Where Your Treasure Lies: Biblical Wisdom for Peaceful Investing

 

Where Your Treasure Lies: Biblical Wisdom for Peaceful Investing

Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

                        I remember the first time I was offered an investment from another person. It seemed so great. You can probably guess my frontal lobe wasn't fully developed so it was the best idea I had heard. I made some smaller investments prior with Vanguard Funds, but let's just say they did not make me any money. Again, terrible decision making. After I started investing in the "best investment ever", I quickly learned that it was costing me more money without making but some money. Almost the opposite of what a mortgage is! That investment turned out to be Premium Life Insurance... Do I need to say more? We have all been given the Opus Mutiny that Premium Life Insurance brings great wealth upon retirement, or that it is a great way to have extra income after withdrawing retirement funds. In my observations,.... sure. If you are wealthy and have maxed out all accounts such as Roth's, 401k's, and you aren't interested in High Yield Savings, then sure. For me, I was sold on high returns when I retire. I was sold on being able to use the money for my house or for my wedding. No thought of loan paybacks or the price of the premium when I have zero dollars in my 401k. What I am getting at is that I only cared about myself and the money I would have to spend. Never did I poke the idea of charitable giving or donations to my local church. Can the church buy me more shoes if I need the cash for them? It only took me 5 years to realize it was money I was losing monthly. I share this because there are all moments where investing turns to selfish thought. It is all about me and what I want. Where my treasure lay, my heart lay also. I was out around twenty-thousand dollars with money I could only use as a loan.

                    If done right, investing can bring joy, peace, and assurances to our future. If done poorly, it can bring greed, loss, and unrest in our hearts. For the first few years of my life, I was "investing" by the standard definition of investing. Putting money away to make more money and to be used at a later time. I believe God taught me a valuable lesson in giving and using wisdom and judgement with my money. If any lack wisdom, let them ask God, who gives generously without reproach. I chose Matthew 6:21 to start the week because investing requires trust and peace. We have to trust God with our money at the end of the day and have peace with the results. We know that at times the stock market is unreasonable and driven by fear. We know that some investments lose money. We are instructed to invest our money and at least seek a return with interest payments. I want to offer a few peaceful and wise investments,

The most peaceful investment is to at least start with a savings    account. If you are comfortable with a high-yield savings account, then that is even better. A savings account, at minimum, will at least earn .01 percent for you. A high yield savings account will currently earn anywhere from 3.5 to 5.0 depending on the bank and current offer. High yield savings accounts offer immediate withdrawal as well, unlike CD's and 401k's. This is a start. The book "The Richest Man In Babylon" advises that we at least put 10% of what we make into savings. Start somewhere though and move up one-percent each year.

Another great option is investing in mutual and index funds. If you are more comfortable with making your own investments and getting away from your bank, try some index funds. At minimum, again, the S&P has been recording an over 10% return since its creation in the 50's. Index funds and mutual funds are both large funds that are a combination of many individualized stocks. Index funds are listed as the "smartest investment you can make". Both are great options and the only difference is that index funds play it slightly safer than mutual funds. Mutual funds strive to outperform the market, leading to more expensive costs to manage and higher risk. Here, I have attached a list of some of the active funds, with more than three-quarters outperforming the market. https://www.wsj.com/market-data/mutualfunds-etfs/etfmovers

I want to end here, but look for my other blog posts where I will go into detail about the market and what can be expected in 2025. I am a novice, looking to gain your trust, and only publishing the truth.