Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2013. The share prices it cites, including Best Buy at $16, $11, $25 and $39 and Apple at $650 and $452, are from 2012-2013, and Apple’s figures predate its later stock splits.
Sean Hyman is a philanthropist and investor known for his frequent appearances on Fox Business, CNN and Bloomberg. Everyone knows Hyman is a very catholic person (in both senses of the word). What few people knew is that Hyman is a former pastor. If this investor has shown anything, it is a “heavenly” ability to predict some stock market moves.
For example, a few months ago he appeared on Bloomberg Television to talk about Best Buy (BBY), a stock that was at all-time lows of around $16. Hyman said the stock would fall to $11 and then rebound sharply to $25, at which point it would begin its climb to $40.
One commentator mocked him: “Sure… if Best Buy gets to $40, Apple should hit $1,500, right?”, to which Hyman replied that Apple would fall. At the time, Apple was trading at $650.
To top it all, a few weeks later Best Buy fell to $11 and, sure enough, the stock shot up to $25. Today it is already trading at $39, while Apple continues its steep slide at $452.
Granted, these could be coincidences (which is the most likely explanation), but it isn’t the first time he has done it, so a journalist from Money News decided to interview him over dinner and ask him to explain his investing secret.
The journalist expected Hyman to describe a system based on algorithms, or predictions based on some kind of indicator analysis, but no. After saying grace, Hyman told the journalist that his investing secret lies within the Bible.
Does that mean the Bible holds some secret code that predicts stock market moves? Do the numbers 6, 7 or 12 mean something? Maybe, but that’s not what Hyman’s theory is about.
His system rests first on a spiritual foundation and then on a numerical, interpretive phase based on certain passages from the apostles and from Jesus Christ himself.
For Hyman, the spiritual phase is the most important, because he says his life and his stock market success changed when he stopped “loving” money. In other words, Hyman went from making $15,000 a year in the market to giving away more than $50,000 to charitable causes. If you do good with money, you will be rewarded with more money so you can keep helping people. “When you start giving money away, you are blessed.” That is Hyman’s first theory.
The second theory is perhaps more interesting: according to this investor, King Solomon, Jesus of Nazareth and the Apostle Paul explain in the Bible how to get out of debt, make sound investments and build substantial wealth in a moral way.
The deadly sins of investing are in the Bible (that much is true): “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10).
“He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock” (Luke 6:48).
Clearly, Saint Luke was talking about investing in solid companies, so that however many financial crises came along, the company would hold up. That’s biblical fundamental analysis.
Likewise, some other verses contain hidden lessons in technical analysis, and they also speak of the emotional dangers.
Even Noah’s Ark has a meaning in financial education: when floods hit the markets, build a solid portfolio to protect the growth and survival of your capital.
The problem, I think, will be persuading investors to buy the Bible when they are looking for books to learn how to invest.
Further reading
Featured image: Edward Hicks, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
