How does one start investing? This is a common question. I have a really simple answer: One has to start giving.
Finance
To invest money, I have to spend less than I make and save the leftover amount for a long time. This means I have to give my money to a savings account, mutual fund, stock broker, etc. I lose control of my money for a time with the hope (hopefully educated hope) that when I get it back it will have grown.
Family
To invest in my family, I have to give up some of my personal time and give it to my wife and my children. The more time I give to my family the greater relationship return I get. The more quality time I spend now building relationship with my girls when they are six and three, the more chance I have of a quality return on that investment when they are older.
Faith
To invest in my faith, I have to spend time with God. Time in prayer. Time in the Bible. This produces returns of building the character of Christ into my life. I also need to invest time cultivating relationships with those who can encourage me in my faith. Faith grows as others give input into my life of what God is showing them. Faith also requires giving of time to serve others. Faith without action is dead, and dead things do not grow! openbible.org has an excellent page of Bible verses for being a good steward.
Freedom
To invest in my freedom, I need to give up my free time and Vote! I need to spend time educating myself on how to have an influence in the political arena. This education will produce a return of quality voting and quality actions. Education will also return confidence that can allow us to start taking part in politics and not be afraid of it. If we will invest the time to get ourselves and our children involved we can gain returns of increased freedom.
Function
To invest in function for me right now means investing time learning more about blogging. In general we need to spend time improving our skills whatever they may be. Time reading, taking classes and practicing returns greater and greater excellence in our productions.
So the first key to investing in anything is to give. Give your money, your time and your efforts. Also the returns are often in proportion to the amount given.
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