Avoid These Foolish Financial Mistakes Part 1

[EPISODE] Shawn: Want to avoid money, regrets and costly financial errors? Eager to learn common pitfalls that trip up even seasoned investors? Well, today we’ll be discussing and providing perspective on foolish financial mistakes to steer clear of that can cost you dearly. Let’s get some perspective. Welcome back to another episode of Christian Financial Perspectives. My name is Shawn Peters, and I’m joined as always by my father-in-Law, Bob Barber. And today we’re going to be covering Part 1 of 2 on foolish financial mistakes”. So this is Part 1 of “Avoid These Foolish Financial Mistakes”. We’re going to share some scriptures with you to get started, but please keep in mind if anything said in either of these episodes feels like we’re attacking you or you’re convicted or anything like that, that is definitely not our intent. We want to always tackle more difficult subjects when appropriate, but we want to do so in a way that is always beneficial and done so in a way that allows people to learn and to educate themselves. So never in attack, so sorry in advance, it feels that way if it feels that way. Bob: This is a tough subject, but I think it’s important as Christians, and this is Christian Financial Perspectives, that we tackle these tough subjects like this. So we’re going to give you a lot of wisdom. But the Bible speaks of foolishness a lot. And when I pulled up, when I put in the word “fool” and I looked up into the Bible, I was trying to think, what do I call this program? And it came up more than 85 times in scripture. So there’s a lot about that. And it talks so much about wisdom, too. And wisdom is the opposite of foolishness, right? So I think it’s good to start off with some scriptures, and to know that we are coming to you from a heart of compassion with this because we hate seeing people make foolish financial mistakes because they’re so costly. Shawn: That’s right. So without further ado, Proverbs 28:26, “Those who trust themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.” Bob: James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you.” Shawn: That’s right. And Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” which I think is just such a great verse on, again, we’re doing this because we want to help people. Bob: Exactly right. And Shawn, as I was coming up with this program, many times I’ll come up with this subject matter at 10 o’clock at night, or sometimes I’ll get up in the middle of the night, and I was amazed at how many of these items I came up with and how quickly it was. I mean, literally it was 15 minutes. I had 15 to 20 of these, and I could have kept going. I was at 25 or 30 and I was like, no, we’re not going to share that many. Okay, so today we’re going to have part one, we’re going to go through the first 10 of foolish financial mistakes I see people make, then next week we’ll go through part 2 of it. Shawn: And honestly, these can cost you thousands of dollars, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bob: They really can. Many times you’d be surprised, hundreds of thousands of dollars. And the first one, we’ve mentioned this many times before, but in today’s society it’s nearly a novel idea, but this is the foolishness that we see. Number one is, “Spending more than you earn.” That’s a major financial mistake that people make. You say, well, how do you do that? Credit cards, there’s more going out than coming in. Because of this, we’re going to have a program in a couple of weeks, I’m going to call it budgeting simplified, and we’re going to be talking about how you can simplify a budget that will help you in this category. Shawn: And not only for ourselves individually, but on spending more than you earn. That’s a mistake. Continue to pray for our leaders that they would at some point maybe learn to stop doing that, spend less than the tax dollars. So maybe eventually our great, great, great grandchildren will not be in debt. Bob: Our country, if you go to USdebtclock.org, you’ll see that we don’t have an income problem. We have a spending problem. I mean, the income is really coming in a lot from taxes and the trillions and trillions, but there’s more going out than coming in. So they just need to learn how their own politicians need to learn how to do this. Shawn: So number two, “Selling an appreciating asset to buy a depreciating one.” I would say, Bob, probably the most common with this is when we have a client that wants to take out a large sum of money from a long-term investment account to buy a car or to do a home remodel, or to go on a long big vacation of some kind or just fill in the blank. And what ends up happening is it’s literally one of the worst financial mistakes you can do. Second only, I guess, to spending more than you earn. You give up so much more long-term potential for something that’ll be worth less and less over the years. Bob: You’re going in two exact opposite directions because you take $50,000 out for that car. Now that $50,000, by the rule 72’s, we’ve talked about this, it’s not going to double now. It’s not going to grow to 100k and then double the 200k because by the way, it takes the same amount of time for something to go from $50,000 to $100,000, thus from $100,000 to $200,000. And where it hurts so bad is somebody in their older years, maybe they’ve got $700,000 now in their retirement account, well now in their older years, they’re going to have $200,000 less by taking 50k out from an appreciating asset to go put it into a depreciating asset. And you know a car, it’s $50,000 is not going to be worth it in 10, in 10 or 15 years. So yeah, you’re moving in exact opposite directions of each other. Can you imagine an investment doing that? Would you want to invest in anything that you knew was going to be worth about 10%, 20% of what it is in 10 or 15 years? Shawn: Yeah. So number three, “Taking financial advice from someone that’s not financially successful.” Bob: That’s nearly a no brainer, but you would think not. People do take advice all the time from family members that are not financially successful. I always say, if you want to fly with the eagles, hang out with the eagles, not the turkeys. Shawn: But that being said, Bob, I think the other thing to be careful of is kind of the flip side of that is taking financial advice from someone that is wealthy but not from their own hard work. Bob: Yes, that’s a very good point. Shawn: Someone who inherited a lot of money for whatever reason – it could have been from parents, grandparents, or could have been from life insurance, whatever the case may be. But if someone is wealthy and seems financially well off, but you know that it wasn’t because that they have worked hard to build up their own business or whatever the case may be, I would also avoid taking advice, financial advice from that same person, because just having money doesn’t make you qualified. But if you have a lot of money and you earn that yourself, okay, maybe they’ve got some good advice, then. Bob: I would call that 1st generation wealth. Yeah. Shawn: So number four, “Allowing emotions and feelings to make financial decisions.” Bob: We know that’s a big no-no, don’t we? Shawn: Wait, do people struggle with that? Bob: Constantly, especially when it comes to buying cars or it comes to buying furniture or it comes to that home remodel. I mean, your countertops are fine, everything’s working good, but you’ve watched HGTV so many times that you think you’ve got to change everything. Shawn: Well, it’s not just that, Bob, you’re talking about some of the bigger financial purchases, decisions that happen less frequently. But I think the thing that probably hurts more of us is the smaller ones where you’re browsing, I’m not going to say the name of it, but there are online websites where you can get things within a day or two and more and more companies have moved to that. And when you are kind of in the moment and you see something that’s, oh, it’s on sale, or I saw a friend had this, and you’re like, oh, I’m going to go buy it and look how easy, it’s just, “Click. Buy.” Wait. Wait a little bit on those. Bob: That’s your emotions. Shawn: Think about do you actually need this? Can you afford to buy this? Or are you just kind of buying it quickly in the moment? Okay. Because those add up quick. Bob: That’s exactly right. Okay. I want to cover number five, by the way. Shawn: Alright, go ahead. Bob: This is what I’ve seen a lot in my 30 plus years in the financial advisory business, is, “Taking stock tips from friends or somebody on the golf course or somebody in your book club…” Shawn: Or some influencer, some financial guru online. Bob: “…without doing the hours of unbiased research yourself.” And do you really even know how to do that research? A lot of research going into it. Like before we pick a stock, we have 20 elements that we look at on the value side and on the fundamental side. So there’s a lot of different elements, plus just how is it trading over or under, its long term. Shawn: There’s a lot. But even with that, Bob, we are not saying, okay, we’re going to take client money. We’re going to buy, 50% is going to go into this one stock. Well, no, for what we’re doing, whether it was a small amount or a lot of money, we still diversify that. And so of maybe 50 stocks that we end up narrowing things down to, we still don’t know that those are for sure going to appreciate. It was just we’ve done the best we can with the research trying to remain unemotional, unbiased, and then decide, all right, well these are the ones that we think have the best chance. Bob: Based on mathematics. Shawn: Exactly. But it could go either way. And so anyone that tells you, “Oh, you need to buy this stock,” or, “Oh, this is going to do great,” they have no idea. Bob: Alright, we’re halfway through our 10 today. This is why we’re doing two parts. Number six, “Trying to get rich quick.” Therefore, this results in many unwise decisions I’ve seen over my years. It just doesn’t work. Shawn: Bob, it’s so hard because even just in the last few years, when you look at how much home prices have gone up and just real estate in general and renting and the cost of just things overall, the desperation, I get it. I understand why more and more people, probably some of you watching this, why you have the FOMO, the fear of missing out or I need to take advantage of this thing because I got to find a way to get ahead quicker. But the reality is, is that there’s nothing new under the sun, right? The scams, the get rich quick, it’s been around for thousands of years. It’s not new. So even though I know it’s very tempting, and even though I know it’s more appealing, if you hear about something that’s like a way to get ahead and you can bypass stuff, the reality is, is it’s not going to work. For every 1 person at worked for, there’s 100 people that lost their shirt. Bob: This next one goes right into that. So number seven, for every one person this works. 10 million, it doesn’t work. Okay. Shawn: “Gambling.” Bob: Gambling on lottery tickets. When they ask me, I want to buy a lottery ticket in a convenience store, you asked the wrong person. Shawn: To be more broad gambling. It’s gambling, lottery tickets, online gambling, going to casinos, the sports pools, the fantasy football type stuff. And you know what? Look, if you’re playing with your friends, that’s fine, but just don’t get sucked into that because the house always wins. Bob: We have a good scripture for that. Proverbs 15:27, “The greedy bring ruin to their households, but the one who hates bribes will live.” I think there’s a lot of bribing going on in the gambling business. Shawn: If you’re watching this, please send Proverbs 15:27 to your local representative, state and federal to remind ’em of that. Bob: That’d be a good one. Alright, here goes number eight. Now this is one I’ve seen a lot too, “Loaning money to others expecting to get paid back.” Not going to happen. Okay. You loan money to a family member, the odds of getting paid back and if you’re expecting to get paid back, that’s foolishness. You’re probably not going to get paid back. Shawn: Yeah. You’re doing an uncollateralized loan. And yeah, it’s not worth it. Bob: Number nine, we’re down to the last two is, “Day trading.” Shawn: Now, Bob, tell me how you feel about this one. Do you have any opinions, thoughts? Bob: Well, I will tell you this. Shawn: We will put a link in the description. We did talk about how… Bob: In my 30 years of financial advice, okay. I personally, and I’m sure they’re out there. I know they’re out there. Shawn: You’ve been doing this almost 37 years as of the recording. Bob: Yeah, that’s true. Shawn: Almost four decades. Bob: I’ve never met a single person over a long period of time that’s been successful at day trading. I’ve met ones that are successful in the short term, but I’ve never met a single one that is successful in the long term. Not one, Shawn. Now I know, I’m positive they’re out there. Without a doubt, they’re out there. Shawn: But you can do the math, Bob. There’s some out there. But if you look at the total number of people doing it, what percentage of those are actually successful at it? Well, it’s the very, very small minority. Bob: So you understand these last three kind of play in right into that. Trying to get rich quick. The gambling – well, not loaning money. That’s not trying to get rich quick – and day trading. Shawn: Traders are not investors. We’ll link that in description. It’s a good one. If you want more on why we think this is a mistake to avoid. Bob: We have a whole program on that. So anytime you see somebody writing and they’re saying, “Investors are thinking this today, investors are thinking that today.” No, it’s traders that are thinking this today. Or that investors think in the long run. They think in 3, 5, 10 year increments, not one day or one week or even one month increments. Shawn: I do know one guy that has been really, really successful with the opposite of day trading, but actual long-term investing. Some of you may have heard of him, especially if you’re watching the finance channel, Warren Buffett. He seems like he’s done pretty well with long-term strategies. So I don’t know, maybe it works. Bob: It’s funny. I have Warren Buffett’s 10 guidelines for buying a stock, and that one is so funny – it’s just so funny. He says, “Don’t buy cigar butts.” And I’m like, what does that mean? What do he means by that is don’t buy a company that is that bad. It’s already been used up. Okay. Shawn: Yeah, that’s a good way. Bob: Alright, here’s number 10. Number 10, go ahead. Shawn: Buying anything large on impulse, not counting all the cost and seeing how, or even if, it fits into a long-term financial plan. And again, this does kind of cover a couple of the ones we cover, but large purchases, what would you say that would be, Bob? Anything a thousand dollars or more? Bob: Oh no. Shawn: $500 or more? Bob: No large, I would say $10,000, $15,000. But anything beyond like $20,000, you definitely need to get with your financial advisor, put this in a financial plan and see how this is going to affect you over the long run. And is it a wise decision? Oh, Shawn, this is enough today. I mean, that’s so much to absorb, these 10, and this will be up on our website. Next week, we’re going to cover 10 more. Like I said, I came up with about 25 of these in a matter of 15 to 20 minutes. It’s amazing. I was spitting this out so fast I could hardly write. Shawn: I asked Bob to please split it up. So, you’re welcome those watching and listening. Well, that’s all for today. But in the meantime, or whenever you happen to watch this, if it’s already after the second episode came out, we’re here. We both work at Christian Financial Advisors®. We’re fiduciary based. And our goal in what we do day to day is helping people avoid making foolish financial mistakes and to be successful in the long run, all while glorifying God and how you do it. So if you have questions, comments, want to talk to us, whatever, give us a call. Text us, (830) 609-6986. You can visit our website, www.christianfinancialadvisors.com. All that should also be on the screen, all that. But thanks again for joining us and as always, God bless. [CONCLUSION] We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986. [DISCLOSURES] * Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors®, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors® believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.