Is Investing Only for the Rich? How to Start Small?

Got this listener question the other day and I just had to talk about that on today's show. Ralph, I've always thought investing was only for wealthy people. I don't have thousands of dollars lying around.Is there any way for someone like me to start?I thought that was a great question, someone like you, and maybe you're watching, listening right now, you're thinking, I'm thinking the same thing, Ralph. So today I'm going to talk about that. Today I'm going to talk about why investing is not for the rich.How ordinary people can start with just a small amount and how you can take that faithful step today without fear or shame. It's going to be a great show today.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Hi there. Welcome back to Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph.I'm so happy that you've chosen to join me today with what a great question today. And I've spent 30 years helping families and business owners grow confident with money. And that's exactly what I intend to do today.And I've seen so many people over my career thought, hey, investing's not for me. But did you know you can start with just $25 a month? And that is really true. You can start with just $25 a month.And if you do it right, you can experience peace, you can experience hope and even build a legacy for somebody. Because this, friend, is not theory, this is real. And today I'm gonna tell you exactly how to do that.One of my clients told me not too long ago, she said, I thought investing was only for those six figure earners in suits. I said, I get it. That's what everybody thinks.You see these Wall street executives, these fancy suits with all kinds of funny text jargon and all this stuff that you don't even understand. And she said, Ralph, but then I took your advice. I started with just $25 a month. And she said something to me which was just striking.She said that one little step, that one little step, Ralph, gave me hope. And truth is, I never looked back. And friend, that story could be yours today too. So let's break this down.Let's talk about why investing isn't for the ultra wealthy. It's for you and for everybody else with just $25 a month, you can do this. The first thing I want to say is this. Investing is ownership.A lot of people think it's some level of elitism. And another thing I want to dispel right now. Investing isn't gambling.Now, if you're just throwing money out there and investments, you haven't done any research, maybe we could talk about gambling on another show. That could be true. It's not some rich people's club. Investing is no more complicated than this. It's just ownership.When you buy a stock or you buy some sort of mutual fund stock, you literally own a piece of the company. It's really that simple. Think of it this way.If you like to shop at Apple or you like to shop at Target, let's say you can also own a part of Apple or Target. They have stock that you can buy in those. And I love what Peter Marshall said. He said small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.And I think that's so profitable for us today. Just a small deed buying that small share of Apple or that small share of Target. Like I said, it could be as little as $25.Which leads me to my second point for today. You don't need thousands of dollars to begin.I've had so many people over the 30 years of my career say, well, Ralph, I need this big paycheck to invest. The truth is, you really don't.Many platforms now, this is something that's sort of evolved over the last five or ten years, lets you start with something called a fractional share so you don't have to buy a whole share of the stock. What that means is you can invest 25 or $50 at a time. You just buy a portion of that stock. I'll give you an example.This is way that multiplication really adds up. And I'm gonna talk about that in a couple shows from now. Let's just say you invest at $25 a month for 10 years. That's $3,000 you've invested.But with growth, with a healthy market, it can become thousands and thousands of dollars more. I don't know how many clients I've seen in my career who took that leap of just $25 a month. And that number just grew and grew.It's funny, they'll come in to meet with me once a year if they get their taxes done. And I'll say, hey, let name and said, oh, they're so happy to show them to me because it started off small.And as they develop the skills, they start to build that confidence. And see, it's all about consistency. And that's my really my third point today. Consistency beats perfection.So many people think, well, Ralph, I'm going to invest in the market. I got to time the market just right. I got to get in at the right time and get out at the wrong time. Again, that's such a big miss.It's not something you have to really come and worry about. It's not about when you time the market. It's really about time in the market. And see, that's the whole key to this. It's the long term view.Now, I'm not trying to sell you investments right now. I'm not even talking about specific investments. But it's not about timing the market. You're going to get yourself in trouble.That right there is gambling. What I'm talking about is time in the market, which leads me to a great piece of scripture that really fortifies what we're talking about today.And that's the book of Luke, chapter 16, verse 10. And I've used this on the show a few times, but it is perfect for what we're talking about today. Again, Luke 16:10.Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And what are we talking about here? We're talking about faithfulness.That faithfulness, that decision to continue to invest even as small as $25 a month. That faithfulness matters more than the amount. It's not about the amounts. It's all truly about the consistency. Let me just tell you a little secret.Most of what I talk about here on the show to be a financially confident Christian is not about making big decisions. It's about making those consistent decisions, those wise stewardship decisions day in and day out. Well, let's get to another point.And here's the thing I really want to drive home today. God truly honors these small steps. I've had so many people say, Ralph, God wants me to do more than 25 bucks a month.Let's look at the book of Proverbs, chapter 13, verse 11. And this one just nails that true belief that God honors small steps. Again, Proverbs 13:11, dishonest money dwindles away.But whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. And I just love that verse. Little by little, dishonest money. If you're trying to beat the market trying to time the market. And I'm going to invest.Somebody told me a great idea. I'm going to invest and make a ton of money. God's not going to honor that. God has designed money as a tool.I've talked about it on the show many times. But he's designed it as a tool to grow through patience and stewardship. Little by little, step by step. This isn't all.Put it all on black, spin the wheel. Let's see if we hit the jackpot. It's a bad way to look at investing, and so many people think that's the case. Oh, I got this tip.I got this phone call from a friend of mine, Ralph. He said, you got to buy this stock right now. It's going to soar. I steer clear of those things.And my final point today is investing builds freedom, not just wealth. So many people have said to me, well, Ralph, you're just talking about prosperity. You're just talking about how to build wealth. Not at all.What I'm really talking about, the whole reason I'm doing this 30 day series on investing is investing truly builds freedom. It's not just about retirement. So many people think, well, investment, that's just my retirement, Ralph. No, it's so much bigger than that.It's not about those numbers on a page. It's about peace of mind. It's about freedom. And in the end, it's really about building a legacy of generosity for your family.How about we pray together now? Heavenly Father, we just thank You for reminding us that investing isn't about riches, Lord. It's truly about stewardship and it's about freedom.Lord, we ask that You would help us to trust You with the little we have so that we can grow it into something greater for Your glory. Give us wisdom to start small, Lord, and faith to stay consistent, and peace to know that Your true security and our true security truly is in You.And we ask this in confidence. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.Well, friend, if my show is helping you, if this particular episode has helped you, I want to encourage you to share it with somebody else. You can send them right to financiallyconfidentchristian.com send them an email, send them a text.The more people that understand how investing is really not for just those rich people, it's for people just like you. So share the show with them and don't forget tomorrow's show. Tomorrow we're going to get into the meat and potatoes of investing.We're going to talk about understanding risk and reward and how much is right for you. As we build this plan of investing, we really need to break this down piece by piece. And tomorrow I'm going to continue that process by doing that.And if you've really been stuck believing investing is only for the wealthy, I want to share something with you. I just finished writing my third book. It's called How to Become a Financially Confident Christian and I talk in that book about investing.I talk about Stewardship. I share 30 years of stories of people that I've worked with who have found that freedom in Christ to finally break that cycle of financial statement.I want to give you a copy of my book. You can go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming again that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming.You can download a copy of the book absolutely free, no strings attached. I encourage you to do that and share that website with a friend because I want to help you break free from shame and take that first faithful step.Listen, investments are not that complicated. You can do this. I have confidence in you. Now go out there today and be that Financially Confident Christian that God wants you to be.God bless you and you have a great day and don't forget to join me again tomorrow as we talk about that risk reward and how much is right for me. Have a great day today.