Investment Advice
 
I am about to give you some serious investment advice that is guaranteed. I know you have heard a hundred times over about which small companies will be the next Google or Apple: "This is one of the most overlooked investments to date. This is a long-term play that pays dividends and will change the rest of your life!" These are some bold statements and I hope that now I have your attention. Get ready to make room in your portfolio.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
People hang on to every word of famed investors and businessmen like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. It seems we always line up to hear the opinions of the richest people in the room.
In this unstable market people are more cautious than they've ever been when it comes to where they put their money. Do you believe that high P/Es make stocks risky? That rising oil prices drive stocks down? Big budget deficits are bad for the economy? Then this investment is for you.
 
Before letting you in on my little secret, let me remind you that this is a very unpopular investment and goes against everything Wall Street is telling you. According to the business world, I'm the last person from whom you should take investment advice because I am not a CEO of any company, I'm not a best selling author, I have not made billions of dollars and I do not rank on the Forbes list of rich Americans. My credentials are very basic; I am a pastor, a husband and a father of four children.
 
I know everyone wants an insider tip, so hold on to your day planner, that's what I am about to give you. This ticker symbol is recession proof, terrorist proof and has the biggest upside of any company that exists today. The window for this investment is closing every day. The most undervalued and most rewarding company to invest in is…FAMILY (FMLY)*. Before many fathers know it, 18 years have come and gone in a flash. Time they can never get back. Many fathers have not invested the way they should have in their children and regret it. Many have sacrificed their family in their pursuit of the American dream.
 
Children are growing up not seeing their fathers often enough and the results are spiritually devastating. I have never talked to a father that said he had over-invested in his family but I have talked to many that, with tears in their eyes, say they wish they could go back and do it all over. This investment requires a business-like discipline of guarding time with your family. Is time with your family worth more than a raise or overtime at work? Raising kids must take on a new meaning. 
 
Here are three steps to investing in your family:
 
Investors become Spiritual Leaders. I Timothy 3:4 speaks of spiritual leaders that run their homes well. Ephesians 6 instructs to raise children in God's word, not to be men pleasers but to live as servants of Christ. Proverbs 4:1-4 talks about being mutigenerational in our thinking of passing down spiritual heritage, that experience and wisdom are things a father can pass on to his children. If I am going to invest spiritually in my family, then I need to be the spiritual leader.
 
Investors study God's word. II Timothy 2:15 instructs us to be diligent in learning God's word. Do your children see you read God's word, or is it just part of your Sunday wardrobe? Do they see someone who is guided by the word? If we want children who are students of God's word then fathers, we must lead the way.
 
Investors spend time in prayer. In Luke 11:1, Jesus is approached by His disciples, asking Him to teach them to pray. First, they saw Him pray and wished to emulate what they observed. If a father speaks to God as he should, his children will see this and also wish to talk to God as they should.
 
A family investor will demonstrate a new love for his children when he is the man God wants him to be. When we fail to invest in our responsibilities as parents this fails our children and fails God.  To raise godly children, we must be parents who are ourselves godly and spiritual. It requires a shifting of your portfolio; family must come first. Our kids become more important than our success, which makes for a radical investment, which only risks one's pride.
 
We live in a culture that exalts those who have the most money, drive the nicest cars, live in the nicest neighborhoods and wear popular labels. We are status-driven and we are money-driven,  but these things have a price and it is the family. 
 
Everyone wants to be a millionaire and are doing things to get them there: working second jobs, maxing out their 401k, working overtime, buying investment property, investing in stocks, creating multiple streams of income, all which require vast amounts of investment of our time. Everyone has 24 hours that start fresh every day and cannot be repeated. If parents don't invest in their children and shape their child's worldview, someone else will. Advertisers target children and invest big money to win your kids over to their worldview. Don't let the world invest in your child
 
Advertisers are feasting on the minds of children that are sitting in front of the television and Internet for hours at a time. After years of working with principals in public schools I heard a common theme: kids have a 100% better chance of success when there is parental involvement. If you really believe that your kids are worth it, you will invest. If you really believe that discipleship is your responsibility, you will invest. If you believe their eternity is at stake, you will invest.
 
I have missed out on plenty of emerging companies in which I wish I had invested. I have missed out on huge gains and second-guessed myself plenty of times. But the stakes here are much higher when it comes to our children and our responsibility to raise them up in a godly fashion. The discipline and sacrifice that it takes to raise godly kids comes at a price. Working less will not bring retirement any sooner but it does give you the advantage to spend time and spiritually invest in your kids. This is time you can never get back. This investment calls for dads to be the spiritual leaders they are called to be.
 
Invest in your children today like you mean it. You may have to sell some of your other investments to make this happen. Look at your current portfolio (where you spend the most time) and see what is cutting into family time. Find a way to eliminate those investments. 
 
It is never too late. Start investing today, your child's spiritual future depends on it. Once you are fully invested, hang on, you're in for the ride of your life!
 
*At the time this article was written the author was fully vested in the above ticker symbol.