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Today on MoneyLife

August 4, 2008

Rusty Leonard on Investing

Download and listen to this program. To download MP3, click here

Investing terms can seem like a foreign language. On today's program, Chuck interviews special guest Rusty Leonard to help clear up some of the confusion around investing.

Rusty Leonard worked closely with Sir John Templeton, a pioneer in mutual fund investing.

Today, Rusty is CEO and Founder of Stewardship Partners Investment Council. Stewardship Partners is dedicated to helping Christians align their investments with their biblical world view.

Rusty shares what attracted him to work with John Templeton and describes why Mr. Templeton was so successful--using a strategy of "investing at the point of maximum pessimism"--that is, buying a stock when everyone else is selling it..

Rusty gives some principles for wise investing:

Think long-term
Find a good investment bargain
Find an advisor with a long-term perspective
You can't predict what stocks will do

Rusty gives some of the other investment philosophies held by John Templeton:

Be optimistic
Be disciplined
Work hard to understand the market
Be diversified
Align investments with biblical view (ask what would Jesus do)
Biblically aligned investmenting has produced good returns

Chuck’s closing thoughts:

Find a good bargain when buying stocks (buy a good company when its stock price is low)
If you have trouble doing that on your own, find a professional investment advisor who has a track record of finding undervalued stocks
Look to buy at the point of maximum pessimism, when most people are getting out of the stock market
Diversify and hold
Be flexible, willing to change your investment strategy every five years
Keep your investments aligned with your biblical worldview. Don’t invest in companies involved in activities you don’t believe in
Be a steady plodder who thinks long-term
There are no guarantees, all investments have risk
Be a good and faithful steward and trust God to bring the increase

Two key Bible verses:

Ecclesiastes 11:2, "Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land."
Proverbs 21:5, "The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty."

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