I am a citizen of an invisible nation and worship an unseen king
Nothing I've received truly belongs to me
There is an afterlife and my choices matter into eternity
Money presents supernatural temptations
Generosity is the way the power of money is subverted
On the other hand, I contend with these earthly realities:
I grew up in the Silicon Valley as the child of Chinese immigrants who worked their "dream jobs" at IBM and Apple through the 1970s and 1980s.
My parents emphasized saving money (the "Asian conscience"), and like many of their Silicon Valley peers, accumulated significant wealth from their stock and real estate investments
I want to provide for my wife and my future needs as well as provide for my children and contribute to my kids' costs of higher education
I worked in tech and am well-educated, competitive, and enjoy knowledge pursuits
The majority of my peers are also well-educated and work in tech, and I lead a congregation that is primarily well-educated and works in tech
How do I reconcile these competing realities?
Well, I don't. Not completely at least.
Some Christians contend these realities are reconcilable. I have trouble buying it. One reason money exerts such powerful influence is that it’s often accompanied by secrecy. There's such a strong temptation to hide how one spends his/her money because of the values that our money practices reveal. Every Christian wrestles with the gap between one's stated ideals and actual behavior. Money is typically the area where that gap is widest.
Therefore, the purpose of this post is to share how I attempt to merge values and practice when it comes to money. Some of this post will be rationalizing my current behavior. There are just some contradictions with money that I believe are impossible to overcome. I believe it's why Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." And yet, I hope in sharing this I can narrow the gap between stated values and actual behavior and encourage others to do the same. So I'm less concerned about my practice becoming a model but rather that my thoughtfulness and transparency would inspire you to both think and behave differently.
Please note that this post is not about the practice of generosity. That's a separate topic, and yet incredibly relevant as saving and investing are simply means towards an end.
So here is a breakdown of how I use my money:
I invest in stocks because I believe it's good to own publicly-traded companies, profit from their ownership, and thereby participate in the economic life of my local community and region. As I've alluded to earlier, I think stock investing is good because of my background and my employment history.
When I started working at IBM right after college, at my dad's recommendation, I maxed out my 401k contributions and participated in their stock purchase program where employees received a 15% discount. I held onto the stock until Judy and I sold it to apply to a down payment on a home purchase in 2004. Like many in this area who are able to buy homes, we received down payment assistance from both sets of parents. Like my parents, Judy's parents also invested in stocks. So you could say stock investing is something I've inherited from both sets of parents and parents are models for how children practice money.
Soon after the purchase of our home, I realized there were many tech companies not named IBM whose market share, influence, and stock price were growing at astounding rates. I felt elated that I could have an ownership stake in these culture-shaping companies that set out to change the world. It was no less exhilarating to look around and see many of my peers and friends employed at these companies.
One of my practices today is to research (and possibly invest in) the tech companies that my friends are employed at. After all, growing companies hire. Over the past 40+ years, I've been privileged to witness the landscape and influence of Silicon Valley expand to shape the world in indelible ways. I didn't realize that my January 2019 lunch inside the super secretive Apple Park was more globally coveted than a tour of the Sistine Chapel.
As a pastor in San Jose, I no longer work in tech but I can still participate in and benefit from the economic boom of this area. I already benefit because my salary is derived from the compensation of tech employees who attend or have attended the churches I've been on staff with. Stock investing in tech companies is a way to further tie myself to the fortunes of this area.
That being said, I have some principles by which I approach stock investing. I invest in stocks with our taxable, retirement (Traditional IRA and Roth IRA), and children's educational plans (529). Where possible, I own stock in individual companies. I know index funds are a great way to generate wealth but I'm competitive and seek to beat the market's (S&P500) returns. I don't care if it's arrogant or unrealistic. I pursue a long-term buy and hold approach.
As alluded to earlier, I prefer local/regional companies where I have some basic understanding of the product/industry and appreciate their approach, values, or competitive advantage. I also like to purchase companies that seek to promote good. For example, five years ago my largest position was in WW (formerly "Weight Watchers") because I believe in their approach of building healthy eating habits through relationships and accountability.
My familiarity with Silicon Valley can also be a detriment. I stopped investing in Apple because of the ubiquity of their products. I couldn't stomach investing in Tesla because of how sick I am of seeing their cars. In our starter home neighborhood, three of the six houses surrounding our own have Teslas in the garage.
I also invest in stocks because I'm not tremendously bothered by volatility. The market and housing crash of 2008-2009 was sobering but made me realize that tying myself to the fortunes of an area cuts both ways. Investing in local companies bonds me to my area and community in ways that I believe are beneficial.
Why I don't invest in real estate: There are many ways to invest one's money in order to generate a return. I don't invest in real estate because it's not as familiar to my background and I haven't chosen to invest my time in learning the arena. You can make a good argument that it's more "spiritual" to invest in real estate versus stocks because as a real estate investor, you have a much greater opportunity to express your values. You can live out Christian values in the way you look for property, build relationships with prospective sellers, approach property management, etc.
For this reason, real estate investing is something I want to explore in the future. It provides the potential to run a Christ-centered business that blesses others and benefits a neighborhood. This only applies if you're the controlling owner/manager of a property as crowdfunding real estate behaves more like a stock investment.
Why I don't invest in cryptocurrency: I have some play money in cryptocurrencies mainly because of my brother's influence and generosity. I watched some YouTube videos about crypto (I'm an expert now!) and still don't really understand how crypto works nor am I really sure what I'm investing in exactly. I'm suspicious and wary of the get-rich-quick temptations and addictive nature of crypto.
Nevertheless, I believe blockchain technology has compelling features that will have an outsized influence in the future and yet I have no idea what that looks like any time soon. Therefore, I'm trying to get kids to learn about it since it will influence their livelihood much more than it will influence my own.
I invest in stocks because I've been lucky, fortunate, and blessed to live in a time and place of astounding economic growth. I don’t invest in other areas because I am not as familiar with them. I hope my candid thoughts on how I invest my money helps you to analyze your own money habits to help you use your money wisely.
Thanks for sharing. There are some unique advantages to investing in real estate that are not available to other investments. Banks will lend you up to 80% of the purchase price of a home for 10, 15, or even up to 30 years at very low interest rates. They won't do that for a stock. In the meantime, you can rent out "the bank's" house, write off expenses and depreciation, and save on taxes. When you want to move on, you can avoid paying capital gains by selling the house and buying a more expensive one through a 1031 exchange.
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