StrongTower Wealth Management

Serving up a ton of pizzas to the Lake Hamilton Power Band before the game!

It's hard to be humble when you get to share that a member of your team has earned an award for Best Financial Advisor for the 7th year in a row!

Our team will leave the humility to Todd, as we proudly announce our CEO, Todd Sadowski, has been ranked #1 by voters in the Sentinel Record poll from the general public. He has received this award every year since 2017.

In addition to congratulations for Todd, we would like to share a word of thanks to our clients and community members who voted. We are grateful for the recognition, as well as the trust you have given us.

We've been making some changes around the office over the past few months. One of those changes has been converting Todd's old office into a new conference and meeting room for StrongTower advisors and clients—complete with a coffee bar!

We were so fortunate to get to work with one of our clients (and a fellow brother in ministry), Matt Terry. Matt did an amazing job on this beautiful wood countertop and cross! We know our clients are going to enjoy his handiwork as much as we do. Aren't they such stunning additions?

Stay tuned. We plan to continue the work on this room and hope to have it wrapped up very soon!

This week, The Boss (aka Tiny or Tiny Todd) accompanied Todd and Ashley to Lake Hamilton Schools for a kick-off assembly welcoming school faculty back to campus as they prepare for classes to resume on Monday.

StrongTower is proud to be a Partner in Education for the Lake Hamilton School District and had the privilege of serving dozens of donut holes to staff as they returned.

Please join us in praying over our educators and students as they return to schools across the country. We pray for for their health and safety; we pray that lives are changed and futures are built to further bring glory to God!

We may have gotten distracted by some of the awesome updates we've been making to the office lately, but we wanted to pause and take a break to tell our clients THANK YOU for once again voting our CEO Todd Sadowski as Readers Choice Best Financial Advisor. We're proud to have this honor, but we're even more proud to have the best clients that make all of this worthwhile.

Todd may be beginning to question the wisdom of his decision to turn me loose with the office updates...

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!!

The updates continue. We're pretty excited about this one.

We thought swapping out the old outlets for new ones would be pretty quick and easy. We forgot to figure in the age of the building and the fact that three breakers might control the outlets in one room....and none of them are labeled to know WHICH breakers. But we also forgot to multiply by 𝒊 (where 𝒊 = iPhone).

We're making a couple of changes at the office right now. Ashley is digging her new uniform. Savanna chimed in, "It's the solitary flip flop for me." We have the best dynamic up here!

We are excited to be sponsoring these "flockings" to build awareness of the great need we have to care for foster children in our area. We are blessed to have this Christ-centered ministry to help these children! We hope you'll consider praying for, giving to, and looking for ways to serve The CALL in Garland & Hot Spring Counties.

Our flock had so much fun hanging out with the hardworking folks at the DCFS office but it's time to fly off to the next location! Can you guess where it will land next?? Be on the lookout!!

We need flyers to move the flocks! Grab your friends, civic group, or church group and sign up to be a Flamingo Flyer!! Dates, times, and details are included in the link below:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4EA5A822A2FAC34-flamingo

https://strongtowerwealth.com/kids-and-finances/
While Todd Sadowski is at the school teaching kids about money, here are some tips to do that training at home!

Kids and Finances – StrongTower Wealth Management “Reading, writing, math”…too bad that list doesn’t include personal finance. Most kids will learn the very basics of money and the value of it in school but probably won’t learn to manage money unless they choose finance as a career path. That means it is up to all of us to see that our ch...

This morning our CEO Todd Sadowski spoke to the Upward Bound class at Lake Hamilton High School. During his discussion, Todd shared some basic financial concepts with the students to get them off to a great start.

https://strongtowerwealth.com/building-financial-oneness-in-marriage/

Building Financial “Oneness” in Marriage – StrongTower Wealth Management Many of you probably already know the number one cause for divorce and strife in marriage without us mentioning it, but we will anyway: MONEY! They fight because one person didn’t balance the checkbook or made a bone-headed investment without consulting the other. They fight because one partner ex...

Do you know how to overcome some of the challenges to planning for retirement?

https://strongtowerwealth.com/challenges-to-retirement-planning/

Challenges to Retirement Planning – StrongTower Wealth Management

Too often, Bible verses or passages of Scripture are taken out of context or misquoted, which distorts the meaning and can cause confusion to believers and unbelievers alike.

This verse in Timothy is one such example, which is both misquoted and altered. Indeed, songs have been written with the unbiblical words, “money is the root of all evil”, rather that the truth – the LOVE of money is A root of all sorts of evil.

Money can be used for good as well as for ill, but it is the LOVE of money which is being spoken of in this verse. Lusting after money and the intense desire to gain more money and increase worldly wealth, is what is being spoken about here.

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/1-timothy-6-10

The story is told of an eastern ascetic holy man who covered himself with ashes as a sign of humility and regularly sat on a prominent street corner of his city. When tourists asked permission to take his picture, the mystic would rearrange his ashes to give the best image of destitution and humility.

A great deal of religion amounts to nothing more than rearranging religious "ashes" to impress the world with one's supposed humility and devotion. The problem, of course, is that the humility is a sham, and the devotion is to self, not to God. Such religion is nothing more than a game of pretense, a game at which the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day were masters. Because their religion was mostly an act, and a mockery of God's true revealed way for His people, Jesus' most blistering denunciations were reserved for them.

The most satisfying giving, and the giving that God blesses, is that which is done and forgotten. It is done in love out of response to a need, and when the need is met the giver goes on about his business, not waiting for or wanting recognition. What has been done should even be a secret to our left hand, not to mention other people. Whether the person we help is grateful or ungrateful should not matter as far as our own purpose is concerned. If they are ungrateful, we are sorry for his sake, not our own.

Wisdom or jewels? Which is it that you're searching for?

Here are some pros and cons of a lot of "fork in the road" financial decisions people are faced with.

https://strongtowerwealth.com/financial-moves-that-sound-good-but-arent/

Financial Moves That Sound Good…..But Aren’t – StrongTower Wealth Management For most people, each and every day involves some type of financial decision. So how do you feel about your financial decision-making skills? If you think you are making sound choices, ask yourself this: Have you weighed the consequences of your choices against their apparent benefits? In many cases...

The word here for serve is referring to being a slave to something. It is saying that a person cannot be both a slave of God and of material wealth. They cannot be co-rulers in the same heart. Conflicting demands will inevitably produce conflicting emotions and attitudes. Those who love money will despise and resent what God demands of them regarding it. But those who love Him will choose to honor Him by not making earthly wealth their master. Instead of using it to selfishly gratify their desires, they will seek to manage the money He has entrusted to them for the salvation of souls to the glory of God.

In this verse we find a big contrast between the church at Laodicea's view of itself and Jesus' view of them. The Laodicean church saw itself as rich and prosperous, but Jesus saw it as poor. Undoubtedly, some wealthy bankers were members of the church and contributed generously to its offerings, but the church was spiritually bankrupt. The church felt it needed nothing, but actually it needed what only Jesus could give it. As the saying goes, money cannot buy happiness. With all its wealth, the church was "wretched," meaning unhappy. Jesus also viewed the church as "pitiable," meaning miserable. It is possible to possess money and material possessions but feel miserable.

Paul instructed Timothy to warn His church members that money-hungry Christians "fall into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction" (1 Timothy 6:9). Jesus also recognized that the spiritually impoverished Laodicean church was also blind and naked. It did not see any need to trust in the Lord or to evangelize the lost. It had no vision. It was "naked," an ironic criticism, since the city exported abundant wool for clothing.

Source: bibleref.com

This is one of the key verses in all of Jesus' teaching, commonly used in quotes, artwork, and Bible memorization. Like any other lesson from Christ, it must be understood in the context of the verses that come before it. Too often, Jesus' words here have been ripped out of that context and used to suggest that God will supply endless material blessings if His children seek Him first. That is not, at all, the meaning of this sentence.

The context of "these things" are the basic needs of life: food and clothing. Jesus has commanded His readers not to live in continually worry about how they will obtain those, even if they don't know where the next meal is coming from. He wants them to trust the heavenly Father to provide what is needed for His children because He values them so greatly (Matthew 6:25–32). Instead of living in constant and fruitless worry, Jesus gives His followers a different outlet for their energy: pursue God's kingdom, trust His righteousness, and leave it to Him to take care of the basic needs of our lives.

To seek God's kingdom and His righteousness means to live in that ongoing repentance from sin, and to lead the kind of sincere, from-the-heart, devoted-to-God lifestyles Jesus has been describing. In response, God will make provision for whatever it is we truly "need" in order to accomplish His will.

Source: Bibleref.com

StrongTower Wealth Management updated their business hours.

A common theme of the book of Proverbs is the danger of putting one's trust in worldly wealth. Scripture does not condemn money, itself, but strongly warns against forgetting how temporary it is. Financial and material possessions can be taken away in an instant. In contrast, pursuing a right relationship with God results in eternal rewards, which can never be lost (Proverbs 11:4). Money cannot buy favor with God nor eternal life.

Source: Bibleref.com

Check out our newest blog post on how to avoid some dumb money moves!

https://strongtowerwealth.com/10-dumb-money-moves-and-how-to-avoid-them/

10 Dumb Money Moves and How to Avoid Them – StrongTower Wealth Management Unfortunately not too many of us learn our financial lessons in a classroom or at home. We have to learn them the hard way – by making bad decisions and missing opportunities. Today, we’re going to discus some of the money lessons people often learn on their own by making bad moves. Hopefully yo...

How important is God to you? Can you improve your finances? This proverb answers both questions! You can honor Him with your mouth, but talk is cheap. You should put your money where your mouth is to show true honor.

Success requires giving some of your assets, and the first part of any increase, to God. Giving Him leftovers, whether large or small, is not honor, and it does not fulfill the proverb.

The problem Jesus addresses here is not that business was being done for the purposes of temple worship. Those coming to make sacrifices, especially from out of town, were required to purchase animals for sacrifice and to pay their annual temple tax. However, the temple tax could not be paid with foreign money, and several currencies were in use in and around Israel at the time. This required "money changers" to provide the service of trading temple currency for other currencies. That required some kind of a temple bank and perhaps the setting of exchange rates between currencies. It was all necessary.

Rather, Jesus may have been upset about either or both of two issues. First, it's possible Jesus objected to the placement of this market inside the temple grounds, which were meant as a holy place devoted to prayer and the worship of God. Second, there's reason to think buyers and sellers were overcharging those who came to worship—they were taking advantage of travelling people. These pilgrims had no other options for buying animals, including pigeons, or changing their money for the temple currency. The businessmen were working the temple like a business, buying low and selling high, perhaps depending on the supply and demand of resources.

In this case, Jesus doesn't deliver a sermon about corruption. He acts, pointing forward to the coming judgment of God. Jesus drives all the buyers and sellers from the temple. He overturns tables and chairs. He is forceful enough to send those there for business out into the streets.

Source: bibleref.com/Matthew/21/Matthew-21-12

A great quotation that pertains to life in general but can also be applied to credit and finances. Our 16th president's words are especially relevant when it comes to dealing with debt, a responsibility you owe a creditor tomorrow for money you borrow today.

Lincoln's words suggest that rather than deny your debt and put off dealing with it until later, you roll up your sleeves and get to work managing it now. Or, when it comes to saving money, start a savings or retirement plan today rather than waiting until it's too late.

At times it amazes me how much can be found on business and finances within the book of Proverbs. There is enough counsel on business decisions and how we handle money to guide us throughout our entire lifetimes. That is why admonitions like the one today are such a blessing to us if we will heed what is said to us by them.

This proverb counsels us as to the proper way to obtain wealth. There are many in our day (and actually at any time in history) who are looking for a "get-rich-quick scheme." They want to obtain wealth any way that they can - and do not realize that to sell our soul or our integrity for any amount of wealth is far too high a price to pay to become rich. That is the warning that is given to us today in Proverbs.

Another aspect of this proverb is that we are to gather wealth gradually - working for it at every turn. We are warned elsewhere in Proverbs that an inheritance gained quickly - will most likely be wasted. The prodigal son got his inheritance quickly from his father - but he wasted it on immoral living and wound up eating with the pigs in a foreign land. There is something to be said to having wealth come slowly by labor and by effort. There is a promised increase - a blessing that comes as we work hard and appreciate what blessing God has given to us.

Beware of gaining wealth the wrong way - fraudulently. It will not give us the true riches that God desires for us to have. These come by hard work and effort. This kind of wealth will bring us great blessing in the end. May God help us to see this kind of wealth - and have a heart to covet it rather than wealth that will harm us instead.