Do You Believe You Can Change the World?

by Ron Bare

What would it take for you to believe that you could change the world? What if I proposed that it simply starts with intentionality and a generous heart? Would you believe me?

At Bare, we truly believe this. It takes commitment and planning, but when you’re ready, we’ll be right here to support you. Through intentional stewardship and extravagant giving, we help generous people shift the
culture and change the world for the glory of God.

Changing the world starts with changing your world. Last month, we talked about what it means to be faithful stewards of what God has given us. We must first define generosity, define enough, and then set financial goals.
Many of these financial goals are long-term goals – even lifetime goals. There are 6 main long term goals, or “buckets,” that we find most of our clients to
be pursuing.

The first bucket is financial independence or retirement. This bucket is focused on how much will be enough to meet their needs and accommodate their lifestyle after working full-time. The second bucket is debt elimination. This bucket is working toward paying off all debts and committing to a debt-free future. The third bucket is additional lifestyle goals. This bucket is planning a large one-time purchase, like a cabin or a beach house.

The fourth bucket is family goals. This bucket is considering how they’d like to support their children or grandchildren. The fifth bucket is centered around giving goals. This bucket begins to move beyond the 10% tithe principle into greater giving. The sixth bucket is new opportunities. This bucket is seeking new business or investment opportunities.

In our experience, our clients are typically pursuing goals in a few of these buckets.. We have walked with people from all walks of life and have been able to support them no matter the goal they are pursuing.

When a client defines ‘enough’ and accumulates ‘enough,’ the buckets of retirement and lifestyle goals become filled (see last month’s blog.) On top of that, when all debt is paid off, they find themselves looking at three full buckets! With these three full, the client gains freedom to explore the final three buckets with a different perspective. I like to call these final three buckets the impact buckets.

The first of the impact buckets is the giving bucket. The key theme of this bucket is the impact that intentional planning and giving can have on the world. When we move beyond simply what we need, we are able to consider eternal impact and our legacy.

Typically, the giving bucket begins with giving 10% of our income. When we are in a position to consider giving more than 10%, we begin to wonder what else we can support. We are no longer simply giving out of our income, but also giving out of our assets and accumulation. We begin to see problems around us and are able to give significantly toward their solutions, rather than simply supporting a good cause.

This requires intentional planning about allocating funds, whether to an organization you are passionate about or otherwise. We highly recommend setting up a donor advised fund, which is a tool to help you plan and manage your giving. This fund helps you maximize tax benefits and make a plan for your giving. I love what 1 Timothy 6:17-19 has to say about this. It paints a beautiful picture of extravagant giving and good works flowing together!

Do you believe you can change the world? If you take intentional time to plan and consider extravagant giving, I think you’ll be surprised at what happens. Next month, we’ll cover the family bucket, and how this bucket can be used to shift our culture and influence our world for good!