Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.
Proverbs 13:11, NIV
In the fall of 1987, my two best friends from college and I decided to start an investment club. We formed a partnership, opened a savings account, and each committed to contribute $50 dollars every month. Three months later, our partnership received its first annual statement: we had earned a whopping $3.96 of income for the year.
We had a great time with that report. We sarcastically wondered whether a reporter from The Wall Street Journal or Money magazine would set up the first interview to learn the secrets of our investing prowess. The real comic of our threesome wrote a letter to me and my other friend indicating that he had located a lending source to help each of us shoulder the income tax burden on our respective $1.32 share of the earnings.
Even though we had a very small, even laughable, beginning, the investment club has achieved some real success. Over the years we've made numerous adjustments related to our contribution amounts, investments and strategies, but one constant has remained: the partners have made a financial contribution every month since the partnership was formed.
Through the years, Elaine and I have received several distributions from the partnership. In addition, our share of the current partnership value would pay the cost of a college education at a public university for one of our children. A partnership that began as something so small that it was humorous has grown into something of economic significance.
What we've experienced is a principle God set forth long before our club came into existence, namely, the merits of consistently setting aside money. The issue isn't the dollar amount. It may seem inconsequential to begin saving twenty-five dollars a month in today's world of billion dollar mergers, but the effectiveness of saving is not determined by the size of the "gathering." The key is embracing God's advice by setting aside some of your resources, even though it may seem trivial, on a consistent basis. Saving is not a one-time action; rather, it's a discipline to be practiced on an ongoing basis.
