Being a Good Steward

MONEY MATTERS WITH DR. ANDREW LEE

Dr. Andrew Lee is professor of English at Lee University. He also serves as a coordinator for

Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. He and his wife Esmerelda have three children.

10 // May 2020 O n March 18th, just as most of us were starting to “shelter in place” with the coronavirus spreading, I tuned in to the Dave Ramsey radio show. It happened to be during the “Millionaire Theme Hour,” when Dave talks to actual millionaires whose net worth was over one million dollars. One particular story I heard during this episode was unforgettable. Here’s how it started: a forty-seven-year-old man called into the show. What’s his net worth? $12.7 million dollars. How did he acquire this money? In a highly unusual and tragic way. One of his older sisters had died in a horrible house fire, and with the settlement from the subsequent lawsuit, he had received $1 million dollars at age fifteen. His mother and other older sisters put the million dollars into a “Trust” with attorneys and financial advisors managing the money for him. He wouldn’t be able to access the million dollars until he turned twenty-five. During those ten years, from age fifteen until age twenty-five, he received only $200 as a monthly allowance. He turned twenty-five in 1998, and by that time, his $1 million dollars was worth $3 million. How did this happen?

The short answer is this: it happened as a result of the love and thoughtful concern of his mother and other sisters who were wise enough to (1) put the money into a Trust so he couldn’t access it until age twenty-five and (2) hire skilled and conscientious attorneys and financial advisors to manage the money for them. During the ten years waiting period between fifteen to twenty-five years old, the trustees invested the money into stock mutual funds, and from time to time they purchased shares in new and growing companies such as Microsoft, Amazon,

and Google. The young man’s friends, being normal teens, encouraged him to go on a spending spree for his twentyfifth birthday. “Buy an Italian sports car!” they said. “Buy a boat! Buy a mansion!” But, as he described on air during this live radio show, he felt too guilty since the money was a result of his sister’s horrific death in the fire. So, he didn’t spend any of it, but instead kept it invested. One of his older sisters noticed his anguish and encouraged him to donate that first $1 million dollars to a worthy cause, so he did just that. At age twenty-five, he immediately donated one million dollars to a critical care burn unit at a local hospital in honor of his dead sister. And the remaining $2 million dollars kept growing and growing.

Since that first million-dollar donation which was twenty-two years ago, this man has spent nothing else from the money he received in the settlement. But he has continued to make generous donations from that money to hospital burn units across the country, and today the money has grown to nearly $13 million dollars. Today, at age 47, this man makes a fine living earning $170, 000 as a senior-level information technology specialist, and he intends to donate most of his trust money that he received from his sister’s tragic death. He ended his call by breaking down into tears and reminding listeners not to take life for granted and to cherish every moment with loved ones because we have no idea if today may be our last here on earth. Because his family was wise enough to plan ahead, this man will do immeasurable good for countless others with the wealth he was blessed with--a good steward of the Lord. “To whom much is given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48b).

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