Faith Based Investing

I agree and disagree with a lot of what Dave Ramsey shares with his listeners.  After reviewing Dave’s Common Sense Fix, I have finally found another professional who agrees with what I believe is the fair solution.  The original $700 Billion bailout was full of flawed solutions.

We need to pray for our political leaders, write, email and call our Representatives and Senators to come up with a solution that makes sense.

CALL TO ACTION:

1) Pray

2)  Cut and paste the common sense fix in an email to your Senators and Representatives. Call, fax, and email them!  You can make a difference!

3) Forward my blog and Dave Ramsey’s Common Sense Fix to everyone you know.  A time such as this is now!  Get involved!

Here is a text file:  http://www.daveramsey.com/common_sense_fix.txt

Here is a list of Senators:  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Here is a list of Representatives: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

*Note: If their websites are down, that means we’re making a difference! Keep refreshing the page until you get through. You can also go through Congress.org.

The Common Sense Fix

Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic nightmare in this country, but $700 billion in new debt is not the answer. As a tax-paying American citizen, I will not support any congressperson who votes to implement such a policy. Instead, I submit the following three step Common Sense Plan.

I. INSURANCE

a. Insure the subprime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type insurance. Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant market all over the world, creating immediate and needed liquidity.

b. In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance, they must do two things:

1. Rewrite any mortgage that is more than three months delinquent to a 6% fixed-rate mortgage.

a. Roll all back payments with no late fees or legal costs into the balance. This brings homeowners current and allows them a chance to keep their homes.

b. Cancel all prepayment penalties to encourage refinancing or the sale of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of foreclosure or short sale, the borrower will not be held liable for any deficit balance. FHA does this now, and that encourages mortgage companies to go the extra mile while working with the borrower–again limiting foreclosures and ruined lives.

2. Cancel ALL golden parachutes of EXISTING and FUTURE CEOs and executive team members as long as the company holds these government-insured bonds/mortgages. This keeps underperforming

executives from being paid when they don’t do their jobs.. This backstop will cost less than $50 billion–a small fraction of the current proposal.

II. MARK TO MARKET

a. Remove mark to market accounting rules for two years on only subprime Tier III bonds/mortgages. This keeps companies from being forced to artificially mark down bonds/mortgages below the value of the underlying mortgages and real estate.

b. This move creates patience in the market and has an immediate stabilizing effect on failing and ailing banks–and it costs the taxpayer nothing.

III. CAPITAL GAINS TAX

a. Remove the capital gains tax completely. Investors will flood the real estate and stock market in search of tax-free profits, creating tremendous–and immediate–liquidity in the markets. Again, this costs the taxpayer nothing.

b. This move will be seen as a lightning rod politically because many will say it is helping the rich. The truth is the rich will benefit, but it will be their money that stimulates the economy. This will enable all Americans to have more stable jobs and retirement investments that go up instead of down.

This is not a time for envy, and it’s not a time for politics. It’s time for all of us, as Americans, to stand up, speak out, and fix this mess.

THE FAITHFUL MANAGER INVESTS MONEY WISELY

The Faithful manager views money differently than the way the world views finances. The mind-set of the faithful manger consists of four core beliefs:

1. God Created Everything

This means that you believe it all starts and ends with God just as stated in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (niv). If you believe that God created everything from the planets to the earth to life to humans to, more specifically, you, then this should be the foundation of your faith. Who is in control of everything?

2. God Owns Everything

Psalm 24:1 shows us that “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (niv). This belief comes from a life of trust and reliance on God. Your faith is your greatest asset in this world. As your faith continues to grow, your reliance on God should increase as well. If you believe God owns everything, this motivates you to a whole new level. This also leads to an important question: Who does your money really belong to?

3. We Are God’s Trustees

First Timothy 6:17-18 exhorts, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (niv). This helps to form the mind-set of a trustee. A trustee is one to whom property is entrusted. The belief that God entrusts you with wealth carries greater responsibility and a higher purpose. This mind-set also looks to shift from your self-interests to God’s interests. If you believe God created and owns everything and He has entrusted the things of this earth to you, isn’t your money really His money? He allows you usage during your lifetime, but He is still in control and the ultimate owner. That line of thought leads to another important question: How should you manage His money?

4. Managing Money Involves an Emphasis on Honoring God

The core of this belief is to look at how God would want His money invested. This involves an understanding of what God would support or condone. You may believe that issues or causes are not just black or white. You may believe that there are gray areas. Do you think God sees in gray? There is right or wrong. Man uses gray to justify his lifestyle. Rather than be convicted of wrongdoing, man often changes what God intended to suit his needs rather than God’s desires. How should God’s money be invested?

As a faithful manager, you are responsible as an administrator of the affairs and possessions of God. One day we all have to account for how we spent our time, used our spiritual gifts, and the way we used or abused the resources we were given. This accountability should drive our desires, our motivation, and most of all our behavior.

There are more and more people struggling with debt as economic times have become increasingly more difficult. Credit is tightening, banks are collapsing, Wall Street is off track, and millions have lost or are close to losing their homes. Many are so deep in trouble with debt that they have lost all hope and do not see light at the end of the tunnel.  You may be in this place yourself.  You may be dwelling on your mistakes, paralyzed from taking any action at all.  The fact remains, we have all made mistakes, but no one is beyond hope.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel shining bright for you.  Keep holding on!  With discipline, action, and placing your circumstances under God’s control, you can defeat debt.

No, it won’t happen overnight, but it will be much faster with Him by your side.  Lynnae is living proof.  Her story isn’t unique. In fact, it is quite common.  However her dedication and commitment is rare and quite inspiring.  She grew up in a lower-middle class family and had high hopes of climbing out of the socio-economic class her family knew all too well.  Destined to break the cycle, she set off to college and fell into the trappings of credit card companies: “borrow a little, it won’t harm you”.  After being introduced to credit cards, she was quickly hooked.  What started as small debt became a downward spiral as debt burdened and enslaved her for years before she finally “saw the light”.  Debts snowballed out of control and her credit cards, student loans, and other bills become overwhelming.

After getting married, her habits remained unchanged and the trend continued.  As her family’s income increased so did the bills.  Though they always had good intentions of getting out of debt, their behaviors did not change thus the results became the same – no progress!  This continued for years until she recommitted her life to Christ.  Through her commitment to Him and a new dedication to becoming debt free, she has made tremendous strides.

Today she is firmly committed to getting and staying out of debt. Her and her husband bought their first house; they drive fully paid for cars, and are working diligently to pay off a student loan.  Then have defeated the credit card companies and paid off their unsecured debt!

Lynnae told me, “When I got into debt in college, I wasn’t really walking with the Lord.  After college I rededicated my life to Christ, and as a Christian, I knew it was important to keep my word in paying back the people from whom I’d borrowed money.  That has always been my primary motivating factor in paying off debt.  My greatest victory has probably been getting out of credit card debt completely.  My husband and I have had balances on our cards from the time we were married until we paid off our last credit card in May of 2008.”

Though they have had great success with God on their side, they admit it still has not always been smooth sailing.  “Our biggest challenges have come in the area of income.  I’ve been a stay at home mom for the last 10 years, which is very important to us.  And my husband has been in Christian ministry for a good part of the last 10 years.  We know this is where God wants us, but the lack of income can be discouraging at times.  My husband also went through a long period of unemployment last year.  That was also discouraging, but God has gotten us through difficult times in many ways.  Encouragement from our church family has been important.  We’ve also received money from various unexpected sources at just the time we needed it.  I would consider the very fact that we managed to get through 8 months of unemployment without using our credit cards at all a big miracle.  On paper, there’s no way we should have been able to get through the last year without additional debt.  But somehow God provided.  It wasn’t always easy, but He gave us what we needed.”

After enduring the slavery of debt for the last twelve years, Lynnae has learned quite a bit: “I think the greatest lesson I’ve learned is that when you commit to doing something that you know God is calling you to do, He will make a way for you to follow through, even when the going gets tough.  In our case, we made a commitment to get out of debt.  We decided to cut up our credit cards, as we haven’t always used the cards responsibly.  Though it was tempting to get another card when times got tight, so we’d have something to fall back on in case of emergency, we opted to trust God.  In the end, God came through, and my faith grew more than it ever could have without the financial trials.”  You can also get through the difficulties.  You need to trust God and commit to making changes in your life.

If you want to follow Lynnae’s progress she has a weekly blog dedicated to being frugal – looking at ways to minimize spending and control debt.  She can be reached at www.beingfrugal.net.  I highly recommend that you visit her site

Also if you want help managing your finances read The Faith-Based Millionaire. Chapter Seven deals with the good, the bad, and the ugly side of debt!

The Yo-Yo

What a roller coaster of a week! The Dow was like a yo-yo as it went down 953 points only to recover all but 33 points. How will this impact your retirement? This rapid trend of buying and selling showed the vulnerability of the markets.  Fear and panic were the mood most of the week until relief came on Thursday.

The Bailout

What a bailout! On a tranquil Friday morning in the Rose Garden of the White House, the financial “front line” of the U.S. government stood in solidarity and presented a rescue plan in response to the troubles in the stock markets. President Bush, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and yes, even Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox were present as a remarkable federal intervention was unveiled – with major details still to be determined, presumably to be worked out over a busy weekend.

The Burden

How much will it cost taxpayers? Don’t ask. Will it restore confidence on Wall Street? It certainly did Friday, as stocks rallied dramatically for the second straight day. The federal government is moving to take bad debts off the hands of Wall Street firms. This is critical, because for months, investment banks have been redirecting profits from other types of investments to offset ballooning losses incurred from mortgage-backed securities. If the government relieves them of this chore, these firms can focus on making money through other, more profitable investments.

Big Moves

Friday morning, the SEC banned short selling of the stocks of 799 financial companies until October 2, in an effort to restore some stability to the markets. (Regulators in the United Kingdom had made the same move a day earlier.)¹

The Treasury Department also made an extraordinary move, tapping into the Exchange Stabilization Fund (created back in the 1930s) to provide insurance for certain retail and institutional money market funds for up to one year. In addition, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the U.S. Treasury will expand their efforts to purchase mortgage-backed securities – the Treasury will buy $10 billion during the first month of its program, up from an initially stated $5 billion.

As for the Federal Reserve, it will offer loans enabling banks to purchase “high-quality” asset-backed money-market securities, and it will also buy a yet-to-be-determined amount of short-term discount notes issued by government-sponsored agencies (i.e., Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks).²

But Bigger Questions

Will the federal government create a new regulatory agency ASAP to manage all these government-owned investments and prevent such crises in the future? It would seem imminent. Otherwise, the Treasury Department might have to take on that role in the interim.

And what’s the bill for all this? No one really knows, but Paulson thinks it will take “hundreds of billions of dollars.” Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), formerly the chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, believes it will be “probably $500 [billion] to a trillion dollars”. Bloomberg News reports that the federal government is considering assigning as much as $1.2 trillion for the effort.³

Have you been thinking about your money lately?

Almost certainly, you have. At the moment, we’re a very financially focused nation. If you are thinking about where your money is and whether you should make a move with your investments, let’s talk about it. Send me an email at info@jayperoni.com with any questions.

Citations. ¹ abcnews.go.com/Business/Vote2008/Story?id=5839134&page=3 [9/19/08]

² bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ajh1eg_9iovk&refer=home [9/19/08]

³ dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/putting-a-price-on-a-government-bailout/ [9/19/2008]

As a financial advisor I have literally spoken to hundreds of retirees (either retired or looking to retire). Many never find their passion or calling in life simply because they do not look deep enough within themselves. I see people spend 30 years planning the first year of retirement. They forget to plan for the remaining years of their lifetime! 

People retire to the ideal life they imagined (travel, golf, a life of leisure) and most come back to the same conclusion: it was fun for a while, but it got old. We are built to be close to our Creator, to glorify and honor Him in all that we do. A life of just leisure is meaningless and leaves you desiring more.

As I interview potential clients, there are three questions I ask people as they either look to retire (move on to the next chapter of life) or change careers:

1) What comes easy to you but others struggle at?
2) What would you never stop doing even if you didn’t get paid for it?
3) How can you provide value to others?

These three questions usually generate some response and get their brains thinking. Don’t wait until retirement to “figure it out”. Start thinking about what you are passionate about today, even if you are ten or more years away from retirement.

There are three components to this thought process:
1) a vision: what is the end goal. Be specific. This may change from time to time. But picture your ideal day to day in retirement. How will you serve God?
2) What is your motivation? Why do you want to accomplish this goal?
3) What is a cause you are willing to fight for? This provides you the determination to never quit despite the prospects of failure.

Eat, drink, and be merry is the world’s way to retire.  This leads to a life of discontentment.   God does not call us to retiring from His work.  We do retire from jobs.  In Christ you can find the joy and passion he has installed in you and serve Him throughout your life.

Need more help sorting out your calling?  www.48days.com  is a great resource.  Read No More Mondays or 48 Days to the Work You Love.  A great book to help you think about your retirement before you retire is Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Workweek: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/

Lastly, if you want to find purpose and passion in your finances, read The Faith-Based Millionaire!

Blessings,

Jay

It was another historic Monday on Wall Street … the second this month, in what is turning out to be a rather momentous September. Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Another household name, Merrill Lynch, was bought out by Bank of America.  It is days like today that remind me of Joshua 1:9 – “This is my command–be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (NLT)

Manhattan isn’t prone to earthquakes, but this sure felt like one – and the stock market certainly felt it, with the Dow heading down more than 500 points and other indexes around the world declining as well. As these venerable investment banking giants paid for years of betting on bad debts, analysts cast wary eyes on Washington Mutual, AIG and other banking and insurance titans who were the subject of rumors concerning their financial health.

What does this mean for you? If you’re an investor in the orbit of Lehman or Merrill, you should still be able to access your investments.

Keep in mind: these brokerages only handle your investments. When they get in trouble, it’s their money people are talking about – not yours.

At any brokerage, customer assets are segregated from business assets. So when a big brokerage gets in a crisis, it can’t tap into the assets of accountholders or lend them out. Banks go out and invest your deposits – brokerages don’t.

You have a safety net. That would be the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, which protects up to $500,000 of your assets at a brokerage – including stocks, bonds, money market funds, and cash up to $100,000.

Can you count on the SIPC in a brokerage crisis? Well, let me share a very impressive statistic: in the entire 38-year history of the SIPC, just 349 brokerage account holders have failed to get their entire portfolios back.

On Monday morning, the SIPC stated that it appeared that all cash, stock and other assets of Lehman’s brokerage customers were accounted for. Lehman’s customer accounts could be sold off to another brokerage firm, or they could be put under SIPC control, whereupon they would be liquidated. But on Monday, SIPC president Stephen Harbeck said: “SIPC has not initiated a liquidation proceeding against the broker-dealer Lehman Brothers Inc. and we do not currently anticipate doing so.”

The government response. The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury did not ride to the rescue of Lehman Brothers and/or Merrill Lynch, but did attempt to negotiate with Wall Street executives over the weekend to try and prevent Lehman Brothers from failing. But the Fed accomplished much on Monday: it coordinated a coalition of 10 investment banks, among them JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. to create a $70 billion fund to assure market liquidity. It also broadened the collateral it accepts for loans to securities firms to include stocks, and it pumped $25 billion into its program for lending Treasuries to bond dealers.

Now, will the Fed lower interest rates Tuesday? Futures traders think so. We’ve done a 180° from August, when most analysts thought the next move would be an increase. On Monday, futures prices pointed to a 70% chance of the Fed cutting its key interest rate by a quarter-point.

Eyes on AIG. AIG is the world’s largest insurer and carries an enormous balance sheet. Those facts alone make any credit downgrade particularly unnerving. Yet Monday’s market descent might have been even worse if not for the generosity of the New York State Insurance Department. It reassured the markets by announcing it would permit AIG to loan itself $20 billion – the loan would come from the assets of its subsidiaries, with no taxpayer dollars involved. That was a huge relief.

Keep it in Perspective. Monday was a big day, but it was only one day. Let’s look past the headlines of the moment and keep focused on your goals and objectives. God is in control and even though days like today are frightening, it is all in His Plan.

With all of the talk about consumer debt rising and the tough economic times for many, I thought I would spend this blog post covering debt.  I am getting more and more emails and calls about people drowning in debt.  Some of the circumstances vary, but the root causes usually share a common element: lack of a plan.

Millions of people have dug themselves into a hole with credit card debt. If you are in a hole, stop digging. Destroy the shovel. Get rid of your cards so that you do not incur any new debts. In order to solve the current problems, you have to reduce your future problems. This has to be a choice you make. Don’t buy things you cannot afford.

When Elizabeth came to see me she was up to her eyeballs in debt. She was robbing Peter to pay Paul. She had seven credit cards and because of late payments, her interest rates had soared to 30 percent or more on each of her cards. She had accumulated more than $20,000 in debt and couldn’t even afford to pay the interest on the cards. She was then using cash advances to make her monthly credit card minimum payments. My first bit of advice was to cut up all her remaining cards. She had to stop increasing her balances in order to chip away at the current balances.

Perform Plastic Surgery

Credit card debt is one of the biggest obstacles to financial freedom. Credit cards eat up valuable dollars you could be giving away to churches, ministries, and charities. They also prevent you from saving more. If credit cards are a thorn in your side, here are some rules to live by:

Rule 1: Pay off your balance each month.

Rule 2: If you violate rule 1, even once, cut up the card.

This may sound harsh, but believe me, it is the best way to prevent getting into more trouble. The best credit card is one that is being paid off each month. Don’t let the credit card companies take your wealth away.

Dan went to his boss and said, “I need a raise! And it may be helpful for you to know that there are three other companies after me.” “Is that so?” asked his boss. “What other companies are after you?” After a little more prodding Dan replied, “Those would be Visa, MasterCard, and Discover.”

Killing Me Softly with Interest

Have you ever heard the saying “I’m so poor, I can’t even pay attention”? It is so true with credit cards. Most people do not pay attention to the fine print. The biggest financial mistakes that I see on a day-to-day basis mainly deal with credit card issues. It is not so much the balance that is the problem, it is the interest. This is the biggest wealth-killer. If you have even a $10,000 balance at 19.99 percent, this is almost $2,000 a year in interest. That is $2,000 that could have been donated or invested. This adds up over time, especially when you are making only the minimum required payments.

A great blog that deals with ways to reduce debt, save money, and be frugal is: http://beingfrugal.net/

I wrote The Faith-Based Millionaire to help people get out of debt so that they could give more and invest more for their future.  Please send me an email if I can answer any questions for you personally. I am here to serve you, my readers.

Blessings,

Jay

Many people “give” to “get”.  They choose to give money so they will be blessed.  This is backwards thinking and God sees through false intentions.  We as God’s people should seek to “get” in order to “give”.  Having a financial plan based on the proper intentions of your heart can allow you to pursue both God and wealth.  As long as He is your top priority and you are seeking wealth to be more generous, you can pursue Him and wealth.  It all begins with an assessment of your heart.

Your heart reveals who you are.  It reveals your desires, your motivation, and ultimately who you become. Matthew 6:21 says “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”.  So I ask you what is YOUR treasure and where is YOUR heart?  How do you view money and how important is money to you?

Now you may be like many and say money does not matter to you.  You may even say that money is the root of all evil or that it’s hard for the rich to enter heaven so you do not pursue wealth.  It’s not your thing… You may even think that your money struggles and challenges are your sacrifice for God.  Often many people falsely identify riches as evil because of the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew Chapter 19.

When you break God’s Word down and look at God’s most basic interest in you, he wants to know the intentions of your heart.  Your heart reveals how you view money. Are you in love with God or money?   It is “the love of money” that is the root of all evil, not the money itself.  Money is neither good nor evil.  It can be used for both good and evil purposes.  Most people I have observed who say money is not important, act otherwise. The words speak, but the actions speak louder.

A person who struggles with money is often a slave to money.  Many who say money is not important focus and desire money more than those who have abundance.  This is because those struggling are often up to their eyeballs in debt, are less likely to be able to “afford” to tithe, and choose jobs rather than callings to “pay the bills”.  In other words, they let money control their choices – what they can and cannot afford to buy, whether they can or cannot give and where they work.

This can be as dangerous as the person “in love” with money.  It can have the same power over you.  The Rich Young Ruler needed to get rid of his riches because the riches were first in his life – above God.  If you place God above riches, there is no reason to view money as evil.  In fact, it can be used for His purposes.

If you instead choose to have power over money, you can use money as a tool to advance God’s kingdom – support ministries, build churches, save lives and souls for God’s glory.  How you think about money and your relationship with money reflects your true intentions.  How you earn money and what you do is what matters most.  A desire to be wealthy so you can be more generous is not wrong.  However, a desire to be wealthy so you can be self indulgent is wrong.

I wrote The Faith-Based Millionaire to help people “get” more so they could “give” more. The “Get to Give Manifesto” involves Seven Commitments:

1)      Commit to tithing (10 percent of your income and financial gains) and commit to offerings (additional gifts above your tithe).

2)      Commit to having a larger vision of how you can help advance God’s kingdom – your specific calling and how God can use your time, talents, and treasure.

3)      Commit to change your perspective of wealth – it is a tool that is used to do more of God’s work.

4)      As a Christ follower – Commit to take more risks! Stop being so cautious all the time; stop seeking safety! God wants you to lay it on the line.

5)      Commit to increase your assets so you have more to give.

6)      Commit to become better educated about your finances – choose sound investments that complement your faith.

7)      Commit to seek wise counsel – a team of professionals that share your faith.

Poverty does not spread the Gospel, it spreads hopelessness and despair.  It costs money to fund ministries, build churches, print tracts, and feed bodies and souls.  You can win at the money game and experience financial freedom that will fully allow God to use your time, talents, and treasure!  Learn how to truly “master” your money rather than being “enslaved” by it.  This is a choice – which path will you choose?

You may be investing in companies that violate your morals and val­ues. Make a conscious effort to find out where your investments are going and what you are involved in. Look at your mutual funds and stocks and analyze your various accounts. I will show you how you can go about doing this as you work through the book. The first step is to commit to becoming aware and consider the alternatives that you may not have known you had. First, let’s look at the definition of blood money:

blood money (blud mune) n.

1. money paid to a hired killer

2. money paid as compensation to the next of kin of a mur­dered person; wergeld

3. money gotten ruthlessly at the expense of others’ lives or suffering

Source: http://www.yourdictionary.com/blood-money

You have values and beliefs that are important to you. When you compromise your values to enhance your finances, profits can resemble blood money. Both your personal internal value system and our coun­try’s external legal system define immoralities and crimes, thus both illegal and legal profits can have negative results. Even if good out­comes ultimately result from immoral or illegal activities, the underly­ing source of profit is coming from an activity that either is breaking the law or compromises your value system. This can resemble blood money as defined by definition number three below:

3. money gotten ruthlessly at the expense of others’ lives or suffering

Examples of blood money include, but are not limited to, profits from a prostitution ring given to a church, illegal drug money being used to help the poor, even legiti­mate profits from an investment in a company that explicitly violates your values. Your investment dollars may be funding immoral activities. Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

• If you disapprove of embryonic stem cell research, would you want to invest money in a company conducting this kind of research?

• If preventing the distribution of pornography is important to you, would you want to invest in companies that produce and distribute adult entertainment?

• If abortion is a key issue for you, would you want to invest in companies manufacturing abortion drugs or performing elective abortions?

Take the time to discover what values your portfolio represents. With investing comes a great moral responsibility.  Do your investments reflect your values?  If you are unsure, send me an email and I can review your portfolio for free.  Read The Faith-Based Millionaire for more strategies to help you incorporate your faith into your financial plan.