Hello C3 Family!

Weekly Rant

Why be obsessed with saving when our Lord warns us against it?!

Every Week I comb through all the top financial sites on the internet looking for the top stories to include in this short newsletter. And one type of advertisement is always present. It is the Money Saving ad. This ad comes in many different forms, but it is by far the one I see the most. I am sure you have seen them before, some say, "New ways to save money in 2023" others say "How much money should you have saved by (insert age here)." I am bringing these ads up because I find myself more than a little irritated by these ads.

The reasons I am somewhat angry when I see the money saving ad is because I know they are successful, via fear mongering. The internet wouldn't keep turning them out if they failed to get people to click. The financial firms, advisors, and banks prey on the fearful. Their pitch, in a bit nicer language, is didn't you know that you will need $2 million at least in your retirement account by the time your 50. OR you should really have at least X amount of dollars in the bank for that rainy day. 

I am not against saving for the future or having a rainy-day fund, but our culture seems to be obsessed with not just money (an obsession which is evil by itself) but even the stockpiling of it. I know churches that sit on millions of dollars in an investment account for the sake for a rainy-day fund and I know people that have 6 figures just sitting in their checking accounts. When is it enough?

We are not guaranteed tomorrow, and neither are our families. Our Lord tells us so in Luke 12:20. So why do store up everything, when we could be spending it for the Kingdom here and now. Let's change our obsession from storing up money into an obsession with building up the Kingdom.  

Top Stories of the Week

• The market was sluggish coming off Thanksgiving, but Shopifty was the big winner thanks to all the Black Friday/Cyber Monday hype. This November has been one of the best Turkey Months for the market on record, at least for the S&P 500.

• 13 members of congress will not be seeking another term. This is the highest number of lawmakers voluntarily ending their run-on congress in over a decade. The reasons that they give for not seeking re-election, dysfunction and efficacy in governing. Two of the seats could flip from blue to red (one in Virginia and one in West Virginia).

• Amazon has just passed UPS in the number of packages shipped this year. Amazon has been beating FedEx since 2020.

• The Netherlands, Geert Wilders won a majority in the Dutch parliament. This is a big deal because Geert is a conservative, and many opponents claim he is far-right, and this is someone who the historically liberal Netherlands just elected by a powerful majority. The Rightward march in Europe is on the move. 

• A New York law called the Adult Survivors Act just expired and that is why so many celebrities are being sued for sexual assault or sexual abuse right now. The NY law lifted the statute of limitations and allowed people to sue others who may have committed sexual crimes against them no matter how far back in the past it occurred. 

• COP28 is the climate meeting taking place in Dubai where the 2015 Paris Agreement nations will get their report cards saying if they are meeting or not meeting their emissions goals. To no one's shock, most countries are falling short of their goals.

• The US is producing 13.2 million crude oil barrels every day and that is the most ever by the states. The US is largest crude oil producer in the world at 21% of global production. Saudi Arabia is second place at 13%.

• The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas may be coming to an end with Israel reporting that terrorists broke the cease fire agreement and attacked Israeli Forces. 

• Jeff Bezos is moving to Florida and he is looking to take a lot of Amazon workers with him as he is currently on the hunt for 50,000 square feet of office space in Miami.

• A "Catholic" college in Indiana that has historically been a school for undergraduate women will not be accepting men who identify as women. So yeah, that is a real sentence that I you just read...