May 2026 Financial Bullet Points

Written by Bob Barber, Matthew Barrovecchio, and Don VandeVanter
Prepared on April 20th, 2026

The Bullet Points for May are:

1. Stay committed to your investment plan. As the Iran war continues, volatility in the market and with oil prices has been persistent. Conditions with the conflict have changed quickly (i.e. Strait of Hormuz fully open one day, then closed a day later), and the market has responded like a roller coaster. In times like these, we are called to trust in the Lord and yield to the most frequent command in the Bible: Do not be afraid. Continue to resist the temptation to react to market events, and stay committed to your disciplined investment plan.

2. Revised tax forms. Although tax season is over, there is the possibility that Schwab issues revised 1099 tax forms. While this can be frustrating, the revision may be minor. If you receive notification of a revised tax form, simply provide your tax advisor with the updated form for their review.

3. Are your bank instructions updated? To ensure your contributions and withdrawals occur smoothly, it is important to keep your banking information up to date. If you have recently changed banks, or do not have any bank on file with us, please reach out to us promptly so we can ensure everything is updated.

4. Stagnant real estate market. We are now halfway through the spring/summer real estate season, and the average 30 year fixed mortgage rate is approximately 0.25% higher since early February. Home prices remain largely unchanged and the supply of homes has increased over the past couple of months. Mortgage applications have trended low for the majority of the season, further proof that the housing market is in a ‘stand-still’.

5. Continuing Education & Scriptures. This month’s schedule for Christian Financial Perspectives is listed below, along with our Scripture for the month:

• Ep 245 – The Biblical Worldview of Taxes and Government – 05/12/2026
• Ep 246 – The Biblical Worldview of Honesty and Integrity – 05/26/2026
• Proverbs 19:21 – “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

While the markets may fluctuate and world events may feel unsettling, we can rest in the truth that God’s purpose always prevails. Trust His plan, stay the course, and remember that He holds your future far more securely than any investment strategy ever could.

Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
Senior Wealth Advisor & President

Matthew Barrovecchio, CFP®, CKA®
Senior Wealth Advisor

Don VandeVanter, CPA
Wealth Advisor

Christian Financial Advisors

Written by the Christian Financial Advisors Team

Bob Barber, Matthew Barrovecchio & Don VandeVanter

Next in our twelve-part series, A Biblical Worldview of Money and Wealth

Are you prepared for life’s unexpected financial storms? Saving is a topic that generates both confusion and anxiety for many Christians—yet God speaks to it with remarkable clarity. In Proverbs 6, He points us to one of His smallest creatures to teach a profound lesson: the ant stores provisions during abundance to prepare for seasons of need. Saving during the good times is not fear-driven—it is faithful stewardship.

Six Biblical Purposes for Saving

1. Emergency buffer — Handle life’s curveballs without a financial crisis (Proverbs 21:20)
2. Avoid unnecessary debt — Stay free from bondage to lenders (Proverbs 22:7)
3. Investment opportunities — Capital available when opportunities arise (Proverbs 31:16)
4. Provide for family — Reduce stress when tough seasons inevitably come (1 Timothy 5:8)
5. Help others — Adequate savings enables generosity (Proverbs 19:17)
6. Retirement — Provide for our needs when we can no longer work (Luke 14:28-30)

How Much Is Enough?

In Genesis 41, Joseph advised Pharaoh to set aside a fifth of Egypt’s harvest across seven years of abundance to prepare for seven lean years ahead. In practice, aim for at least six months of expenses in a stable savings or money market account, with additional accessible reserves beyond that.

When Does Saving Become Hoarding?

The rich fool’s problem was not his wealth—it was his heart. Saving crosses into hoarding when accumulation becomes obsessive and our accounts quietly replace God as our source of security.

What Happens Without Savings?

Scripture is direct: without savings, debt becomes unavoidable in a crisis, financial stress compounds, and families are left unprepared for hardships that are not a matter of if but when.

A Practical Starting Point

Start small. Set aside even a few dollars a week and build the habit over time—diligence and consistency matter more than the starting amount.

If your savings have grown beyond your needs and you are uncertain how to steward the excess for God’s glory, our team at Christian Financial Advisors would be glad to help. Call or text us at (830) 609-6986 or visit christianfa.com.

Written by Bob Barber, Matthew Barrovecchio, and Don VandeVanter
Prepared on March 18th, 2026

The Bullet Points for April are:

1. IRA Deadline on April 15: Remember that April 15 is the 2025 deadline for both Traditional and Roth IRA contributions, regardless of whether or not you file an extension. You generally must have earned income to contribute to an IRA. The deadline to contact us to contribute is Friday, April 10; otherwise, we cannot guarantee we can complete it in time.

2. Stay the Course: Proverbs 3:5-6 encourages us to trust in the Lord with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding. Our clients have been a walking testimony of that, trusting in the Lord amidst recent market volatility and the war in Iran. During times of uncertainty, our clients do not react emotionally but remain disciplined and committed to their long-term plan. Great job to all of our clients for staying the course!

3. CPI Back on Trend: The CPI released in March came in at 2.4% year-over-year. While this is still above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, it marks a reversal of the inflation increase that began last summer and is among the lowest readings over the past several years. With the recent spike in oil prices due to the Iran war, we will see whether that trend continues, as oil prices can affect prices for nearly everything.

4. Change at the Fed: The Federal Reserve interest rate decision on April 29 will be the last with Jerome Powell as chairman, with Kevin Warsh assumed to be confirmed by the Senate and to become the Fed leader on May 15. President Trump has touted this change for months, and many anticipated it would bring a more aggressive approach to lowering interest rates. However, with oil prices surging and driving inflation across the economy, rate cuts now appear unlikely—at least in the near term.

5. Financial Advice: Please remember that we are always just a phone call, text, or email away for any financial advice you may need to talk about. Never make any major financial decisions, like buying a car, boat, RV, or home, without putting them into a financial plan to see how they affect your long-term goals. Remember that withdrawing $50,000 from an investment account to buy a depreciating item like a car, boat, RV, etc., could affect your portfolio value over the long term by hundreds of thousands of dollars right when you may need it the most, and the value of that depreciating item may only be worth pennies on the dollar at that time.

5. Continuing Education & Scriptures: This month’s schedule for Christian Financial Perspectives is listed below, along with our Scripture for the month:

• Ep 244 – The Biblical Worldview of Debt– 04-28-2026
• Romans 13:7 – “Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.“

As you walk through this season of market uncertainty and economic change, remember that faithful stewardship is not about predicting the future — it’s about trusting the One who holds it, and making wise decisions today with the resources He has entrusted to you.

Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
Senior Wealth Advisor & President

Matthew Barrovecchio, CFP®, CKA®
Senior Wealth Advisor

Don VandeVanter, CPA
Wealth Advisor

Christian Financial Advisors

Written by the Christian Financial Advisors Team

Bob Barber, Matthew Barrovecchio & Don VandeVanter

This month, we begin a twelve-part series on a Biblical Worldview of Money and Wealth. We start with one of the most personal and spiritually significant topics in all of Scripture: tithing and giving.

Twenty years ago, nearly every church dedicated time during its weekly service for tithes and offerings. An offering plate passed down each aisle created a moment of intentional, worshipful focus on God’s provision. Today, many churches have moved to digital giving or a collection box in the foyer. While convenient, these methods can make giving feel routine rather than reflective. However we give, the heart behind our gift matters most.

Why Do We Tithe and Give?

Scripture gives us many compelling reasons. Tithing acknowledges God as the rightful owner of all things—as Psalm 24:1 reminds us, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” Giving helps the local church fulfill its mission, funds missionaries carrying out the Great Commission, provides for those in need, and breaks the chains of selfishness and materialism. Most powerfully, it is a visible declaration that others’ needs matter as much as our own—a tangible expression of Christ’s love to the world.

How Much Should We Give?

This depends on your financial situation, personal circumstances, and what you are willing to offer before the Lord. God looks at the heart, not the size of the gift. Whether your giving reflects the widow’s two coins in Luke 21 or the generosity of the Macedonian churches in 2 Corinthians 8, God honors the willing, cheerful giver.

Four Ways to Give

Giving goes beyond writing a check. We give our Time—volunteering, mentoring, and serving in ministry. We give our Talents and Natural Gifts, as Romans 12 reminds us each member of the body has unique gifts given for the benefit of all. We give From Income, Cash, and Savings, honoring the Lord with the firstfruits of what He has entrusted to us. And we give through Non-Cash Planned Gifts—appreciated stocks, real estate, business interests, and retirement accounts. Planned giving strategies such as donor-advised funds and charitable remainder trusts can unlock these assets in tax-efficient ways.

All major financial decisions, including giving, should be spiritual ones—prayed about and aligned with God’s Word. Wise Christian counsel is invaluable along this journey.

Most of us never sit down and decide, on purpose, what our money is for. We pay the bills that show up, we save when there’s something left over, we give when we feel moved to, and we spend on whatever seems reasonable in the moment. There’s nothing sinful about that — but it isn’t a plan, either. And Scripture is clear that God has entrusted each of us with resources to manage, not just to spend.

That’s the heart of stewardship: everything we have belongs to God, and we’re simply managing it on His behalf for a season. One of the simplest, most durable ways we’ve found to put that principle into practice is a framework built around four questions every dollar eventually answers. We call it Live, Give, Owe, Grow.

Every Dollar Has a Job

Think of your income as a stream that has to go somewhere. If you don’t decide where it goes, it will decide for you — usually toward whatever feels urgent that week. The Four Uses framework gives every dollar an assignment before it arrives, so your spending reflects your values instead of just your impulses.

The four categories are simple on the surface, but each one carries real biblical weight.

Live: Providing for Today

The first use of money is meeting the needs of your household — housing, food, transportation, insurance, the ordinary cost of living. Scripture treats this as a genuine responsibility, not an afterthought. Paul writes plainly that “if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8, CSB). Providing well for your family is stewardship, not a distraction from it.

The discipline here isn’t guilt about spending on your needs — it’s honesty about the difference between needs and wants, and living within what you actually have. A “Live” budget that’s honest about that line is one of the most spiritually healthy documents a family can keep.

Give: Directing Resources to Kingdom Purposes

The second use is generosity — directing part of what God has given you back toward His purposes, whether that’s your local church, ministries you believe in, or people in genuine need. “Each person should give as he has decided in his heart — not reluctantly or under compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7, CSB).

For many Christian households, this starts with the tithe as a baseline and grows from there as income and conviction grow. What matters most isn’t hitting a precise percentage; it’s making giving a planned, intentional line item rather than an afterthought that only happens if there’s money left at the end of the month. When giving is planned, it becomes an act of worship rather than a leftover.

Owe: Meeting Your Obligations

The third use covers what you owe — taxes, debt payments, and other financial obligations you’ve taken on. Romans 13:7-8 instructs believers to “pay your obligations to everyone… Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another.” That’s both a call to pay what’s due and a warning against letting debt become a permanent fixture of your financial life.

For households carrying debt, this category often becomes the most active part of the plan for a season — an intentional, accelerated push to close out obligations so more of each future dollar can move toward giving and growing instead of interest payments.

Grow: Preparing for Tomorrow

The fourth use is building margin for the future — retirement savings, investments, education funds, and the kind of long-term preparation Scripture consistently commends. Proverbs 21:20 notes that “precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of the wise, but a fool consumes them” (CSB), and Joseph’s storage of grain during Egypt’s years of plenty (Genesis 41) is one of the Bible’s clearest pictures of prudent, forward-looking stewardship.

Growing what God has entrusted to you isn’t about accumulating wealth for its own sake. It’s about building the capacity to keep providing, keep giving, and keep being useful for Kingdom purposes for decades to come — including, for many families, leaving an inheritance for the generations after them (Proverbs 13:22).

Finding Your Own Balance

There’s no universal percentage breakdown that fits every household, and we’d encourage you to be skeptical of anyone who hands you one without knowing your situation. A young family paying off debt while raising small children will lean harder into “Owe” for a season. A couple nearing retirement with the mortgage paid off may be able to push much more heavily into “Give” and “Grow.” The framework isn’t a formula — it’s a lens.

What matters is that all four categories get intentional attention rather than one crowding out the others by default. It’s easy for “Live” to quietly expand to fill whatever income is available, leaving little room for giving or saving. Naming all four uses up front is what keeps that from happening.

A Practical Next Step

This week, try tracing where last month’s income actually went and sorting it into these four buckets. Most families find at least one category — often “Give” or “Grow” — has been getting whatever was left over rather than an intentional amount. Simply seeing that clearly is often the first step toward changing it.

If you’d like help thinking through what a healthy balance among these four categories looks like for your specific season of life, our team would welcome the conversation. That kind of planning is exactly what we’re here for. Talk to an Advisor.

Written by Bob Barber, Matthew Barrovecchio, and Don VandeVanter
Prepared on February 23rd, 2026

The Bullet Points for March are:

1. Jobs on the Rise: US payrolls increased 130k in January, essentially double the expected 66k increase and the highest jobs reading in six months. With the unemployment rate decreasing slightly to 4.3% and the participation rate (the share of the working-age population working or looking for work) holding steady, this is a bright sign for a jobs market that has disappointed since mid-2025.

2. Portfolio strategy update: The updates in the last 1-5 months for all our Biblically Responsible Portfolios are working well. In September 2025, we reduced our equity positions due to indicators we follow showing certain market sectors were overvalued, and fully repositioned the remaining overvalued Biblically Responsible equity positions we had left in December to undervalued ones. At the beginning of January, we also reallocated our fixed-income positions across all portfolios to longer positions in line with the direction interest rates seem to be headed. As of this writing, our Biblically Responsible equity positions are surpassing the Cap-weighted S&P 500 index’s one-year trailing and year-to-date returns nicely. Our fixed income portfolio is also surpassing the 1-, 3-, and 5-year CD bank rates, which is the portfolio’s goal. For compliance reasons, we always need to point out that past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

3. GDP and Inflation Both Miss: GDP for Q4 2025, announced in February, came in at 1.4%, half of the 2.8% expected growth rate. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric, the PCE Price Index, came in above expectations for December 2025. Both data points are in the spotlight as Trump’s new pick, Kevin Warsh, prepares to take over Jerome Powell’s position as Fed Chairman in mid-May.

4. Inspire ETFs Corporate Engagement: Inspire ETFs regularly meets with corporate executives in an effort to create positive change in companies that can be owned by investors. In 2025, they met with over 1,100 companies, resulting in positive changes at Costco, Walmart, Kroger, and Meta. In 2026, Inspire plans to increase the number of shareholder proposals on topics ranging from protecting life, freedom, and fairness to encouraging prudent AI stewardship. Your Biblical responsible portfolio indirectly supports these efforts.

5. Continuing Education & Scriptures: This month’s schedule for Christian Financial Perspectives is listed below, along with our Scripture for the month:

• Ep 242 – The Biblical Worldview of Ownership – 03-10-2026
• Ep 243 – The Biblical Worldview of Providing for Family – 03-24-2026
• Proverbs 14:23 – “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.“

If you would like further explanation of any of the bullet points mentioned, please call or text (830) 609-6986 during business hours or email us by clicking here.

Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
Senior Wealth Advisor & President

Matthew Barrovecchio, CFP®, CKA®
Senior Wealth Advisor

Don VandeVanter, CPA
Wealth Advisor

Christian Financial Advisors

A red day in the market has a way of finding you — a headline on your phone, a number on an app, a conversation at church where someone asks if you’ve “seen what’s happening.” The instinct that follows is almost always the same: check the account, feel the pit in your stomach, and wonder if something needs to change right now.

That instinct isn’t a character flaw. It’s a natural response to uncertainty about something that matters — your family’s provision, your retirement, the legacy you’re building. But Scripture offers believers a different anchor than the day’s headlines, and it’s worth returning to when the market gets loud.

Volatility Isn’t New — It’s Normal

Markets have always moved in cycles of advance and decline. Pullbacks, corrections, and even prolonged downturns have occurred repeatedly throughout market history, and they’ve also, historically, been followed by recovery over time. That doesn’t guarantee any particular outcome for any specific investment or time period — past performance is never a promise of future results — but it does mean that volatility itself isn’t a sign that something has gone wrong. It’s simply a feature of investing in growing businesses, not a malfunction.

The difficulty is that volatility only feels normal in hindsight. In the moment, every downturn feels like it might be the one that’s different.

What Prudence Actually Looks Like

Prudence — one of the values we try to build our work around — isn’t the absence of concern. It’s disciplined judgment under pressure. Proverbs 21:5 offers a helpful contrast: “The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit, but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor” (CSB). The diligent, in this case, aren’t the ones who react fastest to every swing. They’re the ones who built a plan before the swing happened and have the discipline to stay with it.

That looks like a few concrete things in practice:

• A written plan made before the storm. Your asset allocation and time horizon should be decided based on your goals and circumstances — not adjusted reactively in the middle of a bad week.
• An emergency fund separate from your invested assets, so a downturn never forces you to sell investments at a loss just to cover living expenses.
• A clear-eyed view of your actual time horizon. Money you need in the next one to three years shouldn’t be invested the same way as money you won’t touch for twenty.
• Skepticism toward the urge to “do something.” Selling out of the market after a decline locks in the loss and creates a second decision — when to get back in — that’s just as hard to get right.

When Volatility Should Prompt a Conversation

None of this means volatility should never lead to action. It’s often a good prompt to revisit your plan — not abandon it. A downturn can be a reasonable time to rebalance back toward your target allocation, review whether your risk tolerance still matches your portfolio, or discuss tax-efficient moves with your advisor. The difference is that these are proactive, plan-driven decisions rather than fear-driven ones.

An Eternal Perspective on a Temporary Problem

Ultimately, Scripture calls believers to hold their financial resources with an open hand. Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 6 continues just a few verses earlier: “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth… but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20, CSB). That doesn’t mean ignoring sound financial stewardship — the same chapter assumes we’ll plan and provide. It means holding market swings in proper proportion to what actually lasts.

If a recent stretch of volatility has you wondering whether your plan still fits, that’s a good instinct — channeled the right way. Rather than reacting alone to a headline, bring the question to your advisor. A short conversation grounded in your actual plan is almost always more useful than a decision made in the moment. Talk to an Advisor.

This article is intended for general education and does not constitute personalized investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and all investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.

For years, tax-deferred retirement accounts work in one direction: you contribute, the balance grows, and no one bothers you about withdrawals. Then a birthday arrives, and the IRS requires you to start taking money out — whether you need it that year or not. Required Minimum Distributions, or RMDs, are one of the least intuitive parts of retirement planning, and getting the details wrong carries a real cost. Here’s what to know.

What Triggers an RMD, and When

RMDs apply to most tax-deferred retirement accounts — traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and similar employer plans. Roth IRAs, and as of 2024, Roth 401(k)s and Roth 403(b)s, are exempt from RMDs during the original owner’s lifetime, which is one of several reasons some retirees consider Roth conversions in the years before RMDs begin.

The age at which RMDs start depends on your birth year, under the SECURE 2.0 Act:

• Born 1950 or earlier: RMD age was already reached under prior rules.
• Born 1951–1959: RMDs begin at age 73.
• Born 1960 or later: RMDs begin at age 75.

The Deadlines That Matter

Your very first RMD comes with a special option: you can delay it until April 1 of the year after you reach your RMD age, rather than taking it by December 31 of the year you turn that age. It sounds like a benefit, and it can be — but it comes with a catch. If you delay, you’ll owe two RMDs in that following calendar year: the delayed first one (by April 1) and the regular second one (by December 31). For many retirees, especially those still working part-time or managing other income, taking the first RMD in the year you actually reach RMD age — rather than delaying — keeps taxable income more level from year to year.

Every RMD after the first one is due by December 31 of each year, with no exceptions for holidays, market conditions, or forgetting.

The Cost of Missing One

The IRS does not treat a missed RMD lightly. The penalty is an excise tax of 25% of the amount that should have been withdrawn but wasn’t — reduced to 10% if the mistake is corrected within two years. On a meaningful account balance, that’s a costly error for something that’s entirely avoidable with a bit of planning. Most custodians, including Schwab, can set up automatic annual RMD withdrawals so the requirement is met without relying on memory alone.

Being Strategic — and Generous — with Your RMDs

RMDs are mandatory, but how you use the money isn’t fixed, and for charitably minded retirees, there’s a meaningful opportunity here.

Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) allow IRA owners age 70½ or older to send funds directly from their IRA to a qualified charity — bypassing their own bank account entirely. The distribution counts toward that year’s RMD, but because it goes straight to the charity, it’s excluded from your adjusted gross income altogether. For 2026, the QCD limit is $111,000 per person, indexed for inflation each year.

That AGI exclusion matters more than it might first appear. Because a QCD lowers your AGI rather than simply generating a deduction, it can also help you avoid crossing thresholds tied to AGI — including Medicare IRMAA premium surcharges and the taxability of Social Security benefits. It’s also unaffected by new limits on itemized charitable deductions that took effect in 2026, since a QCD was never a deduction to begin with — it’s an exclusion. For a retiree who gives to their church or other ministries each year, directing some or all of an RMD there through a QCD can accomplish the giving and satisfy the RMD requirement in a single, tax-efficient move.

Roth conversions in the years between retirement and the start of RMDs are another strategy worth discussing with your advisor. Converting a portion of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA during lower-income years means paying tax on that amount now, at potentially a lower rate, in exchange for a smaller required distribution — and less future tax — down the road. This isn’t the right move for every situation, and it depends heavily on your current tax bracket, timeline, and goals.

Bringing It to Your Team

RMD rules touch tax law, account custody, and your broader financial plan all at once, which is exactly why they’re worth reviewing with your advisor and CPA rather than navigating alone — particularly in the year they first apply to you, or any year your income or giving plans have changed. A short planning conversation before year-end is almost always easier than untangling a mistake after the deadline has passed. Talk to an Advisor.

This article is intended for general education and does not constitute personalized tax, legal, or investment advice. Tax rules referenced are current as of 2026 and are subject to change; please consult your CPA or tax advisor regarding your specific situation.

Written by Bob Barber, Matthew Barrovecchio, and Don VandeVanter
Prepared on January 21st, 2025

The Bullet Points for February are:

1. Tax Document Reminder: Schwab should produce 1099s for tax reporting by the end of February unless there is an unforeseen problem. Paper copies will be mailed, while digital copies can be accessed through the Schwab Alliance portal. If you need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us by phone or text at 830.609.6986.

2. AI Market Share: According to consulting company McKinsey, AI has now been adopted by roughly 72% of companies. Studies project that this will continue to increase, boosting productivity and positively impacting GDP. While Nvidia continues to lead the way, technology companies that are in our investment models have gained market share.

3. Cost of Living: While many families continue to navigate a higher cost of living compared to a few years ago, recent data is encouraging. Overall inflation has been within expectations, mortgage rates declined around 1% in 2025, auto loan rates are lower, and oil prices are consistently below $60 a barrel for the first time in almost five years. A new Federal Reserve chairman coming in May 2026 could bring even lower interest rates, but this could and probably will weaken the dollar and cause inflation by printing more money.

4. Misunderstanding CD Interest Rates: There is significant confusion about short-term CDs (less than one year) and the return they are really paying, since interest rates are all advertised on an annual basis. For example, a 3-month CD advertises a 4% annual rate, even though it’s only a 3-month CD. If you take the 4% yearly rate advertised, divide it by 12, and multiply it by the 3 months the CD is for, the CD’s actual return is approximately 1% NOT 4% because it’s not for a whole year. In a declining interest rate environment, investors must look for competitive interest rates on their cash reserves, but be wary of high advertised annual returns on short-term CDs, as they are not held for a year to realize those returns. We are here to help you better understand CD rates with just a text or phone call away.

5. Continuing Education & Scriptures: This month’s schedule for Christian Financial Perspectives is listed below, along with our Scripture for the month:

• Ep 240 – Biblical Worldview of Saving – 02/10/2026
• Ep 241 – Biblical Worldview of Investing – 02/24/2026
• Proverbs 21:5 – “The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit, but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.”

As we navigate changing economic conditions and evolving markets this year, remember that biblical wisdom combined with diligent planning remains the foundation for faithful stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to us.

If you would like further explanation of any of the bullet points mentioned, please call or text (830) 609-6986 during business hours or email us by clicking here.

Bob Barber, CWS®, CKA®
Senior Wealth Advisor & President

Matthew Barrovecchio, CFP®, CKA®
Senior Wealth Advisor

Don VandeVanter, CPA
Wealth Advisor

Christian Financial Advisors

As giving grows — whether that’s giving to your church, supporting a handful of ministries, or making a larger gift tied to a windfall or business sale — the simplicity of writing checks throughout the year often starts to strain. Receipts pile up, appreciated stock feels complicated to give, and the giving itself can start to feel more like an administrative task than an act of worship. A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is one tool many Christian families use to bring structure back to generosity without losing the heart behind it.

What a DAF Actually Is

A donor-advised fund is a giving account you open through a sponsoring charitable organization. You contribute cash, appreciated securities, or other assets to the account, and — if you itemize deductions — you receive an immediate tax deduction in the year of the contribution, even if the money isn’t granted to any specific charity until later. Funds in the account can be invested and grow tax-free while they wait, and you retain the ability to recommend grants to qualified charities on whatever timeline makes sense: immediately, over several years, or even across generations.

The word “advised” is important. You don’t retain legal ownership of funds once they’re contributed — the sponsoring organization does — but you retain advisory privileges to direct where the grants ultimately go.

Why Families Use Them

A few reasons tend to come up most often in conversations with clients:

• Bunching charitable giving for tax efficiency. Rather than giving the same amount every year, some families contribute several years’ worth of giving into a DAF in a single high-income year, clear the standard deduction threshold in that year, and then grant the funds out to charities over the following years at their normal pace. This has become more relevant since 2026, when new rules under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced a 0.5% of AGI floor on itemized charitable deductions — bunching into fewer, larger years can help a gift clear that floor more efficiently than the same total spread thin across many years.
• Giving appreciated stock instead of cash. Contributing long-held, appreciated securities to a DAF typically allows you to deduct the full fair market value while avoiding the capital gains tax you’d otherwise owe if you sold the stock first and gave cash.
• One simplified giving record. Instead of tracking receipts from a dozen different charities, your DAF sponsor provides a single statement of contributions and grants.
• Involving the next generation. Many families use a DAF as a hands-on way to teach children or grandchildren about giving — reviewing grant recommendations together and discussing the “why” behind each gift.

Who It Tends to Fit Well

DAFs are usually the best fit for households who give consistently and meaningfully each year, who hold appreciated investments beyond their regular cash flow, who anticipate a high-income year (from a bonus, business sale, or large IRA distribution) and want to capture the deduction while spreading the giving out, or who want a structured way to involve family in generosity decisions.

What a DAF Is Not

It’s worth being clear about the boundaries. A DAF isn’t a private foundation — you have less direct control, and the sponsoring organization has final say over grants, though in practice recommendations to qualified public charities are almost always honored. Grants must go to IRS-qualified charitable organizations, not to individuals, and a DAF generally can’t be used to satisfy a legally binding pledge you’ve already made. And unlike a Qualified Charitable Distribution from an IRA, a DAF contribution does not count toward — or help satisfy — a required minimum distribution; the two tools solve different problems and, for some retirees, work well as a pair.

A Next Step

If your giving has grown more complex, or if you’re anticipating a year with unusually high income, a DAF may be worth a conversation. Our team can walk through whether the timing and structure make sense for your specific situation. Talk to an Advisor.

This article is intended for general education and does not constitute personalized tax or legal advice. Please consult your CPA or tax advisor regarding the deductibility of any charitable contribution.