What are 5 common investment choices which kill your returns?

Ralph
00:00:00

Do you feel that knot in your stomach every time you check your retirement account? Are you worried that your hard-earned savings might vanish because of one wrong financial move? You're not alone, just like Chrissy, I'll share her story today, who lost almost a third of her life savings last year, many Christians struggle with balancing their faith and finances. Today I'm going to share five real stories of transformation that will help protect the financial blessings God has given you. I'll reveal the exact steps that help my clients turn their financial worries into financial wisdom. Listen closely, because what I'm about to share could be the difference between watching your retirement dreams slip away and building a secure financial future that honors God.

As your financial mentor and fellow Christian, I've walked this path before, and I'm here to guide you through these challenging waters with both practical wisdom and biblical true. Stay with me as we explore how to protect your family's financial future while staying true to your Christian values. The stories I'll share today might make you uncomfortable.

They certainly made me pause and reflect. But remember, just as Proverbs teaches us about seeking wisdom, these lessons could save you from making the same devastating mistakes that have derailed so many good people's financial futures. Your financial peace of mind and your family's future are worth the next few minutes of your time.

Announcer
00:01:26

Welcome to the Ask Ralph podcast where listening to an experienced financial professional with over 30 years of experience can help you make sense of confusing questions, current headlines and industry trends about taxes, small business, financial decision making, investment strategies, and even the art of proper budgeting. Ask Ralph makes the complex simple by sharing his real world knowledge from a Christian perspective with all things financial.

Now here's your host, Ralph Estep Jr.

Ralph
00:01:54

Well, thank you for joining me today. If you missed yesterday's show, we cover the crucial topic of freezing your credit file. So if you missed it, I'm going to encourage you to go back and listen, because it could save you from becoming one of the millions of identity theft victims this year. Well I'm going to walk you through the exact steps to protect yourself and your family's financial security. So if you missed it, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out.

Well I want to share a deeply moving message I received from Chrissy, and it truly captures the struggles many of you are facing, and this is what she wrote. She said this, she said, "Hello Ralph, I've been investing for over 10 years now, and I feel like I'm running on a financial treadmill. My husband and I have three kids in middle school and we're trying our best to save for college while also building our retirement nest egg. But honestly, I feel completely lost. Every time the market shifts or I hear concerning news,

I panic and make changes to my portfolio. Last year, I lost 30% of our retirement savings because I pulled everything out during the market dip, and I'm terrified I'll never recover. I've been praying about it constantly, but I still feel overwhelmed. My church small group keeps talking about being good stewards of God's resources, but I'm worried

I'm failing at that responsibility. I see others in our congregation who seemed so confident about their investments, while I'm lying awake at night wondering if we'll ever be able to retire or help our kids through college. Can you help me understand what I'm doing wrong? How can I align my investment decisions with both sound financial principles and my faith?"

Well Chrissy, that is a deep and probing question. And it resonates deeply with me. Because I understand, it reflects the challenges that many hard-working, working-class individuals face. I get it.

You're trying to navigate your financial journey. You're trying to grow in your faith. And your situation perfectly illustrates why I started this show. Because my mission field was to help people like you find that balance between that financial stewardship and that spiritual growth. And the truth is, Chrissy, your heartfelt message touches on several critical steps that we're going to address today, including that emotional decision-making. The importance of having a solid financial plan and how to align our investment choices with our faith-based values. Listen, Chrissy, your situation is exactly why I'm so passionate about helping you achieve financial success while staying true to your Christian principles.

Now, I'm going to ask you a question. Are you struggling to balance your money and your faith, just like Chrissy? Listen, I get it. Sometimes it's like you're the only one trying to make Godly decisions in a world that pulls you in so many different directions. And that's exactly why I go live every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM Eastern time. Because I want you to know you're not alone in this journey. You know what makes my heart sing? When I see members of the community, having those aha moments during our live shows. It just brings me such joy when someone finally breaks free from debt or understands how to invest while still honoring God. Or maybe they find peace of mind in their financial decisions. Those are the moments that matter. Every week I hear stories that could be your story. Like these Ralph, I was drowning in debt until I found your show. Or this one, I never thought I could invest and stay true to my faith. Or how about this one?

Your advice helped me save my marriage from financial stress. Yeah, I'd be saying, Ralph that sounds good. Well, let me tell you, here's what makes our Tuesday night special. I give you real talk about money and faith. There's no sugarcoating. I'm direct. I'm on point. And yes, your questions are answered live.

Yes. I'll help you with your specific situation. The other thing I love about our Tuesday nights is a supportive family of believers who get what you're going through. They've been through the same things and yes. It was maybe the best part. I give away a hundred-dollar Amazon gift card every single week. The real magic happens in our community. When you join us, you'll see other space in the exact same challenges you're facing and winning. And think about this. Their victories become your inspiration. So here's what I want you to do right now. Take out your phone and add www.askralphpodcast.com/live to your calendar for every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM Eastern standard time. And listen, make this commitment to yourself and your financial future. Don't let another week go by feeling stuck or alone. Join me in our incredible community this coming Tuesday night and together we'll build a strong financial future while keeping faith at the center. I'll be looking for you in the chat and hey, you might just walk away with that Amazon gift card. So I'll see you on Tuesday at 7:00 PM.

You know Chrissy, your situation reminds me of Proverbs 15:22. And I've used this on the show many times, and it says this. "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers, they succeed." And if you think about it, this wisdom is particularly relevant as we explore these five devastating investment mistakes. So let's get to it.

Today, I want to walk you through five common investments mistakes that I've seen good people. These are good people, but they've made these mistakes over the years. And I share these stories because I want to help you avoid these pitfalls while staying true to your Christian values. That's the whole goal of today's show.

Number one thing is what I call the hot stock syndrome. Let me tell you about Jim. He's a kindhearted church member. And Jim inherited $200,000 from his parents' estate. And like many of us, we, he came into that money. He wanted it to grow. He wanted it to grow quickly. And Jim heard about this exciting new company from Facebook.

He was scrolling through Facebook one time, and they were promoting this company and this company promised amazing returns. Now, despite my gentle warnings about putting all his money in one place, Jim couldn't resist the temptation. And six months later, I hate to say it. He lost more than a half of his inheritance. So he came to me. He came to his senses.

Here's what we did instead. I got Jim in touch with a broker. So we work with his broker, and we split his money into different types of investments. We took it out of that all eggs in one basket, we put most in stable well-known companies. We kept some in safer options, like bonds. We left a small portion for growth opportunities. And this approach helped Jim recover and grow his savings while sleeping peacefully at night.

So that's the first thing you got to avoid. That's that hot stock syndrome that will drive you in the wrong direction. Well, let's look at number two and that's the all eggs in one basket approach. Kind of goes along the same lines. So let me tell you about Maria. Maria owns a small Christian bookstore, and she thought she was being smart, keeping all her savings in what we call safe government bonds. What Maria didn't realize was that while her money was safe, it absolutely was safe.

It wasn't growing enough to beat rising prices. She was battling against inflation. It's like having a garden. I've talked about this on the show before. You've got to have different types of plants to thrive in different seasons. Like I said, my grandfather would have this row with this and this row with that, because sometimes things just didn't work out.

So what we did for Maria, we work with our financial advisor. We helped her create a balanced approach. We put some money in companies that pay regular dividends. That was those safety things. We put some in growing companies that was that exposure and that risk. We put some in bonds for safety. And we even put a small portion in real estate investments. And this mix helped her money grow while still maintaining the security she wanted. So that's number two.

That's that all eggs in one basket approach. Let's look at number three. And that's timing the market trap. Let me tell you about David. Like many people, thought he could outsmart the market by buying and selling it just the right time. Chrissy, I think you feel the same way. And he was doing this instead of trusting in God's plan. See, the thing about investment, you got to let your investments grow steadily. But not this guy.

He kept trying to predict the future. You might be thinking, what did this lead to? It led to expensive trading fees and unfortunately, unnecessary taxes. And he missed out on the market's best days cause he was playing these games with time in the market. So, what do we do at David? Again,

I worked with his broker. And we help David understand that steady, consistent investing works better than trying to time the market perfectly. Let's move on to number four. And that's what I call the emotional decision-making pitfall. Remember Chrissy from our opening message? Chrissy, your story shows how emotions can hurt our investments decisions. When the market dropped, fear took over. And you sold everything. You missed out on the recovery that follows. And so it turns out that I met with Chrissy a few months ago.

She sent me this message a few months ago. And after I received her message a few months ago, we worked together with a local broker, and we created a plan based on faith and wisdom. And we looked at regular monthly investments, just continuing to put that money into the investments. We work to build a balanced mix of those investments, and most importantly, a schedule to review and adjust those as needed. It's not the time to just set it and forget it. And I'm going to tell you, this approach helped take emotion out of investing while staying focused on long-term goals. And number five. This is the last one on my list of five today. The going it alone mistake. Let me tell you about Tom. Now Tom tried managing investments by himself for years. He was very successful in his career. And he discovered that managing investments require specific knowledge and guidance. He thought he could do it himself. But think about this, I'm going to give you an analogy. It's like trying to build a house without an architect's plans. He was struggling.

And Tom finally broke down. He hired a financial advisor and working with him, we reviewed his situation, and we found ways to do these things. We reduced his unnecessary taxes. The way he was doing things was trigger and tax consequences. We help him balance, find a better balance for his investments.

And we also helped him align his money with his goals and values. Now, while we're here, let's take a moment and talk about working with a financial advisor. You know, I mentioned this on the show. I am not a financial advisor. I can help you with the big picture things. But actually doing the investments, you need to find a true financial advisor.

So when you're looking for that person, here's what I'm going to encourage you to look for. Number one. Someone who puts your interest first, their true term is called a fiduciary. You want to find that person that is interested in putting your situations first and not just trying to make money. The second thing, you got to find a person who understands and respects your Christian values. If you listen to me on this show, you know I talk about all the time.

Like there are secular people out there that can make you very wealthy, but at the cost of your Christian values. So look for that financial advisor that shares those values. Listen, I don't think it's a problem to come out directly and say, hey, do you work with Christian people? Are you a Christian person?

Do you understand what Christian people look like or look for in their investments? I think that's a very thing, a very fair thing to ask. Number three. Get a clear explanation of how they get paid. You don't want any surprises in this regard. Understand if they're charging you a assets under management fee, like that percentage, ask them if they're charging you a fee per transaction. Understand those things at the beginning and listen, there's no right or wrong answers to that.

Everybody has different opinions about which is better, which is worse, but I think you need to have a clear explanation of how they're going to get paid from the beginning. And last but not least, you'll find somebody that can do regular communication and updates about your investments. You want to be able to pick up the phone and have a frank discussion.

You want them to be proactive and talking to you. You don't want that person that when you're having a crisis or you're feeling like Chrissy did, and you're worried about the market that you can't find, or they won't return your calls. And remember this, a lot of people, a lot of Christian people don't get this. Seeking guidance is not a sign of weakness.

It's just not. It's actually biblical wisdom and action. And I'm going to share some action steps that you can take right away in a few moments. But first, let me ask you this. Are you looking to break free from financial stress? Are you feeling overwhelmed by financial challenges? Whether you're buying a home, running a small business or living paycheck to paycheck.

And man, I deal with a lot of people to do that. You don't have to walk this journey alone. Like many other people, you may be watching your dreams slip away. You might be struggling with mounting debt or feeling stuck and frustrated. And maybe you're trying to balance business and personal finances. But let me just tell you, there is hope. And working together, we'll create a plan to, to put you on a path to financial freedom while honoring your Christian values. And here's how we'll get there.

I want to tell you exactly how I do it. I'm going to assess your current situation. And I'm going to identify your God given dreams. I call these your big, hairy, audacious goals. And then I'm going to work with you to align your goals with your faith. And we'll work together to build a personalized financial roadmap. One of the things that I do is I help you establish accountability.

I help you track your success, and listen. There's no cookie cutter solutions. Nobody can offer you that. There is a bunch of people out there that promise that, but it doesn't work. You just have to have a practical faith-based approach, tailored to your unique situation. So, let me ask you again. Do you want to break free from debt?

Do you want to find financial stability? Do you want to achieve that long-term success and grow spiritually while building that wealth? Listen, don't let another day pass feeling stuck or overwhelmed. Book your consultation. Now you go to askralph.com. When you get there, just click on the Book a call with Ralph button. And let's plan your path to financial freedom and spiritual growth together.

Again, that's at askralph.com when you get there right in the top banner click on the book a call with Ralph. And now let's get those action steps because I always say intentions are useless without action. So here's my action steps. Number one. It's time to review your current investment portfolio for diversification.

Take a look at it. Be honest with yourself, have that meeting with your broker. If you don't have a broker, go find one. And we talked about how to find that one. Second thing I want you to do. I want you to consider both traditional and Roth retirement accounts. Both of those things have their benefits.

If they, if you can work with those together, it will help you in the long term. Number three. And you're going to want to do this because if you go to meet with a financial advisor, you've got to evaluate your risk tolerance. Everybody's a different place or a different feeling on this. Some people like I've got one client. He does not believe in investing in the market at all.

The only thing he investing is CD. So that's his risk tolerance. And he needs to understand that before he goes in meets with somebody. So that moves us to number four. And that's schedule a consultation with a qualified financial advisor. Find that person that you can work with. Somebody that's good at communication, that explains their process, that listens to you and understand you and can communicate.

That's another big part of this. And number five, start implementing tax efficient investment strategies. They're going to help you in the long run. Now tomorrow's episode will be packed with valuable information about 11. Tax-related see we're getting right into the taxes. So tomorrow when we talk about 11 tax related New Year's resolutions you should adopt. And these resolutions will help you build on today's lessons about smart investing and tax efficient strategies.

Remember this. My passion is to help you achieve financial success. I want to see you live out your dreams, and I want to see you grow in your faith. And I know working together, we can master your finances from a Christian perspective. So as I always end the show, stay financially savvy out there and God bless you.

Announcer
00:18:39

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