Be Wise with the Money You Manage

Wisdom is supreme. Therefore, get Wisdom. Though it costs all you have, gain understanding.

You have money. Maybe it’s a lot. Maybe it’s a little. Either way, you are the manager of that money. You decide where it goes—how much is spent, saved, or given away. You manage money.

Are you wise with the money you manage?

This is the last week of a four-part series on Principles of Biblical Finance. Those principles are:

1. Beware of the Money You Love
2. Be Generous with the Money You Have
3. Be Prosperous with the Money You Make
4. Be Wise with the Money You Manage

Let’s see what the Bible, the word of God to some and wise ancient literature to others, says about how you manage your money.

Be Wise with the Money You Manage

No one sets out to be foolish with money. No one intends to squander it. And yet many do. If you’re reading this, you have money. How do we be wise with the money we manage?

First, let’s get something straight.

We are Money Managers, Not Owners

We must be wise with the money we “manage,” not own. That’s not only alliteration; it’s Biblical Truth. If you don’t believe in God, stick with me for a minute, and we’ll return to being wise.

The Bible is clear: God owns it all. This concept is repeated often but is stated clearly in Psalm 50, “For the world is mine and all that is in it.” God owns it all and has entrusted some of it to us to manage.

We believe we own our money and possessions, but we only manage them. We can be like a child who calls everything “mine.” If we loosely claim ownership, God smiles and says, “Yes, your room, your toys.” But when we belligerently insist, “My house, my room, my toys!” he steps in like a parent and corrects us. It’s his, and he’s letting us use it. Our money is no more ours than a child’s toy is theirs.

When we view ourselves as owners, we are free to do whatever we want with our money, even squander it. It’s our money, our choice.

But when we view ourselves as managers it creates a responsibility to be wise. We can no longer waste it!

I feel the weight of responsibility in managing money for someone else. When one manages the life savings of dozens of households, one cannot afford mistakes or inattention. My job as a money manager is to maximize that money, not waste it. If we all viewed ourselves as managers, our choices would be wiser.

Jesus tells a parable, or story, around this principle. While the parable uses money as an example and is not actually about money, its implications for wise money management are instructive.

The Parable

It’s called “The Parable of the Talents,” and you can find it in Matthew 25. I will paraphrase it, but you can find the full scripture at the bottom of the blog.¹

A business owner is going on a long trip, and he calls three of his managers to give them instructions. He gives them $50,000, $20,000, and $10,000, respectively, each according to his ability. He instructs them to do something wise with it while he’s away and then leaves.

At once, two go out and start conducting business. The first manager invests his $50,000 and, through wise maneuvering, he doubles it. The second manager also invests his $20,000 and, through shrewd handling, he doubles his. But the third manager buries his $10,000 under his mattress.

When the business owner returns, he calls the managers to give a report. How did they do with his money?

The first manager reports, “Sir, you gave me $50,000. I invested it and have doubled it. Here is $100,000.”

The owner is elated! “Well done, good and faithful manager. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.” The owner awards the manager with a huge promotion.

The second manager steps forward and reports, “Sir, you gave me $20,000. I invested it and have doubled it. Here is $40,000.”

Again, the owner is delighted! “Well done, good and faithful manager. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.” The owner awards the second manager with a huge promotion as well.

All attention shifts to the third manager, who, rather than stepping forward, is looking down at his feet. He mumbles, “Look, you didn’t give me much—only $10,000. There wasn’t much I could do with it, and I was afraid and didn’t want to lose it. So I kept it safe. Here’s your $10,000 back.”

The owner is furious. “You wicked and lazy manager! You did nothing with it!? I entrusted you with this money to manage, and you buried it. If you can’t be trusted with little, why should I trust you with much?” The third manager was promptly fired and cast out on the street.

There are a few principles we can glean from this story.

We Have Different Abilities

In the parable, Jesus says explicitly that the owner gave different amounts to “each according to his ability.” We all have different abilities for handling wealth. Some have a greater ability to handle wealth than others and thus will receive more responsibility for handling greater amounts.

Is this ability fixed? Are we all born with an innate and immutable capacity for wealth? The parable doesn’t say. They each had a different ability at the moment they were given resources and responsibilities. It makes no mention of that ability growing.

But I believe that ability can change. We can increase our ability to handle wealth by growing in wisdom. More on that in a bit.

Net Worth ≠ Human Worth

The first manager made $50,000 for the owner. The second manager made only $20,000. Therefore the owner was happier with the first owner, correct?

No. The owner’s response to the first two managers is exactly the same. “Well done, good and faithful manager.” He is equally pleased with both, even though one had a better numerical result. Why?

Both managers did the most with what they had been given. The first had more and thus had a greater responsibility to produce more. The second had less but worked just as hard.

So often, we look at the numerator without looking at the denominator. Someone gives $6,000, and it doesn’t make the news. Then we read about a philanthropist donating $1,000,000 and think, “My, aren’t they generous.” But we don’t see that their income was $300,000,000, so they gave less than a half percent of their income. Meanwhile, the $6,000 was 10% of that household’s $60,000 income. Who was more generous?

It doesn’t matter what you’ve been given. It doesn’t matter much what your ability is, either. What matters is what you do with that which is given to you.

How are you managing your money? How are you managing your time and talents? Are you doing the best with what you’ve been entrusted the manage?

Breaking Even Isn’t Enough

The first two managers are praised for doubling what they were given. They both managed it well.

The third manager was fired and cast out. Because he lost the money, right? No! He kept it safe. He didn’t lose a penny. He broke even. And that’s not enough.

The third manager was afraid of losing the money. He didn’t think he could do much with it anyway, since it wasn’t much to begin with. So he buried it. He lost by not winning.

How many of us do the same? We are afraid of losing our money, so we bury it. We bury it in CDs, bonds, and other “guaranteed” products. Instead of doubling it to double our impact on the world, we bury it.

Don’t bury what you’ve been given. Don’t squander it! Manage it well, and hear, “Well done.”

Be Wise with the Money You Manage

We all have different abilities to manage wealth. We all are responsible for managing what we’ve been given to the best of our ability. If we cannot manage what we’ve been given, why should we get any more?

Too often, we get caught in the trap of, “As soon as I make more money, then I’ll pay off this debt.” Or, “At my next raise, I’ll start saving more.” Or, “When I get X amount in my accounts, then I’ll invest.”

We get it backward.

We won’t start being wise with our money after we have more.

We’ll have more money after we start being wise with what we have.

In the parable, the first two are wise with the money they manage and are rewarded even more. The second wasn’t less wise because he had less, nor the first wiser because he was richer. They were both wise with the money they managed.

Be wise with the money you manage.

How To Become Wise with Money

The Proverbs state, “One who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” Another says, “Without counsel, plans fail, but with many advisers, they succeed.”

Want to grow in wisdom so you can manage your money well? Walk with wise people. Get advice from wise counsel. No one learns to be wise in this complicated financial world by meditating on a rock in the desert. It would be best if you learned it from others.

The Bible doesn’t give us specifics on wise money management because the context of money changes. But I believe being wise with our money now means:

• Being intentional with our Cash Flow to give and save a portion of all we earn if we are working and monitor our spending rate if we are retired.
• Have an investing plan to make the most of the money entrusted to us.
• Have a tax plan to “give to Caesar what is his, and to God what is God’s.” ²Translation: pay your taxes, but not more than you legally have to, so you have more to give.
• Take care of yourself and leave a legacy, for, “A good person leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.” ³ Translation: Have an estate plan.

If you don’t know how to do these things, get wise counsel to help you. Plans succeed with many advisers, meaning that when you have advisers on the various aspects of the plan, you’ll have comprehensive wisdom. Get advice on all the areas of money management from many people or one who knows them all.

Through wise counsel and walking with wise people, you can learn to:

1. Beware of the Money You Love
2. Be Generous with the Money You Have
3. Be Prosperous with the Money You Make
4. Be Wise with the Money You Manage

1. Matthew 25:14-30
   “For the Kingdom of Heaven will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ↩
2. Mark 12:17 ↩
3. Proverbs 13:22 ↩

This article is educational only and is not intended to be investment, legal, or tax advice or recommendations, whether direct or incidental. Again, this is not investment advice. Consult your financial, tax, and legal professionals for specific advice related to your specific situation. Never take investment advice from someone who doesn’t know you and your specific situation. All opinions expressed in this article are those of the people expressing them. Any performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be directly invested in.