Take
a Personal Moral Inventory to Assess Your Values and Beliefs

Psalm
139:23-24 gives us a starting point: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test
me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and
lead me in the way everlasting” (niv).
There are many “hot buttons” when it comes to your life. A hot button is an
issue or cause that ignites a strong emotional response.

These
are issues that are close and dear to your heart and induce strong positive or
negative emotions. These hot buttons usually dictate the clothes you wear, the
car you drive, where you live, the charities you support, and many other facets
of your life. When you examine your life, think about the areas I have listed
at the end of this chapter. This list does not contain every possible hot
button, but is rather a starting point for you to think about what’s important
to you. Over the last decade of helping individuals make financial decisions,
these have been the most prevalent areas of concern. I have found that many of
these areas are not Democrat vs. Republican or godly vs. ungodly debates.

There
are common areas in which most humans agree and other areas in which many agree
to disagree.

Here
are a few questions to ask yourself to help get you started:

  • What
    in my life is extremely important to me?
  • What
    has been keeping me from concentrating on the most important things?
  • What
    areas do I feel passionate about?
  • What
    types of companies (if any) would I not want to support financially?
  • What
    types of companies (if any) would I be excited to support financially?
  • If
    I could solve any world problem, what would it be?

The
answers to the above questions will give you insight into your own personal
moral inventory. When you think about issues and/or causes that are most
important in your life and what they truly mean to you, you begin to grasp what
you are willing to do in order to make changes. You are able to determine what
is and what is not worth sacrificing. Stand
up for what you believe in and make an effort to uncover what values your
investment dollars are supporting.

This article was written by Jay Peroni, CFP®,
renowned financial advisor, and author of The Faith-Based Millionaire and The Faith-Based Investor. He is
considered an expert authority on the subject of “Faith-Based
Investing”.
Jay is also the founder of FaithBasedInvestor.com, a
faith-based investing newsletter and a firm
dedicated to faith-based financial planning and money management.