12/01/2006
My religious faith is critical to my life, and as I’ve gained substantial financial success, I’ve grappled with how to combine my values and beliefs with my wealth planning. I happen to be Christian, but I don’t know that my affiliation is the issue. What specific ways can you recommend for blending one’s religious approach with one’s financial life?
You’ve already taken the most important step: asking how faith and investments relate to each other. Today, mutual funds are customized for people of Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Protestant traditions. Social Investment Forum maintains a list of faith-based funds. If you are investing in individual stocks, the list of companies that these mutual funds are already investing in may be a good pool to consider.
Be clear on what’s most important in your effort. Is it to avoid “bad” companies? Invest in “good” ones? Leverage your power as a shareholder to encourage companies to improve their practices? Ensure that some of your investments help the economically disadvantaged? These issues are approached differently by each mutual fund.
Finding an advisor skilled in meeting your needs is probably your most important task. You may find one in the Social Investment Forum’s financial services directory or the service provider database of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.
Mark A. Regier, MMA, Goshen, Ind.
Religious investors have a tradition of marrying their morals with their
money by evaluating the ways economic actions affect the world around them and
shunning investments that violate their religious tenets.
A growing number of
socially responsible funds aim to provide these services. Of the 201 socially
screened funds, 54 mutual funds employ faith-based screens. The first step is
researching funds to find those that share your goals and beliefs. Hiring an
advisor who understands your objectives—social and financial—may help tailor
your investments.
As more Americans rely on investments for retirement, the
public has called for corporations to act as responsible citizens. This has
produced a wealth of professional investors dedicated to the triple bottom line
(a better future in terms of finance, environment and social issues). The Social
Investment Forum and Co-op America provide an online directory of socially
responsible professionals and products around the country.
Kate Rosow, Social
Investment Forum, Washington, D.C.Combining your faith and finances has never been easier. A marketplace of
biblically based resources has been developing rapidly to provide investment
products and services to improve faith-based charitable giving. Hundreds of
professional financial advisors have been certified through organizations, such
as the Christian Financial Professionals Network and the National Association of
Christian Financial Consultants, specifically to help their clients effectively
integrate their faith into their wealth planning. Also, separate account
managers, such as Stewardship Partners, as well as several mutual fund families,
use a biblically responsible investing philosophy to screen portfolios for
companies involved in activities that are at odds with your faith. With these
resources, faith and finances can be integrated to produce temporal and eternal
returns.
Michael Kuckel, Stewardship Partners Investment Counsel, Greer,
S.C.
Faith drives values. Values drive goals. Goals drive financial planning.
Consider a systematic and inside-out approach to combining your faith with your
wealth decisions. First, identify Christian stewardship values and principles
that will govern your financial life. Crown Financial Ministries is a good
starting point. Next, write down specific personal and financial goals.
Practical issues should come into focus, ranging from philanthropy and
retirement to financial lifestyle and wealth transfer. You will likely find your
faith inspiring personal decisions, such as defining how much is enough,
managing greed and fear and achieving greater life balance. By defining what
success means to you personally, you will make decisions about wealth with
greater purpose.
Look for an expert who tunes in to your goals and, if
possible, is experienced in integrating his or her clients’ faith into the
planning process. At my firm, we have seen that starting with the principles of
a client’s faith brings clarity in the wealth decision-making process and
confidence that their plans reflect their deepest-held beliefs.Aaron
Klopfenstein, Ronald Blue & Co., Indianapolis
Send Us Your Questions. Are you wrestling with family
issues, business governance or succession decisions, investment or estate
planning dilemmas, problems related to philanthropic activities or foundations,
or a similar predicament? We invite you to email a question to
advisorsforum@worth.com.