Essentials of Financial Prudence and Wealth Creation, Rev Dr John Kwasi Fosu
Introduction
In our just ended Kingdom Advancement Conference, our main goal was to look at some essentials in our journey towards financial freedom. This lesson material focuses on presenting a brief overview of our financial prudence steps, with particular attention to creating wealth.
Financial Prudence Essentials
- Think right about money (Romans 12:2).
The idea here is that the journey towards financial freedom begins with the right thoughts or mindset about money. God owns the earth including everything in it, silver and God and gives us power to create wealth.
- Overcome Poverty
It was understood that we have to make every effort to avoid and thus overcome poverty. For that we are to make every effort to live below our income in order to save for an emergency fund. The essentials of budgeting and making financial plans are essential steps in overcoming poverty.
- Protect your Family through Insurances
The idea and purpose of insurances (term, disability, property, whole life insurances) among others is not to make us rich but to help us not to become poor.
- Make Investments
The essentials of making investments as an important financial prudence step are to be studied and practised. In this light, three major areas worth investing are God’s kingdom, mutual funds and real estates.
- Create Wealth
In our journey towards financial freedom, the essential and final step to take is creating wealth. This is biblically rooted.
Biblical Foundation of Wealth creation
The Bible is replete of many passages that call on us to create wealth. In Genesis 1:28, we receive the command to be fruitful and multiply. The idea here is to go beyond taking care of what have been entrusted us to adding value to them (creating wealth). In 2 Kings 4:1-10, the widow was divinely helped and so given a capital (oil) to trade with in order to pay her debt and to live on it. In Matthew 25:14-26, the master rebuked the servant with one talent that he should have invested with it for interest. Jesus in John 6 brings out certain essential steps in ensuring that our limited bread (capital) becomes multiplied. Among others, these include valuing our seeds, hard work and planning, generosity, savings and avoiding waste.
It is important to understand that these biblical foundations serve as an invitation to be delivered from dependency mindset packaged in mere development relief and poverty alleviation agendas. For these agendas do not produce sustainable freedom. We are called to create wealth.
Types of Wealth
Five major essential types of wealth worth considering include:
- Financial Wealth
- Aset/ Houses/ Real Estate
- Businesses – Entrepreneurship
- Intellectual Properties
- Charitable Foundation
Principles of Wealth Creation
This section identifies some important general wealth creation principles
1. Faith in God. This has to do with making God our beginning point
2. Valuing ideas to create wealth
3. Use what you have: talents, seeds, gifts
4. Redefine your purpose of wealth: Kingdom Expansion, generous giving, glorifying God – This seeks to do away with greed and exploitation.
5. Plan and work hard
6. Save and invest
7. Avoid waste learning to live a lifestyle of simplicity
Practical Wealth Creation Ideas
1. Add value to your life through education and acquisition of skills
2. Learn a second trade and have more than one source of income.
3. Create additional wealth through passive income ideas.
4. Start a creative new business. Research a need and try to solve it.
5. Invest to begin a business either from the scratch or through franchising.
Conclusion
This lesson serves as a summary of our financial prudence essentials. The necessary steps that have been covered in this write up are having the right mindset about money, overcoming poverty, protecting one’s family through insurances, making investments and creating wealth. It is important to state that God is interested in securing both our eternal lives as well as our material/earthly lives. Creating wealth should be seen as an effort that pleases God.
