4 Seasons Podcast

Faith At The Center Of Wealth: Jeff Bingham Discusses Leading With Christian Conviction

• Jeff Bingham • Episode 20

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What Role Does God & Faith Play In The Mission Of B&H Wealth Strategies? 

Values shape every dollar we deploy, and Jeff Bingham opens up about how putting faith first changed the way we lead, invest, and care for families. From praying before client meetings to building plans that “aim all the way up,” we walk through what it looks like to blend conviction with technical excellence in financial planning and investment management.

We dive into biblically responsible investing as more than a screen—it’s a framework for aligning risk, returns, and purpose so clients can grow wealth without ignoring their conscience. Jeff explains how this approach fits into comprehensive planning, from retirement income strategies and tax-aware portfolios to legacy design that safeguards vulnerable heirs. When a family faces addiction or uneven responsibility among children, we talk candidly about using trusts to protect relationships, release funds wisely, and sustain healing over time.

This conversation also welcomes a broad spectrum of beliefs. You don’t need to share our faith to benefit from straight talk, rigorous analysis, and a commitment to do the right thing. Jeff shares his personal testimony of losing his sight, his mother, and his brother within months—and how that breaking led to lasting clarity and a different kind of leadership. If you’re looking for a financial advisor who treats wealth as a tool for good, who values integrity over convenience, and who shows up when decisions are hardest, this one will resonate.

If this speaks to you, subscribe, share with a friend who cares about values and money, and leave a review with the biggest question you want us to tackle next.

To learn more about B&H Wealth Strategies visit:
https://www.BHRetire.com
B&H Wealth Strategies
423- 247-1152

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Four Seasons Podcast, brought to you by BH Wealth Strategies, serving Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia since 1966. Here, we guide you through the ever-changing seasons of your financial journey, offering insights to help you grow, protect, and enjoy your wealth. Ready to turn your financial dreams into reality? Dare to dream. And now, here's your host, President of BH Wealth Strategy, Jeff Bingham.

SPEAKER_01:

Faith isn't just a value, it's a compass. In this episode, we explore how spiritual conviction shapes leadership, client care, and long-term vision at BH Wealth Strategies. Welcome back, everyone. Skip Monty here, co-host slash producer, back in the studio with president of BNH Wealth Strategies, Mr. Jeff Bingham. Jeff, how you been this week?

SPEAKER_02:

I've been very well. Skip, how you been?

SPEAKER_01:

Been been just fine, uh adjusting to the colder weather, which I'm not necessarily a large fan of, but uh, but I'm dealing with it. Yeah, yeah. It uh especially it seems the older you get, the harder it gets.

SPEAKER_02:

Um yeah, the bones and the the creakiness of your body certainly seems to uh to show up a lot more uh glaringly in the colder weather as it gets.

SPEAKER_01:

Indeed, it does. It does. Well, Jeff, always great to be with you. Um let's go ahead and dive into today's question, which is a really important one. Um, what role does God and faith play in the mission of B and H well strategies? We've touched on that a number of times, but I I'd love to hear hear more.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and um and and and thanks for that. And and I'll I'll try to introduce this without without going into too long of a try to get too preachy, I guess. That'd probably be the word I try to use as would be appropriate in what with the topic that we're talking about. Um, and we certainly have touched upon it, and I think we probably touch upon it in some shape, form, or fashion, and and or I should be in each of the podcasts that we go through. But you know, my journey uh to to faith has been, you know, i is uh is a bit unusual as I would say everybody's is because everybody has a story and a testimony to tell. But uh I I spent yeah, I was 63 years and 74 days old before uh I proclaimed that Jesus Christ was my Lord and Savior. So, you know, that in itself is a is a is a is a bit of a different story than most would hear out there. So, you know, I so I ran this practice, which I've been part of for almost 36 years now. Um, and I think that, but but in the spring of 2023, moving into certainly the latter part of 2023, by working with some other folks that uh in the in the ecosystem that I work in called Silver Oak Securities, which you'll see the disclaimers and all that throughout this, without going and talking about that, I was introduced to uh what we call biblically responsible investing. And these were just uh some some men and women that uh that just kind of introduced me to this, how this could play a role in a financial planning practice. And it just was, it just resonated with me. It just lit me up inside. I mean, I always, you know, I had just kind of, you know, lit had lit the divine spark that was in me after a long period of time. And I saw this platform that I've got in investing in financial planning and legacy planning uh as an opportunity to do that. And so I learned and listened to them for a period of time and then ventured into how would how could we, you know, transform our our practice, this this business that's been around for all these years, uh, into a faith-based practice. And and again, then that's not and and I understand that not everyone that listens to this podcast or that walks through my doors or is existing clients of mine uh and prospective clients of mine are going to fall into that category. Although, you know, in East Tennessee, I mean, we are certainly in a in a very uh, I would say Christian denominated part of the world here. We are in the, you know, we're the belt of the Bible, you know, the the buckle rather of of the Bible belt, arguably. Uh, and so it does resonate, you know, quite quite quite nicely across uh most of my clients, but not all. So we don't, you know, I'm not sitting here trying to force my faith down down anybody's throat. But anybody that will listen to me for any length of time will see that faith leads, uh, you know, I lead first with Jesus, uh, and uh and I see the world through a biblical lens, but I can also see it in from a secular standpoint as well. So I you know I can work through that because you know I dealt in the secular world for a long time. So I I get that part of it. This is a long, long-winding answer here, but um, but I think even for those that don't want to to venture into that, can see that that with with faith and focus in that, that I'm gonna come to you with with truth and honesty, and I'm gonna really try to get to understand my clients and make sure that I understand and that I'm aligning myself on the side of the table with them to what their goals, their dreams, their objectives are. And if that includes uh, you know, honoring the Lord, then we will work towards that, talk about how to make, you know, make a real impact with that. And so we've that that's a I'll I'll kind of leave it at that and let you ask a few questions there. But again, you know, when I come into a meeting, any meeting that I go into, I come in, I pray before I go into it that God will give me, you know, the that I have the knowledge because I've spent time in in this business and learned it, but that I also have the the wisdom and discernment to listen to my clients. And then when I make recommendations and I'm trying to lead them from where they are, where they want to go and how they want to get there, that uh I'm doing everything I can in the in the true, the good, and the beautiful to lead them along those lines. And I'm always aiming all the way up at the Lord when I'm making those recommendations.

SPEAKER_01:

So can you think of a a moment or a time when faith helped you navigate through a tough business decision?

SPEAKER_02:

And uh, I think there's a number of them. I need to be careful on how I on how which one, which one that I use right here. But uh, you know, I I deal with very sensitive client and confidential information that are, and many times we're dealing with life and death and children and things along those natures. And so, you know, my clients are leaning in on me on how to think about you know who they want to include. Let's say they have child, let's say they have children, they have two children as an example, and this has come across. One child is is completely responsible, has, you know, kind of has their their stuff together, right? They would trust them with leaving them, you know, their a large inheritance of money and trust them with that. And they've got another child that has struggled with, and the case that I'm thinking of here would be with just you know, basically growing up, but but addiction, you know, just wasteful with money. And if you leave them with a if they left them with a large sum of money, um, you know, they would they they would just they would ruin themselves. That's the that's the the fear uh of the parents that I'm dealing with right here. So first of all, that's such a difficult thing to be dealing with. So first we walk through and talk through those things about what's going on. And oftentimes, and in this case, you know, there's prayer involved in that with my clients, you know, praying for how to to navigate that, and then trying to determine, you know, not to not to to kind of alienate the the the two kids, right? Because they are close, they're siblings, you know, and one's gonna get you know kind of left with money and the other's gonna have strings attached. So how do you navigate that? And that's and that and that quite honestly, Skip, that takes a lot of um takes a lot of of compassion to try to understand that and try to help those clients, those, these parents, you know, deal with that and and try and then use the tools, right, that we have at our disposal to do that, which you can create uh with working with the appropriate uh attorneys and CPAs and various things, set up trusts. We talked about trusts a couple of podcasts ago, and and I often say that they are quite often used more often than than they need to be, perhaps. Uh, but there are times when they're needed, and this would be a case where uh where one would be needed to try to only allow the child that struggles with addiction and and money issues that we would be concerned about leaving them with is to put that in a way that that can only dole out money, right? Provide income in on a on an as needed basis in small things so they don't are just inundated with, you know, uh uh you know, half a million dollar inheritance or whatever the case may have been, but something like that, uh, you know, because you can, you know, half a million dollars, you can you can do a lot of good with a half a million dollars is just using that as a number, uh, but you can also ruin yourself really quickly with it and then have nothing left, even if you survive it, if you're so inclined to to you know have those addictive personalities, drugs, alcohol, et cetera. You can use that money to do a lot of good. And so hopefully what you're doing with that is you put this money in a trust and you deliver income distribution over a period of time to take care of the health, welfare, and maintenance of of this child, that they also can get help and you know, find their way through counseling or maybe through the church, you know, through turning their life over to Christ, uh, you know, finding finding a path through it, and then they can be good stewards with the money as they as they heal themselves through that. So that's you know, I've dealt with with a number of cases, not exactly like that, but but in situations like that, you know, and also, I mean, we, you know, I again I have a have a staff that we're dealing with here. Um, and I try to, you know, I try to minister, you know, and I'm in in a way, in a layman's way, uh, to them and try to understand them as they have family issues. Like we were talking a little bit off the air about your situation, and we were a week delayed in doing this recording session that we're doing, that you know, it's family first. And uh I was told, you know, I was told uh and I heard this in from my pastor, Tony Crisp, in a in a sermon, that the closest thing that, you know, maybe your family, and certainly your uh your staff when you're a business owner like myself, the closest thing they're gonna see uh to someone like Jesus is gonna be from you. And that's how you're gonna treat them and where your compassion and kindness comes from. Uh and it's a pretty heavy thing to put on, uh, but I think it is uh as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, I think it's my responsibility to do that. And as we all do as humans, I fall short of that every single day. I pray that I can be more like Jesus every day. That's how I start my day every day uh and try to pick up my cross and walk uphill with it, no matter how heavy it is. And as soon as I say those words, you know, I start, I fall, I begin to fall short in the next steps that I take. But I'm always walking up that hill and trying to trying to be that uh, you know, that, if you will, a role model, I guess, to to my clients, to my friends, to my family, so they can to see how as the world comes at me uh that I that I lean into faith and I don't walk away from it in any shape, form, or fashion ever. And that's my goal. So anyway, that was a long, that was a little preachy, sorry.

SPEAKER_01:

That's all right. Amen, brother. You got you got me wanting to say amen over here. I don't know if you run into this or not, but if you do, if you have, where you have clients that come in that maybe don't have the same beliefs, you know. Uh you mentioned we're in an area where we're predominantly Christian, you know, Christian area, but that's true. Um have you run into somebody who necessarily isn't, doesn't have the same beliefs, and how do you communicate your faith-based mission to them, I guess?

SPEAKER_02:

I think yeah, I mean, I I really I don't think it I don't think it gets in the way uh at all. I think that they can, you know, as long as they're not totally opposed to, you know, to a Christian like myself, right? And Christian, you know, Christian values and morals. I mean, regardless of whether, you know, you you have the the the same faith that I have, or you don't have faith at all, let's say, in or belief in God and in Jesus Christ, the morals and the values that are there are you know come across. And we all need to have that, a compass of those morals and those values. So that discernment that it gives me and that wisdom and that I'm coming through it from that lens doesn't change the fact that I'm sitting across the table from someone that doesn't have the same belief in the Lord that I have, but they know that I am coming at them with truth, with honesty, and that what I am going to put forward is my very, very best effort. I mean, I am going to give you the best that I have on any given day when I'm in here. And it may not be the best that I have, but I am trying to come up with the best that I have every day, and that and that I do answer to the highest. Uh, and that could be high, and that could be different. I know mine's mine is God, mine is Jesus Christ. Someone else's can be whatever it is, uh, but that as long as I'm aiming all the way up, I'm gonna give you the very best that I have. I'm on your side in this. I'm going to listen to you. I'm going to try to make sure that this is not a transactional relationship with you. I'm going to have a transformational relationship. And that means that you're basically going to be part of the BH family. And that that doesn't mean that you have to have the same belief system in the Lord and Christian, you know, uh values necessarily that I have, but that you'll know you're getting the very best from this firm every single day. We've been doing it for 60 years, and we didn't become a faith-based firm until you know it's probably not been two years now, a year and a half ago. So we were, you know, we were we were pretty good. We were pretty good at what we did, and I was pretty good at what I did before. I'm just telling you, and I'll tell anybody that wants to sit down and listen to me, I'm way better now than I ever was. And I have, you know, I've been doing this a long time, so I can't, you know, I don't want to sit here and sound like that I'm putting my ego and my pride in front of this, but I've been pretty good at what I've done for a long time, and I'm better now than I've ever been at doing it.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good. Very good to know. And you know, um, regardless of what someone's faith is, I think uh just the fact that your Christian values drive your business and drive honesty and and truth, um, that you're gonna do the right thing uh means a lot to people. Uh it certainly does to me when I'm doing business with somebody. And I'm a Christian, so um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, like I said, I mean, I it's you know, uh again, you you you just you you read your audience, right? You know, uh, but it doesn't mean that, you know, someone that doesn't believe, it doesn't mean that I'm not gonna show that I'm a Christian, because um, you know, if you and I and I do, uh, and I I I believe that the Bible is the the the word of God. And the word of God says that as Christians, you know, once we're saved, we're not done. Once we're saved, we are commissioned to go out and and disciple the world, right? I mean, we're called to do that. We're not to be silent about that. You know, again, I think that we are we we have to to do that with with discernment and discretion, but that doesn't mean that we can't also be loud and proud at the same time.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Well, Jeff, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this um and appreciate you sharing uh your perspective from uh very heart, heartfelt perspective. And uh, you know, appreciate your transparency and leadership. And by the way, it makes me proud to be a part of your team that uh uh is part of this organ to get the word out about you know financial investments, but also about the the good word. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and you can, you know, like I said, I mean, I I I as most of the listeners out there know, or new listeners that that might hear this, is that at the just to kind of give you an idea, I mean, I my my coming to faith. I mean, I would have told you that I was a Christian, you know, most of my life if people would have asked me. And I would kind of describe myself as an ESPN Christian, meaning that I knew enough about it to sit in meetings like this or in meetings with my clients, you know, I knew about the Bible. I was brought up in church, you know, brought up in the Presbyterian church, was buried in the Methodist church, and probably didn't really begin to and and and thought in some ways that was enough, right? That I was kind of there, that I didn't get it. But then as life kind of came at me and in a very uh, you know, life will come and we'll crush you at some point in time, right? I mean, I was very much a a me person. I controlled the strings of my life. And I had, you know, I had my brother Matt's dad was probably the person that I held at the highest. But humans are fragile and we and and we and we die and we go away, but the but the word never does, right? Jesus lives forever. And so I didn't know any of that, you know. And so in in a in a short time period in 2022, and I was saved on Palm Sunday, which was April 2nd, 2023. That's when I was saved. But I in in the summer of 2022, I lost my vision, I went, I lost, I lost my sight, I lost my mother, and I lost my brother all within a hundred day time period. And that just and that was that was more of life coming at me that I could tolerate, right? I mean, I just I was crushed. That was the crushing, you know, for those that follow the Bible, that was the crushing that took place. That was that was more, and I wanted, I didn't know I want to live. I wanted to, I wanted to end my life. Uh, I just didn't see any path forward. I lost all the strength that I had to turn to. My strength that I thought that I had, uh this resilience that was in me, I lost that because I'd lost my sight. I was now dependent on other, everybody else around me to do all, you know, I couldn't drive, I can't see, I can't do anything. I needed so many other people. And I had relied primarily on me and to, and when it got too much for me to handle it, I turned to to my brother John, Matt's father. That right there was was too much for me. And then, you know, by just basically a miracle and a chain of events that led me uh to the front of the church on that Palm Sunday when I was saved, uh, I mean, it just it it it changed it changed my life completely. Nothing in my life changed, but everything in my life changed, if it makes sense. And I think for those that that are of Christian uh belief understand what I just said right there. But I say all that to say I would not, you know, the the losing of my sight was God taking my sight away from me, so I would quit looking at the things of this world that I thought were so important that mattered more than anything. And he took that away and now he and it gave me perfect clarity. I wouldn't take I wouldn't trade in my vision or take my vision back now to go back to the life that I had before for anything in the world. He took my sight for a reason to give me clarity, and I will continue to to provide that testimony until the day I die.

SPEAKER_01:

Amen, brother. Jeff, thank you so much. Appreciate you sharing that with us. Uh uh basically your testimony. Appreciate that. And uh again, uh appreciate what you guys are doing at BH and uh glad to be a part of it. So thanks so much, and we will see you in the next one. Thanks, Kev.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for tuning in to the Four Seasons Podcast, brought to you by BH Wealth Strategies, where your financial success is our priority. Schedule your free 20-minute consultation today by calling 423-247-1152 or by visiting bhretire.com. Take the first step toward making your financial dreams come true. Until next time, remember every season is the right season to plan for your future. Securities and Registered Investment Advisory Services offered through Silver Oak Securities Inc. Member FINRA SIPC. BH1 Strategies and Silver Oak Securities Inc. are not affiliate.