Three Dimensions of Faith-Based Investing With Jason Myhre
We all like to see our portfolios grow but do you know how your investments make money? Not just the rise of stock prices, but how the actual companies whose stock you own do business? The fact is many companies are involved in ungodly practices from pornography to fetal tissue research. Today, Jason Myhre of Eventide explains three ways to approach this problem. Eventide is an investment company that’s all about faith-based investing and a financial underwriter of this program. Our guest, Jason Myhre spends his time teaching folks the importance of faith and values when we invest. Then it’s your calls at 800-525-7000. A quote from author Philip Yancy explains what faith has to do with our finances: The Bible asks three main questions about money: 1) How did you get it? (Righteously and justly, or exploitatively?); 2) What are you doing with it? (Indulging in needless luxuries or helping the needy?); and 3) What is it doing to you? Some of Jesus’ most trenchant parables and sayings go straight to the heart of that last question. Most of us, if we’re honest, don’t have a great level of knowledge about our investments. We just invested in some mutual fund in our IRA or 401K, and we’re thinking about retirement, or some future goal, and not really thinking about what companies we own or what things we’re profiting from. Most investment managers are just looking for profitable companies. This is a classic setup for having our investments out of sync with our values. Faith-Based Investment managers are seeking to generate attractive returns for investors. But, they’re also paying attention to the sources of the returns seeking to provide Christian investors with the pride in knowing their money is not just with profitable companies, but companies whose returns flow from activities that harmonize well with our faith values and commitments. There are three dimensions to Faith-Based Investing. The first dimension is called Avoid. This means that Faith-Based Investing helps Christian investors to Avoid some of the common problem areas that we can come into in investing. The second direction is called Embrace. And it’s about seeking out and positively Embracing companies whose products and activities we believe are well-aligned with God’s heart and his desires for work and business. The third is called Engage. This Engage dimension means engaging with the companies we own to help them improve even more. Learn more about Eventide and Faith-Based Investing at investEventide.com. Here are a couple of questions we answered from our callers on today’s program: --My husband and I are in our early sixties and have adult children. We still need to help them financially sometimes. One of the children is demanding everything to be equal. What are your opinions on this? Ask your questions at (800) 525-7000 or email them to [email protected]. Visit our website at MoneyWise.org where you can connect with a MoneyWise Coach, purchase books, and even download free, helpful resources like the MoneyWise app. Like and Follow us on Facebook at MoneyWise Media for videos and the very latest discussion! Remember that it’s your prayerful and financial support that keeps MoneyWise on the air. Help us continue this outreach by clicking the Donate tab at the top of the page.