Last month I had the fun of deciding how to invest the profit of the sale of my New Jersey house. And it was fun, and I think I’ve made good choices. But my track record is nothing to boast about. When I cashed in a chunk of my IRA for the down payment on that same house, I told my broker that I have a fool-proof investment strategy: buy high, sell low. I’ve proved it over and over again. I bought a condo in Minneapolis the month the market peaked; it sold 8 years later at a sheriff’s auction for less than half of what I paid for it in the first place. And the year before I bought my house, when about my retirement account had been mostly in a balanced equity fund, I decided to transfer half of it from bonds to stocks. I put 1/3 into tech stocks, 1/3 into an international fund, and 1/3 into medical technology. Thank goodness for the medical technology stocks. They’re the only ones that didn’t bottom out. And - I really should have expected it - the week after I cashed out what I needed for my down payment, the market started back up again. Forget what they say about Alan Greenspan’s influence. I know better.
When I say I have a fool-proof investment strategy, I don’t mean that it’s proof against folly; I mean that it’s proof of folly. I do NOT have the Midas touch.
Everybody knows that the way to get rich is to buy low and sell high, right? Get in at the bottom of the market and get out at the top. The trick is, of course, knowing what’s going to go up and when it’s going to come down again. You can go crazy trying to outguess it. I don’t know how many day traders have gone bankrupt or committed suicide, but most of us heard about that one down in Georgia who went nuts a few years ago and started shooting people. I’ve heard former internet investors talk about their trading as if it were an addiction, the obsession that keeps focusing on just one more trade, one more high...
Do you watch the market? How much attention do you pay to the financial pages?
If you do, I’ll wager just about anything you care to name that the first stocks you look at are the ones you have invested in. All of a sudden, as soon as it’s your money that’s at stake, your interest level shoots up like a hot air balloon.
All good managers know that the way to get people on board with a new project is to involve them in the decision-making process. As soon as they participate, they’ve invested something: their time, their interest, their attention, their egos. It’s called having ownership, or giving people ownership. It’s a fundamental psychological principal: you’re interested in what’s yours. That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
He didn’t mean that you can tell what you care about by where you put your money, although that’s certainly true as well. Your money does follow your heart. But he was giving his disciples instructions on how to live, not just a diagnostic tool to measure their commitment. Because your heart follows your money.
Remember that Jesus has just finished telling them - and us - not to do their religion as a performance, for human recognition or approval. Now he is giving them practical instructions on how to re-order their priorities, shifting focus from the world to God. In effect, he was telling them that once you start spending time and money on eternal things, it’s amazing how much more important they become.
I don’t have to tell you how obsessed our society is with money, with financial security and success. In their book, The Day America Told the Truth, authors James Patterson and Peter Kim reveal some shocking statistics on how far people in this country are willing to go for money:
(25%) Would abandon their entire family
(23%) Would become prostitutes for a week or more
(16%) Would give up their American citizenship
(16%) Would leave their spouses
(10%) Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free
(7%) Would kill a stranger
(3%) Would put their children up for adoption.
There is a reason why "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" is still one of the highest rated prime time shows. There is a reason why dozens of intelligent, attractive women paraded and degraded themselves to “Marry a Multimillionaire” on national TV. There is a reason why Americans’ consumer debt in 2021 totaled $16.5 trillion, with the average debt of $96,371.There is a reason we work ourselves into an early grave, ignoring the people and things that matter most in life.
And that reason is that most people believe that their problems would be solved if they only had a little bit more ... something.
I’ve been listening - as usual - to the political wrangling going on in Washington over taxes and spending . . . I agree that we ought to spend more on infrastructure, but do you see any congressperson willing to give up their favorite pork barrel projects to help finance it? Although the most important problems can’t be solved with money, some can be; you just have to decide what your priorities are. And that’s true of all our assets, all of our resources, from time to energy to attention.
Tony Campolo - at least I think it was Tony Campolo - coined a marvelous new word called "affluenza." It’s not as obvious a killer as influenza used be; about 100 years ago, in 1918, over half a million Americans died of what we call “the flu”. Influenza is a relatively mild threat nowadays, but affluenza is a real danger. Here are the symptoms:
? Desire for more and more, despite what we already have
? Insatiable drive to be successful without ever experiencing contentment
? The practice of consistently choosing career over family
? Unchecked yearning for more possessions and wealth
? Unwillingness to settle for less than the best of everything
Affluenza can be fatal. It creates stress, it disrupts relationships, it takes away our freedom. That last may surprise you. But remember what I said about recovering internet stock traders, who become addicted to the next trade? When one woman was first interviewed, at the top of the market, she reported that her goal was to have $100 million by the time she was 30. She was well on her way. But that was all she did with her life.
Well, between that first interview a year ago and the one following bursting of the tech bubble she had lost almost all she had amassed. The interviewer asked her how she was coping with the loss. He was surprised, I think, when she said that she was actually much happier, that she had somehow gotten hooked by the idea of being rich without really thinking about what she wanted it for. And in the process of going after the money, she had neglected all the things she really enjoyed. She had gotten her balance back.
Her evident sincerity reminded me of a great story about an American businessman in a small coastal Mexican village who saw a tiny boat with just one fisherman come into the dock with several large tuna on deck. The businessman complimented the fisherman on his fine catch and asked how long it took him to catch them. The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."
The American asked why he didn’t stay out and catch more fish. The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" asked the American. The fisherman answered, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos; I have a full and busy life, senor."
The American scoffed, "I have a Harvard MBA and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and buy a bigger boat; with the proceeds from that boat you could buy several more, and eventually own your own fleet. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you could sell directly to the processor, even open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You’d need to leave the village, of course, and move to Mexico City, maybe even LA or New York City in order to run the enterprise."
The fisherman asked, "But, senor, how long will all this take?" The American replied, "15 to 20 years." "And what then, senor?" The American laughed and said, "That’’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions." "Millions, senor? And then what?"
The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll into the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
What is money for, anyway? It has to serve a purpose greater than itself, because in itself it is nothing at all.
But it’s not only the people who see Bill Gates when they look in the mirror who are in trouble. The flip side of the coin is anxiety. For far too many people, the attraction of being rich isn’t just a matter of having more toys to play with. It’s to protect them against the ups and downs of life. And for most of us the biggest concern is providing for our families, for the people we love. But what are the biggest dangers? What are the worst things that can happen? From drug addiction to traffic accidents, money doesn’t provide any safeguard at all.
But most people don’t stop to think about that. Because affluenza isn’t only highly contagious, it’s also disorienting. The person in the grip of affluenza loses the ability to make good decisions.
Just a few verses further on, Jesus says "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” [Mt 6:24] If money isn’t kept firmly in its place, chasing it or looking after of it will wind up taking over your life.
But how do you keep money in its place? We need it, we all do. We can’t just opt out of the economic realities of our society, give it all up and go be hermits, living on roots and berries. And God knows that. So how do we go about keeping our balance? How do we protect ourselves against the dread American affluenza?
The way to immunize yourself is the advice Jesus gave. “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. “
Make a deliberate investment decision to spend your time, money, effort and attention on the things that last. And what lasts? Loving God, and loving your neighbor. These last. These matter. These bear fruit for eternity. And you will find, the more you invest, the more fascinated you will become by the way your portfolio behaves. You’ll wake up every morning eager to see people being touched by the gospel, experiencing hope or wholeness or community or some other gift that Jesus calls us to bring to the world in his name. You’ll find in yourself a growing sense of peace, knowing that the ultimate investment banker is not only on your side, he’s guaranteed your deposits.
Buy low, sell high... good advice if you can figure out how to do it. Let me tell you how to guarantee the best return of all:
Buy low. On your knees, in humility realizing that your empty hands are all you have to offer, take home a handful of Eternity Equity Inc. This is the world’s best ground-floor investment.
Sell high. It’s amazing how many people will want a piece of the action if you can show them how rich you have become. It’s a new take on the old Pyramid scheme ... the more people you bring in, the more your own investment is worth. Incidentally - the best way to show people how rich you are is to be generous. Not giving with trumpets as Jesus has just warned against - simply always being ready to give of yourself... Which is easy if you feel rich. And the best way to feel rich is to give lavishly when no one is looking, and then not to think about it any more.
If you’re looking for a really fool-proof investment strategy, this is it. As Jim Eliot, the missionary killed in Ecuador over a generation ago said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Wanna be rich? Follow the leader.
