Investing Wisely Is A Stewardship Responsible

Common Sense Commentary: If a GREAT investment opportunity "comes to you" on line, in the mail, or in person, delete it, dump it, or discharge the friend or relative who brought it, bought it, or thought it. Maybe one in a thousand investment offers, "which seek you out" , will turn out well. They never have for me in sixty years of investing. Sometimes they look so perfect, so reasonable, so destined to do well, that I still nearly respond to the few ... but catch myself and delete it or trash it. Time has proven the wisdom of rejecting the hundreds of investment recommendations which "came to me looking for investors". Of all the unbelievable, money making parades which have crossed my path, with drum roll and trumpets, all of that host of Philistines, except one or two, would have lost my money. I fell for a couple in my early years but those two inoculations immunized me to all "Get Rich Quick" schemes. As the experienced, wise investors have said, "If it sounds too good to be true .... 99% of the time, it is." These mass mail-outs with a series of BOLD HEADLINES, boasting miracles and wonders, also say in all that tiny print, at the end, that the sender is being paid, in stock or cash, by the same company, to highly recommend their stock to you. Trash it ! Don't let yourself be sucked in. The same goes for you young unmarrieds. Just because someone picks and pursues you with promises of marital bliss, means nothing, except they are most likely not God's choice for you. Make a list of priority traits, not perfection, which you know your mate should have and look for that type person and nobody else. YOU do the picking, but wait on the Lord to lead you in your choice of a life-mate. The cost of a mistake is too high.

I do read and get valuable information from a few financial newsletters which do not recommend specific stocks but do a lot of research. I also get a lot of great articles about trends, sectors and specific companies from their Message Boards, which MB members have read and passed on, but take no advice from the member himself. A good Mutual Fund (no load, no broker)can be a good place for a beginning investor to start but, again, don't let them search you out. You search them out. If you are going to use a broker, check out each stock he recommends before you buy it and ask a lot of questions. I had a broker once who churned my account constantly, and made a commission each time, until I wised up , closed the account, and started doing my own investing. Lost a lot that way too until maturity and experience kicked in. There is as much difference in Brokers as Mechanics, Doctors and Preachers. The main thing about investing your money is, DON'T LOSE IT and DON'T LET SOMEONE ELSE LOSE IT FOR YOU. Be slow, deliberate and careful.

Your computer has a million sources of information about every company on earth in practically every detail about each. Brokers are pushing the stocks, funds, bonds, annuities and ETF's which their firm has an interest in or connection to, or, are partial to for whatever reason. You will get the best advice from a very successful, investor friend who has proven over a long period of time that he consistently knows what he is doing and knows the markets and spends huge amounts of time in due diligence. If he lost a lot of money in the financial crash, he may have known a lot about one or two areas of investment but not enough about world markets and world events, and common sense, to give financial advice. The evidences of a Tech Bubble , a Housing Bubble, and a Credit Bubble, each ready to burst, in turn, and drag the Stock Market with it, was undeniably obvious. There is now a Bond Bubble and a Currency Bubble which I believe will do a similar job on the Markets and lead to Hyper Inflation, in my opinion. I say this because I believe it, but please don't seek my advice on investments, and take what I'm saying here with diligent skepticism, but READ, READ, READ. I am not a licensed investment adviser but a "Common Sense Commentary" guy who reads volumes of information on world events, national financial facts, world and national trends and how they relate to Bible Prophecy. I am a Bible Preacher not a financial adviser so do your own due diligence. READ ! You care more about your life, family, finances, and future than anyone else on earth. You are the Steward of all God has put into your hands and under your control, not your broker, brother, preacher, neighbor, boss or friend, but YOU. You are the one who will give account to God for the way you used and invested those things HE gave you .... for your good and HIS GLORY.

Every individual on earth is responsible to our Creator for what we do with our TIME, TALENT, TESTIMONY, TREASURE, and TRUTH as God knows it. Each of us must accept responsibility for ourselves from the moment we reach the age of personally knowing good from evil as Adam and Eve did; Not because Mom or Dad said it, or the Preacher said it, or the Teacher said it, but because God's Holy Spirit told your own heart it was good or evil. Preachers call it the age of accountability. Youngsters mature and develop at somewhat different rates. Some develop earlier than others. In the first of two churches I pastored over thirty six years, an old Deacon, Dad Brown, had a retarded son who had been in church all his life and had never shown any interest or knowledge of a need to accept Christ as his "personal" Saviour. He was forty years old and in every service. I had been his pastor for several years when all of a sudden in a Sunday morning service, Gene Brown realized he was lost, a sinner and needed Christ. I think he had just reached the age of accountability.Though forty years old, he had the mind of a child and had very slowly matured to maybe eight or ten, mentally, when he was saved. Praise God. Old Dad Brown was thrilled beyond measure because his son, Gene, had never shown any concern for his soul until that moment.

My point is this. You are God's Steward (manager) over all He has given you. To be recognized by Him, as "a good and faithful steward", when He returns, you must cultivate and invest those things as God leads you and His Word teaches, to the best advantage for an increased "return". Waste is a Stewardship sin. Negligent
investing is a Stewardship sin. Foolish spending is a Stewardship sin. We are simply His Managers of His property. We should treat what we have as God's property and business and be very care full with it.

Let me give you three keys I use in investing. First, study and learn all you can about world "trends". What is developing and what is fading? What is in short supply? What is going to be needed most in the future? What changes are developing ? What interruptions are possible. Search out world "trends". Second, study all you can learn about what the most likely "trend" will lead to or require in what "sector" of the markets. When you have found the best probable "sector" within the trend, search all the companies and sources which will supply and occupy that "sector" . Third, study all those companies and related sources and chose the two or three best of them as likely investments. Then, you learn all you can about those companies. Pray about every move. Pray before you invest but don't expect God to bypass your brain and your lack of time or effort to miraculously show you where to invest. He gave us brains to use as he did those three investors in Matt.25:14-28. One did extremely well, another did quite well, and the third did nothing. Their Master held them each responsible, not for how many "talents" he gave them, but for how well they used and invested it.

Pass it on. RB