September 29, 2025 • 23 mins
In this special 100th episode, Paul reflects on the incredible journey of Catholic Money Talk — the small beginnings, the faithful encouragement that sparked it, and the grace that’s carried it forward. Hear stories from listeners around the world, lessons from top episodes, and one simple challenge: start. Whatever dream or mission God has placed on your heart, the best time to begin is today.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Paul, Welcome to Catholic moneytalk, where we talk about all
things money and finance, and wetry to do it through a lens of
being Catholic, where ourultimate goal is to one day be
in Heaven with the Lord. I amyour host. Paul Scarfone, thank
you for being here today.
(00:22):
Welcome back to Catholic moneytalk
today. This is my 100th episode.
Well, not technically last timewas my 100th episode, but as
I've numbered them, the firstone being intro to Catholic
money. Talk just talking aboutwhat I was hoping to do. Then I
(00:44):
numbered them. I startednumbering them after that one.
So this is number 100 and itdoes cause me to stop and pause
and think about all that I'vedone, but not just what I've
done, but what I started with.
And I hope this can serve as anencouragement to others. So
that's my thought today, toencourage you to start whatever
(01:06):
thing that is that you've beenputting off and to go for it.
But before we talk about that,let's say a prayer in the name
of the Father and of the Son ofthe Holy Spirit. Amen, Heavenly
Father. We thank you for thisday. We thank you for all the
ways that you love and bless us,Lord.
Lord, we know that you have anawesome plan for us,
(01:28):
and your hope, your wish, is forus to respond to you in
everything we do. Lord, to say,Yes, Lord, what are we going to
do today? I'm here to serve you,Lord, just fill us with great
courage and diligence pursuingyou. We ask this all in Jesus
name, amen, in the name of theFather and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, it'sfunny every time I load a new
(01:52):
episode, and I, several monthsago, I changed everything to
have numbers, because when Irefer episodes to people when
I'm talking to someone, or maybeemailing them or having a
conversation, it's very helpfulto be able to say, Hey, listen
to episode it's helpful to beable to say, hey, you have
(02:14):
questions about savingeffectively for retirement.
Listen to Episode 81 right? AndI can just give them the episode
number, and they can find itpretty quickly. Pretty quickly
or or look at episode 59 abouthow faithful the Lord is, right?
So I numbered them, and so whenI got to 100 it made me like
(02:36):
triple digits. Whoa. That'sreally cool. But years and years
and years ago, when I firststarted helping people with
finances in this way, right onmy on my own, not working at the
bank, but trying to put a faithlens on answering people's
financial questions and helpingthem just create plans and
execute their plans to achievethe goals that they've
(02:58):
prayerfully discerned. My goodfriend Justin Anderson,
encouraged me and said, Paul,you should have a podcast. Like,
there's not a lot of Catholics.
There's no Catholics that areout there doing this. Like,
there's Catholic people that aretalking about finances, but
there's not one that's putting alot of emphasis looking at all
these transactions from a faithperspective, right? And for so
(03:21):
many of us, we, we find itawkward or challenging for faith
and finances to intersect. We,we like them to stay in their
own lanes, right? And this iswhat we do here. You know, I
love to say, Why did God make usto know Him, love Him and serve
Him in this life so we could behappy with him forever in the
next but how do we do that withour finances? Right? We want to
(03:43):
make Jesus the Lord of ourfinances, and that's what my
hope is, to help you do that.
And Justin encouraged me to dosomething like that. It took me
a while. This is not somethingI'm good at, like the tech part,
the editing part, the hostingpart, the posting part, all of
(04:06):
that. It's, it's, it's, it's achallenge for me. And I see
other podcasts or YouTubechannels or different things
that happen, they look veryprofessional and polished, and
I'm just that's not my gift set.
I don't think like the soundengineer, right? That's not how
my brain works. But I rememberwhen I finally said, You know
(04:29):
what, let me just do it. Let mejust do it. And and that was
almost three years ago, inJanuary. It'll be three years.
And when I think about it, I'mso grateful I just started one
of my favorite little sayingsis, when's the best time to
plant a tree? Right? 20 yearsago, the second best time is
(04:54):
right now, because that's all wehave. All we. Have us right now.
We can't go back, and we're notpromised tomorrow. All we have
is right now. And so when we wetake advantage, when we initiate
those things that are put on ourheart and we actually start
working on them, it's fun. Astime goes by, we look back and
(05:16):
we look at everything we've beenable to accomplish right and not
by our own strength, but byGod's grace. We look back and we
say, wow, look at everythinghe's been able to allow me to
do. It's pretty cool. And sowhen I scroll and I see 100
episodes going down my episodelist, that's pretty remarkable.
(05:38):
I thought, let me, if you're alistener, let me tell you a
little bit about the podcast. Soagain, started it a little over
two and a half years ago. It wasJanuary of 2023 and again, a big
encouragement with JustinAnderson, Dr Justin Anderson and
(05:58):
my wife Taryn. They were the twopeople that really encouraged me
to do this. And one of the otherreasons I did this as well a
good friend of mine would hadbeen said, Hey, do you ever
think of writing a book? And Istarted looking into writing a
book, and it's hard for me tosit down to start typing 2000
words a week. For 20 weeks, youhave 4000 words, and now you can
(06:20):
write a book. I thought, if Istart a podcast, there's a lot
of ways to go from a podcast toa book, and the podcast makes it
pretty clean chapters, right? Sothat's something to project I'm
working on in the background,hopefully coming to you soon.
We'll see. I'm going to try toget it done through a
traditional publisher, so we'llsee how that goes. But, but
(06:41):
praise the Lord. A lot of workhas been into this, a lot of
prayer and thought, and my goalfrom the beginning was just to
serve people, right? I don'tsometimes I'll miss a week. I'll
skip a week from putting up anepisode, and part of that's
because I don't get paid to dothis. I'm just doing this to try
to hopefully help you find thepeace and joy that we have found
(07:03):
by making Jesus Lord of ourfinances. And how do we tackle
those, those decisions,financial decisions,
transactions. How do we do it,looking through it all, through
our faith lines, right where ourultimate goal is to get to
heaven. So that's what I'mtrying to do here, and I hope
you're encouraged by it. So whatdo we have? We have so episodes,
(07:25):
100 right? Technically, 101 sowhat are some other stats from
the podcast? Well, over the pasttwo and a half years, we've had,
oh, over 6000downloads. I'll get the exact
number here. We've got 6874downloads, which is pretty cool,
each month. I get between 203100 352 is the most downloads we
(07:51):
ever got a month. But between203 152 we get more and more
each month. So that's, that'sexciting location. So this is
pretty, pretty cool. So I'm inNew Jersey in the United States,
which is in North America. Wehave downloads in six
(08:12):
continents. We've got our topone is North America. 84% of the
downloads are there and thentied for 6% but Europe and Asia.
Europe edges Asia out by alittle bit more, but it still
shows up as they each got 6% andthen Oceania Well, Australia is
what says on my little screenhere, Australia 2% with Africa
(08:38):
and South America also have somedownloads. So I guess anywhere
where people speak English,they'll they'll find me, or be
able to listen to me. I wassurprised by the the countries,
so us obviously not surprised.
But the next one wasn't likeCanada. Is way down on the list.
(09:03):
The next one's Australia,Singapore and Germany. And most
of Germany is coming from onecity, Frankfurt, Omen, Hesse. I
think that I said the name ofthat city correctly, but thank
(09:25):
you for listening. In Germany,it's pretty cool. Also had some
comments and feedback frompeople over the years, which is
really cool. Tania said fromEpisode 66 trusting in God and
be generous. Yes, God sees theheart, and trusting in Him is
key. Thank you, Paul. Let's see.
We've got, oh, Fran, Episode 27I know who that is. Great
(09:49):
insight. Thanks, Fran. And thenlet's see. We've got some other
some comments. One was from, I.
Lisa, back in April, she sent mesomething. We actually did a
podcast on it, but she found theshow her and her husband,
they're in their 50s, thinkingabout retirement, and she was
(10:12):
asking if that would be an areathat we think of, considering
they had raised seven children,home schooled them, stay at
home, mom, living on a teacher'sincome, and they know how to
live frugally, but they weretrying to figure out the balance
between working workingthemselves to death or having
enough money in retirement, sobasically, doing it on their own
or doing their best, and alsotrusting God. And we did talk
(10:36):
about that a couple episodesago. I had Anthony from
Australia. I'm a Catholic dad inAustralia with seven children.
Just listen to episode one aftersearching on Spotify for money.
Mindset Catholic. Really lovethe perspective of praying about
finances and making decisions inthe light of God's will and His
(10:58):
providence. Thank you, Anthony.
So there's some encouragements.
There might be some otherplatforms that have some
comments on them, but I don't, Idon't know how to get to them.
We've got a bunch of thumbs upsfrom different people. So thank
you all for that. And I want tothank the different guests I've
had. I've had Justin Anderson,Dr Justin Anderson a couple
(11:19):
times, my wife Taryn, a coupletimes. I had Dave and Judy two
Hill. I had Rob Lang. I had, Ithink that's it. So I could, I
could look into getting moreguests, and I'm going to work on
doing that, hopefully, hopefullyto help us with some of the I
get some experts. I'd love toget an investment expert with a
(11:40):
Catholic perspective oninvesting, and ask them some
questions, as well as maybe arealtor or someone from the
insurance world. I feel likesometimes we just want to be
well prepared for when we'retalking with financial
professionals. Sometimes wedon't feel like we're very
prepared to have theconversation. We kind of take
(12:01):
the seat of they're the expert.
Let me sit back and kind of letthem lead. But really, the Lord
has whatever we have. The Lordhas blessed us with it as
stewards, and so we want to makesure we're well educated and
well equipped to have differentdiscussions and conversations,
to be able to make Jesus Lord ofour finances, not just handing
the reins over to someone elsewho might have gotten licensed
(12:23):
or went to school for somethingwe we need to still take the
initiative and ownershipof the stewardship role that
Christ has given us.
So I started this by saying Iwas surprised 100 episodes, and
here we are. I remember when Ifirst started, one by one,
(12:44):
right, trying to get somethingup close to each week and and it
was a lot more work than Ioriginally had thought. I had
some great ideas to start. Andthen, you know, at different
times, there's been streams ofideas, maybe a series of two or
three or seven,you know, goal setting,
or whatever it might be, justdifferent short series that came
(13:07):
in pretty good bursts, and othertimes just trying to think like,
Lord, what do you want to put onmy heart for me to talk about
I've been inspired by massreadings, by homilies, by some
currentaffairs, or, you know, just news
current,current news items that might
(13:28):
have prompted me to create anepisode, and then just examples
of different people I've workedwith, or people or situations in
my own life that have kind ofdrawn me to elaborate on them
and try to share some of therevelations I find with you
here. So I hope this has beenhelpful, having this podcast and
(13:53):
creating these episodes for you,and I thought it could be fun to
maybe highlight some of the topdownloaded episodes, which I'm
guessing most people find, orpeople find the most helpful. So
the most downloaded episode isactually episode one, and it's
(14:14):
titled a first look intoopportunity costs, and that's
really I started with that one,because I think it's really,
really important for saying yesto this. What are we saying no
to the second most popularepisode is just intro to
Catholic money. Talk talkingabout what we do here. And I
think most people, whateverepisode they come in on and find
(14:37):
the show, I think they, many ofthem, go back and download that
first episode just to see whatit's all about. The third most
popular episode is episode 26three questions to ask before
making a large purchase. Andwhen I think about this episode,
it makes sense that it's thereand. Because most people, when
(14:59):
they see me, call me, email me,they have a question. It's
usually having to do with alarge financial transaction. And
so I think people kind ofgravitate towards that, ooh,
what could be the threequestions that we need to ask
before we make a large purchase.
(15:21):
So if you want, if you want toknow the answer to that
question, it is episode 26 thenepisode 27 actually is the
fourth most popular one, andthat is the desire for stuff.
And maybe people listen toepisode 26 and then immediately
just download the next one aswell. But the desire for stuff.
(15:42):
Really talks about, what is ourlike? What is our goal? It's our
goal to get to heaven, or is ourgoal to get the newest shiniest
thing? And the love of things ofthis earth will keep us from
getting to heaven. And so wetalk about that and how to
balance that and discern that.
The fifth most popular episodeis identifying lifestyle creep.
(16:03):
Most people I meet with and whenI look in the mirror, right the
guy I see in the mirror, theyall struggle with this,
including myself, lifestylecreep, when we have a few extra
dollars, does it get consumedinto our lifestyle? Are we able
to kind of keep a tight ship andput those money towards
(16:25):
something that the Lord'scalling us to? So episode two,
identifying lifestyle creep. Andthen just next in the ranking or
two down is episode three,addressing lifestyle creep. So
once we identify it. What are wegoing to do about it? And that's
what that next episode is. So ifyou're if you think lifestyle
creep is been kind of causingyou some pain, episodes two and
(16:48):
three, identifying lifestylecreep and addressing lifestyle
creep. The one in between thosein our sixth spot, our sixth
most popular episode is how tolive below your means, and that
is episode nine that's going tohelp balance lifestyle creep, if
you're if one of your goals isto live below your means, to
(17:10):
create excess, to do otherthings with, to be outrageously
generous, or maybe to plan forthe future or tackle some of
these goals, right? I've talkedabout the goal that Taryn and I
had the reason to live below ourmeans are so we could pay off
our house early. Now that's paidoff, we have extra money that we
can be generous with andaccomplish other things with.
(17:33):
It's really it's really freeing.
The eighth most popular episodeis God's generosity, and that in
that episode, it's one of myfavorites. I just talk about
this aha moment right where itjust dawns on me that as humans,
we like to make deals. I giveyou this, you give me that. But
(17:56):
with the Lord, he just gives. Hejust gives because he's so
generous. And if we're made inGod's image and likeness, that
means we're called to be thatgenerous as well. So that's a
good Wake Up Call if we're moreused to finding, you know, give
and take. No, it's just give.
Whether we're in a marriage, itshould be just give. It's not
give and take. It's just give.
(18:19):
If we're serving others, orparenting or watching. It's just
give. And that is episode number28 the ninth most downloaded
episode is the importance ofprayer, and it's one of the
greatest gifts. That's EpisodeFive. It's one of the greatest
gifts my dad gave me. One of hislegacies is pray before
(18:40):
everything. Why? Because that'show you surrender that moment to
God, right? If we're trying tosurrender our finances to the
Lord, make him Lord of ourfinances. We do that with
prayer, the way we make gooddecisions. We do with prayer. If
we're going to start ourhomework, if we can start work,
if we're going to get ready tomake a proposal in our work,
(19:00):
right in our job, getting readyfor an interview. Start with a
prayer, just in your mind. Lord,let this be part of the you
know, I'm going to put forth mybest effort. Lord, if this be
your plan, let this go smoothly.
Let me have success. And thenthe 10th most popular episode,
Episode 59 the Lord is faithful.
And that is just a moment for meto look back and say, Wow, year
(19:24):
over year, season upon season,the Lord comes through because
he's faithful. And if we're inthe midst of a storm, we need to
remember that right? That is therock that our hope is built
upon, that Christ died for us sothat we could live with Him
forever, and he walks with us.
(19:45):
He's constantly with us, besideus, because he's faithful. So
those are the top 10, right. SoI'll just rattle them off again.
First one is episode one. I'lllook into opportunity costs.
Second one intro to Catholicmoney. Talk. That's kind of
episode zero, I guess. Episode26 three questions to ask before
(20:05):
making a large purchase. Episode27 the desire for stuff. Episode
Two, identifying lifestylecreep. Episode Nine, how to live
below your means. Episode Three,addressing lifestyle creep.
Episode 28 God's generosity.
Episode Five, the importance ofprayer. And episode 59 the Lord
is faithful.
(20:26):
He certainly is. And Iremember starting this podcast,
I would look, how would I evercreate that many that would
actually people would actuallyfind helpful? And fortunately,
through just putting a stake inthe ground, saying, This is what
I'm going to do throughdiligence and prayer and
remembering that this isn'tabout me just trying to vent or
(20:52):
air out something. I'm reallytrying to provide a way to help
others, as broadly as I think Ican, while reminding people like
we're trying to get to heaven.
And as much as finances might beeasier, harder, difficult,
scary, challenging, whatever itmight be, it's still something
(21:15):
we have to be responsible with.
And so it's still part of ourjourney towards heaven, how we
manage our finances and sotrying to tackle those things
with that lens, hopefully I'mhelping to draw you closer to
the Lord and encourage you as wego. So thank you for being a
listeners. Thank you forlistening. Please continue to
share the podcast with peoplethat you might think would find
(21:38):
it helpful. And again, whateverthing you're in life that you're
maybe looking at that you'retrying to think like, I should
start that. Maybe I should dosomething about this. I just
say, start, start today. We havetoday, and just trust the Lord
that he'll keep it going andyou'll find a path forward.
(22:00):
That's what I've been able to dowith this podcast. It's not a,
you know, I'm not on anybody'stop whatever list, right? I'm
not on the top 100 or probably1000 or 10,000 I don't even
know. I don't even know. But ifyou're listening to it, I'm on a
list for you, right? Maybe I'min your downloaded or subscribed
(22:21):
podcast, and hopefully you'refinding value, hopefully you're
finding peace, hopefully you'refinding hope and encouragement
here. So thank you forlistening. I'm very grateful for
all the support from all overthe world. And what I'm what I'm
(22:45):
trying to do just bring Christto others by making him Lord of
your finances. So if you've gotany questions, please click the
Get in touch with Paul link inthe podcast episode. Shoot me a
shoot me an email, shoot me aquestion. Offer a line of
(23:06):
encouragement. I greatlyappreciate it. Thank you for
listening. God bless.
Thank you for listening toCatholic money talk. I hope you
join us again next time, pleaseclick Subscribe on your podcast
(23:27):
app to get notified of newepisodes. God bless you and have
a great day. Foreign.
Paul, Welcome to Catholic moneytalk, where we talk about all
things money and finance, and wetry to do it through a lens of
being Catholic, where ourultimate goal is to one day be
in Heaven with the Lord. I amyour host. Paul Scarfone, thank
you for being here today.
(00:22):
Welcome back to Catholic moneytalk
today. This is my 100th episode.
Well, not technically last timewas my 100th episode, but as
I've numbered them, the firstone being intro to Catholic
money. Talk just talking aboutwhat I was hoping to do. Then I
(00:44):
numbered them. I startednumbering them after that one.
So this is number 100 and itdoes cause me to stop and pause
and think about all that I'vedone, but not just what I've
done, but what I started with.
And I hope this can serve as anencouragement to others. So
that's my thought today, toencourage you to start whatever
(01:06):
thing that is that you've beenputting off and to go for it.
But before we talk about that,let's say a prayer in the name
of the Father and of the Son ofthe Holy Spirit. Amen, Heavenly
Father. We thank you for thisday. We thank you for all the
ways that you love and bless us,Lord.
Lord, we know that you have anawesome plan for us,
(01:28):
and your hope, your wish, is forus to respond to you in
everything we do. Lord, to say,Yes, Lord, what are we going to
do today? I'm here to serve you,Lord, just fill us with great
courage and diligence pursuingyou. We ask this all in Jesus
name, amen, in the name of theFather and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, it'sfunny every time I load a new
(01:52):
episode, and I, several monthsago, I changed everything to
have numbers, because when Irefer episodes to people when
I'm talking to someone, or maybeemailing them or having a
conversation, it's very helpfulto be able to say, Hey, listen
to episode it's helpful to beable to say, hey, you have
(02:14):
questions about savingeffectively for retirement.
Listen to Episode 81 right? AndI can just give them the episode
number, and they can find itpretty quickly. Pretty quickly
or or look at episode 59 abouthow faithful the Lord is, right?
So I numbered them, and so whenI got to 100 it made me like
(02:36):
triple digits. Whoa. That'sreally cool. But years and years
and years ago, when I firststarted helping people with
finances in this way, right onmy on my own, not working at the
bank, but trying to put a faithlens on answering people's
financial questions and helpingthem just create plans and
execute their plans to achievethe goals that they've
(02:58):
prayerfully discerned. My goodfriend Justin Anderson,
encouraged me and said, Paul,you should have a podcast. Like,
there's not a lot of Catholics.
There's no Catholics that areout there doing this. Like,
there's Catholic people that aretalking about finances, but
there's not one that's putting alot of emphasis looking at all
these transactions from a faithperspective, right? And for so
(03:21):
many of us, we, we find itawkward or challenging for faith
and finances to intersect. We,we like them to stay in their
own lanes, right? And this iswhat we do here. You know, I
love to say, Why did God make usto know Him, love Him and serve
Him in this life so we could behappy with him forever in the
next but how do we do that withour finances? Right? We want to
(03:43):
make Jesus the Lord of ourfinances, and that's what my
hope is, to help you do that.
And Justin encouraged me to dosomething like that. It took me
a while. This is not somethingI'm good at, like the tech part,
the editing part, the hostingpart, the posting part, all of
(04:06):
that. It's, it's, it's, it's achallenge for me. And I see
other podcasts or YouTubechannels or different things
that happen, they look veryprofessional and polished, and
I'm just that's not my gift set.
I don't think like the soundengineer, right? That's not how
my brain works. But I rememberwhen I finally said, You know
(04:29):
what, let me just do it. Let mejust do it. And and that was
almost three years ago, inJanuary. It'll be three years.
And when I think about it, I'mso grateful I just started one
of my favorite little sayingsis, when's the best time to
plant a tree? Right? 20 yearsago, the second best time is
(04:54):
right now, because that's all wehave. All we. Have us right now.
We can't go back, and we're notpromised tomorrow. All we have
is right now. And so when we wetake advantage, when we initiate
those things that are put on ourheart and we actually start
working on them, it's fun. Astime goes by, we look back and
(05:16):
we look at everything we've beenable to accomplish right and not
by our own strength, but byGod's grace. We look back and we
say, wow, look at everythinghe's been able to allow me to
do. It's pretty cool. And sowhen I scroll and I see 100
episodes going down my episodelist, that's pretty remarkable.
(05:38):
I thought, let me, if you're alistener, let me tell you a
little bit about the podcast. Soagain, started it a little over
two and a half years ago. It wasJanuary of 2023 and again, a big
encouragement with JustinAnderson, Dr Justin Anderson and
(05:58):
my wife Taryn. They were the twopeople that really encouraged me
to do this. And one of the otherreasons I did this as well a
good friend of mine would hadbeen said, Hey, do you ever
think of writing a book? And Istarted looking into writing a
book, and it's hard for me tosit down to start typing 2000
words a week. For 20 weeks, youhave 4000 words, and now you can
(06:20):
write a book. I thought, if Istart a podcast, there's a lot
of ways to go from a podcast toa book, and the podcast makes it
pretty clean chapters, right? Sothat's something to project I'm
working on in the background,hopefully coming to you soon.
We'll see. I'm going to try toget it done through a
traditional publisher, so we'llsee how that goes. But, but
(06:41):
praise the Lord. A lot of workhas been into this, a lot of
prayer and thought, and my goalfrom the beginning was just to
serve people, right? I don'tsometimes I'll miss a week. I'll
skip a week from putting up anepisode, and part of that's
because I don't get paid to dothis. I'm just doing this to try
to hopefully help you find thepeace and joy that we have found
(07:03):
by making Jesus Lord of ourfinances. And how do we tackle
those, those decisions,financial decisions,
transactions. How do we do it,looking through it all, through
our faith lines, right where ourultimate goal is to get to
heaven. So that's what I'mtrying to do here, and I hope
you're encouraged by it. So whatdo we have? We have so episodes,
(07:25):
100 right? Technically, 101 sowhat are some other stats from
the podcast? Well, over the pasttwo and a half years, we've had,
oh, over 6000downloads. I'll get the exact
number here. We've got 6874downloads, which is pretty cool,
each month. I get between 203100 352 is the most downloads we
(07:51):
ever got a month. But between203 152 we get more and more
each month. So that's, that'sexciting location. So this is
pretty, pretty cool. So I'm inNew Jersey in the United States,
which is in North America. Wehave downloads in six
(08:12):
continents. We've got our topone is North America. 84% of the
downloads are there and thentied for 6% but Europe and Asia.
Europe edges Asia out by alittle bit more, but it still
shows up as they each got 6% andthen Oceania Well, Australia is
what says on my little screenhere, Australia 2% with Africa
(08:38):
and South America also have somedownloads. So I guess anywhere
where people speak English,they'll they'll find me, or be
able to listen to me. I wassurprised by the the countries,
so us obviously not surprised.
But the next one wasn't likeCanada. Is way down on the list.
(09:03):
The next one's Australia,Singapore and Germany. And most
of Germany is coming from onecity, Frankfurt, Omen, Hesse. I
think that I said the name ofthat city correctly, but thank
(09:25):
you for listening. In Germany,it's pretty cool. Also had some
comments and feedback frompeople over the years, which is
really cool. Tania said fromEpisode 66 trusting in God and
be generous. Yes, God sees theheart, and trusting in Him is
key. Thank you, Paul. Let's see.
We've got, oh, Fran, Episode 27I know who that is. Great
(09:49):
insight. Thanks, Fran. And thenlet's see. We've got some other
some comments. One was from, I.
Lisa, back in April, she sent mesomething. We actually did a
podcast on it, but she found theshow her and her husband,
they're in their 50s, thinkingabout retirement, and she was
(10:12):
asking if that would be an areathat we think of, considering
they had raised seven children,home schooled them, stay at
home, mom, living on a teacher'sincome, and they know how to
live frugally, but they weretrying to figure out the balance
between working workingthemselves to death or having
enough money in retirement, sobasically, doing it on their own
or doing their best, and alsotrusting God. And we did talk
(10:36):
about that a couple episodesago. I had Anthony from
Australia. I'm a Catholic dad inAustralia with seven children.
Just listen to episode one aftersearching on Spotify for money.
Mindset Catholic. Really lovethe perspective of praying about
finances and making decisions inthe light of God's will and His
(10:58):
providence. Thank you, Anthony.
So there's some encouragements.
There might be some otherplatforms that have some
comments on them, but I don't, Idon't know how to get to them.
We've got a bunch of thumbs upsfrom different people. So thank
you all for that. And I want tothank the different guests I've
had. I've had Justin Anderson,Dr Justin Anderson a couple
(11:19):
times, my wife Taryn, a coupletimes. I had Dave and Judy two
Hill. I had Rob Lang. I had, Ithink that's it. So I could, I
could look into getting moreguests, and I'm going to work on
doing that, hopefully, hopefullyto help us with some of the I
get some experts. I'd love toget an investment expert with a
(11:40):
Catholic perspective oninvesting, and ask them some
questions, as well as maybe arealtor or someone from the
insurance world. I feel likesometimes we just want to be
well prepared for when we'retalking with financial
professionals. Sometimes wedon't feel like we're very
prepared to have theconversation. We kind of take
(12:01):
the seat of they're the expert.
Let me sit back and kind of letthem lead. But really, the Lord
has whatever we have. The Lordhas blessed us with it as
stewards, and so we want to makesure we're well educated and
well equipped to have differentdiscussions and conversations,
to be able to make Jesus Lord ofour finances, not just handing
the reins over to someone elsewho might have gotten licensed
(12:23):
or went to school for somethingwe we need to still take the
initiative and ownershipof the stewardship role that
Christ has given us.
So I started this by saying Iwas surprised 100 episodes, and
here we are. I remember when Ifirst started, one by one,
(12:44):
right, trying to get somethingup close to each week and and it
was a lot more work than Ioriginally had thought. I had
some great ideas to start. Andthen, you know, at different
times, there's been streams ofideas, maybe a series of two or
three or seven,you know, goal setting,
or whatever it might be, justdifferent short series that came
(13:07):
in pretty good bursts, and othertimes just trying to think like,
Lord, what do you want to put onmy heart for me to talk about
I've been inspired by massreadings, by homilies, by some
currentaffairs, or, you know, just news
current,current news items that might
(13:28):
have prompted me to create anepisode, and then just examples
of different people I've workedwith, or people or situations in
my own life that have kind ofdrawn me to elaborate on them
and try to share some of therevelations I find with you
here. So I hope this has beenhelpful, having this podcast and
(13:53):
creating these episodes for you,and I thought it could be fun to
maybe highlight some of the topdownloaded episodes, which I'm
guessing most people find, orpeople find the most helpful. So
the most downloaded episode isactually episode one, and it's
(14:14):
titled a first look intoopportunity costs, and that's
really I started with that one,because I think it's really,
really important for saying yesto this. What are we saying no
to the second most popularepisode is just intro to
Catholic money. Talk talkingabout what we do here. And I
think most people, whateverepisode they come in on and find
(14:37):
the show, I think they, many ofthem, go back and download that
first episode just to see whatit's all about. The third most
popular episode is episode 26three questions to ask before
making a large purchase. Andwhen I think about this episode,
it makes sense that it's thereand. Because most people, when
(14:59):
they see me, call me, email me,they have a question. It's
usually having to do with alarge financial transaction. And
so I think people kind ofgravitate towards that, ooh,
what could be the threequestions that we need to ask
before we make a large purchase.
(15:21):
So if you want, if you want toknow the answer to that
question, it is episode 26 thenepisode 27 actually is the
fourth most popular one, andthat is the desire for stuff.
And maybe people listen toepisode 26 and then immediately
just download the next one aswell. But the desire for stuff.
(15:42):
Really talks about, what is ourlike? What is our goal? It's our
goal to get to heaven, or is ourgoal to get the newest shiniest
thing? And the love of things ofthis earth will keep us from
getting to heaven. And so wetalk about that and how to
balance that and discern that.
The fifth most popular episodeis identifying lifestyle creep.
(16:03):
Most people I meet with and whenI look in the mirror, right the
guy I see in the mirror, theyall struggle with this,
including myself, lifestylecreep, when we have a few extra
dollars, does it get consumedinto our lifestyle? Are we able
to kind of keep a tight ship andput those money towards
(16:25):
something that the Lord'scalling us to? So episode two,
identifying lifestyle creep. Andthen just next in the ranking or
two down is episode three,addressing lifestyle creep. So
once we identify it. What are wegoing to do about it? And that's
what that next episode is. So ifyou're if you think lifestyle
creep is been kind of causingyou some pain, episodes two and
(16:48):
three, identifying lifestylecreep and addressing lifestyle
creep. The one in between thosein our sixth spot, our sixth
most popular episode is how tolive below your means, and that
is episode nine that's going tohelp balance lifestyle creep, if
you're if one of your goals isto live below your means, to
(17:10):
create excess, to do otherthings with, to be outrageously
generous, or maybe to plan forthe future or tackle some of
these goals, right? I've talkedabout the goal that Taryn and I
had the reason to live below ourmeans are so we could pay off
our house early. Now that's paidoff, we have extra money that we
can be generous with andaccomplish other things with.
(17:33):
It's really it's really freeing.
The eighth most popular episodeis God's generosity, and that in
that episode, it's one of myfavorites. I just talk about
this aha moment right where itjust dawns on me that as humans,
we like to make deals. I giveyou this, you give me that. But
(17:56):
with the Lord, he just gives. Hejust gives because he's so
generous. And if we're made inGod's image and likeness, that
means we're called to be thatgenerous as well. So that's a
good Wake Up Call if we're moreused to finding, you know, give
and take. No, it's just give.
Whether we're in a marriage, itshould be just give. It's not
give and take. It's just give.
(18:19):
If we're serving others, orparenting or watching. It's just
give. And that is episode number28 the ninth most downloaded
episode is the importance ofprayer, and it's one of the
greatest gifts. That's EpisodeFive. It's one of the greatest
gifts my dad gave me. One of hislegacies is pray before
(18:40):
everything. Why? Because that'show you surrender that moment to
God, right? If we're trying tosurrender our finances to the
Lord, make him Lord of ourfinances. We do that with
prayer, the way we make gooddecisions. We do with prayer. If
we're going to start ourhomework, if we can start work,
if we're going to get ready tomake a proposal in our work,
(19:00):
right in our job, getting readyfor an interview. Start with a
prayer, just in your mind. Lord,let this be part of the you
know, I'm going to put forth mybest effort. Lord, if this be
your plan, let this go smoothly.
Let me have success. And thenthe 10th most popular episode,
Episode 59 the Lord is faithful.
And that is just a moment for meto look back and say, Wow, year
(19:24):
over year, season upon season,the Lord comes through because
he's faithful. And if we're inthe midst of a storm, we need to
remember that right? That is therock that our hope is built
upon, that Christ died for us sothat we could live with Him
forever, and he walks with us.
(19:45):
He's constantly with us, besideus, because he's faithful. So
those are the top 10, right. SoI'll just rattle them off again.
First one is episode one. I'lllook into opportunity costs.
Second one intro to Catholicmoney. Talk. That's kind of
episode zero, I guess. Episode26 three questions to ask before
(20:05):
making a large purchase. Episode27 the desire for stuff. Episode
Two, identifying lifestylecreep. Episode Nine, how to live
below your means. Episode Three,addressing lifestyle creep.
Episode 28 God's generosity.
Episode Five, the importance ofprayer. And episode 59 the Lord
is faithful.
(20:26):
He certainly is. And Iremember starting this podcast,
I would look, how would I evercreate that many that would
actually people would actuallyfind helpful? And fortunately,
through just putting a stake inthe ground, saying, This is what
I'm going to do throughdiligence and prayer and
remembering that this isn'tabout me just trying to vent or
(20:52):
air out something. I'm reallytrying to provide a way to help
others, as broadly as I think Ican, while reminding people like
we're trying to get to heaven.
And as much as finances might beeasier, harder, difficult,
scary, challenging, whatever itmight be, it's still something
(21:15):
we have to be responsible with.
And so it's still part of ourjourney towards heaven, how we
manage our finances and sotrying to tackle those things
with that lens, hopefully I'mhelping to draw you closer to
the Lord and encourage you as wego. So thank you for being a
listeners. Thank you forlistening. Please continue to
share the podcast with peoplethat you might think would find
(21:38):
it helpful. And again, whateverthing you're in life that you're
maybe looking at that you'retrying to think like, I should
start that. Maybe I should dosomething about this. I just
say, start, start today. We havetoday, and just trust the Lord
that he'll keep it going andyou'll find a path forward.
(22:00):
That's what I've been able to dowith this podcast. It's not a,
you know, I'm not on anybody'stop whatever list, right? I'm
not on the top 100 or probably1000 or 10,000 I don't even
know. I don't even know. But ifyou're listening to it, I'm on a
list for you, right? Maybe I'min your downloaded or subscribed
(22:21):
podcast, and hopefully you'refinding value, hopefully you're
finding peace, hopefully you'refinding hope and encouragement
here. So thank you forlistening. I'm very grateful for
all the support from all overthe world. And what I'm what I'm
(22:45):
trying to do just bring Christto others by making him Lord of
your finances. So if you've gotany questions, please click the
Get in touch with Paul link inthe podcast episode. Shoot me a
shoot me an email, shoot me aquestion. Offer a line of
(23:06):
encouragement. I greatlyappreciate it. Thank you for
listening. God bless.
Thank you for listening toCatholic money talk. I hope you
join us again next time, pleaseclick Subscribe on your podcast
(23:27):
app to get notified of newepisodes. God bless you and have
a great day. Foreign.
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