh, if you give a dollar to the church or to the needy, you will definitely get a dollar or two back. Not saying that at all, but so we're gonna set aside like that theology piece of it here. And instead, maybe we'll talk a little bit more about behavioral economics. Okay. which is generous investors attract like-minded partners. And then they build deal flow through that reputation and access some of the most powerful tax reduction tools available to high net worth And investors. You can get better deals. People like generous people. I like to hang out with them and Good things tend to happen.

Jessi
Yeah, it's not a guarantee, but they tend to follow because people like generosity and they, I mean, it goes with the other one. You know, hand in hand because you're building that trust and relationship, and they can see that you value them and you have their interest in mind. And if you're generous with your time and your money and your resources, like They see that and they appreciate it and feels good. Yeah. Which builds trust. And then it's like a flywheel that or a circuit cycle.

James
It is definitely not the like. Jesus was not saying, Hey, make sure you donate or make sure you do whatever, and then you will get that same financial return back.

Jessi
Like, that's not a what's not transactional again. I think. Once again, it has a lot to do with your heart because it's like if you're only saying, I'm going to give this amount so that I'll get something back. That's very different than saying, I'm letting this go because I can see that it benefits this other person and this other church or this other organization. And I'm not expecting to get anything back, like genuinely, not expecting to get anything back.

James
Yeah.

Jessi
Then you've like, it's a good thing. You feel blessed, and you know, you tend to attract.

James
Yeah, I agree. Okay, this is gonna be this is Principle like 5B. Oh. Okay. So it's related. It's like there's a loose connection here. Okay. So, because it's talking about the idea of generosity, all right. And then I just like just want to throw this one out here. I don't really know where to put this in, so here's where it is. So there's something that's called a DAF, okay? A donor-advised fund, which lets you front-load a large charitable deduction. In a high income year, and then you can invest funds tax-free and get the distributions over time. Okay. So that's kind of that stewardship generosity, generosity principle. Okay, so there are legacy-minded investors who will attract legacy-minded partners. And again, like when you have that That alignment, good things happen. And it may not be like the highest absolute yield, but it does align with your mission and can give you a competitive edge in terms of how you're investing. So I am now that we're here. I'm realizing I did not research this enough. So go ahead and you want to look at a donor-advised fund. This totally made sense when I was researching it earlier, but I'm kind of. Kind of blinking on it now, I'll be honest. And so, but again, the idea is that it lets you front-load a large charitable deduction into a high-income year. Which is good because then you get the deduction, which then frees up your capital to go off and invest. That's the idea behind it. But it only works when you have the deduction. It's kind of the The idea. Or this fun setup. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, definitely worth checking it out. And if I remember correctly, um, you can You you essentially you're saying, hey, I am going to it I am going to give this money away, but I'm going to Advise over it. And so you're essentially, it's like, think of it like this: okay, think of it like a retirement account, but it's more like a giving account. And so you can take a retirement account, put some money into it, invest it, do its thing.

Jessi
Yeah.

James
And then you take the distributions for yourself. It's kind of the exact same idea, but the distributions don't go to you, it goes to a charitable organization. Interesting. So it's a way for you, if you know you're going to give, yeah. And you know, you're going to be generous. That's the corollary there. It's a way for you to do it in a very tax-advantaged, pretty cool way.

Jessi
Can't you.

James
But look it up yourself and talk to your advisor because clearly I'm not that.

Jessi
Well, and isn't there benefit just in general if you Maybe if you do your taxes in a particular way, if you itemize or something like that, you can deduct for charitable donations.

James
Yeah, there's a slight I think you're thinking about something slightly different. So you do get. A charitable deduction, but the deal is the minimum standard deduction that you get is pretty generous these days. Okay. And so it's kind of hard to hit that to So, if you have the standard deduction, cool, or you have the itemized. And if you're itemized, now all of a sudden any charitable giving counts towards it. But because they increase the standard deduction by so much, there's a lot of people who are kind of on that bubble where it just doesn't make sense anymore. More. So you might be like, oh, yeah, I'm giving a significant amount, but the standard is still like what you get. And so the way you can, quote, get around it or optimize, and we choose not to do this because honestly, our giving isn't about optimizing our taxes. Sure. But if you wanted to do that, what you say is, well, I'm only going to give every other year is kind of the idea. So because you might say, yeah, one year I'm not going to give it all, which means you don't get any Deductions, but you weren't going to itemize anyways. You're doing the standard deduction. And then the next year, you give twice as much, or that first year you give twice as much, and then that's however you want to think about it. And so then that next year, you do get the itemized deduction. And so as a result, you get a larger deduction than the standard. But for charitable organizations, this is really tough because it causes this boom bust back and forth. And so there's other organizations that have popped up that essentially they play that middleman for you. Where let's say you wanted to give to some charity. Instead, you give to this third-party charity, which is also a nonprofit. And so you get the charitable deduction, the full thing for that year. And then, what you do is you tell them, Hey, I want you to send a check every single month for the next two years to this, you know, to my church or wherever. And so, your church get a regular monthly check from this third-party organization. And then you get the big tax benefit one year and then the standard the next.

Jessi
Seems like it's kind of overcomplicated.

James
It only makes sense if you're on the bubble and trying to optimize taxes, which again is not necessarily It's a big idea.

Jessi
Generosity is a good thing. Be generous.

James
Nailed it. Be generous. Principle number six: the long view is the competitive advantage. So, Jesus consistently oriented people towards long-term thinking. Right? Building on a rock versus the sand in Matthew 7. Storing lasting treasure, which I think is in six, maybe five. and um versus temporary wealth. He was teaching discount rate philosophy, okay, before finance had a name for it, which is that idea of, yeah, things can be worth a whole lot more. The future. So the best operators I've talked to and interacted with, they underreact to short-term volatility because their internal discount rate is calibrated to longer time. Horizons, right? And so it's not just patience, it's this structural thing. And it's rare enough that if you're able to do it, it's an edge. And that's one of the things like with Baker Tower, right? We're like, hey, this isn't a quick-term thing, this is a long-term investment. And we think moving the short term, there's going to be variations, other stuff, but long term, this is going to be amazing, and we're all going to look like geniuses, and it's going to be great. And a lot of the property that we hold on to is like, yeah, this is a long-term hold. Now, obviously, we also do flips. And that's a different situation outside of like. We can see, okay, if we take the time to improve this property, do better, it'll just be worth more in the end. Instead of trying to do something Like super fast. Honestly, this is something that I think you and I have grown in. When we first got started, remember what we used to talk about? How it had to be, a property had to be profitable day one.

Jessi
Yep. Day one.

James
Guys, it is really hard to find in the market. But that was the requirement. Now that's less so. It's like, hey, you know what? It's okay if it's not profitable day one because we know we can invest in Do these things that will make it profitable in the long term. And so we're willing to make those trade-offs now. And that's the kind of thinking. We're talking about. And again, I think Jesus, he was very long-term thinking. He was constantly like, dude, don't worry about today. Like, eternity in heaven is a very long time. Like, that's the thing that you should be worrying about. About. And so I think it's just good as investors to remember that long term. So I got some actionable takeaways for you. And these are questions to ask before your next deal. Okay, so the stewardship test, right? If I had to explain this decision to someone I was managing capital for, could I? Right? So, this is your fiduciary filter. Got it. And we got the capital network check. Are you investing with sponsors who have a deep, trust-based capital network behind them or ones who are constantly scrambling for new money? Okay. That's That's a great one. Yeah, desperation for capital. It's kind of a red flag. Delegation checklist, right? Who is your Judas? Is a weird way to say it, but I'm going with it. Who is your Judas? When did you last actually certify what they're doing with your capital? And then there's the relational ROI, right? Who are you building trust with through this deal? Right. And what does that relationship compound into over the next decade? And then finally, the generosity strategy. Are you using good tools like charitable tools that turn generosity into a tax and legacy strategy. And or are you potentially leaving that money on the table? Yeah. So there you go. So Jesus, man, interesting guy. Yeah. And so I think like for me, it was kind of. Put it on that lens of, like, okay, how did he actually manage his money? Which I very quickly was like, Yeah, he didn't, he totally delegated. He had someone else do it. He was a passive, he had investors himself, and then he had other trusted people. To go out and do it. He, in some ways, was like he was a sponsor. He just wasn't doing real estate. He was doing mission work. Yeah, and was a key man. Did not have key man insurance, but well, I mean, kind of the son of God. Yeah, I guess he did come back. So, so it's all good. It worked out in the end. Yeah, so how about this one? If Jesus reviewed your last five investment decisions, would he say that you were a faithful steward or just a good speculator?

Jessi
Interesting. What do you think?

James
Oh, actually, gosh, that was supposed to be a fish.

Jessi
I hope you would say you were a faithful steward.

James
I think so. I think there's definitely been some where I've been a pretty good speculator, to be honest. But yeah, I think the general pattern is very much like, yeah, yeah, yeah, no. We're doing this right, building it right. But yeah, but I think as you're looking at your investments, that's an important one to think about.

Jessi
It is an interesting filter, not one that people usually use.

James
No, no. I know. You just gotta be careful when you're diving into Bible stories and kind of tweaking them for a specific purpose. But what the heck? I went for it. It's all good. I think there's just some good money lessons on how he did it, not just in what he said. Though there are really good ones for what he said as well. Sure. Yeah, so with that, if you are intrigued and looking for some sort of missional alignment, you should check us out at furlough. com. There, you can learn more about us, how we manage, how we think about investing. And what our thesis is, and all of those things. So, with that, thanks for watching. Have a great day.

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