Prayer helps and heals in all kinds of situations – so why not investing too?
“Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not upon thine own prudence,” says King Solomon in Proverbs 3:5, and that advice can build a strong foundation for income property investors to create wealth that lasts a lifetime.
Jason Hartman’s 10 Commandments of Real Estate Investing offer key principles for successful income property investing. Those principles go ah in hand with King Solomon’s timeless advice – and they can help guide prayers for help with finances and investing.
The first four commandments in Jason’s original ten emphasize learning, wise decision making and staying in control of the investing process: become educated about investing, seek guidance from qualified investment counselors, stay in control and stay prudent. Because all these principles are interconnected, prayer can help an investor use them effectively for ling term investing success.
Becoming Educated
Education breeds wisdom – the greatest virtue for prosperity and a long life blessed by God. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” says the King in Proverbs 1:7-8. But “fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Getting educated means learning all you can about investing and the kinds of properties you want to buy. Education can come from many sources: books, blogs, courses and seminars. Where do you start and how do you decide which information is what you need? Calling on Gods guidance to sort out the bewildering array of information that available round the clock will open doors to the right knowledge at the right time – and lay the foundation for wise decision making at all stages of the process.
Seeking Guidance
“A wise man shall hear, and shall be wiser,” King Solomon also tells us in Proverbs 1:5. The wise, unlike fools, value wisdom and instruction, and a prayer for direction can help the new investor find that much needed guidance.
That’s where education comes in. Getting educated about investing and the kind of investing you want to do also means recognizing the holes in your knowledge and figuring out what kind of information and expertise you need to move forward.
There are plenty of financial experts and investing gurus waiting to offer heir advice and services – some legitimate, some not. But how to find the advisers that are right for you? And how to recognize the scammers and the downright unqualified individuals who will happily take your money and deliver nothing in return?
That’s where prayer comes in – to ask for the right guidance to get the investing help you need now.
Staying in Control
The fourth of Jason Hartman’s commandments leads from the third. Good investors have investing goals and a plan to realize them. And while it’s clear that qualified advice can help you realize those goals, it’s essential to keep control of the decisions that get you there.
Keeping control of your investments involves making informed decisions at every step. That includes decisions about goals, about the kind of education to pursue, and the kind of advice to seek out. And it also involves sifting through the advice given to make the final decision yourself. Though it’s tempting to turn everything over to a financial manager or property management firm, that puts an investor at the mercy of others and the decisions they make.
Prayers for guidance to make the right decisions keep investing efforts on the right track. And that brings us to another very important issue about being in control of your investments – are you making morally sound choices?
Promises of quick money usually involve exploitation and cheating somewhere along the way – and the wrong advice can have damaging outcomes for your properties and the tenants who live there. Asking God’s help to make the right choices, both morally and financially, can keep you steering your investments in the right direction.
Staying Prudent
We all know how much King Solomon valued prudence – and it turns out that prudence is a key virtue in investing too. Prudence is an outgrowth of wisdom. When you’ve learned all you can, and you’ve listened to the right advice, prudence helps keep your eyes on the prize: your long term investing goals.
The prudent investor balances risk tolerance with resources in the service of a long-term plan – which should have been laid out with the help of a lot of information and input from qualified advisors. Keeping day-to-day decision-making in line with the “big picture” of an investing plan helps you stay on track and make goals a reality. Say a prayer for prudence; Solomon would be proud.
“The Lord giveth wisdom, and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge,” says Solomon in Proverbs 2:6. Those three virtues form the pillars of good decision-making in life, as in investing. And if you’re working on creating wealth for lifetime with income property investing, praying for wisdom, prudence nod sound decisions is a good place to start. (Top image:Flickr/DanielMoyen)
Read more from Solomon Success:
SS45: How the West Won with Rodney Stark
SS46: God is My CEO with Larry Julian
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