This article is part of the Biblically-Informed Framework for Retirement Stewardship (BIFRS). It was initially published in June 2017 and updated in February 2026.
The subtitle of this blog is, “save diligently, invest wisely, give generously, live abundantly.” I included investing in the mix because it is a critical component of retirement stewardship.
It is wise to invest, especially for long-term goals such as college and retirement. Investing is actually endorsed in Scripture (Ecc.11:1-2; Prov.21:20; Matt.25:14-20), but the primary message is to invest in God’s Kingdom, so the priority is rightly placed on investing in eternal things (Matt.6:19-24).
This article is about long-term investing, but not specific investments. (I don’t give investment advice because I am not an investment professional or financial advisor.) It’s about our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and how they impact our approach to investing.
There are a few fundamental principles (you could also think of them as character traits) that should shape our attitudes and behaviors when investing from a biblical perspective. They are simplicity, patience, moderation, and humility. These have as much to do with investing success as the specific investments we choose and other practical things we do, perhaps more so.
Simplicity
Simplicity in investing isn’t a biblical principle per se, although the Bible does mention simplicity (2 Cor. 1:22), and simple living appears to be a biblical theme. Simplicity also seems to be “in style” these days. In his book, “The Simple Life,” Thom Rainer wrote,
Americans are rediscovering simple. At least they are aware that they need to rediscover simple. People are hungry for simple because the world has become so complex. The technology revolution has really become an overwhelming information revolution. We have access to more information, more products, more research, and more ideas than at any point in history.
The problem of complexity affects our personal finances and investing, perhaps as much as, or more than, many other areas. Many people I talk to are feeling pretty overwhelmed by financial complexity in general and their particular situation.
I have written on simplicity before, as I view complexity as an enemy of retirement stewardship. In this context, I would define simplicity as “accomplishing our investing goals using the fewest possible number of investments and investment accounts, requiring as little time as possible to manage, while appropriately managing risk.” The late Vanguard founder John Bogle, speaking at a financial conference in 1999, said:
To earn the highest returns that are realistically possible, you should invest with simplicity. Rely on the ordinary virtues that intelligent human beings have relied on for centuries: common sense, thrift, realistic expectations, patience, and perseverance. Call them “character.” And in investing, over the long run, character will be rewarded.
When it comes to our finances, especially investing, less is more. We introduce needless complexity when we continually try to find the ‘perfect’ investment, or combination of investments, to reach our goals.
Complexity can cause you to continually tinker with your portfolio. You will be tempted to constantly fine-tune it since it has so many moving parts. That is probably the thing that gets the most individual investors into trouble – buying and selling too frequently, and often at the wrong times.
Sure, you should consider rebalancing your portfolio quarterly or annually. But if you check your investment accounts every day (or several times a day), you may be tempted to start buying and selling. Better to think long-term than to try to figure out what the market will do tomorrow. You can’t forecast the market, and neither can anyone else, no matter what they say.
Most people have heard of Warren Buffett, one of the most successful investors of our time. You may think he is a big-time stock trader, but that’s not the case. He buys and holds (usually for a long time) stocks of high-quality companies. He once wrote: “We continue to make more money when snoring than when active.” His advice to ordinary investors like us: “[Owning] a very low-cost index is going to beat a majority of the amateur-managed money or professionally managed money.”
This advice has proven remarkably prescient. As of 2026, data consistently show that approximately 90% of actively managed funds fail to beat their benchmark indexes over 15-year periods. You don’t need ten or twenty different stock mutual funds when you can own a few that contain hundreds or even thousands of individual stocks diversified by size and type. So, when it comes to building a portfolio, there is rarely a need for more than 10 or fewer mutual funds and/or Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to implement your investment strategy. Paul Farrell, author of The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing, in an article in MarketWatch, wrote:
Several years ago I started tracking the best portfolios I could find in America, simple portfolios being used by Nobel Prize winners, millionaires, conservative portfolio managers, neuroeconomists as well as average Main Street investors. We even found some in books like Investing for Dummies and The Idiot’s Guide to Investing. We discovered something amazing. They were all saying the exact same thing: All you need is a simple, well-diversified portfolio of just three-to-eleven funds, low-cost, no-load index funds that will create a long-term winner through bull and bear markets. And you do it with no market timing, no active trading and no commissions. “Lazy Portfolios” are that simple. So what about the other thousands of stocks, bonds and mutual funds being hustled by brokers? Forget them!
As a retiree who has managed my own portfolio for decades, I can attest to the power of simplicity. In my retirement account, I currently own two high-quality, low-cost domestic stock ETFs. I also have two international stock ETFs, for a total of four. The remaining holdings consist of fixed-income funds and cash, totaling nine positions. This simple approach has served me well through multiple market cycles, including the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 COVID crash.
There are many places to find ideas for your simple, low-cost, easy-to-manage portfolio (“lazy portfolios,” as they’re often called). They all have the same themes and principles: low-cost, well-diversified portfolios that can be maintained by you with minimal time and effort.
First is the “Bogleheads” Wiki. The “Bogleheads” are followers of John Bogle and his investing principles. The article is about what they call the “lazy portfolios” – relatively simple, set and forget (except for readjusting/rebalancing every year or so).
Another is the “Simple Money Portfolio,” which appears in the book “Simple Money” by Tim Maurer. (It’s a book that I would highly recommend, but investing is just one part of it.) I really like his thinking and the way he developed this model portfolio.
Finally, another one of my favorites is Paul Merriman. He writes for MarketWatch and also has his own website. He wrote about what he calls the “ultimate buy and hold portfolio” on MarketWatch, which is very similar to Tim Maurer’s “Simple Money Portfolio.” Also, here is a link to his recommended Vanguard funds.
The last thing I want to suggest in the spirit of simplicity is automatic investing. If you invest a little every month through payroll deduction or bank transfers, you will be doing what is known as “dollar cost averaging” — investing the same amount automatically on a regular basis. It is very easy to do. By investing a fixed amount each month, we buy shares at the lowest possible cost over time. We buy more shares when the price is low and fewer when the price is high. Plus, if we invest automatically, we have a better chance of success.
Patience
Slow and steady wins the race! Proverbs 13:11 says, “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.”
Hastiness can take many forms. Perhaps the most familiar ones are the “get rich quick” schemes we all hear about from time to time. In recent years, we’ve seen this with cryptocurrency mania, meme stocks, NFTs, and other speculative investments that promise quick riches but often deliver losses. Notice how these kinds of pitches try to snag us with the “fear of missing out” approach? Biblical wisdom calls us to resist these temptations.
A good definition of patience in the context of investing might be, “The ability to stay focused on your goals and long-term strategy in spite of all the noise and distractions that will tempt you to do something different.“
Patience is as important in life as it is in building a retirement fund. Thoughtful risk management always trumps chasing riches, and as with sports teams, a robust defensive strategy is paramount to a successful offense. But the reality is that most people aren’t very patient, certainly not when it comes to investing.
Research from DALBAR’s annual Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior consistently shows that the average equity mutual fund investor underperforms the S&P 500 by significant margins—typically 3-4% annually. This means that if they had simply invested in a mutual fund or ETF that tracked the S&P 500 instead of their mix of individual stocks or actively managed mutual funds, they would have been substantially better off over time.
What is the main contributor to this disparity between individual investor returns and the market in general? It’s bad behavior; not morally bad (hopefully), but bad in the sense that many individual investors jump from one recently successful investment to another. Each time they do this, they’re buying at a higher price after the security has risen. Then they are disappointed when it falls, and they eventually sell at a lower price. The net result is a loss.
I could argue that buying and selling are not investing at all – at best, it’s trading; at worst, gambling. While there are always exceptions, most research indicates that stock traders lose more than they win over time. Gamblers always lose, at least in the long run, because the house always wins in the end, and it’s a zero-sum game.
Most successful investors know that there is no quick, sure way to meet their goals. It’s more about cultivating good investing habits than investment hubris. Good habits will pay off over time. It’s not about always actively doing something – that can be a sign of fear or greed. People who have consistently grown their assets have learned to cultivate patience. They don’t panic when their account value declines (as it inevitably will). In fact, they may buy more when the price falls, and others are selling. They know you can’t build a nice nest egg overnight with a quick buy-and-sell strategy. Patience allows your assets to “grow by themselves.”
Having lived through the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 COVID crash, and various other market corrections during my investing journey, I can testify that patience is perhaps the most valuable trait an investor can possess. Those who panicked and sold during these downturns locked in their losses and often missed the subsequent recoveries. Those who stayed the course—or even continued buying—were handsomely rewarded.
Our challenge is that Wall Street continually tempts us by claiming to have special knowledge and insight. (Ever seen an ad for someone’s “proprietary investing algorithm”?) Many give their money to them or pay to follow their advice, and it costs them dearly.
Patient investors have learned these hard lessons and take a business-like approach to investing. When you regularly buy and patiently hold (but not necessarily forever) low-cost, high-quality funds with proven track records, you just need to wait and let compounding do its work. As a general rule, that approach produces better investment results by reducing costs and behavioral errors. There is no need for expensive and complex investment types or strategies to generate investment returns sufficient to grow your assets to give you enough to retire with dignity.
Moderation
Moderation is closely related to patience, as it requires self-control and restraint. A good definition in this context would be: “Using a stable and balanced approach to investing; not given to extremes in investment types or behaviors based on impulse or emotion.“
Moderation is viewed favorably in the Bible, particularly in relation to more “worldly” activities such as eating and drinking. One translation of Phil.4:5 reads, “Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” (KJV). Of course, we don’t need to worry about moderation in our love and obedience to God.
Moderation is also good when it comes to investing. That’s because moderation requires discipline, and it avoids extremes in behavior. Saving and investing can be done to different extremes. On the one hand, you can be so focused on saving and investing that hoarding or greed creeps in. That is the “love of money” that Paul speaks of in the Bible (1Tim.6:10). You fear you will lose it, or that you will never have enough.
On the other end of the spectrum are laziness and passivity. You don’t act as wise stewards of the resources that God has given you. You are not disciplined and don’t plan for the future. You presume on God’s provision in spite of your lack of action. You don’t exert self-control, so you don’t save or invest as you should.
Self-control is one of the most difficult things when it comes to money and investing. You tend to do things on impulse, sometimes based on emotion. Moderation in our finances understands when enough is enough – when you have spent enough, saved enough, and taken enough risk. You have to learn to say “no” to yourself and also to others who may be trying to lead you in the wrong direction.
It is prudent to seek reasonable investment returns through a diversified, moderate allocation suited to your investment objectives. The attempt to outperform “the market” often, paradoxically, increases the odds that you will not meet your investment objectives. As Ben Carlson said in his excellent book, “A Wealth of Common Sense,” “If your portfolio is able to meet your goals, who cares if you beat the market or not?”
Similarly, having a sound strategy and then deviating from it can harm portfolio returns. For example, if you had $100,000 in a diversified portfolio of index mutual funds at the top of the market in 2007 but sold and went to all cash during the panic in September of 2008, you would have locked in significant losses. However, if you held on with white knuckles to your moderate (60/40) mix of stock and bond index funds through the crisis and recovery, you would have seen your portfolio not only recover but grow substantially by 2010 and beyond.
The same principle held true during the COVID-19 crash of 2020. Markets dropped 34% in just 33 days in March 2020, but recovered all losses by August 2020 and went on to strong gains. Those who sold in panic missed one of the fastest recoveries in market history.
Humility
Humility may be the foundation for all the other character traits. Augustine wrote, “If you plan to build a house of virtues, you must first lay deep foundations of humility.” Humility could be easily defined as, “Not having a high regard of oneself – one’s abilities and intellect, especially in areas of non-expertise and as compared to others.“
The problem, of course, is that our natural tendency is toward pride and arrogance, leading us to overestimate our abilities and intellect, which can be very dangerous when it comes to investing. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” If we don’t humble ourselves, the financial markets eventually will.
Many people, including many investment professionals, believe that their intelligence is what most drives long-term investment success. The problem is that bright, educated minds tend to become overconfident. That sets the stage for what psychologists call “expert error.” Overconfident, impatient activity can wreak havoc in the long run. After all, lots of dumb things in life are done out of overconfidence and on impulse. Do you, baseball fans, notice how good batters almost always “take” the first pitch?
Moreover, early, easy success can breed dangerous prideful attitudes. When things are going well, we (or our advisors) look smart and even imagine that we are. But in a bull market, almost everyone is doing well; everyone seems smart, even if they aren’t optimally invested. We assume that because we have done well in the past, we will continue to do so in the future.
The bull market that followed the 2020 COVID crash is a perfect example. From 2020-2024, nearly every investment strategy looked brilliant as markets surged to new highs. But this period of extraordinary returns has made it easy to forget the painful lessons of 2008 and early 2020.
Such self-congratulatory thinking will eventually be dispelled by Mr. Market. Even if you are doing things “right,” the financial markets will take a turn for the worse sooner or later. You must approach this with humility and flexibility. If you are sure about something – some particular event or outcome – the markets will eventually cause you to question your certainty.
You must be careful not to confuse humility (and a rational understanding of investment risks) with fear. Most financial behaviorists will tell you that fear (which can lead to panic selling) and greed (which can result in irrational buying) are the greatest enemies of individual investors. Humility and moderation help keep both in check.
Some investors gain a little knowledge and then become overconfident in their abilities. They need to continue working hard, saving, and investing wisely; in other words, stay in their lane. Sometimes the hardest thing is admitting that we aren’t as clever as we think (and neither is the financial advisor selling a particular narrative about future events, risks that only they fully understand and know how to deal with, and embellishing certain investment opportunities they have uncovered for you that no one else has – their “secret sauce”).
The truth is, there are many ways we can achieve the same results with our investments. A healthy dose of humility helps ensure we don’t get surprised when we think we have it all figured out.
The humble investor focuses primarily on what is within their control while maintaining a proactive rather than reactive posture toward what is beyond their control. In other words, humility requires awareness of one’s ignorance; future events are uncertain and unknowable. To think otherwise is highly presumptive and speculative.
Finally, the humble investor seeks out wise counsel and advice. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice” (Prov.12:15). In all areas of life, including our finances, Christians should seek out wise counsel – first from God Himself, secondly from His Word, and third from knowledgeable advisers.
I think “knowledgeable advisers” don’t just include financial and investment “professionals” (although there are some that I closely follow, like the late John Bogle, Ben Carlson, Ron Blue, Paul Merriman, and Tim Maurer). It could also include those who follow biblical principles and have become wise through their study and experience, such as the late Larry Burkett, Dave Ramsey, Randy Alcorn, Matt Bell, Jamie Munson, and Howard Dayton. I also like to read blogs written by those who have “been there, done that” as their perspectives are grounded in everyday life. Check out my Resources page for links to many of these resources.
There you have them: Simplicity, Patience, Moderation, and Humility – four keys to wise investing as part of retirement stewardship. Practice these as you develop and implement your investing strategy, always trusting in God’s faithful promises, and your returns should be pretty good – in this life and in the life to come.