Official denies John MacArthur makes more than $500K a year from Grace to You

I agree with much of what you say. However, in order to stop accumulating one would have to remove all money from bank accounts even including savings. I think stewardship comes into play here as well. The parable of the talents may shed some light here. While it has nothing to do with investment, it seems clear that the money should have been invested. Perhaps for the believer that means finding someone in need or supporting a ministry. I’m just not ready to say that it is wrong to try and secure an inheritance for one’s children or to let money grow in a bank account or other investment. Taxes are a major factor as well in my savings plan. I plan on buying rentals if I can because I want to shelter as much as I can (legally) from being stolen by a government which squanders 74% of the money it seizes for social programs. I think I can help others better than that and I want to try.

I don’t plan on retiring but I would like to be in a position to do so in case something happens to me. In my case, my wife doesn’t work. She had a good career before we got married that she could return to but I still want to provide something if I die. That just seems like being a good husband.

These are my thoughts and I could be wrong. I don’t think God expects us to be paupers (although I’m not much better off!). He wants us to use every gift to honor Him.

My take on this is that when a person realizes that their assets exceed what they could reasonably spend in the rest of their life, and exceed what they could responsibly distribute on the event of their death (e.g. not destroying the recipients or enabling a life of debauchery), then it is time to stop accumulating.

That doesn’t mean stopping income altogether, but I do think it means that part of one’s job when one is so blessed (I am not at this point) is to start finding worthy causes and recipients for that wealth. So you keep your bank accounts, stocks & bonds, rental properties, and whatnot, but you use the income from those to do something greater than yourself. A good example—alas not from within the church—would be Andrew Carnegie and his libraries.

OK, you might end up selling or giving away some assets as your overall portfolio grows, but you get the picture. I don’t see a specific number as one beyond which one can not accumulate, but rather one should ask himself “could I trust this person or organization with this much money?” If the answer is no, start looking for different recipients.