How to Invest Like a Girl

(Wisdom on Diversifying Your Income from a Surprising Source)

I had an interesting coaching conversation last week.  It was about money.  “We have re-budgeted and cut just about everything I know to cut,” he was saying, “and we are barely squeaking by.  How else can I cut my budget when we’ve done all the cutting we know to do?”  I should add that he was trying to avoid cutting his giving to his church.

My reply went something like this:  “A man much wiser than I once told me that he found it important not only to budget his expenditures, but also to budget his income.  Maybe in an effort to balance your budget, you’re looking on the wrong side of the ledger.”

“What does that mean?” he asked.

“Your salary is pretty fixed,” I said, “but your wife has two different sources of income where the results vary.  By seeing just 10 more clients a month (not a week – a month), you will realize the difference you’re looking for.”

His whole brain re-shifted.  Changed his whole perspective.  “I hadn’t thought of that,” he said.

There was a lot of energy in that conversation, and I felt useful.  And while I mentioned to him the sage advice I received from the businessman, what I didn’t mention at the time was that what most changed my perspective was a girl.

Then came that Super Bowl commercial.  No, not the latest Budweiser puppy video.  The one that did this:

While part of me wanted to roll my eyes at another whine about victimhood, as the father of two pretty amazing girls women, and the grandfather of one who is literally her own category, I was impressed.

And reminded.

Reminded of one of the most interesting lessons I ever learned, yes, from a girl.  Okay, well, a woman.  Technically, we’ve never met, but I have studied her and learned from her for more than 40 years.  I don’t know her name – in fact, nobody does.  But the so-called Proverbs 31 Woman has stood for literally thousands of years as a reminder to us guys that nearly all of us out-punt our coverage when we get married.

One of the most amazing lessons I ever learned from this passage was what a shrewd businesswoman she was.  For years when “the heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain,” I assumed this was trust in the moral sense.  But what follows isn’t a lesson in faithfulness – it’s a lesson in what she does to make her husband wealthier while he’s sitting on his fat butt at the city gates.

Okay, maybe that last part’s an exaggeration.

Anyway, one day I made a list of all the things she did to either add to the family income or reduce the family’s expenses.  And today I’d like to share what I’ve learned from this Wonder Woman about how you and I can diversify into multiple streams of income.  Applied to our economy today, you can use some or all of these 8 different areas to create active or passive income that is recession-resistant and can continue to provide income for you, even after you retire.

LifeVesting at its finest, friends… if you want to create a compelling financial future, learn to invest like a girl.  Here are her 8 streams of income and a few ideas of how you can use them.

Trade (owing a business).

She looks for wool and flax
And works with her hands in delight.
She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar (Proverbs 31:13-14)

Scattered throughout this profile is the narrative of a businesswoman who bought things and sold things, manufactured things and wholesaled things.  She took ownership of her financial future by taking ownership of a business, and so should you.

Now… that doesn’t necessarily mean you should run down to the courthouse and file for a business license and open a restaurant serving your grandma’s recipes.  Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, either.  There are many different ways of owning a business, starting with owning stock in a company.  There are also many home-based business ideas, one or two of which actually work.

If you’ve never owned your own business, I should warn you that the reason you own the business and the reason the government thinks you own a business couldn’t be further apart.  The government thinks you are in business to be a tax collection agency. Sales tax, income tax, payroll tax, blah blah.  But you are in business to make money in exchange for adding value to others.

We raised our children based on part on the experience of family-based business ownership.  (And each of them when they just read this rolled their eyes.)  But if we could do it all over again, we’d do it the same way.

Income-producing land ownership

She considers a field and buys it;
From her earnings she plants a vineyard (Proverbs 31:16).

In our economy we call that “real estate” or “farming.”  This could be anything from owning your own farm to leasing out your acreage for somebody else to farm.  It could mean going in with other people and participating in a commercial land ownership trust or even buying and selling land in a growing suburban or urban area.  Or it could mean picking up the pecans in your back yard and selling them to somebody.  Lots of possibilities here.

Housing

She rises also while it is still night
And gives food to her household
And portions to her maidens (Proverbs 31:15).

This is implied, but there is no question that most all her business interests are home based.  In addition, she also provides housing to others, including the needy.  Another, more common real estate category.  Again, in our culture that is a massively broad category that can include rental houses, office space ownership, lease-back farm land, or real estate investment trusts.

In our economy, real estate markets fluctuate, but what never changes is the need of people to have a home of some sort.  But that’s not the only way to make money from housing.  Houses also need utilities, furniture, appliances, and services such as landscaping and lawn care.  Every one of those types of business has listings on the stock market or possibilities for investing locally in housing services.

Food

She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar (Proverbs 31:14)

Regardless of the state of the economy, humans and their livestock still have to eat, and the vast majority of that is sold to them.  This verse suggests that the Proverbs 31 woman thinks like a business person, even when she’s shopping for food.  What a concept.

In our economy, there are vast numbers of ways to invest in food, including agriculture, commodities (talk to somebody about pork bellies – now that’s what I call bringing home the bacon), livestock, food delivery, wholesale, retail, restaurants.  Again, this could be done by stock ownership, mutual funds or exchange-based trading funds, or buying chickens, a cow or goat (better check with your homeowners association first!).

 

Okay, I’m hitting the pause button here and will give you the other four in the next post.  And here’s why:  You’re probably already telling yourself you can’t do this.  And that’s baloney.  Of course you can.  You don’t have to be a gambler, a moonlighter, or an expert.  You just have to be willing to learn to position yourself in a way that you can help provide goods and services that people are going to pay for.  Why not pay you at least a little of that?  And better still, why not pay you while you’re sleeping, or working on other projects?

Notice what I haven’t mentioned here:  fads or get-rich-quick schemes.  Nor have I brought up “The Lazy Man’s Path” to anything.  That’s not how you invest like a girl.  Wonder Woman’s method of income diversity is all about doing or providing things that everybody is already willing to pay for.  And there is a way you can do that, too.

More later.  But for now, start asking the powerful questions…

How can I start and profit from my own business?

How can I earn money from land ownership?

How can I generate income from providing housing or housing services?

How can I invest in people’s or animals’ need for food?

It’s easier than you think.  You just have to be willing to let go of your limited thinking and time-wasting pursuit of trivia.

 

Tagged as: Business, Finances, Income, Investing