A biblically-based investment strategy should meet the following two criteria: 1. be consistent with God’s principles 2. reflect God’s specific will for your life Develop & Implement a Biblically Based Investment Strategy Back to Investing By: Tom Copland October 19, 2021 A biblically-based investment strategy should meet the following two criteria: 1. be consistent with God’s principles 2. reflect God’s specific will for your life To develop and implement an investment plan that is consistent with God’s principles, it is essential that you understand God’s investment principles. God’s Word, the Bible, provides us with a wealth of knowledge on investing. Authors such as Austin Pryor and Ron Blue have written entire books on what God has to say about investing. I have written 14 financial moments on this topic. If you would like a copy then send an email to thomas@copland-ca.com In my experience, the majority of bad investments can be avoided if you understand and apply God’s investment principles. Here are some actions the Bible warns against, which can lead to potentially bad investments. A. investing in something that you do not understand (see Proverbs 19:2) B. using a lot of debt (see Proverbs 22:7) C. making hasty decisions (see Proverbs 21:5) D. having a lack of biblical diversification (see Ecclesiastes 11:1, 2) For further details, see my four financial moments on those topics. Remember, God has admonished us to keep his Word at the forefront of our minds at all times. Joshua 1:8 states, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” In respect of the second component—that is, an investment plan that reflects God’s specific will for your life—there is no substitute for spending quality time in prayer with God at least three or four times per year, seeking the Lord’s specific direction for your life. God has promised that he will direct us if we ask in faith and trust him. Psalms 32:8 states, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” I recommend that you document what God has instructed you to do, and carefully follow up. In the area of investing, most people tend to be “responders”; that is, they respond to sales calls, hot tips, good ideas, etc. Frequently people make decisions on a case-by-case basis rather than by developing and implementing a biblically-based investment strategy that God has personally revealed to them. Although God’s investment principles (i.e., guidelines) are the same for everyone, God’s specific will for each individual will not be the same. For example, it is possible that God will direct an entrepreneur to have a significant portion (but not all) of her or his portfolio invested in the business that the person owns and operates. Nevertheless, for these entrepreneurs, it is important to obtain some element of biblical diversification, which will require that a significant portion of the balance of the portfolio be invested in relatively safe items, such as government bonds. In summary, it is critical to develop and implement a biblically-based investment strategy that reflects God’s specific will for your life. Previous Article Next Article More Topics Freedom from Financial Anxiety Read More Priorities Read More Counsel & Wisdom Read More

For someone who had had so much Kingdom impact and so much success you radiate the presence of God in your approachability... humility and it is a powerful gift. God richly bless you and your family Brother Copland. Back to Testimonials God richly bless you and your family Brother Copland For someone who had had so much Kingdom impact and so much success you radiate the presence of God in your approachability... humility and it is a powerful gift. God richly bless you and your family Brother Copland. K. J. P. Kitchener, Canada Previous Next

My husband and I have greatly benefited from the Debt Reduction CDs and DVDs for Businesses and Individuals. We thank you for your ministry and the impact it has had on our lives, our family, and people around us. We would like to make monthly donations to Copland Financial Ministries. Back to Testimonials We thank you for your ministry My husband and I have greatly benefited from the Debt Reduction CDs and DVDs for Businesses and Individuals. We thank you for your ministry and the impact it has had on our lives, our family, and people around us. We would like to make monthly donations to Copland Financial Ministries. Anonymous Previous Next

Many people believe that financial freedom will be obtained only when they have lots of money and material things. This is a deception from the world. God warns us: “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Back to Financial Deceptions Financial Freedom is Attained by Having Lots of Money By: Tom Copland June 14, 2020 Many people believe that financial freedom will be obtained only when they have lots of money and material things. This is a deception from the world. God warns us: “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Over the past 30 years, I have seen many wealthy people who have no peace in the area of finances. They are not “financially free.” They are stressed out by money-related problems, such as, Where should I invest my money? or, What if I lose my money? Sometimes they are workaholics with an unquenchable desire to accumulate more and more. Worry and anxiety dominate their minds in regard to money-related issues. True financial freedom comes only from having God’s peace and joy in the area of finances. To obtain God’s peace and joy in respect of finances, I believe that the following steps would be appropriate: 1. Believe that it is God’s truth that will set you free from the deceptions of this world. “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31, 32, emphasis added). 2. Recognize God’s truth that we are stewards of what God has entrusted to us. Our responsibility is to apply God’s financial principles and do God’s will. God’s promise is that if we put him first, he will meet our needs (Matthew 6:31–33). Once you have fulfilled your responsibility, you can “cast your cares on the Lord” (Psalm 55:22) and trust God to meet your needs. This should enable you to enjoy God’s peace. 3. With God’s help, learn to be content with God’s provision. The apostle Paul said, I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11–13, emphasis added) 4. Acknowledge that the accumulation of money and material things are temporary and not of any eternal value. (See Matthew 6:19–21.) In short, from an eternal perspective, God’s truth is that a selfish desire to become wealthy has no value. 5. Experience the joy of giving. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Giving with a cheerful heart and out of your love for God enables you to be free from the love of money and to experience the joy of giving. In summary, one of the deceptions of this world is that financial freedom comes from having lots of money and material things. True financial freedom comes only from having God’s peace, joy, and contentment in the area of finances. Previous Article Next Article More Topics The Joseph Principle Read More Co-Signing/Surety Read More Freedom from Financial Anxiety Read More

"I agree 100% with the principles and messages from Copland Ministries. Through the Financial Management process, you can fine tune your finances so that you are on the way to good financial health." Back to Testimonials I agree 100% with the principles and messages from Copland Ministries "I agree 100% with the principles and messages from Copland Ministries. Through the Financial Management process, you can fine tune your finances so that you are on the way to good financial health." T. S. Cebu, Philippines Previous Next

God’s Word warns of the dangers of signing surety, which includes a situation in which a company owner gives a personal guarantee for the company’s debt. Back to Co-Signing/Surety Avoiding Surety for Company By: Tom Copland June 14, 2020 God’s Word warns of the dangers of signing surety, which includes a situation in which a company owner gives a personal guarantee for the company’s debt. By refusing to give a personal guarantee for company debt, you will effectively protect your family’s assets, such as your home, retirement fund, etc. The objective is not to avoid paying your obligations, but rather to limit your risk and the potential negative consequences if something goes wrong. If you do not provide personal guarantees, and if the company does have a bad year, you will be in a much better negotiating position with your bank. Although financial institutions generally ask for personal guarantees, it is definitely possible to obtain a business bank loan without signing surety. If your company has a lot of debt, it may take a few years for you to convince the lender to release you from your personal guarantee. However, it is possible fundamentally because all things are possible with God, and it is clearly God’s desire that you do not sign surety. The following are some practical suggestions to avoid signing surety. 1. Build sufficient retained earnings in your company with the objective of negotiating the release of your personal guarantees. 2. Develop and implement a personal budget in order to minimize your salary from the company so that you are able to build the retained earnings of the company faster. 3. Another option is to obtain equity investors, who generally do not require personal guarantees because the nature of their investment is equity, not a loan. To do this, you will have to give up a portion of the ownership of your business. If your company has significant debt, the use of equity investors is a much safer way to finance your business. Also, when the company has a bad year, equity investors are your partners, who want to help, whereas a bank generally is focused on protecting its position. 4. Frankly, the best option is to develop and implement a plan to reduce and eliminate your company’s indebtedness. God warns of the dangers of borrowing (Proverbs 22:7), and every reference to borrowing in the Bible is a negative one. I firmly believe that the God of this universe does not need a bank in order for God to bless a business. Over the past 23 years, I have been blessed by God with the privilege of assisting approximately 200 businesses and families become debt-free both corporately and personally. Philippians 4:19 states, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Please note that it is God himself who promises to meet our needs—God does not need the bank. Previous Article Next Article More Topics Financial Deceptions Read More Freedom from Financial Anxiety Read More Investing Read More

Discover engaging workshops about financial management with our Finance Tutor. Join our featured workshop to enhance your financial skills today! Workshops Featured Workshop Featured Workshop Feb 15, 2021 webinar-Overview & Relationship With Spouse & God Play Video Feb 22, 2021-Session 2-God Wants Us To Discern His Will & Relationship With God Play Video March 1, 2021-Session 3- Learn to listen to God & Biblical Guidelines Play Video March 8 2021- Session 4-Challenges To Discerning God's Will & Tough Case Study Play Video Discerning God's Will In Managing Money Webinar Series (2021) Watch Now Share Whole Channel This Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Share Channel Info Close Discerning God's Will in Managing Money Webinar Series (2021) This webinar series covers the following topics: 1. Relationship with God & your spouse 2. God wants us to discern His Will 3. Learn to listen to God 4. Challenges to discerning God's Will Download the PDF course materials below. Download PDFs Oct. 19 and 26, 2025- Emmanuel Baptist Church Secular Person Versus Biblical Steward Watch Now June 8, 2024- Ajax Alliance Church This emphasize more on “Biblical Estate-Planning Russell and Eli Watch Now Sept. 30, 2023- Workshop This emphasize more on “Dealing with High Interest Rates and inflation from a Biblical Perspective”. Tom's Workshop at Parkway Watch Now July 19, 2023- Budgeting Tom's Zoom Webinar about Budgeting Watch Now Sept. 18- Oct. 9, 2022- Westney Baptist Church Dealing With Inflation, High Interest Rates From A Biblical Perspective And Eliminating Debt- Tom Copland and Pastor Don Symons Watch Now Oct. 31- Nov. 21, 2022 Workshop with Tom Copland Session of 1 of 4- What Can you Do to Deal with Inflation and High Interest Rates Watch Now Advanced Biblically-Based Estate Planning God's Word, the Bible, has phenomenal wisdom on finances. Watch Now Debt Reduction God's Way for Individuals God's promises and our stewardship responsibilities. Watch Now Biblical Instructions for Engaged Couples The Bible contains 500 verses on faith and 2,350 verses on money and material things. Watch Now Financial Management God's Way for Women The Bible contains about 500 verses on prayer, 500 verses on faith, and 2,350 verses that deal with money and material things. Clearly, God's Word has incredible wisdom for us in managing money! Watch Now Financial Management God's Way Webinar Are you experiencing God's peace in the area of finances? If not, you're probably not managing money God's way. Watch Now Financial Management & Debt Reduction Presented at Muskoka Bible Centre. Featuring Financial Management Impacts Relationship with Spouse and Debt Reduction God's Way. Watch Now Financial Management God's Way for Singles Paying down debt, saving for future needs, and balancing one's cash flow are often more difficult for single people compared to married couples with two incomes. Although the biblical principles are the same, the practical application of the biblical principles can be different for singles. Watch Now April 10, 2022- Budgeting The purpose of budgeting is to ensure that you spend less than you earn so that you have a surplus to pay down debt and save for future needs. A proper budgeting system will provide the “financial facts” needed in order to make wise decisions. Guesswork and "gut feel" decisions are very dangerous Watch Now April 23, 2022- Financial Management God's Way For Women Clearly God’s Word has incredible wisdom for us in managing money! But unfortunately most Christians have limited knowledge of what the Bible says on finances. Watch Now Featured Workshop 2

Jesus said, “If you have not been trustworthy in the handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? (Luke 16:11). I believe that many Christians assume that there is no connection between their spirituality and how they handle money. Back to Priorities Are you Pursuing God's True Riches? By: Tom Copland June 13, 2020 Jesus said, “If you have not been trustworthy in the handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? (Luke 16:11). I believe that many Christians assume that there is no connection between their spirituality and how they handle money. But in this verse, Jesus Christ is communicating that our faithfulness (or the lack thereof) in regard to money will significantly affect the extent to which God entrusts us with His “true riches.” I believe that God’s “true riches”—that is, the things that are really important to God—include the following: 1. A Close Personal Relationship with God. There is nothing more important in this life than our relationship with God. The Apostle Paul considered a relationship with Christ more valuable than everything else (Philippians 3:8). 2. God’s Peace. God has promised his peace when we are directed by His Spirit: “But the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). 3. God’s joy. God has promised us his joy when we are in His presence. Psalm 16:11 states, “In your presence is the fullness of joy” (NKJV). At first, it may be difficult to believe that faithful stewardship (or the lack thereof) with money would affect one’s relationship with God and one’s peace and joy. However, in Matthew 6:24, Jesus made it clear that money can be a serious competitor in our relationship with God: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Let me give you one common example of how our relationship with money affects our relationship with God. If an individual or couple are spending more than they earn on a monthly basis, then in due course, they will experience financial problems. Generally, people under significant financial stress will be focused on those problems, which will take up a lot of their time and energy. This will inadvertently affect their relationship with God. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). In addition, the anxiety that comes from financial problems and excessive debt will generally result in a lack of peace and joy in one’s life. I’ve never met anyone who was happy about missing a mortgage payment or car loan payment. In summary, your faithful stewardship of the money that God has trusted to you will enable you to enjoy God’s “true riches”—which include a close personal relationship with God, God’s peace, and God’s joy. Previous Article Next Article More Topics Investing Counsel & Wisdom Stewardship Principle Read More Read More Read More

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"Tom, my wife and I attended one of your workshops over 10 years ago when we were struggling with a crippling load of debt. We found the workshop extremely helpful and through your guidance and the principles you taught, and turning to God in complete trust of our situation, not only did. Back to Testimonials We found the workshop extremely helpful "Tom, my wife and I attended one of your workshops over 10 years ago when we were struggling with a crippling load of debt. We found the workshop extremely helpful and through your guidance and the principles you taught, and turning to God in complete trust of our situation, not only did. God eliminates our debt through incredible work opportunities for myself, but He has also provided us with the means to give back and support various ministries. This didn't happen overnight but over several years as God continued to teach us to rely on Him. From the start we were determined to give back even a very small tithe to Him, and our ability to tithe has grown as He continues to provide for us. When the last of our debt was gone, just prior to the start of the pandemic, we praised God that He answered our prayers. He is faithful! We felt led to make a donation to your ministry to thank you and encourage you because it was such a blessing to us, and we would like to see others benefit from your work. Thank you and thanks to everyone serving in your ministry. [Matthew 6:31-33].” TA Newmarket Ontario Previous Next

Statistics demonstrate that in more than 50 percent of instances when someone has co-signed, it is the cosigner, not the borrower, who ends up paying the loan. If you have already cosigned for a loan, I strongly recommend that you take the advice given by God to do everything possible to free yourself from the financial obligation related to cosigning. Back to Co-Signing/Surety What if you Have Already Co-Signed a Loan? By: Tom Copland June 14, 2020 Statistics demonstrate that in more than 50 percent of instances when someone has co-signed, it is the cosigner, not the borrower, who ends up paying the loan. If you have already cosigned for a loan, I strongly recommend that you take the advice given by God to do everything possible to free yourself from the financial obligation related to cosigning. Proverbs 6:1–5 states, My son, if you have put up security for your neighbour, if you have struck hands in pledge for another, if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, to free yourself,… press your plea with your neighbour! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. The words “have struck hands in pledge for another” mean that you have shaken hands confirming that you are responsible for the financial obligation of someone else. God’s Word is clear that if you have cosigned for someone else, you should do everything possible to free yourself from that responsibility. Here are some practical suggestions to do this. First, I recommend that you spend some quality time in prayer acknowledging that you have violated one of God’s principles and asking God to provide a way for you to free yourself from the “cosigning obligation.” In some cases, that will require a miracle from God. Next, I suggest that you approach the lender and see if it is possible to free yourself from the legal obligation. However, unless the borrower’s credit rating or assets have improved significantly since the loan was taken out, most lenders will not release a cosigner. Another option would be to see whether you can find another financial institution that would lend money to the borrower with no cosigner. Once this is accomplished, you could have the borrower use the funds from this loan to pay off the original loan that you co-signed. Generally, if a lending institution has requested a cosigner in the first place, there is a high probability that the borrower was not a good credit risk. Frequently, people are not a good credit risk because historically they have not managed their money well. If this is the case, you can certainly reduce your risk of being liable for the loan by encouraging and assisting the borrower in managing his or her finances. I strongly recommend the materials provided by Crown Financial Ministries (www.crown.org ), whose focus is to teach God’s Word on managing money. Previous Article Next Article More Topics Financial Deceptions Read More Freedom from Financial Anxiety Read More Investing Read More

I’m reading through that book by Tom Copland. Wow is it good and wow did I break so many principles of God! It’s very confusing as I thought this was the will of the Lord how it came about but he says at the beginning that Tom said God uses financial issues as trials as well. Back to Testimonials Financial Moments, Biblical Principles That Will Transform How You Manage Money Adam - I’m reading through that book by Tom Copland. Wow is it good and wow did I break so many principles of God! It’s very confusing as I thought this was the will of the Lord how it came about but he says at the beginning that Tom said God uses financial issues as trials as well - so many times it’s both but I did sin looking back . I admit that I made horrendous decisions, I will learn from them and not make the same errors in the future as the Lord brings income since if this was successful I would have taken on similar risks in future deals. Many lessons to take from this and he did change me in the process and save me from greater disaster as the business would not have been able to support everything I was trying to accomplish. Adam Previous Next