I agree with most of the faith-based mutual funds. I am not an advocate of any mutual funds. The fees and performance are dismal in most cases. I am not convinced though that any of the fund companies offering a faith-based fund are doing so for a gimmicky reason. The cause has longed dictated the desire to offer the fund. For example Timothy Plan offers faith-based funds to help Christians not per se just to make money from Christians.

The bigger problem lies in the screening criteria. Do you just look at the products and services they offer or do you go deeper and look at domestic partner benefits and donations etc. This creates like you mentioned a disconnect between your personal values and that of the fund manager. That is why I advocate knowing exactly what you own and buying individual securities that meet your moral and financial objectives.

Thanks for stopping by, your site is a GREAT resource.

I absolutely you believe you can have your faith and performance too, but at what point is the mutual fund (using the sole example above) just a marketing gimic? The top 10 holdings leave a lot to be desired in terms of Catholic or Christian values.

It is not about a set of rules but rather trying to find the best investments that are pleasing to the Lord. I believe there are good, bad, and ugly choices. By using good research you can uncover what products and services a company offers and what they are doing with their profits.

Yes, no company is without sin (we are all sinners and fall short of God’s glory) but some companies go out of their way to add to the moral decay of our society. I personally want no part in that…

As for returns, there is no proof that investing with one’s faith as a guide will sacrifice performance. If you are good at stock picking (you can tie one hand behind your back, fight Mike Tyson, beat him, and STILL get good performance) LOL. But seriously, many look at faith-based investing as a gimmick, I have done enough research to know you can have your faith AND performance too!

I’m not sure if I can answer that question easily within a reply.

I don’t have a post on what it means to live according to the bible. Although I identify myself as bible-following Christian, my blog is not a “Christian finance blog” like others openly state to be. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, because I read and comment frequently on those blogs too.

I don’t want to go off on a tangent from your original post topic, but I guess living life according to the bible means to study what it teaches, and live accordingly in obedience. It’s a process that is lifelong and has its challenges.

Do you have a post you wrote which can explain it better?

I have to agree wth you. Every place that sold Cheese and Meat would violate Strict Hebrew laws; Every place that sells pork is off the list for Muslims; and Every place that sells porn is off the list for Christans lol

Honestly, I don’t think it’s an easy decision to make whether or not to invest in these funds.

Joe makes good points comparing whether we should shop at grocery stores because they sell stuff like cigarettes and raunchy magazines. Should we then create stores that purposely don’t offer these things? I don’t know if that’s going to happen.

If we were to stay away from anything just because there’s one thing we don’t agree with, we’d probably be extremely sheltered.

Perhaps we could invest according to what we know, and not worry about the rest that we can’t control. All I know is that indexing and diversifying is generally a good way to cover your bases.

I’d spend more of my time trying to focus my energy on changing things I can change.