Ecclesiastes says, "Diversify thy stocks"

Here is an article on using the Bible as a financial planning guide. Much of this sounds like commone sense advice in search of a Bible passage. And the interpretations they put on some of these verses are bizarre:

Blue sees advice to diversify stock portfolios in a verse about a man's "bread" from Ecclesiastes: "Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land."

Here is the first part, read the rest here.

A Hummer, a 1957 hot rod, a comfortable house in a gated community , if Bob Vigliotti wanted something, he bought it. Cash or credit didn't matter. As a successful commercial real estate developer from Naples, Fla., he could afford it. Until he couldn't.

In 2007, the budding economic downturn claimed one of his major projects. For two years, Vigliotti, 58, battled depression as he bled $1 million cash. But Vigliotti said just when he thought there were no answers, he found them in the Bible: debt reduction, simpler living and, most of all, faith that God would provide what he needed. Vigliotti won't buy on credit now, is selling his pricey vehicles and is looking to downsize to a condo.

"The angst, anxiety and the depression is gone, and that's huge," Vigliotti said. "(The Bible's words) are alive today, and not just history book words."

Depending on your view, the Bible is divinely inspired or a collection of tall tales. But many see it as a source of financial wisdom that transcends individual faith and the centuries between when it was written and today's tough times.

"All sound professional advice, I found, ... has its roots someplace in Scripture," said Ron Blue, author of "Surviving Financial Meltdown" and founder of the Kingdom Advisors, which trains Christian financial professionals. Blue uses the Bible for guidance on everything from budgeting to long-term investing and handling an inheritance.

But Robert Manning, author of "Credit Card Nation," said biblically based financial advice isn't sophisticated enough in a world of rising health care, housing and retirement costs, where people need to learn to take advantage of complicated credit and tax laws.

"If you're going to go pre-New Deal, 1924 America, that's basically what this advice is driven by," Manning said. "It sounds so good and plausible until you actually put it into reality, and it just doesn't work."

Purveyors of biblically based financial advice count up to 2,300 verses on money management. Frequently cited verses in the Old Testament book of Proverbs urge careful spending, including "The plans of the diligent lead to profit, as surely as haste leads to poverty." Another warns debtors that "the borrower is servant to the lender."

Blue sees advice to diversify stock portfolios in a verse about a man's "bread" from Ecclesiastes: "Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land."