Thought of the Day 07.16.09

Imagine that we’re friends and one day I tell you that I’ve decided to liquidate all of my investments and convert them into one single commodity like olive oil futures or Microsoft stock. Most likely, you would be horrified at my violation of the basic financial principle of investment diversification.

My flagrant disregard for such deeply ingrained concepts like “having a back-up plan,” “hedging your bets,” “keeping your options open,” and “not putting all your eggs in one basket” would shock you because these ideas form the very core of our American economic psyche. But there’s a problem.

The problem is that the principle of diversification is fundamentally incompatible with success in the two most important areas of life: marriage and our salvation in Christ. And if exclusive and singular devotion is the key to those endeavors, we just need to make sure that success in money management doesn’t teach us how to fail in the things that really matter.