3 Myths About Wealth That Christians Believe with Rachel Mcdonough

Episode 417

Myths can be persistent things. For a long time, people thought the world was flat.

The investing world has its share of myths that persist to this day. Rachel McDonough joins us today to go over 3 myths about wealth that many Christians believe—but shouldn’t.

Rachel McDonough is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA®), and a regular Faith & Finance contributor.

Flat Earth and Financial Myths

When your core assumptions are wrong, your strategy becomes useless. Imagine planning a voyage worldwide while believing it's flat—you'd never reach your destination accurately. Similarly, in finance, myths perpetuated by various professionals are usually unintentional but can mislead our strategies.

Myth #1: Performance Equals Success

Many think you've succeeded if you can beat the S&P 500. This oversimplifies the complex nature of investing, neglecting how profits are generated.

In God's economy, people matter more than profit. True success isn’t high profitability achieved by harmful businesses but investments that honor God's values.

Myth #2 & #3: Avoiding Risk Unless for Higher Return

The second and third myths are interconnected: the idea that unnecessary risks should be avoided and that risks are only for higher returns. Financial planning often teaches clients to avoid risks unless needed to achieve goals. However, humans take risks for reasons beyond returns—we risk out of love, trust, worship, and obedience.

For instance, people take risks for the sake of love, like adopting special needs kids or rescuing trafficking victims. These acts reflect God's sacrificial love for us.

Two Things To Remember:

First, if you don’t have a financial plan, make one. Second, check your assumptions when planning how to steward God's resources. We shouldn't aim to die wealthy while ignoring the harm our investments might cause.

Instead, we should embrace risks for the sake of impact and love, share generously with the poor, invest in impact funds, and choose careers based on Kingdom impact, not just financial gain.

On Today’s Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:

I’m a 64-year-old retiree who recently started receiving Social Security benefits but has taken a higher-paying job. I was unsure whether I should contact Social Security to suspend my benefits and pay back what I had received to increase my future monthly payments or just let them reduce my benefits due to earning more than the income limit. I was also concerned about not having the $8,000 needed to pay back benefits.
I want to help my graduating high school senior son start investing some of the money he had earned. Specifically, opening a Roth IRA with $1,000 would be a good option for him, even if he wouldn't contribute more each year until after college. I wanted to know the steps he would need to take to open an account and get started.
What is the best way to use two home equity lines of credit? I have one at 6.4% interest and the other at 14% to pay off about $28,000 in credit card debt across various cards with interest rates in the high teens and 20s. I was thinking of using $17,000 from the lower interest line of credit and the remainder from the higher interest line, but I wanted advice on whether that was the right approach or if there were better options.