This program will help you undo financial bondage.
Investing is usually
considered putting money in a vehicle that does not guarantee principal protection
and that has historically shown great potential for well above average returns
on one’s money. Usually, it is recommended only for money one will maintain for
a long period of time (more than five years). These funds would normally
be used for things like building retirement savings that substantially
accumulate to allow you to eventually withdraw enough monthly income to live on,
funding a business or ministry dream that will take years to finally engage,
saving for a child’s college tuition, etc.
The person who
invests should understand he will not earn periodic interest and that the value
of the investment at any given time (whether increased or decreased from the
time he bought it) is subject to supply and demand for that investment.
Also, he may lose principle (especially during short-term economic
corrections) and should be willing to take that risk believing he will
instead experience greater growth in value during the time he holds the
investment (especially the longer he maintains it).
Investing should
usually be done after you have been disciplined to use good money management
practices like consistently (a) earning an income, (b) adhering
to a budget that keeps your monthly expenses below 70% of your take home pay, (c)
giving money for ministry that leads people to Jesus Christ and makes them into
disciples, (d) saving at least $10,000 as an emergency reserve account, (e)
engaging a process to eliminate all your non-mortgage debt, and (f) refusing to
co-sign on other people’s loans.
Because most of us
are not market experts and stock picking gurus, we should utilize a process
called dollar cost averaging whereby we automatically buy on a monthly basis a
certain dollar amount of diversified investments with solid historical track
records from a brokerage house like Vanguard or through our employer’s deferred
compensation plan (401k, 457, 403b, etc.). This helps us exercise the
buy low, sell high principle that leads to investment success and wealth
building. Those who do otherwise are trying to time the market and are usually
doing so without proper investment education. The vast majority suffer extreme
losses over time and never wind up building the wealth they envisioned and
hastily ran after.
When investing,
past results are no guarantee of future returns. However, you should have
greater comfort being invested after your financial stewardship is put in
order. Investments will put you in a much better financial position down the
road and help you overcome inflationary pressures that might otherwise diminish
the purchasing power of your funds.
Here are a few
helpful guidelines you can use when the time comes for you to add investing to
your good stewardship repertoire:
·
Review
the prospectus for each investment to examine its one-year, five-year, and
ten-year investment returns. Make sure they meet or exceed benchmark returns
for that type of investment.
·
Start
with no-load mutual funds as a foundation for your portfolio until you are very
knowledgeable about and skilled in capturing growth in the value of other types
of investments (individual stocks, real estate, futures, oil & gas
leases, etc.).
·
Identify
each investment’s expense ratio (the yearly cost you must pay to own it).
Stay away from any with a cost that is not well under one-percent of assets
under management.
·
Over
time, make sure no more than 10% of your investment dollars are put into any
one investment. Diversification into a least seven or eight different savings and
investment accounts is best as it provides a good degree of safety of your
funds.
Many mutual funds will
have an electronic funds transfer provision that will allow you to immediately
start investing in them by giving the brokerage house authorization to
electronically transfer as little as $50 per month out of your savings or
checking account that it will use to purchase shares of the mutual fund(s) you
want. Employer plans let you do this via payroll deduction without imposing a minimum
amount per deposit.
The electronic
funds transfer option allows you to avoid the minimum start-up investment (normally
$1,000 or more) that many funds require for people who send checks to the
investment firm. If you can't or don't wish to use an electronic funds transfer
option, it is still worth your while to save the amount of money needed to meet
the required minimum investment for the fund you want to invest in.
Long-term investing
is a great wealth building tool that will enhance your life and ministry. It
also helps you better gain increased monetary value that can be used to
abundantly give in the future in ways that enhance the lives of many others.
Proverbs 6:6-11, Ecclesiastes 11:1-6,
Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:12-27, 1Timothy 6:17-19
Please pray for this ministry and email questions to parlor@ameritech.net and share the links below with others who need guidance. May the
LORD bless you richly as you follow His plan!
Share http://kminfo.org/ministries/financial-freedom weekly
with family and friends so these bondage-breaking articles and other financial
information can help them gain helpful insight!
The
book at the link below provides principles and practical steps that help you
use the Power To Get Wealth. By 1992, we had $135,000 of debt and
a negative $35,000 net worth. Financial bondage and turmoil led me to seek
principles and a process for employing good stewardship. As a result, we became
constructively debt-free in 1998, mortgage free January 2004, millionaires in
2012, multi-millionaires shortly thereafter, and retired in 2018 in my
mid-fifties from public servant jobs while giving abundantly to fund the gospel
of our LORD Jesus Christ. The same power is available to you!
You can find books authored by Randy and
Karen Parlor at www.Amazon.com.
You can also connect with
Randy Parlor on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Google Blogger,
WordPress, Jesus Social Network, Social Cross, Pinterest, Tumbler, and You
Tube.
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