Living and working in a financial hub like Singapore, I’ve known about investments all my adult life.
After earning my first salary, I dipped my toes in the water by buying investment-linked plans. Then I started a regular savings plan that enabled me to invest a small, fixed sum of money into a stock monthly.
Seeing good results gave me confidence to buy individual stocks as my savings grew.
I topped up my CPF Special Account so that I hit my full retirement sum before I turned 40. This gave my retirement savings more time to grow, and at a higher interest rate (4-percent) too.
Now, more complex products such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have emerged, promising high returns for low capital. But these only confused me, because I couldn’t tell who or what controlled their value.
The concept and practice of investment likely wasn’t as complicated in biblical times as it is now, which is probably why those who dispensed their wisdom in those days didn’t comment on all the different aspects and methods of investment that we have now.
Perhaps that’s why Scripture doesn’t explicitly promote or prohibit financial investment. We would be hard-pressed to find in the Bible a direct answer to the question, “Should I invest my money?”
Nevertheless, it does discuss how we can understand risk and what posture we should take before God when we consider matters like investing.
Here are some biblical principles I’ve learnt on how to put to work the money that God has blessed us with.
Do Something ... Despite the Risk and Uncertainty
Any financially-trained person will tell you that no investment is 100-percent secure. In rare and extreme circumstances, even major banks or investment companies can fail and your capital may be lost.
All this risk and uncertainty can paralyse us and lead us to think that it is wrong or unwise to invest.
But Jesus teaches about faithful and accountable stewardship in the Parable of the Bags of Gold (Matthew 25:14–30). The third servant’s inaction yielded no fruit, so the master rebuked him: “You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that . . . I would have received it back with interest” (v. 27).
While Jesus wasn’t just talking about money, the principle remains pertinent for what we do with our finances. Instead of doing absolutely nothing with the money we have, even the little interest we can earn from the bank matters.
Some people believe that the only safe way to grow wealth is to put their money into a savings account, because of what Proverbs 13:11 says: “Whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.”
Certainly, if we are averse to any risk of losing our money, we might prefer to opt for savings or fixed deposit accounts, or capital-guaranteed products, even though their returns may be relatively lower than other investment options.
Let’s not forget, however, that even savings accounts are a type of investment, and there is a risk, albeit a very small one—banks can collapse.
That is why King Solomon urges not inaction but careful action in the face of uncertainty (Ecclesiastes 11:3–4). A Bible teacher explains this passage:
You cannot predict, still less control, the weather, but there comes a time when you must make your decision and act. If you wait until you are sure of the outcome, you will wait forever and lose everything. The right response to uncertainty is not to do nothing, but to factor the uncertainty into your planning.
Though uncertainty and risk are unavoidable, there are ways to deal with them as we learn to manage our finances.
Diversify and Know the Risks
One way to manage risk and uncertainty is to diversify, as one nugget of financial wisdom in the book of Ecclesiastes suggests. “Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land” (Ecclesiastes 11:2).
Verse 6 goes on to counsel us that spreading risks may bring gain in the long term. “Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.”
Diversification was a rule of investment I quickly learnt on my investing journey. When I was younger, I bought stocks that had higher volatility because I could tolerate the fluctuations over time. It was diversifying my portfolio that helped to balance out the risk.
Another way we can manage uncertainty as we invest might be to clearly find out what the risks are so that we can enter risky situations with open eyes and prepare for possible outcomes.
We can draw this principle from what Jesus says about counting the cost in Luke 14:28–32. Again, Jesus was discussing something more than the risks of an investment—He was talking about the risks of discipleship.
Still, the image of a would-be property developer in verse 28 is compelling. It reminded me that I need to plan my investments around knowing what I can afford to lose.
I used to have a high tolerance for risk in my younger days. But the promise of “high risks, high returns” in the stock markets can also mean “high risks, high losses”. My risk appetite has changed as I enter the second half of my life. Now, my priority is funding my retirement.
That’s why the risks of more volatile products, such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, have become too much for me to stomach. It takes too much to figure out how they work and I’d rather stick to more traditional and less risky options. That’s how the principle of knowing the risks and counting the cost has played out in my investing journey.
Accumulate with the Right Mindset
A popular financial movement among my millennial peers known as FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) advocates aggressive investing and frugal living to amass a large fund for early retirement.
One FIRE advocate in his mid-20s, for example, skips hipster cafes and instead eats economic rice to save money. And it’s just plain water instead of a coffee or tea after lunch. He also invests carefully so that he can achieve his plan of earning a passive income of S$5,000 a month by the age of 40.
Frugality is indeed a virtue, but a fixation on growing one’s assets may make one give unwillingly or under compulsion, forgetting that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). Or worse—it may make one live miserly and withhold help from those in need.
Jesus specifically warns against the inclination to hoard in Luke 12:16–21. He tells the story of a rich man’s plan to store and enjoy his wealth in years to come—one that was cut short by the man’s sudden death.
But if we can’t put our hope in money, what can we hope for? To this, Paul warns us not to put our hope in the uncertainty of riches but in God, who “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17). God gives wealth so that we can “do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (v. 18).
Such generosity arising from the love of God is how we can have grounds for true hope, as Paul goes on to write in verse 19. It gives us “a firm foundation for the coming age” when we will receive “the life that is truly life”.
Whether it’s the FIRE movement or the inclination to hoard, I have to remind myself not to be swept away by the latest trends or worldly financial advice, but to allow my mind to be transformed by God’s unchanging truth (Romans 12:2) and His enduring hope (1 Thessalonians 1:3).
Laughing at the Days to Come
A Bible character I seek to emulate is the Proverbs 31 woman, a picture of financial acumen and diligence. She selects her goods without impulse and invests carefully (vv. 13–14, 16). She works with great vigour and makes sure that her trading is profitable (vv. 15, 17–18).
With what she earns, she provides for her family and the poor, earning the praise of her husband, children, and community (vv. 20–21).
What strikes me about her is verse 25: “She can laugh at the days to come.” Yet her confidence comes not only from her preparedness and prosperity.
Ultimately, the Proverbs 31 woman can live without fear because she fears the Lord (v. 30). She is someone who fears God and thus lives with wisdom and understanding even in her financial dealings in the marketplace.
Although investing, as with all things in life, is uncertain, we can grow to become good stewards who can identify what risks to take with discernment and the right mindset.
Fearing God and hoping in His provision—these are solid grounds for the financial decisions we all need to make.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to give advice on investments nor recommend any investment product.
Although Eliza Tan eats to live rather than lives to eat, she still enjoys her food and wholeheartedly agrees with Ecclesiastes 3:13, "That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God."
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