Faith Based Investing

Slaves to the Clock

Many of us are slaves to the clock. We have too little time and too many things to do.  We become overwhelmed and spin our wheels and little gets accomplished. When we know God’s purpose for our life, the path becomes much clearer, priorities fall into place, and we can accomplish much more. It also becomes much easier to evaluate opportunities and say no to distractions.

Think of two people:

The Firefighter

The first person always bites off more than he can chew. He has a great heart and says yes to everything. His focus is solely on helping people. He is always so busy that nothing gets done. He goes from one fire to another fire. I know many pastors who operate this way. It can quickly lead to burn out.

The Jedi Knight

This person is so focused on one or a few specific tasks and puts all of his energy into succeeding in those areas. He dedicates his time and energy only to tasks that work toward the end goal. I know many successful business owners that operate this way.

Who do you think will be more effective: The guy who spreads himself too thin or the guy with a concentrated effort? Someone with average ability, but with a single focus, can have an enormous impact. The firefighter may be more gifted but by scattering his energies, he pursues too many projects with limited success. Knowing your calling helps you focus and become more productive. Are you a firefighter or Jedi Knight?

How many times do we hear this? News so important you have to turn in? Not to put anybody out of business but how important is most of the news? Could you live and exist without the stories of other people’s lives? One way I have become more productive is tuning out the news. I catch a story here and there, but I rarely watch the news, pick up a newspaper, or listen to news radio. Wow! I must not be informed. No.. I am more productive and tune in to what is really important.

If something is that important I will eventually find out about it. Take September 11th, 2001: a horrible, shocking, devastating day. I found out about the news from others. I was not watching, reading, or listening to the news, I heard it from others. If something is that important you will hear about it. Probably about 90% of what is reported out there, you do not need to know about. It does not impact your life. Does hearing about the latest car crash, fire, or celebrity scandal really add value to your life? The truth is we all like a story. Stories sell! That is why we watch, read, and listen. However, if we carved out the less important things in life, we’d quickly discover all the free time we now have to be more productive!

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Against all odds
We all tend to look at the world, assume insurmountable odds, and then conclude it is impossible. Our backs are against the wall, we lose hope, and we feel discouragement, maybe even hopelessness. Over your head in debt? Facing foreclosure? No job? Maybe you’re at a job you despise and see no solution? Well, whether you are barely surviving or facing disaster, there is always hope. Do you serve a BIG God or a little one?

The economy may be in despair, jobless numbers may keep rising, the financial markets may keep bouncing around like a yo-yo, and the housing market could remain for many more years. What does this mean for you? Does God care about you? Why isn’t He answering your prayers? Is He teaching you some sort of lesson? Punishing you, maybe?

We all have these thoughts from time to time, but know this: God is there! You are the center of His attention and He is still in the business of miracles! He wants you to succeed! He wants to position you to be in the right place at the right time for just the right opportunity. He is preparing your way and knows well ahead of time your next moves even before you make them. He can do anything and everything.

The math doesn’t add up
I have seen firsthand, people get out of debt when there was no way, pay the bills when there wasn’t enough income, get a dream job when they saw no light at the end of the tunnel, and prosper when they had all but given up. The God we serve operates in an economy where the math just doesn’t add up.
Take for example Mark 6:34-44: Jesus needs to feed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. Insurmountable odds? Impossible? Try it yourself: Go bake 5 loaves of bread and cook two fish and tell me how you could feed 5,000 people. I’m still waiting…

You can’t do it, but He can! In God’s economy 5 + 2 = 5,000 with leftovers (Remember, Jesus fed 5,000 people and filled twelve baskets with the leftovers). They actually had more food after feeding 5,000 people than before. God is glorified through defying impossible odds.

It’s true God’s math doesn’t add up, instead it multiplies! So keep hope. Whether you are struggling to make ends meet, need a desperate change of events, or feel like there is no end in sight, He is preparing you for the next journey. Take action, make progress, and keep moving forward, He is waiting on you to catch up to Him!

The Curse of Lottery Winners

“Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi

Many pray to win the lottery hoping it will solve all of their money problems.  However, with more money comes a greater responsibility.  If you don’t handle money well before you have millions, what makes you think you can handle millions?  Money is never the root answer to a problem.  In fact, many who win the lottery seem to multiply their problems.  Take for example:

* Kenneth and Connie Parker were winners of a $25 million jackpot. Their 16-year marriage disintegrated just months after they became rich beyond their wildest dreams.

* Jeffrey Dampier, a $20 million winner, was kidnapped and murdered by his own sister-in-law.

* William “Bud” Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988 but now lives on his $450.00 a month Social Security check after relatives, and an ex-girlfriend tormented him until he invested and shared his millions with them.

* $314.9 million dollar Powerball winner Jack Whittaker was sued by an Atlantic City casino in 2004 for allegedly writing bad checks from a closed bank account in West Virginia.

* Evelyn Adams, who won the $5.4 million dollar New Jersey lottery not just once, but twice in 1985 and again in 1986 gambled most of it away, and became broke.

* 1993 Missouri lottery winner Janite Lee won $18 million and filed for filing bankruptcy just eight years after her stroke of good fortune hit.

* Billie Bob Harrell Jr. hit the $37 million dollar Texas jackpot in 1997 and ended his own life less than two years later when he realized that all he wanted his marriage more than the money, but that it was too late to fix the strained marriage. Why was it strained? His spending habits spiraled out of control, and his wife only wanted a normal life which was anything but.

* Juan Rodriguez had been thrown out by his wife Iris prior to purchasing a winning New York lottery ticket worth $149 million. She reconciled with him for two weeks, and then filed for a divorce taking half of his winnings with her.

The examples go on and on…Many people wish, dream and pray for a quick fix.  My point is fixing the problems before asking for more money.   You should be very careful about what you wish for as everything comes with a price, including winning the lottery – especially when it involves winning millions of dollars.

The actual chances of becoming a multimillion dollar lottery winner are astronomical to begin with, but when it does occur, miraculous things can happen that will forever change a person’s life, for better or worse.  Even though huge winnings can change a person’s life style dramatically, it is said that if you were happy before winning a huge sum of money, then you will be happy afterwards, but if you were an extremely unhappy person to begin with, winning a multimillion dollar jackpot will change nothing except the size of your bank account. In other words, the problems that you had are still lying in wait to rear their ugly head, and the lottery money only temporarily covers up the problems for a brief period.

Experts have looked into the lives of past lottery winners and have learned that not all multimillion dollar winners have a happy ending. A common issue within our society is the belief that money solves most of our problems. Another big problem is the lack of financial guidance when being handed over a large amount of money. In fact nearly one third of multimillion dollar lottery winners become bankrupt in just a few short years after they’re big win. If you are not accustomed to having great wealth as many of these big lottery winners were not, then the problems that come with suddenly having a lot of money overnight can be so overwhelming that depression becomes inevitable.

To Own a Cow

Though there are many choices for your investment dol­lars, only one typically leads to wealth. You should seek to own a cow . . . What, a cow? Yes . . . a cow! While you’re at it, you should seek to own a whole bunch of cattle. What am I talking about? I’m talking about a cash cow–a business that will generate income for years to come. The real way to wealth typically occurs one way: owning a business. If you look at the wealthiest people in the world, they share one thing in common–they own businesses. You can either start your own business or invest in someone else’s business.

Why Invest in Other People’s Businesses?

There are many ways to invest in other people’s busi­nesses. The two main ways are privately and publicly traded companies. While private equity can be rewarding, this book will focus on purchasing publicly traded companies otherwise known as stocks.

A stock represents a share of ownership in a business. When you hold one or more shares of stock in a company, you actually own a piece of that company. Your percentage of ownership will depend on how many shares you hold in rela­tion to the total number of shares issued by the company.

Investors who purchase stock are known as the company’s stockholders or shareholders. The price of shares reflects the public’s level of interest in owning the shares. If a lot of investors want to buy shares, they bid against one another, driving up the market price of the stock. If interest is low, competing bids are few and far between, and the price of shares is likely to fall.

You may hold the stock in the form of a stock certificate, which identifies you as the owner of the stock and the num­ber of shares you own. Alternatively, shares may be held in an account with a brokerage firm. Stock ownership can give you a share of profits and other perks

Your percentage of ownership in a company represents your share of the risks taken and profits generated by the company. If the company does well, your share of the total earnings will be proportionate to how much of the com­pany’s stock you own. The flip side, of course, is that your share of any loss will be similarly proportionate to your percentage of ownership, though you are not personally fi­nancially responsible for any share of the liabilities of the company in which you hold an equity interest.

Many investors never venture beyond the world of cash equivalents–bank accounts, CDs, money market accounts, and Treasury bills. They take comfort in knowing that these investment vehicles provide maximum safety coupled with liquidity that allows them to access their money easily if they need it. However, while these investments are relatively low risk, they generally yield minimal returns, and some may not even keep pace with inflation. Most investors want the potential for greater returns, which is where stocks enter the picture.

A variety of factors motivate people to invest in stocks. Many view equity investments as an opportunity to accumu­late wealth or to prevent inflation from eventually reducing the purchasing power of their money. They generally take a long-term view, hoping their stocks will appreciate in value over time. They may also be interested in the dividends that some stocks pay, which shareholders accept in cash or (in some cases) reinvest in additional shares of the company.

Why Start Your Own Business?

Many 9-to-5 workers have dreams of starting their own business one day. Do you dream of someday owning a busi­ness? Starting your own business allows you to be your own boss and choose your own hours. However, the best part is knowing what you are capable of and knowing you gave it a shot, even if you fail. There is nothing worse than looking back on your life and thinking, What if I had succeeded back then? I could be in a better place now.

When you were young you were advised to go to school, get good grades, get into a good college, and get a good job. If you followed this formula you were supposed to land a high-paying job, become wealthy, and ride off into the sunset. Two words for that plan: Yeah, right!

What, you didn’t get that six-figure-a-year job right out of school, or not at all? If you work for someone else, imagine how much money your employer is making to be able to afford you and your coworkers’ wages and still remain profitable. While you are working for someone else you are helping them build their own dream. The em­ployer doesn’t start a business so they can employ you, they do so to fulfill their own dreams and you are a part of their vision.

Do you play the blame game?

“A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.” –John C. Maxwell

Why are people so quick to blame others or circumstances for their problems? Often I see people who are quick to point the finger and it rarely points back at them. Choices are made each day, and these choices have consequences. When the results come in less than favorable, somehow it is easier to push the blame toward someone or something else. This is especially true with finances. One example: Most Americans used to be able to rely on three income sources for retirement–the company pension, Social Security, and personal savings. As the futures of company pensions and Social Security hang in the balance, the pressure builds for you to save on your own for retirement. If you do not have enough income when you retire, whom will you blame: your employer, the government, or will you accept responsibility? The natural inclination of many people is to pass the blame.

You know you are not accepting personal responsibility if you blame other people for your financial problems. I see many people pass the blame whenever they are faced with difficulties. It wasn’t the credit card company’s fault you maxed the card out. It wasn’t the bank’s fault you defaulted on your mortgage. It wasn’t your employer’s fault you didn’t save enough for retirement. These life situations, hardships, character flaws, or whatever else you want to call them begin with you. Rather than agreeing that the common denominator in all your problems is you, will you continue to blame others?

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