Jay Peroni offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print. Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum. ----------- PUBLICATION GUIDELINES - You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety. - Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity. - Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only. - If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links. - Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to [email protected] - Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article. ----------- Article Title: The Moral Side of Investing: Do Your Investments Reflect Your Values? Author: Jay Peroni Category: Investing, Personal Finance, Faith Word Count: 843 Keywords: financial planning, certified financial planner, faith-based values, investments, financial investme Author's Email Address: [email protected] Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com ------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------
Over the years I have met many people who are shocked to realize where they are investing. A few months ago I met a guy we'll call Robert. Robert was a minister in a growing church in New England. He had been a dedicated Christ-follower for nearly thirty years and a quite active investor. Before he met me, he had never put much thought into his investments or the values it reflected. After an analysis of his portfolio and exactly where it was he was investing, he was shocked to say the least. His face turned white as he read the names and what activities each company was involved in. The companies he owned were involved in: * Producing pornographic videos and magazines * Actively donating and lobbying for pro-abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood * Producing abortion-related products and drugs * Operating casinos and gambling facilities * Manufacturing and distributing alcohol and tobacco Here Robert was making conscious decisions not to support unfavorable companies that did not reflect his values. In spite of these conscious decisions in his consumer life, the end result showed that some of Robert's investment purchases had slipped through the cracks in his portfolio. Many of his investments directly violated his values and were not the types of companies he could be "proud to own". The question for him became, "How can I continue doing this with a clean conscious? If I do profit from my current investments, was it the moral and ethical thing to do? You make deliberate choices in your life each and every day. Such choices include, but are not limited to: where you work and earn income, where you spend your income, what charities and ministries you support, and where you invest your savings. Some questions to ponder: Work: Is it morally acceptable to work at an abortion clinic? Spending: Is it morally acceptable to purchase pornography? Giving: Is it morally acceptable to donate money to homosexual lobbyists or fund embryonic stem cell research? Investing: Is it morally acceptable to neglect where you earn your profits? What's more important: the size or source of profit? Many unknowingly invest in mutual funds that buy the following types of companies: * Companies that profit from abortions * Companies that profit from online pornographic websites and adult entertainment nightclubs * Companies that profit from cloning animals and embryonic stem cell research * Companies that actively promote the homosexual lifestyle After completing the moral audit for Robert,he was shocked to realize he was profiting from many industries and companies that violated his values. He found that he was supporting all of the above areas with his investment dollars. Even though he strives to support causes he believes in and avoid things he is opposed to, these factors were never considered in his investments. Each year his investment dollars were supporting values that blatantly contradicted his belief system. Bottom line, Robert felt that he was working against himself. He felt like he was donating money to kingdom purposes yet supporting companies with his investment dollars that were in violation of God's Word. He thought, "How could God bless these investments when they clearly are opposed to His teachings". It just didn't make sense to Robert. You may be thinking, Robert was not directly investing in these companies, so what difference does it really make? After all, the companies that he owns in his portfolio don't really benefit much from an increase in stock prices. Or do they? Isn't this similar to when you buy a used Ford on a random car lot and Ford does not receive any benefit from that used car sale? The truth is: there really is power in your choices. Money is a form of power. If you want to change the world, start with your actions. You have the ability to create change. Stock prices are affected by supply and demand. Supply represents the number of outstanding shares that a company has in the marketplace. Demand is represented by the number of investors willing to pay for the stock of a company. Typical CEO and executive bonuses are tied to stock performance. Boards of directors and key shareholders care what the price of their company stock is. Employees who may have stock options and company stock in their 401(k)s care about the share price. This directly means that typical executives, employees, board members, and key shareholders are affected by the increase or decrease of a company's stock price. If you want to change a company's behaviors, affect them where it really hurts: their stock price. It is virtually impossible to boycott every product a company manufactures; however, it is easy to avoid buying a company's stock. If millions of like-minded investors rallied together to do the same, you could not only affect Wall Street, you could change the direction of this country. Reformation in America is more likely to happen through Wall Street than through the White House. Lobbying can be effective, but changing corporate America is the key! Corporations will listen when Americans begin avoiding their company stock because of immoral activities. Jay Peroni, CFP, and author of The Faith-Based Millionaire and The Faith-Based Investor. Jay is also the founder of http://www.FaithBasedInvestor.com, a faith-based investing newsletter and the founder of http://www.ValuesFirstAdvisors.com a firm dedicated to faith-based financial planning. ------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
