How Can You Protect Your Money if You Don’t Know What it is?: Protecting Your Assets in an Age of Theft
Money. What is it? Why do we need more of it to buy the luxuries of life like bread, milk and sugar?
Money primarily consists of currency (notes and coin) and credit. Credit allows you to buy things just as well as money does. The more credit available, the more you can buy.
But things were not always like the MODERN world. Consider the Great Charter (Magna Carta) of 1215. The barons, representing the people, laid down some rules. Among these was the idea that property could not be confiscated by the king unless he paid a fair price for it.
Now this would clearly have been a problem for King John. He liked to take people’s property without paying for it, especially when it was the property called money. After he signed Magna Carta, whenever he took money he would have to pay for it, hardly a satisfactory arrangement for him. Why take money if you only have to give it back in payment?
For any king such a rule becomes difficult to live with. Especially if you want to take people’s money for royal programs of any kind. Commonly, taking this money was called taxation, and the Great Charter helps explain why taxes were so low until recent times. In fact, it helps to explain why there was no income tax in strongly Christian countries such as the USA until about 1900. Prior to that, taxes were port charges, import and export duties, or transaction taxes of some kind. The income tax changed all that.
It also helps explain why it was essential for the taxing authorities to abandon the idea that money was property. And the easiest way to do this was to get people off the gold or silver standard and replace it with a representation of gold and silver, a promissory note.
Politically and theologically, taxes are a mark of sovereignty. Whoever taxes is superior to the one being taxed. This is why nations do not pay taxes to one another – unless they are subjected militarily to them. Equals do not tax one another; superiors tax inferiors.
Knowing this is important when it comes to investing. Knowing what money is and what it ought to be allows people to construct an investment portfolio that has the best chance of preserving assets. No investment opportunity can give complete protection. But a prudent choice of a variety of investments can help you as you prepare for the future.
Ian Hodge is an accomplished musician and music teacher, an executive manager and a management consultant to business owners.
Dr. Hodge began his working career as a professional musician. His interest in Christian economic theory, however, led to a move into the investment industry, where he made his way to the ranks of executive management. His first position as a CEO outside of his own company was a turnaround situation, and he found this was “his” place in the business world. For the past 16 years has been a business consultant to help turn around struggling businesses. He has clients in USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
He actively uses his consulting skills to help train church pastors, elders and deacons in leadership and church growth practices.
As a musician, he worked with several singers around Australia and the South Pacific as their accompanist and music director.
A current project is the development of SonCross Academy, an online school that starts with the Bible, providing lessons in music theory and piano, economics, business, history, philosophy and theology for ages 8+. www.soncrossacademy.org.
Ian Hodge received his Ph.D. degree from Whitefield Seminary in “Christian Intellectual Thought – Economics”. He has written over 500 articles on topics such as business management, economics, education, law, finance, health, philosophy, politics, theology, and music as he explores the application of a biblical world view. He runs his own blog at www.biblicallandmarks.com.
He is the author of:
· Why Would Anyone In Their Right Mind Believe the Bible? An introduction to the Christian Faith.
· Baptized Inflation: A Critique of “Christian” Keynesianism.
· Is This The End of Religious Liberty? The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance Based on Religion or Belief.
· Making Sense of Your Dollars: A Biblical View of Wealth.
· How To Be Diabetes Free . . . For Life. An analysis of the biology of diabetes, and how this disease can be prevented and even halted.
· Ian Hodge’s Read, Write & Play Music, a self-teaching program that instructs young students on how to write (compose) music.
· Powerhouse Piano, online video and live lessons in classical piano.
· Publisher, editor, William the Baptist. A classic in Christian literature, reissued with an introduction by Dr. Hodge.
In his spare time, Ian can be found actively debating atheists on his city streets and elsewhere (anywhere) whenever the opportunity arises.
Trending Now on Affluent Christian Investor
Sorry. No data so far.
The Affluent Mix
Biden Oblivious To Illegal Immigration Issues... August 2, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

Rob Arnott On Bubbles, Inflation, And Once-In-A-Generation Investment Opportunit... August 2, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

The Federal Reserve’s Massive Theft Of Stability... August 2, 2021 | Jim Huntzinger

What To Do About This Difficult Market? August 2, 2021 | David Bahnsen

Letter On The Politicization Of Corporations... July 26, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

Peak Of The Fake Bull Market July 26, 2021 | Michael Pento

Woodrow Wilson’s Administrative State vs. Gold... July 26, 2021 | Jim Huntzinger

Dividends, Energy, And Crypto July 26, 2021 | David Bahnsen

Whose Side Are You On? July 26, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

Media, Left Ignore These Dangers July 19, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

Mark Skousen On FreedomFest And How To Measure The Whole Economy... July 19, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

Quantifying The Quantitative, Or Making Easy The Easing... July 19, 2021 | David Bahnsen

The Gold Standard Means A Rising Standard Of Living... July 19, 2021 | Jim Huntzinger

Book Review: Brian Domitrovic Reveals The Monetary Genius Of Arthur Laffer... July 19, 2021 | John Tamny

Steve Forbes: Time To Worry About Inflation, Not Hyperinflation... July 12, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

UFOs Rescue Biden July 12, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

Read This Classical Economist’s 200 Year Old Warning About Paper Money... July 12, 2021 | Jim Huntzinger

How Central Banks Murdered The Markets July 12, 2021 | Michael Pento

Everything There Is To Know About The Stock Market... July 12, 2021 | David Bahnsen

AT&T CEO: We’re Ill Equipped For Politics, And We’re Spending A Lot Of ... July 6, 2021 | Jerry Bowyer

Internet Bias Distorts National Conversation... July 6, 2021 | Frank Vernuccio

The Halfway Point Of 2021 July 6, 2021 | David Bahnsen

Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.