What did he say?
Most Christians know that Jesus illustrated beliefs via parables. This belief can best be illustrated by Matthew 25:14-30. I will attempt to bring it up to date using an investor.
Matthew 25:14-30
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.
So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The Investor
There was an investor who was taking a trip to an area where he couldn’t see the stock market results. His practice was to invest in start-up companies and purchased stock to help them get started.
He selected three companies in which to invest. From the first, A, he purchased 500 shares at $10 per share.
From the second company, B, he purchased 200 shares at $10 a share.
And from the third company C he purchased 100 shares at $10 a share.
When the investor returned, he checked on the value of his investments. He found that the first company’s stock price had increased to $50 per share. The investor, impressed, decided to purchase more stock from company A.
The stock of company B had increased to $20 per share, and the investor purchased more stock from the company.
The stock of company C remained at $10 a share. The annual report kept reminding its stockholders that it was protecting their hard earned cash with programs that had nothing to do with growth. The investor sold his shares in company C and listed it on the “Do Not Buy” list in the newsletter he published for his customers. He took the $1000 and purchased another 20 shares of company A.
In the real world of “Wall Street” such transactions may not necessarily be as obvious. One stock I hold has doubled even during the pressure on the stock market during the last year.
There is even a stock TMFX that uses its criteria to select start-ups and small cap companies so one can purchase shares of it and it acts as a mutual fund for those types of stock.