Nervous to Check Your Investments? A Gentle Review for Peace

Speaker A00:00:28

Hey, Ralph, I'm nervous to look at my investments this year. What if it's bad? Listen, I get that question maybe twice a week. And I get it.We're living in uncertain times and the markets are like a bouncing ball. Now, this year has actually been a pretty decent market, but I get that.And I think a lot of times that question comes from a lack of understanding, not really understanding investment. So if you missed any of our investment series, you go back and listen to those.We did a whole month of investments in the month of October, but if you missed those, go back and check them out. But I think what your question is really talking about today is worry about the future. And you're not alone in that.62% of investors trade on emotion. The problem is when you trade on emotion, you lose money.Because what I've seen in my own life, and this is backed up with research, the best performers are actually those who forget their accounts existed and they just set it and forget it. Because peace often pays more than panic. I want to say that again because I want you to hear that peace pays better than panic.But here's what I want you to hear today. Markets move, but God doesn't move.And we gotta talk today about how to review your investments with peace and not panic, because that's really the secret sauce to this. Let's check those investments without checking out on today's show.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Hello there and welcome.I'm Ralph and I just want to thank you so much for joining me today on this continued adventure of helping you break that cycle of financial shame with confidence. And I've been guiding people just like you for over 30 years to stay faithful and keep their investments steady when fear rises.And we live in a time of fear. I mentioned a few minutes ago, the markets are crazy right now. We never know what's going to happen. And I'll never forget this one year.I had this client come in and I was doing their taxes and they sat down in front of me.One of the things we have to do when we do taxes is I have to look at their investment statement so I can see how much we need to report on their tax report.So this client's sitting down, they push across this stack of envelopes and I said to him, I said, you haven't even opened up these investment statements. They're like, ralph, to be honest with you, I'm scared to Death to look at them. I don't know whether I'm doing well or not doing well.And I said, okay, well, you know, I talked about this in my show before. I think you should be looking at your investment statements. Now. I'm not saying look at them every day.Like, I got some clients, they get on their investment app, and, man, they are looking at that. And, like, I can't even imagine the stress they must live in, because the truth of the matter is, markets go up and down. But in this particular case.Let me get back to the story. So we started to open up these statements, and I'm looking at these statements, I'm like, actually, your things are right on track.You've got a decent return on your portfolio now. They weren't trying to set the world on fire. They weren't trying to make this huge return. And when I started to think about it, this is one of my.I tell people in my accounting practice all the time, I wear a lot of hats. I've got my financial hat. But oftentimes I feel like I'm doing this more and more. I put on my spiritual hat or my psychologist hat.And in this particular case, I realized the problem wasn't a portfolio. It was that panic. And that's when I took them. I said, look what I got to do. I got to explain perspective here.And I said something to this particular person. I said, listen, let's think about this in the big picture. God's got this. And I knew they were a faithful person.And they said, oh, you know what, Ralph, I'm so glad you said that, because that's what I needed to hear today. Because when you have perspective, you don't focus so much on those numbers. It helps you restore peace. And I love what Warren Buffett said.Big investment guru. He said, the market transfers money from the impatient to the patient. To hear something, I'm going to say, it's kind of funny.But, like, a lot of people end up being an impatient because they get so impatient about their investments, they need to get put into a hospital because it worries them so much. And here's the thing. I'm going to add to that, and this is something I've seen in my own career.That impatientness transfers peace from the fearful to the faithful. So today's all about being faithful. So let's get back to our question. How. How can we face our investments with peace instead of panic?Because that's really the big answer today. You want to live in peace, stop living in panic. Number one, Thing you've got to understand is the markets swing. There's noise all around you.If you're going to be an investor in the market, let me just tell you right now, be prepared for investment swings. You're not going to hit a home run every day. Baseball analogy here.Somebody, a baseball hitter goes up to plate, going to, you know, the pitcher's throwing a pitch, guess what? If they're a really good batter, they might hit the ball 30% of the time. 30%. Investments work the same way.If you've got a stomach for taking bigger risks, then be prepared. The markets are going to swing. But even in those market swings, the best thing you can do is have faith. We talk about this all the time on the show.The Lord has provided for us and he's promised to us to provide for us. Now that doesn't mean that you go to the casino and you put all your money on black and spin the wheel and hope you win.I'm not saying that with your investments. And that's why I did a whole month series about it. Because you got to be choosing in your investments. You have to be wise, sort of.But hey, understand there's going to be noise. Which leads me to the second thing. You've got to align your investments with your purpose. It's what we call a market allocation.Let me explain that simply. You don't put all your eggs in one basket. You understand what your investments are. If you're a young person, you can afford to take a bigger risk.You can put those things in things that maybe fluctuate a little bit more because your investment horizon is a lot longer. But if you're one of my senior citizen clients, maybe you're in your 60s or 70s, your investment horizon is a lot different.So understand your purpose and make sure you're allocating your money in the right way so you don't worry about those market fluctuations. I've mentioned this before with my mother in law, she has advanced dementia. Well, we took her completely out of the market.We put all of her stuff in very low risk CDs now for her. That's great. We, we are procuring her income for the future. Which leads me to the next thing. Diversification. And this isn't today's.It wasn't intended to be this long dissertation about investments. But when you diversify, you balance those things. It brings protection.That way if one market's not doing well, you have something else that can do that with equality. At the same time, don't put all your Eggs in one basket and adjust. I'm going to pick on my client here a little bit.Waiting to the end of the year to come into tax time to look at your statements was not the right answer. You've got to be willing to adjust these things. But life has seasons.Don't live in those headlines because like Warren Buffett said, you're going to make bad decisions. If you live by emotion, you're not going to do well in the market. So again, recognize the noise. Make sure you're allocated.You diversify, and make sure you've got a broker. Or make sure you look at your investments with the idea that you can adjust these things. You don't have to set them and forget them.Now, I'm not saying living that every day, but at least look at them once a month, maybe once a quarter. Sit down with your broker. If you don't have a broker, you know, reach out to somebody like me and let's sit down and talk about what's going on.Which leads us to our Bible verse. We actually have two today. And the first one's from Ecclesiastes, chapter 11, verse 2. It says this. Invest in seven ventures. Yes.In eight, you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. And I said, this is a great verse to talk about diversification. People say, wait a minute, Ralph, where's that coming from?Even the Bible is saying to diversify seven ventures. Yes. And eight, because you don't know what disaster may come upon the land. And then I'm going to leave you with this particular Bible verse.This is from the Book of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 19 to 20. And this is what I call my grounding verse. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up treasures in heaven.Because really, that's the answer, isn't it?We get laser focused on what's in that bank account, what's in that investment portfolio, that we lose sight of the bigger treasure, our family, our friends, the things that matter to us, our purpose. Because the truth is, no market loss is ever going to touch what's eternal. You could lose everything you ever have.But heaven's portfolio will never crash. And that's a promise. What? How about we pray together right now? Lord God, we come to you right now.We just thank you so much for being our anchor when markets shake. And Lord, we recognize that you are the true vine, you are the true anchor for us.So help us to get through those situations when we see this noise around us and we worry so much, Lord, give us the Wisdom to steward what you have given us. And, Lord, this is the hard part. Give us the peace to trust your plan, not live in our own plans.And let faith guide our hearts and our investment decisions and. And make our investments honor you with what we have. Lord, can we just ask this in perfect peace? In the name of Jesus, Amen.All right, here's your action item for today. I'm going to flip the script a little bit. I want to encourage you to check your portfolio this week.Maybe you haven't checked it for a while, but before you do that, I want you to do this. I want you to make a simple prayer. Just say, lord, I'm getting ready to look at my investment portfolio. What will you have me to do?And then ask yourself this. Does this still align with my goals and values? If it doesn't, it's time to adjust it. Adjust it with clarity and not fear.And while I'm talking about clarity, I want to invite you to our new financially confident Christian community. This is a place where believers like you learn to invest wisely and be calm and focus on stewardship over stress. And I'd love to invite you to that.It's super simple to get there. Just go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join. It's absolutely free. You can be a member of our community again.That's at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join. I hope to see you there. So as I close today, remember this wisdom is so much greater than worry.And stewardship far surpasses speculation, and faith beats fear in every market. So take a breath, trust God. Check those investments. Pray first. But check them with peace.And go out there today and be a financially confident Christian. I know you can do this. The Lord is with you. And hey, if the Lord's with you, who could be against you? Stay financially savvy. God bless you.And you have a great day today.