What Does it Mean to “Buy Low, Sell High,” and is it Possible?

Well, I got a great question today and this one is one that I hear all the time. Everyone says buy low and sell high, but is that actually realistic for an everyday investor like me?And that's a great question because the truth of us, so many of us are bombarded by these knuckleheads on TV who are these financial quote gurus. And they tell you, hey, you can do this. You can buy low and sell high. And you start to feel like you can do this.And it's a common belief among many people because we've all heard this phrase, especially as we talk about investing this month, buy low and sell high. And it sounds simple, sounds really easy. I'm going to buy it when it's low, I'm going to sell it when it's high.Let me just tell you something right now. If it were that easy, everyone be rich, wouldn't they? We'd all be Bill Gates. We'd all be major money movers and investors, wouldn't we?Let's unpack the truth on today's show.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Well, thank you for coming back to the show. Thank you for joining me again today. My name is Ralph.I'm here as your guide every day to help you make better financial decisions and to break that cycle of financial shame and live in confidence.So many people that I've talked to have said, Ralph, I feel like I'm constantly living in regret and trying to figure out how to make my financial situation better. And you've joined us in the middle of our 30 day investment series. Now this is an investment series for rich people.This is an investment series for people just like you who are just trying to understand the basics of investing. And the truth is, maybe I'll tell you a little bit about me. I've counseled clients who have tried this very thing.Oh, Ralph, I'm going to jump into the market when the iron is hot and I'm going to hit a home run every time. And they learned a hard way that it doesn't always work out that way.And I'm not going to be lying to you and tell you that if you haven't been lucky, few of them have been. It's kind of like going to the casino and you put a dollar into the casino, into the, the, the gambling machine and you pull the lever.The slot machine. That's the term I was working for. You pull the slot machine and you hit it. Well, sure, but that's the exception to the rule.The problem is, though, most people aren't that lucky. I know I've never been that lucky. My wife sometimes had been that lucky, but not me.But what I've seen over my 30 years of experience, I've seen when consistent investing, that consistency, that diligent investing will give you much better results over time than those quick get in and get out things. So I'm going to start off with a basic factor and a basic key. Right now, the key to success before we even get rolling today, is consistency.It's all about consistency. Which leads me to a story of two clients. Let me tell you about my two clients. I had one client.He was one of these guys, he was well educated throughout the very book, smart, understood investing. And he said to me, Ralph, he says, listen, I've got the greatest idea in the world. I'm going to sit on the sideline.I've got all this money and I'm just going to sit and I'm going to wait for that market to drop. I see some stocks that I've been watching and I'm just waiting for them to drop, Ralph. And then I'm going to jump in the market.Well, here's the problem. The market never dropped. Those stocks he was watching never did go down in value.And he just sat on the sideline and his money wasn't working for him. Let me tell you about another client. I had, another client that wasn't, well, sophisticated.She didn't really understand investing that well, but she had listened to me. This is somebody I worked with years ago, and I've always talked about keeping investing steady, doing it every month, doing it every.Whatever works for you. And this particular client, that's what she did. She just did consistent investment. She wasn't trying to hit home runs.She wasn't trying to buy low and sell high. And what happened to her over time. And see, that's what we're going to talk about today, how time is really your guide. Time is the value in this.But over time, her portfolio grew far beyond expectations because she was able to factor in that compounding thing that we talked the other day. So that's really the dichotomy that we're going to talk about today. And I love what Peter lynch said.Peter lynch said this and I think he just nails it. He says far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections than in the corrections themselves.And I think so many of us are found ourselves in that Same position. We're sitting on the sidelines. We're waiting for something to happen.And I think Peter just nails it here preparing for those corrections because a lot of times we're prepared for that, but it never happens. Like that client of mine, he said, ralph, I'm going to sit on the sideline until this drops or this happens.So let's move on to our main conversation today. These are the things I really want to expressed to you today. The truth is buying low and selling high is a great theory.Yeah, it sells books, it sells masterminds, it sells gurus on tv, all kinds of great books and ideas. But the truth is trying to predict that trying to predict those exact highs and lows is impossible. Yes, it's a great theory, but it's not reality.And here's how I can prove that. Think about this for a second. You ever watch the weather? Every day the weather person comes on and says it's going to rain today.It's not going to rain today. Well, guess what? They get it wrong most of the time. So even financial professionals get the timing wrong.Because I'm going to let you know a little secret. If they knew all the secrets, they'd be so wealthy they wouldn't be on TV telling you what to do. They get it wrong all the time.But the key to this is discipline and consistency, not luck. Take the gambling away from it. Investments should never be a gamble. You should never gamble on your future that is so very critical.It's all about that long term investment outlook. And let that compounding work for you because here's the problem. And my client learned this the hard way.Those market timers, those people that are sitting on the sideline, like my client, they're just chasing shadows. They're waiting for something to happen and then are usually a step or two behind. So here's a key takeaway for today.Don't time the market, use your time. I want to say that again because it's so very critical. Don't time the market, use your time.You use your time by thinking about diligence and patience. And hey, it's all about faith as well. And it far outlasts that greed and that haste because that greed and the haste will fail you every time.Which leads me to our Bible verse today. And I've used this on this show many times. It's from the book of Proverbs, chapter 21, verse 5. And it says this.The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. What's this Bible verse telling us? Plans. We need to be intentional in this. We need to be consistent in this diligence.Not that sitting on the sidelines and waiting to jump in and pounce when something happens, set diligent that continuous, consistent way to invest. And what does the scripture tell us? It leads us to profit. Well, that's what we're all looking for, right? We don't have to hit home runs every time.Most professional baseball hitters, when they step up to the plate, guess what? They strike out 70% of the time. If you play that game, you're going to lose. Because what does the Bible verse say?As surely as haste, not being diligent, not planning, sitting on the sideline leads to what? Poverty. We don't want to live in poverty. Why don't we pray together right now, Lord, we come to you right now.We just thank you for provision, Lord, and we ask that you would help us to be diligent, to stay committed in those long term plans, Lord, and not to listen to all the noise around us, those people saying, oh, this is a sure thing, Ralph, or this is a sure thing. You're, you can't, you can't beat this. This is going to be the big game changer of all game changers.And Lord, we ask you to help us to guard ourselves from greed, Lord, and impatience. It's so easy in our fleshly bodies, Lord.We see these opportunities for greed and we see these opportunities for impatience or just help us to not do that. And we just thank you for wisdom, Lord, and for your scriptures that show us that diligence brings profit and that haste brings poverty.So thank you so much for your love for us. And we ask all these things in confidence in the name of Jesus. Amen. So here's my one action item for today.One of the things I always want to do for you is give you an action item. Just something small you can work on today. Well, here's something you can work on today. I want you to really commit to that long term plan.I want you to get a pen and paper and I want you to write this down. I'm a firm believer that you can type something, you can say it, but writing it down commits it to memory. I want you to write this down.I will not chase timing, I will invest consistently. That's the mantra for today. I'm not going to chase timing, I'm going to invest consistently. That needs to be your marching order.I'm going to encourage you, place that where you can easily See it maybe on your phone, maybe when you get your investment statement and you start thinking about Ralph. I wish I was timing the market a little bit. Put that right out there. I will not chase timing. I will invest consistently.The truth is buy low, sell high. Sounds simple, sounds like a great idea, but it's rarely achievable. If you think you're going to time the market, it's not going to work.It's impossible. And listen to this. I want you to hear this one more time. It's impossible because even experts can't do it. It's like predicting the weather.Like I said earlier, they get it wrong. But what they don't get wrong is consistency and diligence. Because with those two things, you'll get results. And what did I do about scripture today?What is God calling us to do? God calls us to use stewardship with patience, not haste. So reflect on today's Bible verse, diligence, not haste.And make sure you come back to join me tomorrow. Tomorrow we're going to talk about Ralph. How do I make sure that my portfolio is where I'm going if I have that long term view?When should I check my portfolio? I'm gonna give you a little spoiler. I'll tell you about a client that checks his every hour. He's driving himself crazy.So make sure you tune in tomorrow and we'll talk about reviewing your investments, when to check your portfolio. And right now you might have a question. I started today's show with a question.As you noticed, lately I've been using a lot more questions because people are sending these questions. And I want to encourage you to do the same thing. If you've got a question for this show, go to justaskRalph.com.i created this website because it makes it super simple. Just go to that website. You don't even have to put your name and email address and just put in your question because you're a vital part of the show.And these questions are what keep us going. Because listen, people just like you are thinking these same things. So help us grow the show. Share this with friends, send them to our website.That's financiallyconfidentchristian.com because guess what, as a Christian, we have an obligation to spread the good news. And what we talk about on this show is good news. We talk about faith, we talk about consistency, we talk about diligence.And the biggest thing I think we talk about is, is hope. And remember, you can make wise choices with your money. So stay informed and be wise financial stewards. Be a financially confident Christian.So I want to encourage you today, stay financially savvy out there. God bless you. And you have a great day today.