Aligning Faith With Finances: A Personal Journey

by Rob Carney of Eventide

While in business school, I stumbled across others in the asset management industry who were trying to express their values through their investments and who were perhaps a little further along the journey of pursuing their faith through the practice of investing. On one such occasion, I attended a breakout session where an industry veteran was speaking at a Christian MBA networking conference (Believers in Business). She described an approach to investing that sought to avoid areas that extract value from society by exploiting others and, conversely, promote areas that create value for society.

In line with this theme of values-based investing, she also explained the importance of having a framework to look at how a company treats all of its stakeholders, namely, its customers, employees, suppliers, host communities, the environment, and broader society. I resonated with all that the speaker shared, including her assertion that what is right is also, in many cases, smart. In other words, caring for a business’s neighbors (i.e., its stakeholders) is often good for business.

My personal values that were being formed as I grew more mature in my faith were guiding how I approached every area of my life, including how these deeply-seated values could be applied to business and investing. Realizing how I could invest responsibly and still align my faith with my finances was such a fulfilling step in my journey that I would encourage others to explore values-based investing as well. 

Read Rob's full article on his life journey to align investing and values, here - https://greenmoney.com/aligning-faith-and-finances-a-personal-journey

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