When you understand what your investments support—and look beyond the idea of simply maximizing returns—you can align your retirement portfolio with your Christian values and experience a double-win: financial growth and meaningful impact.
During this season of the year, as friendly wagers on favorite sport teams abound, and money is given in many directions, it’s also a good time to think about who and what we’re cheering on through our investments.
Where our money goes is no less important (or exciting) than the impact we can have when it comes to saving toward retirement. As we ponder it through, we might realize that many people—perhaps we ourselves—invest money without ever stopping to ask, “what is investing actually for.” Even professional money managers sometimes can’t explain it.
A money-minded group of college students were asked, “What’s the purpose of investing?” and collectively responded “To allocate capital—to decide which ideas, businesses, and solutions get funded.” Put in those terms, investing really becomes a way of voting for the kind of world you want to see.
We may often forget that when we invest capital in a company, we’re not just hoping the stock value goes up. With our dollars, we’re literally rooting for that business to succeed. So the real question we should ask ourselves becomes, "What do I truly want to root for?"
If you invest in a tobacco company, you’re essentially hoping more people smoke (or otherwise use) tobacco. If you invest in a company developing cancer treatments, you’re rooting for better access to life-saving medicines. The point is, our investments actually help shape outcomes for people’s lives.
So, as you’re planning for retirement, do you think about putting your money into the kinds of businesses and causes you actually want to see prosper and positively impact the lives of others in the world? More than just avoiding the “bad stuff,” it can be a matter of intentionally supporting the good you want to see unfold around the world.
In today’s diverse investment world, it’s realistic and feasible to grow a nest egg for your future retirement while also helping move the world in the direction of God-honoring human thriving.
To explore ways to better understand and actively target what your investments support in the world, check out our Faith Based Investing page.