What Is Biblically Responsible Investing?
Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI), or Faith-Driven Investing, is a biblical approach to investing where Christians align their investment decisions with their Christian values. BRI considers the investor’s financial return while seeking to glorify God through the investment process.
Is BRI a New Concept?
The idea of selecting investments from a faith-based perspective is not new, and neither is using biblical principals to screen funds or investments. This approach has actually been around longer than one would assume. The term “Biblically Responsible Investing” has actually been around for well over a decade. The terms, Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI), ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), and Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) are just now gaining quite a bit of popularity, but the investment strategies that make up these terms are not new.
What Are Your Investments Supporting?
Many Christians have not thought about what their investment dollars are supporting. They invest in companies that manufacture or distribute items that tend toward addictive behaviors, such as alcohol, gambling, or p*rnography. These companies are donating funds to non-biblical practices, while benefiting from the investor’s dollars.
Thankfully, there is a movement of investors across the globe that are waking up to the fact that they are investing money in services that are not aligned with biblical principles. They are starting to pay more attention to the investments they support and are looking for ethical, responsible, and impactful investing.
Selecting Investments with a Biblical Filter
1 Corinthians 10:31 says “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” As Christians, we believe that we are stewards of the resources God has given us. This not only includes our money, but also the way we invest that money. It’s important that we think of the money that we invest as God’s money and that He has entrusted us to take care of it. It’s not ours—we’re simply stewards of it. Ultimately, we want to glorify God with our investment-making decisions. This means we’re investing in biblically-aligned companies. In order for a company to be biblically aligned, it does not necessarily have to be a Christian company. But it does mean that the company’s philosophy and operating practices align with biblical principles.
How Do You Build a Biblically Responsible Investment Portfolio?
So how do you know if your current portfolio is supporting your morals and beliefs? How do you honor God with your investments? Biblically-responsible investments are the fastest growing subset of the socially responsible investing category. There are a growing number of Christian financial firms that provide faith-based funds that objectively screen these investments to ensure you are not supporting something that goes against your Christian values. These firms will spend countless hours reviewing companies to verify that they align with biblical beliefs, and will regularly monitor the funds assuring their ongoing consistency. Envoy provides the option for screened funds, ETFs, and managed models in our plan menus.
Will Your Financial Returns Suffer?
No, they do not have to! Historically, BRI funds have been expensive and underperforming. More recent studies show that actively managed, screened portfolios–on average and over a long period of time–tend to perform similarly or better than unscreened portfolios. Thus, there is no reason to believe that those who invest in biblically responsible funds will have lower returns than other investors. It’s important to understand that biblically responsible investment managers desire to provide options that not only focus on a fund’s expense and rate of return, but also on its moral value
Still have more BRI questions?
Do you feel like speaking with a certified financial advisor will help clear up additional questions? We are here every weekday. Reach out to us over the phone, email, or by video conference. We cannot wait to help you make the most of our Biblically Responsible Investment options.
To learn more about Envoy Financial’s Biblically Responsible Funds, reach out to one of our licensed advisors.
