by Alan Nakamura
[Editor’s Note: The Lord rewards believers who prayerfully exercise boldness in sharing their faith. Financial Advisor Alan Nakamura consistently reaches out to others with the Gospel of John and leads a Bible study fellowship in his office. Leadership at the highest corporate levels now recognizes the value of biblical teaching on wealth management and though not endorsing it, allows Alan to publish blogs to a rapidly growing group of Christian financial professionals within the company. The excellence Alan has achieved in his practice, he attributes to the Lord and His Word; please enjoy the following blogs and pray for him as he composes blogs and leads his fellowship.]
Philippians 1:9-10 [New International Version of the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984] “And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”
As believers, how do we put our faith into our financial advisory practice? One of the available resources is the industry group Kingdom Advisors. Kingdom Advisors was founded in 2002 with the mission of creating a group of Christian financial professionals offering biblical, wise financial advice. There are currently 3,500 members across the industry and 132 here at Merrill Lynch. One of the resources available is a 20-week course through Indiana Wesleyan University that is designed to help you connect Christian clients to their core values. We would love to partner with you in your Christian walk. Respond to this email if you want more information.
Luke 14:28 (NIV) “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the costs and see if you have enough money to complete it?”
Proverbs 21:5 (NIV) “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”
Creating a long-term financial plan is well-aligned with what the Bible has to say on planning. The first page of our website says, “Understanding you, creating a strategy and helping keep you on track”. Every client we work with is a little different. For some, your plan is creating a strategy to give them the best chance to pay for college or retirement. For other clients, you are working with their families and charities and developing succession plans.
According to Kingdom Advisors, there are 2,350 Bible verses on money. Money is the topic in 11 of the 39 parables. How we handle our money impacts our relationship with God, and we have clear instructions on biblical wisdom and money. Do a search today on various money topics and see what the Bible has to say about money—you may be surprised by how timeless the advice is.
Copyright © 2021 by Alan Nakamura