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By Garrett Underwood

My name is Garrett Underwood, and I have been with Christian Financial Advisors® for 7 months now as a Client Service Associate. I have had the pleasure of meeting clients and getting to serve them. I schedule meetings, handle paperwork, and help Teresa with the behind the scenes functions that keep Christian Financial Advisors® on track. In addition to being a Client Service Associate, I am the video editor for Christian Financial Perspectives. It’s a very good and informational podcast hosted by Bob Barber and Shawn Peters. It offers viewers the chance to have access to loads of financial information and helps answer a lot of common questions people might have. Especially when the markets are down and emotions start to rise, Christian Financial Perspectives can help viewers stay confident in their investments and not make drastic decisions.

Outside of working with Christian Financial Advisors®, I am married to my wife Rachel, and we have been married for 4 months now. We got to visit Playa Mujeres, Mexico for our Honeymoon, and we got to enjoy the beautiful beaches they have there. Rachel and I are both Youth Leaders for middle school at our church, Epic Life New Braunfels. We have been leaders since October of 2020, and it has been a very rewarding experience to lead the middle schoolers in their walks with Christ. We have the opportunity to not only teach the middle schoolers about Jesus, but walk alongside them as they continue to learn more about their relationship with Him. We get to pray over them, play games with them, eat pizza with them, and do worship with them. Sometimes it can be like trying to herd a bunch of squirrels that drank too much caffeine, but in the end we always have fruitful conversation and have fun together![/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row top=”20px” bottom=”20px”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

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By Bob Barber

Christian Financial Advisors® is proud to sponsor 12 Compassion International kids – one representing each month of the year. Each monthly donation is given in our clients’ names as a representation of a birthday gift. Funds that were previously allocated to buy client birthday gifts are now donated to bless the children located in Southwest Mexico.

This year for the first time, instead of Client Christmas appreciation gifts, we also decided to use those funds and make a large Christmas donation to all the kids Christian Financial Advisors® sponsors with Compassion, so their families can have a wonderful Christmas they may not be able to have otherwise.

Compassion is a Christ-centered, church-driven, and child-focused ministry, making them distinct from other child sponsorship organizations. Their mission is to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name using a holistic approach to child development, carefully blending physical, social, economic, and spiritual care. Jesus is the core of their ministry and His life, teachings, and character shape their programs, reflect the spiritual commitments of their staff, and guide how they love people, respect communities, and cooperate with nations.

This summer, Bob and Rachael visited Compassion’s headquarters in Colorado Springs to get a first-hand look at how the ministry operates.

Next time you are visiting the Christian Financial Advisors® headquarters, please visit our Compassion wall that has all the pictures of the kids we sponsor and their stories.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”14763,14764,14765,14766,14767,14768,14769″ img_size=”medium”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row top=”20px” bottom=”20px”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

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By Bob Barber

As we come to the end of the year, I reflect on Christian Financial Perspectives and the many audio podcasts we have made over the last few years and YouTube videos to go with it since June 7th of this year. We now have 133 episodes at the time of this writing and growing weekly. The sweet uplifting comments from listeners and viewers on a daily basis of how much they love the program is much appreciated.

When I wanted to add video to the podcast a few years ago, I soon learned the hard way that it was not as easy as it looked. To do it right, we needed a state-of-the-art recording studio that was sound proof, high quality microphones, special lighting for videoing, a custom made professional grade backdrop, three different high-quality digital cameras for recording at different angles, high quality graphic computers, and software to record and edit. I also soon found out that an average 20-minute video would have a combined effort of 40-50 hours hours behind each one before it could go live. There is the writing of the script, editing, filming and audio, more editing, uploading, etc. before it all goes live on YouTube. It takes the talents of many people to get to the finished product you see. A big thank you goes out to all the team in helping to make this happen weekly. I know it is not easy.

As the year comes to an end, I am already putting together outlines and scripts for the first few months of 2023. Each time I write a new episode it is like drawing a new piece of art on a blank canvas. Sometimes I find myself going days, or even weeks, without creativity, and then all of the sudden it turns on like a light and I come up with many new ideas. I have really come to respect artists and writers that must come up with new content on a consistent basis for any program.

If you have not taken the time to listen to any of the 133 podcast episodes, or watch the videos on YouTube since June 7th of this year, I would invite you to watch or listen to some of them. They are all very informative and educational with a lot of thought and content behind them that I believe people want to see and hear. On YouTube, the internet, or any of the podcast platforms just search for “Christian Financial Perspectives” and you should find it easily![/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row top=”20px” bottom=”20px”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

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By Austin Read

Have you ever wondered what waiting ten years to begin investing would do to your retirement portfolio? Let’s look at two examples: Jack and Jill. Jack, who is 20 years old, begins investing by putting an initial deposit of $2,500 into his account, and then sets up recurring contributions of $350 per month. Assuming Jack’s investments receive an average annual rate of return of 8%, and he invests this money for 40 years, his ending balance at the age of 60 could equal $1,142,9121. On the other hand, Jill, who is 30 years old, begins investing by putting an initial deposit of $2,500 into her account, and then sets up recurring contributions of $350 per month. Keeping the annual rate of return the same, by the time Jill turns 60, she could have $501,208.

With Jill waiting to start investing for retirement ten years later than Jack, she is left with almost half as much money. In fact, for Jill to reach close to the same amount of money as Jack has in retirement, and still start ten years later, she would have to double her monthly contributions to $700. What if she waited twenty years to start investing? Well, she can still reach that $1.1 million retirement goal, but now she will have to invest almost 5x as much each month for a total of $2,025. All this being said, it is never too late to start investing. As we can see, Jill still was able to reach her goals by increasing her monthly contributions. However, the main point of this article is to show that it is never too early to start investing. In fact, starting early is one of the easiest ways to set yourself up for financial freedom.

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By Bob Barber

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, US retail sales reached $889 billion in 2021 and are expected to reach $942 billion in 2022. The top-end estimate for 2022 is $960 billion. Comparing that with 2012 numbers of $567 billion, we’re up over 66% in just ten years. That’s a LOT of Christmas shopping!

To break this down a little further, think about this for the 2022 Holiday season:

The Stress of Christmas Shopping

Almost three-quarters of Americans report that money and work are significant sources of stress in their lives, according to the American Psychological Association (APA) 2007 Stress in America survey. The holidays compound the pressure, as revealed in APA’s 2006 poll on holiday stress.

Middle-income Americans are particularly affected as everyday financial pressures are amplified by demands to spend more. With the pressure to create the perfect holiday–a memorable meal, expensive gifts, elaborate decorations, and more–not having enough money to do it all causes stress to more than 60% of those surveyed on holiday stress. The worries continue when the credit card bills arrive a month later.

The Real Meaning of Christmas is about…

  1. The immaculate conception and virgin birth of God’s one and only son
  2. Unconditional love for all of us, no matter where we are in life
  3. Worship of THE King of all Kings – The wise men and shepherds on that glorious night
  4. God’s holy angels rejoicing and announcing Jesus’ birth to the shepherds
  5. Purity and holiness
  6. Humbly being born in a manger around stinky animals so Jesus could relate to everyone regardless of their economic status
  7. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and gentleness all in one
  8. Gives meaning and purpose to this life
  9. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
  10. A free offer to life here on earth filled with a purpose, meaning, and eternal life with the maker of our universe simply by acknowledging and accepting his one and only son, Jesus Christ, as your own personal Lord and Savior

The lights, the snow, the tree, the food and cookies, and the Christmas movies are all good, BUT the real meaning of Christmas is God coming to live amongst us through the immaculate conception of a virgin birth conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father excet through me.’”

Merry Christmas from all of us at Christian Financial Advisors®!

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[vc_row top=”20px” bottom=”20px”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”11988″ img_size=”Full” alignment=”center”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]By Bob Barber

I hope this commentary finds all of you doing well. A few of you have contacted me lately asking how it’s going with our managed portfolios.  To answer that question in a nutshell, we have been actively underweighting and overweighting the different sectors and asset classes that have been either oversold or overbought in the past 12-18 months much more than normal and have had very good returns.

Today, with the way all the sectors and different asset classes have rallied over the past 12-18 months, we have been able to take advantage of them and have some nice gains.  However, the markets have not had any major long term pullbacks since 2008 (March 2020 was very temporary), and we are finding it harder and harder to find good values in many of the sectors, as well as the different asset classes. At this time we are managing all our portfolios with a “cautious approach” since there are so many similarities today to early 2000 and late 2007 (I’ve been doing this since 1984) before the markets had a substantial selloff.   

I get the question a lot today: Would I invest in the markets right now if I had never invested in them before?  Yes, I would but I would be very cautious and systematic in my approach across a diversified portfolio, being very careful of buying into sectors that have been overbought and are overvalued. This is exactly how we are presently managing all of our portfolios at this time.  Time, not timing the markets, has proven over and over in history as the best approach to managing a portfolio successfully1.

The Five main economic concerns I see today are:

  1. Good news could be bad news  As the economy opens post-COVID, with too much good news the Federal Reserve may stop giving out “Free candy” in the form of artificially low interest rates that cannot be sustained forever.  The market is also on a “sugar high” from the Federal Reserve due to creating so much liquidity in it. 
  2. Massive government borrowing creates high inflation.  Once again the Federal Reserve may need to tighten interest rates to curb inflation. 
  3. Different COVID variations are spreading around the world.  There is the risk that a variation may come out any day for which the vaccines offer little protection. 
  4. The present Real Estate bubble  Mortgage Interest rates need to go up by at least 2-3% over the next few years to get back to normal historic rates.  When this happens, home prices may need to decline by as much as 20-25% to compensate for the many home buyers that are already maxed out for a mortgage payment at today’s low rates.  If real estate had a major decline which we are way past due for,  it could hurt other asset classes that are dependent on the housing markets.
  5. Higher Taxes  In order to pay for all the government borrowing done over the last 1.5 years, the congress and senate may push income and capital gain taxes to higher rates sooner than later.   


This article just appeared today on CNBC in regards to higher taxes… https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/11/democrats-3point5-trillion-budget-plan-would-raise-taxes-for-the-rich.html   At some point we need to pay back some of the government debt which takes money out of the economy and the markets.  You can’t continue to just borrow, borrow, borrow without some consequences. 

As always, our goal is to consistently capture as much of the upside of the markets as possible and avoid as much of the downside as possible while using our “7 Investment Management Principals’ (click here to see the principals on our website) for managing all our portfolios. 

That’s all for now.  As always feel free to reply to this email or call me at the office at 830-609-6986. 

BOB BARBER
Senior Wealth Advisor
Christian Investment Advisors

1 Proven based on the historical performance of a diversified index such as the S&P 500. Source article: https://www.ifa.com/articles/market-timing_more_evidence_really_doesnt_work/[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row]

There is so much uncertainty today…

  1. The Coronavirus continues
  2. The new administration’s agenda and Biden’s numerous executive orders
  3. Continued massive borrowing of money to overcome the impact of the Coronavirus and how could this ultimately create high inflation and higher interest rates
  4. And then last week, out of nowhere, Reddit users manipulated the price of a company named GameStop against hedge fund managers.

 

In addition to the above, 24 hour news channels and professionally paid doomsayers are making up all kinds of conspiracy theories to scare people into buying high commission gold and silver. According to them, you would think mankind and the world as we know is about to end.

With all this “NOISE”, the team at CIS has received many phone calls, emails and questions about these concerns.  Yet the S&P 500 index is down less than half a percent over the last month, as of January 28, 2021, nowhere even close to correction territory.

My advice? Pray and seek God’s wisdom. Turn off all the “noise” (i.e. social media, the news, the internet and TV) for a few days or maybe even a few weeks. Use the extra time to go for a walk, go hiking, or go fishing in the many parks surrounding all of us. Just find ways to enjoy God’s creation and, while you’re at it, study Matthew 6:25-34.

Matthew 6:25 – Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

What will Christian Financial Advisors® do? We will continue to our job by:

  1. Using long-term Biblical principles and wisdom for managing money that has worked through many good and bad times.
  2. Never allow emotions, feelings, social media or professional doomsayers with their conspiracy theories to dictate to us how to manage our portfolios.
  3. Continue investing in Biblically-Responsible, Values-Based companies that do not violate Biblical principles (Ephesians 5:11).  They serve mankind with the things we all need like food, clothing, shelter, technology, healthcare, transportation, and more.
  4. Stay diversified by the wisdom given to us in Ecclesiastes 11:2 and 3:1-8 using long-term strategies built for good and bad times like our “bucket investment strategy”.
  5. Consistently, monitor and actively manage all our portfolios using a forward-looking approach

 

What about GameStop? To be frank, it’s an insignificant company that produces nothing of lasting value, has consistently earned a net loss over the last few years and has been a terrible investment until last week’s manipulation tactics which falsely drove the stock up.  In my opinion, society does not need companies like GameStop to survive.

It is sad to see how users of the social media platform Reddit manipulated the price of GameStop to far exceed any underlying value of the company to try to hurt hedge funds. In the long run, this will not be significant to the overall markets because the pricing is not sustainable. My opinion? Some people may be going to jail for front-running this stock for their own personal gain at the expense of thousands of naïve and novice investors. This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened, and it will not be the last. Anyone remember Enron?

As always, the team at CIS is here to serve you. Feel free to comment via email reply or phone call to any of the staff.

Bob Barber – Senior Wealth Advisor and Owner

Want to hear more?

Bob’s latest podcast episode dives further into the issues above. Click below to listen!

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS | More

 

The views expressed represent the opinion of Christian Financial Advisors® (“CIS”). The views are subject to change and are not intended as a forecast or guarantee of future results. This material is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice and is not intended as an endorsement of any specific investment. Stated information is derived from proprietary and nonproprietary sources that have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness. While CIS believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability. Statements of future expectations, estimates, projections, and other forward-looking statements are based on available information and the CIS’s view as of the time of these statements. Accordingly, such statements are inherently speculative as they are based on assumptions that may involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Investing in equity securities involves risks, including the potential loss of principal. While equities may offer the potential for greater long-term growth than most debt securities, they generally have higher volatility. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

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State of the Company

I hope this commentary finds you doing well as we all get settled into the new year. All the CIS staff is doing great and fortunately no one has gotten the coronavirus yet. We continue to be extremely careful by socially distancing ourselves from each other and fully utilizing online technologies to conduct business as well as for client reviews and prospective clients.

I am happy to report that God blessed Christian Financial Advisors® in 2020 with a historical year of growth as people from across the nation adopted the new way of doing business utilizing internet technology with online face-to-face meetings. With acceptance of this technology, distance from a financial advisor is quickly becoming a non-issue for doing business. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mile away or several thousand miles away. This helped CIS grow beyond anything we thought possible as people from across the Nation searched online for a Christian Financial Advisory firm to serve them. I also attribute the success to our podcast, Christian Financial Perspectives, now at 92 episodes, with thousands of listeners weekly from across the nation helping further spur the growth of CIS. I get calls from people thousands of miles away all the time about how much they love the podcast. Stay tuned for the new Christian Financial Perspectives VLOG (Video Blog) coming soon to YouTube and other online video platforms.

Market Commentary

THE PAST

All of our Biblically Responsible, Values-Based managed portfolios did very well last year, and I believe this is due to constantly staying in front of the markets making small changes many times throughout the year to keep the portfolios as finely turned as possible. A few of the best moves we made were buying into the energy and industrial sectors 3-4 months ago when they were totally out of favor in the markets which has already resulted in nice gains for the portfolios and injecting cash in the markets when they were experiencing lows in March and April from what I believe was an overreaction to the coronavirus. Technology also spurred a lot of growth in the portfolios but we recently lowered exposure to this sector about a month ago as we saw it becoming overheated, similar to 1999, possibly even more so now.

THE FUTURE

I’ve received many calls over the last few weeks concerning our new Democratic President’s agenda and how this could affect the markets, especially now with complete democratic control of the house and senate. Please see the chart after this commentary showing what the markets have done historically during democratic control. It may surprise you.

With the new Biden administration taking over soon, I believe many, if not all, of the tariffs put on Chinese goods by Trump could be lifted as well as opening up free trade with many other countries similar to what happened during the Obama-era. Add on top of this, the possibility of higher corporate taxes on American-based companies could push the ones that returned during the Trump-era to move back offshore. This could result in returning to a strong international economy. We have begun the process to take advantage of these possibilities

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to respond to this email or call the office to speak with me personally. The views expressed represent my opinion. These views are subject to change and are not intended as a forecast or guarantee of future results. This material is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice and is not intended as an endorsement of any specific investment. Please understand that past performance is no guarantee of future performance, and I cannot control what the markets will do in the future. Corrections in the markets are normal and necessary and can happen at any time without notice and are beyond anyone’s control. Statements of future expectations, estimates, projections, and other forward-looking statements are based on available information and my view as of the time of these statements. Therefore we believe it is so important that you always have a complete financial strategy with enough in cash reserves, or some funds in a conservative strategy with minimal or no exposure to the equity markets, to withstand potential downturns as they are a normal part of market cycles.

Here to serve,

BOB BARBER
Senior Portfolio Manager and Wealth Advisor, 36 years of experience

Ecclesiastes 11:2 – Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth.

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This year to date and especially over the last 4-6 weeks the markets have acted in a way that can definitely play with one’s emotions. This chart is one we have been using for years that shows how emotions can cause a person to buy at the top of the markets and sell at the bottom which is just the opposite of what they should be doing. You should never trust emotions or let them get in the way when making any financial decision, yet that is what many people do. Ask us how our tactical managers can help you avoid getting caught in the cycle of market emotions. (more…)

We All Have Different Gifts

God gives all of us different gifts and strengths to help one another. Some of us are teachers, doctors, nurses, carpenters or mechanics. Others are architects, artists, entertainers, pastors, engineers or protectors (police, fire, military). While others are veterinarians, managers, leaders and everything in between. And let’s not forget about some of the unappreciated jobs that are not in the limelight like those who maintain our homes, offices, automobiles, etc., who do the jobs that make life so much easier for us all. (more…)