Financial Wisdom

I have not read his book, Crash Proof, but it sounds like Mr. Peter Schiff could see what many of us could see coming. I really felt like the home prices around me here in Utah, as well as my own was a false, blown-up bubble that would pop. It was unhealthy, unsupported growth.

I can remember practicing in a combined choir with Brian Weston and Lynn (I can't remember his last name) when a guy next to me was asking what I thought of the government's deficit spending. I remember telling him something to the effect that anybody or any organization who continues to go into debt further and further will one day have to pay the consequences. I can remember being discouraged at the fact that the government was not balancing its budget. I am not a financial wizard, nor the world's greatest budget-keeper, but I know I feel better when I save my money and am able to make sound investments. Many of us in the U.S. have borrowed way too much and it is now coming back to bite us.

An address from President Gordon B. Hinckley has been a great guide to me in my life. It is entitled, To the Boys and To the Men, and was given in November of 1998. I include what is to me the most significant excerpt:

Now, brethren, I should like to talk to the older men, hoping that there will be some lesson for the younger men as well.

I wish to speak to you about temporal matters.

As a backdrop for what I wish to say, I read to you a few verses from the 41st chapter of Genesis.

Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, dreamed dreams which greatly troubled him. The wise men of his court could not give an interpretation. Joseph was then brought before him: “Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:

“And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:

“And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed. …

“And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: …

“And I saw in my dream … seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:

“And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:

“And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: …

“And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, … God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

“The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. …

“… What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.

“Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:

“And there shall arise after them seven years of famine;

“… And God will shortly bring it to pass” (Gen. 41:17–20, 22–26, 28–30, 32).

Now, brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.

So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings.

We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.

This counsel has guided me in many decisions. I am thankful for a prophet who just simply wanted us to live wisely, both spiritually and financially.

And now, just for fun, here is an excerpt worth watching that my brother Andrew showed me today. Note how Mr. Schiff is almost mocked by some of the other investment advisors because of his opinion:

Sweet!