Investments over time

Growing your wealth over time

"Making consistent investments over a number of years can be an effective strategy to accumulate wealth. Even small additions to your investment add up over time. Of course, a program of regular investing does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss."

I copied this right off my financial advisor's website. Everyone has probably read this at one time or another. I doubt any of us would disagree with the idea of saving consistently over time to accumulate wealth.  A quick illustration to solidify the point:

I went to a calculator on the Internet and plugged in a monthly contribution of $100 per month, starting at age 21, earning 7% interest and continuing until age 65. I used the same numbers but started the contributions at age 41, a still relatively young age. The results were startling. The 21 year old would earn over $330,000 upon retiring, while the 41 year old would only earn $72,532 by the same age...a difference of about $257,468!  Neither person is even sweating over the monthly amount, about than $3 a day. But the consistent, early investor is going into retirement with a little more emergency money than the late investor. Just thought I would add one more investor, the 51year old. He would only net about $2500 at age 65!

Obviously this blog is not going to be about finances. There are hundreds of articles dealing with investment strategies. However, the principals remain the same in every other area of life. If we want to make some significant changes in our life, we have to make small, consistent deposits over long periods of time. If we want to invest in our kid's lives, we must make small but daily deposits in their emotional bank accounts. Spending quality time with them each day(the younger, the longer the period of time needed) over many years will yield stronger bonds in the relationships. We can't wait until we see signs of our relationship unraveling and try to cram in more time all at once. Doesn't seem to work with time or relationships

In the area of health, guess what? Same principal applies. To enjoy better health in our 60's and 70's, we can increase our chances by exercising 30- 60 minutes, several times a week over as many years as possible. My dad walks 18 holes of golf, 6 days a week for as many years as I can remember and he can easily walk around at age 87. He did not start golf at age 65. He started it many years before that. My husband has exercised several days a week his entire life and has not had to slow down as he approaches age 60 in a few months. He can do everything now that he could do at age 21!  I am not kidding about this guy. 

Same principal applies to eating. We cannot wait to change our eating habits at age 60 simply because we have developed health issues. The time to start is now because we are investing in our healthy future. We must consistently eat the rights foods everyday. The changes in our appearance will come gradually, but we will sustain them because we are investing in our future.

But the most important area of consistency is spiritual. You can wish a lot of things to be true when you are 65, but your joy and strength will come from your walk with the Lord. Many people…most people have a desire to know the Lord. I have observed over my years of working with young adults that the desire is hindered by a long term vision. Who do you really want to be at age 50 or 60 or even 70? Be kind to the older person you will become. Invest in that person!!! If you spend your whole life intending on starting a plan and never quite doing it, you have squandered the years of consistent investments. The same principal of money holds true with Christian growth. Years of spending consistent times with the Lord and reading his word pays huge dividends!!! 

Start off with a plan of reading 15 minutes a day at the same time. You Version has hundreds of plans to follow. Pick one. My 15 year old nephew has been consistently picking a plan for over a year. I weep at the thought of the man of God he will be when he is 60!!! He will know God's character. He will not have to learn about God second hand and think to himself "Oh, so that is what God is like." He is not being fancy or legalistic. He has just simply begun at an early age to contribute small amounts of time to invest in the man he will be. Small consistent contributions over long periods of time yield powerful results.

 Begin a prayer journal if you are struggling with a consistent prayer time. Assign a day to pray for different topics. Monday can be about your future spouse. Tuesday can be about your unsaved friends. Keep it simple. But keep it consistent. You will soon see your prayer bank account grow because you will begin to see answered prayer.

As you grow older you will find that NOTHING can keep you from having a time with the Lord. You will begin to depend on it because your relationship with the Lord will be a sweet time of fellowship with the one that you love most. You will be like the person in Psalms 1,

"But they delight in the law of the Lord,

    meditating on it day and night.

3 

They are like trees planted along the riverbank,

    bearing fruit each season.

Their leaves never wither,

    and they prosper in all they do."

At 65, I want to be a huge, healthy tree planted along a riverbank and I am investing in the tree today. 

I want to do it my way!

Shoes on the wrong feet!

On a recent beach trip, we had the joy of spending time with our two precious grandsons. One grandson had just turned two:). Everything was "No, Pat-Pat" "No, Pops" or "No, Daddy." He is in the wonderful stage that all babies go through when they assert their rights as individuals. We would be most worried if they did not go through this stage. 

I could not help but realize that striking comparison between Caleb and myself! As you can tell from the photograph, Caleb had insisted on putting on his own shoes. No amount of explaining could convince Caleb that his dad had a better way of putting those shoes on his feet. Finally Ben gave up and "Just put them on yourself." Even after he put them on the wrong feet, he would not allow his mind to be changed about those shoes.

How often do I battle against God when he tries to help me "put on my shoes"? He knows that there is a right way and a wrong way to run my life. How often do I stubbornly tell God," I can do this myself? "  or "I do NOT need your help!"  He sees that I am clearly going in the wrong direction. He who knows all from past to future. He who knows how I am fearfully and wonderfully made. He who knows how I should eat and drink. He who knows how to help me spend my money(is it even my money?). He who loves me perfectly, far more than Caleb's dad loves him. He lavishes good gifts on me like I am his bride or something. We are the bride of Christ, actually.

God continues to warn us if we are putting on our shoes the wrong way. He allows us put on our shoes in the most wrong way! We are not even smart enough to see how ridiculous we look when we do this. Many times others can see that we put on our shoes on the wrong feet but we are blinded by pride and will not admit it.
Sometimes God warns us that the shoes we are about to try are not the correct size. They are too small or too large. Instead of thanking him for his wise intervention, we plow full steam ahead. What happens is that we get blisters on our feet. Even if the shoes are uncomfortable and clumsy, we continue to wear that shoe or worse yet… we blame God for the consequences that we caused. When we go ahead of him in our plans to live with a potential spouse and it ends badly. When we go into a business venture without praying first and asking him for guidance and then it bombs big time. When we eat as WE please and not what fits our health and then we are angry that we can't seem to lose weight. We are head over our heals in debt because we financed everything that we thought we had to have and then we are bitter about that. We ALL do this.

Guess who yells at us the loudness when we put on our shoes the wrong way…the liar, the accuser, the enemy. God does not do this.  Ben smiled when Caleb struggled with his choice and said "Caleb, can I help you fix this?" God, through the Holy Spirit, says gently, "Can I help you fix this?" And he can fix it if we are willing to allow him to do that. Caleb finally, after much gentle coaxing, realized that his way was not comfortable, It was not working at all like he thought it would. So he sat down and let a wise daddy fix those shoes. Might be time for us to quit being so silly and stubborn. Just sit down and allow a wise Father to help us. He wants to and he is able to. The only thing stopping him is our stubborn pride.