one degree

It’s a Monday. I’m driving into my office and listening to a voice memo from my good buddy out in Colorado. We banter about faith & finance topics all the time — in fact a few of my newsletter ideas have come from chats with him. And this one’s no different. He proposed to me the question on the other side of most every financial goal. And let me pause there — financial goals like… Build a busines...

About a year ago, I needed someone to give me permission to save for retirement. I know that sounds really strange coming from a financial planner. I got into finance because compound interest absolutely bedazzled me. It felt like black magic. You look at a graph showing what happens when money compounds over 10, 20, 30, or 40 years, and it is hard to believe. Then I tried to reconcile the financi...

A few weeks back, we talked about the fear of doing the wrong thing leading us to inaction—where this shows up in life, career, and money. We often feel embarrassed for not knowing things we feel we should’ve figured out by now and that embarrassment leads us to hide instead of “asking the dumb question” that might lead to the change we’re longing for. I ended our time around Jesus’ parable of the...

If Dave Ramsey helped you get out of debt, start investing, or simply think differently about money, there may come a point where you ask a different question: “Okay, now what?” The debt is gone, or at least moving in the right direction. You have margin again. You are investing. Retirement is getting closer. The 401(k) feels more complicated than it used to. The business is doing well. The kids a...

I’ve been reading A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken, and I have been completely swept up in it. A friend recommended it, and I can see why. Vanauken is a beautiful writer. The kind of writer who makes you lose track of time. More than once, I’ve looked up from my morning reading and realized I was suddenly twenty minutes behind schedule. The coffee appointment was coming fast. The day had already...

I recently found a new favorite artist. He’s the bombastic, passionate, young, and fiery singer-songwriter who rocketed into spotify charts with his song Dusty Bibles . The song is a modern prophesy: We got dust on our Bibles, brand-new iPhones… No wonder why we feel this way. Good, right? Josiah Queen is his name. And he’s written a small collection of other songs too. Another favorite line came...

Last week, we talked about embarrassment. The kind that shows up when you feel behind. When you feel like everyone else got a memo you missed. When you weren’t taught something, didn’t know what questions to ask, and now asking feels weirdly exposing. And the basic idea was that embarrassment makes us hide (ourselves, our talents, our contributions, etc.). But it doesn’t always say, “I’m scared.”...

When it comes to how we handle money, it’s pretty safe to say we could all learn a thing or two from John Wesley. He’s the co-founder of the methodist church and the passionate advocate of radical, Gospel-saturated working, saving, and giving. He famously exhorted his churchmembers to “earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” (You may remember I mentioned this a few months back.) But...

home-buying as mission work You know the feeling. You’re scrolling Zillow, you’ve set your price range, and the search results are mostly disappointing. So you do what almost everyone does: you drag the slider up a little. Not a lot. Just enough to see what opens up. It makes sense. You’re not moving to save $200 a month. You’re moving to be close to the people you love, the schools you want, the...

If you’ve ever sat across from a financial planner, you’ve probably heard about the glide path. It looks something like this. When you’re in Phase 1 (early-career, young accumulator), we’ll invest you pretty heavily in equities — stocks, growth assets, things that can lose value in a bad year but have a long runway to recover. By the time you’re 65, you’ve likely shifted most of that into fixed in...

Somebody told a young sales guy early in his career: if you want to close deals, go buy the most expensive suit you can’t afford and strap on a Rolex. Walk into any room looking the part and people will assume the rest. There’s something almost right about that advice. And something completely rotten at its core. The almost-right part: we all want to look presentable, we care about quality, and we...

I sat across from a client couple a few years ago who was walking into a business sale. The income from the sale was significant and was causing some tax problems. Their CPA’s solutions were pretty straightforward: defer the income thru a variety of retirement-funding vehicles, delay the tax bill, let the money compound. It was a solid idea and one that many professionals would’ve seconded. But wh...

Do you need more money? Honestly. Sit with question for a minute. Do you think you need more money? Would more money be helpful in fulfilling God’s calling on your life right now? Would more money be catalytic to making you more like Jesus? Would it enhance your prayer life? Or your relationships with others? (Spoiler alert: You don’t need more money.) You’ve probably heard the famous Rockefeller...

I’ve heard it said that the “real” answer to any question is buried only 3 layers deep. You have to ask the question, then ask the question beneath that, and then go one level deeper — then you arrive at the true answer. As an advisor, I’ve learned from many of the greats that the answer a client is seeking often lies somewhere between me asking a better question and them surfacing a deeper answer...

A few weeks ago I wrote about a man who slept with his pet snake. (You can view the archives here). The metaphor comes from a fellow financial advisor, and his application was for investment accounts specifically. But I’ve started wondering where else we may find “the snake” at work in our lives and where we may be ignoring its power. When stewardship tools make money bigger Here’s what I mean. Th...

I know this is a finance newsletter. So bear with me for a minute. Have you ever caught yourself thinking — is this really it? You did the things. Built the career. Bought the dream house. Tithed more than you spent. Showed up for those who depended on you. And yet… underneath it all there’s an ache that you can’t quite name. Loved ones get sick. Or we do. Our career dreams we chased have resulted...

Over the past three weeks we’ve been wrestling with a single question: what is wealth, really? My friend called it a snake. And the warnings behind that metaphor are deadly serious -- Jesus and Paul made that clear. But we also saw that wealth isn’t a predator by nature. God gave us the ability to create it. It can be leveraged like the sun’s warmth, spread like fertilizer, and channeled like sap...

the snake in your bed (part 3 of 4) In Part 1, we met the snake -- a metaphor for the quiet danger of accumulating wealth. In Part 2, we challenged it. Wealth isn’t a predator. It’s a God-given tool that can be dangerous when mishandled. So how do we hold both of those truths at the same time? the Christian financial paradox John Wesley put it this way: “Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give al...

the snake in your bed (part 2 of 4) Last week we discussed my friend’s metaphor of wealth: a snake. Today we’ll address the tension of how two wealthy men in the Bible responded totally differently to Jesus’ invitation. but is wealth really a snake? Here’s my honest problem with the metaphor: a snake in your bed is only a threat. There is no version of the story where the man and the snake coexist...

the man who loved his snake The story goes that there was a man who owned a pet snake. It was kind of the passion of his life. He loved this animal. And his deeply held conviction was simple: if you love the snake, the snake will love you back. So he slept with it. Every night. In his bed. Years went by. And then one night, while he was sleeping, the snake killed him. An expert later explained wha...

A few housekeeping updates for the One Degree Podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit faithandfinance.substack.com

When people ask what I do for a living, the easiest answer is “financial planner.” But that description never quite captures what actually happens in the work. Yes, there’s investment planning, tax strategy, and retirement projections. Sometimes there’s even the occasional trade execution. But a surprising amount of the work is something deeper and harder to name: Helping people form a philosophy...

When the Bible talks about debt, it’s rarely about interest rates or payment schedules. It’s almost always about something deeper. In this episode, we explore what Scripture actually teaches about borrowing and lending through three recurring themes: presumption, power dynamics, and posture . We walk through Proverbs’ strong warnings against guaranteeing someone else’s debt, unpack why predatory l...

In this episode, we explore a timeless metaphor from St. Bernard of Clairvaux about living as reservoirs rather than canals—filling ourselves first before giving from overflow. We discuss the intersection of biblical generosity, financial wisdom, and the uncomfortable truth that sometimes faithful stewardship means adjusting our giving. Through client stories and scriptural reflection, we examine...

If you’re self-employed, in sales, or running a small business, you know the budgeting struggle is real. But inconsistent income doesn’t mean you’re off the hook — it just means you need a smarter plan. Nick shares a four-part framework inspired by YNAB (You Need a Budget) and shaped by real-world experience: Only budget dollars you have — no guessing games. Prioritize spending by what matters mos...