Savings & Investing: Fact or Fiction?
There are a lot of “mythconceptions” when it comes to the investing world that many people do not understand when they’re in the early stages of investing. Many investors think that in order to have good decision-making skills you must obtain expert knowledge and constant updates from those experts. In reality, the best decision-makers have developed a firm investment philosophy as to why they base their choices. There are two distinct investment philosophies, one being rooted in a secular perspective that is shaped by “mythconceptions” and the other is based on strategic truths that are outlined in the Bible and proven through practical experience. Here are three of the most commonly seen:
ONE: Mythconception: Spend and Consume: Saving Can Wait
Strategic Truth: Save and Invest: Spending can Wait
According to debt.org, the United States had roughly 14 trillion dollars in consumer debt (home, auto, student loans, credit cards) at the second quarter of 2019. Whenever a buying opportunity presents itself, it is tempting to take the bait because we think it is a good deal or rationalize the decision in some other way. We think we will always have money to save out of the next paycheck. In order to build a firm financial foundation, saving and investing should be a top priority. Proverbs 6:8 commands the hardworking ant, who “provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”
TWO: Mythconception: Get Rich Quick
Strategic Truth: Get Rich Slow
Even though we wish this was the other way around, the safe way to go is to expect a slow return on investment. A great example of this is if a young man spends $5 per week on a lottery ticket, he may go his entire life without winning a single time. On the other hand, if this young man invested this $5 every week at a 5% return, his money would grow to $1,476 in just five years. Looking even further, in 48 years (around retirement age) he would have $52,054. From a financial standpoint, it makes less sense to go for the long shot odds and try to get rich quick. Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.”
THREE: Mythconception: Time the Market Right
Strategic Truth: Diversify your Assets
An extremely common investing strategy is market timing with hopes that the paper combination of guess-work along with luck will allow the investor to beat the system and make money fast. In other words, the idea is to buy low and sell high which is a strategy that works well in theory but is virtually impossible to put into consistent practice. Instead of doing this blind strategy, biblical wisdom encourages us to diversify our assets. Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 says we “know not what disaster may happen on earth.” As an investment strategy, asset diversification succeeds where market timing fails.
*If you are interested in learning more about these strategic truths, go to www.soundmindinvesting.com or set up a meeting with the NEXUS Financial Center
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