In this episode of the Pastors & Money Podcast, we chat with Ralph V. Estep Jr., a licensed public accountant and financial expert with extensive experience working with churches and pastors. We discuss common financial mistakes pastors make, practical strategies for retirement planning at various career stages, and the integration of faith in financial decisions. The episode emphasizes the importance of budgeting, starting early, and seeking professional financial advice. Ralph offers actionable advice for pastors in early, mid, and late career stages, as well as those already retired but feeling unprepared. He also stresses the importance of the church community in supporting their pastors' financial well-being. Listeners are encouraged to be intentional about their financial planning and to seek guidance and education to achieve financial stability and effective ministry.
00:00 Introduction to the Pastors & Money Podcast
00:36 Meet Ralph V. Estep Jr.: Financial Expert
01:10 Financial Challenges Faced by Pastors
03:09 Common Financial Mistakes Pastors Make
05:40 Early Career Financial Habits for Pastors
08:22 Balancing Retirement Savings with Other Financial Pressures
11:46 Mid-Career Financial Strategies for Pastors
16:48 The Importance of Professional Financial Advice
19:20 Planning for Retirement: Key Considerations
19:49 Transitioning to Retirement: Strategies and Challenges
21:04 Advice for Retired Pastors Feeling Unprepared
21:54 The Importance of Budgeting and Financial Assessment
24:30 Faith and Financial Management
27:26 Taking Small Steps Towards Financial Health
30:36 Supporting Church Staff Financially
36:07 Resources and Final Thoughts
Resources from this Episode:
Tutorial: How to Make a Budget for Beginners (and actually use it!)
17 Ways to Support Your Pastors Financially (without raising salaries)
"Shepherding Your Finances, Shepherding Your Retirement Planning" resource for pastors
Ask Ralph Podcast
Transcript:
Welcome to the Pastors & Money Podcast
Joy Hunt: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Pastors & Money Podcast. I'm Joy Suzanne Hunt, pastor and financial coach, bringing you conversations about personal finance, church finance and how we disciple our churches in the areas of finance and stewardship. You can find the episode show notes, and more at pastorsandmoney.com. And here's the show.
Introduction to Ralph Estep Jr.
Joy Hunt: Our guest today is Ralph V. Estep Jr., a licensed public accountant, author, and host of the Ask Ralph podcast. With over two decades of experience in finance and accounting, Ralph has served as CFO for a large church and held executive positions in credit unions and law firms. He now runs Sagio Management Group, offering expert financial guidance to businesses, churches, and [00:01:00] individuals with a particular focus on leveraging technology for improved financial management.
Well, Ralph, welcome to the podcast.
Ralph Estep: I appreciate you having me.
Joy Hunt: So before we really get into things, can you tell us just a little bit about your work and especially your experience with pastors and churches?
Ralph Estep: Absolutely. And I do host this daily podcast show and the whole focus of my podcast show is helping Christians improve their finances. If you're a pastor, you're going to fall into that bucket. So I've been working with churches doing their books for now for, you know, you said two decades, I'm coming up on 30 years now.
So been doing this for a long time. And I have a lot of clients who are pastors. I helped them with tax issues. I helped them with financial planning issues, that sort of thing. And the truth is many people struggle with this, especially pastors. So I help them develop strategies that align the financial decisions with faith And that's the whole thing that I bring to the table because I think it's impossible to do those two things Separate so I feel lik...