Moneywalk 164: Invest in Seven or Eight

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

The church will soon meet Jesus in the air. No one knows exactly when He will return, yet we know He’ll judge our salvation based on our choosing to acknowledge Him as Savior before men. He’ll determine our worthiness for various heavenly rewards based on our stewardship of the earthly possessions He divided to us.

Millions of unsaved people in your community and throughout the world need to be saved so they won’t be judged to eternal hell fire. This should cause godly stewardship to arise from your relationship with Christ to produce abundant giving today to meet ministry needs, a lifestyle that lives off less than is received in income, and consistent saving to take care of your future responsibilities and emergency needs in case Jesus tarries awhile.

You need stock, bond, and guaranteed investments like money market accounts, certificates of deposits, and treasury bills, bonds, and notes in your portfolio to cover short and long-term needs. The stock market has earned more than government and corporate bonds in the vast majority of twenty year periods that have been measured, however stocks are more risky than bonds over shorter periods of time because they usually fluctuate between highs and lows much more. Bonds can fluctuate in price as well, even government bonds, when you try to sell them to someone else prior to their reaching maturity. However, they don’t usually fluctuate as much because they are normally based on a guaranteed yield at maturity that is much lower than the average annual growth that stocks normally produce. The guarantee is made either by the corporation or the government, whichever party is selling the bond.

Money in money market accounts and certificates of deposit normally have lower annual returns that are normally similar or below corporate bond returns. At government insured banks, these instruments are guaranteed by the federal government up to certain limits such as $100,000 per bank holding company. Higher guarantees can be had on these instruments in some instances such as joint and retirement accounts. It is important to peruse the FDIC.gov website so you’ll know what the guarantees are so that you can place money in these accounts in as many bank holding companies as necessary to protect your principle because the portion of your portfolio placed in these savings should be your six month emergency fund and any moneys that you may need to withdraw within five years due to anticipated living expenses, home purchase, replacement car purchase, etc.

Generally speaking, your portfolio should contain more than 50% in diversified stock mutual funds when you’re younger than 50 and contain less than 50% in diversified corporate and/or government guaranteed saving instruments. When you reach 50 years of age you should take an assessment of your risk tolerance and adjust your portfolio weightings so that bonds and government guaranteed savings are used to a greater degree when you find that you will need the money within five years or you simply don’t have many years to recover from a serious cyclical stock market downturn or you just don’t have the stomach to take inevitable stock market downturns in your retirement years.

Through it all, craft your investment plan to invest in seven or eight different vehicles and re-evaluate it annually and don’t worry about day-to-day stock market swings and economic cycles since you’re generally invested for the long haul based on biblical financial principles. This roadmap will help you be a good steward who prospers immensely.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!

Proverbs 11:14, Ecclesiastes 11:2, Luke 19:13, Acts 6:2-3

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