Be Proud of The Investments You Own

Have you heard about that great stock your uncle Buck invested in? What about Dave the plumber and his favorite mutual funds? Or how about Jim’s 401(k) that he’s always talking about around the water cooler at work?

It seems a lot of people are proud of the investments they own. 

But what if we added some additional information…

What if Uncle Buck told you, “You should check out this company — I bought their stock at $7 and now it is at $20. They sell cigarettes to kids and I’m making a killing. It’s awesome.”

Or if Dave The Plumber said, “Gosh, I love my mutual funds. They are doing so well. They help me diversify my portfolio between human trafficking, labor exploitation and dirty supply chains. You should really check them out.”

And what if Jim At The Water Cooler mentioned, “You should look at the growth fund we’ve got in the 401(k). It invests in companies that specialize in predatory lending and destroying the environment. It’s a great space to be invested in right now.”

Would they still be proud to own their investments? Would you?

For many people, investing is just a means to an end. You need to retire someday, so you invest money in your 401(k) because you know it is supposed to grow over time and allow you to be financially secure in your old age. Or you might put some money away in a college savings plan and invest it in some mutual funds hoping to see it grow and ease the burden of paying for a good school for your child.

But do you really understand what is going on inside your investment portfolio? Where does your money go? And, perhaps more importantly, where do your profits come from?

When you invest in stocks — whether that is through a retirement account like a 401(k) or IRA, a mutual fund or just buying individual company stocks directly in a brokerage account — you become a partner (part owner) of that company. You might be a very, very small percentage owner, but you are an owner nonetheless, and with ownership comes responsibility.

If you owned a business in your local town, would you want to make sure that it was only making money in ethical and moral ways? If your business was a grocery store and you found out that your employees were selling cigarettes to children, would you be upset? Would you even sell cigarettes to anyone at all in the first place? When you invest, you need to ask yourself the same questions of responsibility.

What About Performance? 

Good returns and good values are not mutually exclusive. Investing with purpose dates back for centuries so this is not a new concept. (BRI) Biblically Responsible Investing's history is hard to track down exactly, however, it seems the first public offering was in 1928 so we have a lot of history 

Research from The University of Oxford and other prestigious institutions indicate that while past performance is no guarantee of future results, investments in ethical, responsible companies offered improved returns compared to investments in companies with poor track records of ethical responsibility.

We think this is just common sense. If you think of a local small business who treats its employees and customers well, do you not prefer to do business with them? What about the business who treats their employees poorly and who does not care if the products they sell meet the customers expectations? Which one would you rather invest in and who do you think will be doing better in 10 years? ers.  

We will help you to invest in quality companies that are doing good around the world, like fighting cancer, cleaning water and operating with high ethical and moral standards. We also avoid companies who are harming the world or who are advocating activities that go against both traditional American values and Biblical Values. 

These are investments you can really be proud to own.