RYAN HEACOCK, CKA®

We offer investment options that have gone through rigorous screening processes in order to align with a biblical worldview and filter out key concerns for the individual faith-based investor. We help you navigate a world of imperfect investment opportunities using principles of godly stewardship.

What Faith-Based Investing Is
Faith-Based Investing (also known as Biblically Responsible Investing or Faith-Driven Investing) is an investment approach that aims to align investment choices with biblically-based values.

How Faith-Based Investing Works
Faith-Based Investing operates from a three-fold approach of negative and positive screening of potential investments, as well as shareholder engagement:

Negative Screening (Avoiding) – seeks to screen out investments in companies whose products or services result in destruction, exploitation, or contribute to addiction. Some examples include (but are not limited to):

• Alcohol and tobacco
• Gambling
• Abortion
• Adult entertainment
• Human rights violations
• Harmful exploitation of the earth

Positive Screening (Embracing) – seeks out companies whose products or services create and provide value, promote human flourishing, and lift up society.

Why Faith-Based Investing Matters
Investing represents ownership in a company, whether through owning individual shares of stock or through ownership of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that hold shares of publicly traded companies. The holder of those shares of stock has a vested interest in the success of that company, since shareholders benefit from the profits of a company in the form of dividends, capital gains distributions, and the growth of the stock itself.

As Christians, we are called to worship the Lord in every aspect of our lives (1 Corinthians 10:31), including with our finances. God’s word has a lot to say about money. The Bible directs how to spend, give, save, and invest. Loving our neighbors and investing wisely for the future are not mutually exclusive. Faith-Based Investing seeks to unite the call to be wise stewards of our investment resources with the God-given mandate to love our neighbors as ourselves.

How Faith-Based Investing is Implemented in a Portfolio
Our firm utilizes a combination of approaches in order to implement our Faith-Based Investing portfolios. We offer reputable, high-quality, faith-based mutual fund and exchange-traded fund options from various faith-based fund providers. In addition, we use multiple screening tools in our due diligence process to help identify investments that align with your values. We also aim to fulfill our fiduciary duty to act in your best interest by using investments with competitive performance and fees relative to their fund peers.

FAQs
Below are some common questions regarding Faith-Based Investing:

• Isn’t this just another form of legalism?
  • While Faith-Based Investing (or Biblically Responsible Investing) may have started out with that reputation in its early years, the true heart behind Faith-Based Investing is to honor God and love our neighbors (neighbors being those in our local as well as global communities). No person is perfect, no company is perfect, and Faith-Based Investing is by no means a perfect process. However, we should still make an effort to worship God with our finances to the best of our ability.
• Will my investment performance suffer by screening out potential investments?
  • Generally speaking, that is not the case! In fact, a recent study put out by the Christian Investment Forum tracking the performance of 44 different faith-based funds relative to their category benchmarks over a period of 15 years found that the faith-based funds outperformed their peer benchmarks on average. More details on that study can be found here: https://www.faithdriveninvestor.org/content-page/cif-fund-performance-study-2020
• Is this just something for Christians?
  • No, not at all. We believe the message of Faith-Based Investing is one that appeals to a wide audience, regardless of faith. We want to direct our investment capital towards companies and causes that seek to build up humanity, create value, and avoid exploitation and harm.

Scriptural Support for Faith-Based Investing
Matthew 25:14-30
1 Corinthians 10:31
Matthew 5:13-16
Proverbs 16:8
Ephesians 5:11
Psalm 24:1
Proverbs 3:9
Mark 12:30-31
…and many more!

Other Faith-Based Investing Resources
There are many, many faithful people who have gone before and paved the way in growing the Faith-Based Investing movement. Here are just a handful of helpful resources to find out more about the “why” and the “how” behind Faith-Based Investing:

• https://assets.biola.edu/4396738754672012438/attachment/59dfc0f175b0614cde341da0/Introduction_to_BRI.pdf
• https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/65871935/christian-business-review-2021-the-new-kingdom-economy/24
• Investing and Faith: The Impact of Faith-Based Investing – Steven French, 2018
• Kingdom Gains: What Every Christian Should Know Before Investing – Dwight L Short, 2010
• Biblically Responsible Investing: For God’s Glory and Your Joy – Robert Netzly, 2018
• Money, Possessions, and Eternity – Randy Alcorn, 1989 (Rev. 2021)
• file:///C:/Users/heac1/Downloads/Eventide-PhilosophyBrochure-Revised-Finalized-Single-
  1.pdf