Faith-Driven Finances: Biblical Principles for Financial Planning
From your daily coffee to your retirement fund, the financial choices you make can reflect what you value and your beliefs. Faith-driven financial planning is about fundamentally reimagining money as a tool for stewardship of God’s Kingdom rather than personal accumulation.
Cooke Wealth Management has spent over three decades helping families navigate the intersections of faith and finance. As Certified Kingdom Advisors®, we combine sophisticated financial strategies with Biblical principles, demonstrating that you don't have to choose between your finances and your faith. Our faith-based approach helps guide every recommendation, so your financial plan can serve not just your goals but God's unique purposes for your life.
Biblical Foundations of Financial Stewardship
"The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1, KJV). Resources have been entrusted to you, but the finality of their ownership is in fact in the hands of God. Our role, then, is Edenic: not to simply accumulate but to act as wise stewards.
The Parable of Talents
In Matthew 25:14-30, the master distributed resources according to ability, went on a journey, then returned to settle accounts. The servant that buried his and did nothing with it was rebuked . This is to say God distributes His gifts uniquely entrusting each believer with capacities for love, service, and virtue. To bury one’s talent is to neglect these gifts through idleness or fear.
Applied financially, this parable has several financial implications:
Inactivity is not faithfulness: The "wicked and slothful" servant thought burying or hiding his talent was enough
Different capacities, same expectation: Whether given five talents or one, we are each called to use and multiply these gifts and resources for His purposes.
Risk maybe inherent in stewardship: The faithful servants took calculated risks for growth
Accountability is certain: One day, we will answer for our financial management
The Impossible Dual Allegiance
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24, KJV). Christ presents an absolute choice— Money makes an excellent tool but a terrible god.
This doesn't mean rejecting financial planning but rather keeping finances in the right perspective and subordinating them to spiritual priorities. When God is Master, money becomes servant. When money is master, God becomes marginalized. Faith-driven planning can keep this hierarchy more clear.
The Secret of Contentment
Paul writes, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" (Philippians 4:11, KJV). The contentment of Paul wasn't passive resignation but active trust. Scripture argues that we maintain spiritual equilibrium through any state:
Contentment means that financial planning includes:
Controlling lifestyle leading to financial margin
Enabling generous giving regardless of income
Providing peace during economic uncertainty
Freeing you from comparison and competition
Five Pillars of Christian Financial Planning
1. Stewardship
Recognizing God's ownership can change everything. Every financial decision becomes an opportunity to partner with God when viewed through the lens of stewardship. This mindset can encourage responsible decisions, as we're accountable to a higher authority for how we manage and use what has been entrusted to us.
When we grasp that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17, KJV), our entire relationship with money can be transformed. We cease being owners and become administrators of finances for purposes beyond ourselves.
2. A Spending Plan
The verse from Luke 14:28, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost?" is a powerful biblical argument for budgeting. A budget is your spending plan, a practical tool that can help you make intentional financial decisions, not impulsive ones.
Budgeting can help you align your money with your values and priorities. By creating a budget, you're not restricting your freedom but rather directing your resources toward the things that matter most, whether that's giving, saving, or meeting family needs.
3. The Discipline of Saving
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise" (Proverbs 6:6, KJV). Systematic saving can create the capital necessary for investment and help you protect against unforeseen circumstances.
Furthermore, Scripture teaches us that "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has" (Proverbs 21:20, KJV). Saving should be used not for hoarding, but as preparation for the future. One might save systematically, understanding that today's discipline can create tomorrow's generosity and security.
4. Debt Repayment
Debt can quickly become a burden or a constraint. A constraint on your ability to respond to God’s calling for your life. As Proverbs 22:7 says, “...the borrower is servant to the lender.”
By actively paying down debt or limiting new debt,, you are often gaining future financial stability.. All debt mortgages the future, it’s a commitment to use future dollars to repay that debt. This can hinder your ability to accomplish future goals and serve God in other or new ways.
5. Investing & Contentment
Contentment can provide the emotional stability needed for wise, long-term savings and investing by guarding against the fear and greed that often drive poor decisions. This inner peace allows you to focus on a strategic plan rather than comparison about your lifestyle or chasing fleeting market trends.
Investing in your future or the kingdom of God, often requires financial margin, and financial margin is often found by giving up today’s desires for tomorrow’s benefits. Successful investing, when guided by a heart of contentment, can create resources for a greater impact: funding charity, supporting missions, providing for future generations, and funding your goals.
V. Practical Steps to Faith‑Driven Financial Planning
Biblical financial planning can transform good intentions into godly actions. These five foundational steps can provide a roadmap to begin aligning your resources with God's purposes.
1. Reflect prayerfully on values, goals, and what God desires for your resources. Begin with prayer and Scripture meditation, asking: "What has God called me to accomplish, and how do my financial decisions support those goals?" Think about lifestyle, preservation, enjoyment, legacy, big purchases or milestones etc. Consider keeping a spiritual journal with financial notes to record your insights. It is important to "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5-6, KJV).
2. Develop a spending plan (budget) rooted in stewardship and priorities. Your budget should physically manifest your priorities. Start by allocating resources to fixed expenses or what matters most. Then work backward for discretionary spending. Create categories with intentional language and meaningful notes, to remind you that every dollar has significance.
3. Manage or eliminate debt. For short-term or high-interest rate debt, consider implementing the debt snowball method: attack smallest debts first while paying minimums on others, creating momentum through tangible victories.
4. Build financial margin: emergency fund, savings, long-term investments. Financial margins can create the capacity for generosity, obedience, and goal funding. Start with an emergency fund to help cover the unexpected (job loss or replacement needs). Consider savings systematically for known future needs while investing consistently for long-term growth.
5. Practice faithful generosity by choosing effective causes and giving cheerfully. If you’re not already tithing to your local church, you might start there. From there, you might consider the other areas God might be calling you to give. . "God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7, KJV). Track your giving, humbly celebrating it as you would any financial goal.
How Cooke Wealth Management Puts Principles into Practice
Biblical Financial Planning and Retirement
Retirement should reflect readiness, contentment, and purpose. We aim to help clients retire without regret by working to design a plan that aligns with both financial needs, personal goals, and spiritual values. That often means intentionally managing cash flow, saving, and investing.
Investment Management
While Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) is available, it's not our primary focus. However, when a client feels personally convicted to pursue BRI, we see it as our role as Christian financial advisors to aid them with the pursuit of their convictions. We apply biblical principles such as diversification, long-term focus, and intentional purpose to all portfolios.
Estate and Legacy Planning
We often guide clients through the legacy process in biblical financial planning. That includes creating a living legacy through impact today, as well as preparing to leave a godly legacy after death. Passing on assets can be meaningless without passing on values, purpose, or wisdom.
Our Faith-Centered Approach
We're a faith-driven, family-owned firm based in Orange County, serving individuals and families who want to make wise financial decisions that align with their values. Our team spans multiple generations, allowing us to relate to clients at various life stages—from young families still building foundations to retirees planning their legacy.
Our Certified Kingdom Advisors® combine a biblical perspective with professional financial expertise. As fiduciary advisors, we are committed to putting our clients' best interests first. And as believers, we're called to engage every conversation with honesty, clarity, and grace.
How we work
Initial "Discovery Session" centered on values, circumstances, and financial vision
Goal-based, customized planning: income, spending, giving, investing, legacy
Fee-only, fiduciary structure: no products, no commissions, integrity governed by certifications and anchored by Christian stewards
Integrated estate planning, tax-efficient giving and investing, legacy strategies aligned with stewardship
As Orange County Christian financial advisors, we've walked with families through tithing decisions, helped clients find joy and purpose in how they manage their money, and supported those burdened by debt. Our guidance doesn't stop at numbers—we try and speak to the heart of what money means in your life.
FAQs About Biblical Financial Planning
What is Biblical Financial Planning?
Biblical emphasizes stewardship over ownership, long-term planning, and generosity. Rooted in verses like Proverbs 10:4 and Matthew 6:19-21, it encourages wise cash flow management, debt avoidance, and eternal impact—it is the effort to align your money and how you use it with God's purposes for your life.
How is Biblical Financial Planning different from traditional financial planning?
Biblical financial planning integrates scriptural principles into every financial decision.While many of these principles—such as spending less than you earn, avoiding the burden of debt, and building reserves—are not unique, the perspective is. Unlike secular approaches, Biblical financial planning guides decisions through a spiritual lens—bringing an eternal kingdom focused perspective to your finances, it emphasizes that it’s not about us, while maintaining professional expertise and fiduciary responsibility.
Should Christians avoid debt entirely?
While Scripture warns that "the borrower is servant to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7, KJV), we can recognize that some debt may be necessary for essential purchases like homes or education. The key is avoiding unproductive debt for wants rather than productive needs, and approaching all borrowing with caution, clear repayment plans, and the goal of financial freedom to serve God more effectively.
Can I build wealth and still be following biblical principles?
Yes, if wealth-building serves God's purposes rather than personal greed. The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) teaches that we're expected to multiply and use God's resources wisely. Biblical wealth-building focuses on stewardship, generosity, and freeing up resources for God’s purposes. Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.
*We recommend that you consult a tax or financial advisor about your individual situation.