Starting 2025 Strong with Values-Based Investing with Cole Pearson

Dec 10, 2024

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Have you started working on your New Year’s resolutions yet? Are you including your investing decisions in the mix?

A New Year always gives you the chance to make improvements, especially with finances. Cole Pearson is here today to talk about starting 2025 strong with values-based investing.

Cole Pearson is the President of Investment Solutions at OneAscent, a family of companies seeking to help people align their investments with their Christian values. OneAscent is also an underwriter of Faith & Finance.

What Is Values-Based Investing?

Values-based investing is the practice of deploying financial resources in a way that aligns with a set of values or convictions, with the expectation of generating a profit. At OneAscent, values not only inspire why we invest but also guide how we invest. For Christians, this perspective is rooted in Psalm 24:1, which states, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”

As stewards of God’s creation, Christians have a responsibility to consider the impact of their investments. Businesses have a powerful influence on the world, and as investors, we should discern whether the companies we support bring harm or blessing to the people and places they touch.

Five Steps for Values-Based Investing

Here are five essential steps Christians should consider when making investment decisions. These steps provide a framework for aligning finances with faith and values.

1. Milestones: Understanding Your Financial Life

The first step is identifying what’s happening in your financial life today. Life events—such as marriage, career changes, health issues, or asset purchases—impact your finances and should inform your planning. OneAscent offers a checklist covering key areas like:

Marriage & Family
Career
Health
Assets & Liabilities
Generosity

Clarifying your milestones ensures that your financial decisions are relevant and purposeful.

2. Perspectives: Understanding Your Relationship with Money

Everyday interactions with money—spending, saving, investing, and giving—reveal our natural tendencies. Understanding how God has wired us to relate to money helps foster healthy communication, especially in relationships.

For example, your natural tendencies may lean toward saving and investing, while your spouse may lean toward spending and giving. Recognizing these perspectives provides a common language for dialogue and collaboration, setting the stage for the next step.

3. Priorities: Identifying What Matters Most

It’s essential to define and prioritize your financial goals. OneAscent uses a fun assessment to help individuals and families identify their top priorities, such as:

Leaving a legacy
Removing burdens from family
Giving generously
Devoting time to loved ones

For families, both spouses complete the assessment individually before working together to identify shared priorities. This clarity creates a strong foundation for future financial decisions.

4. Values: Ensuring Your Portfolio Aligns with Your Beliefs

Step four focuses on aligning investments with your values. This means identifying companies to avoid if their practices or products cause harm and seeking opportunities to invest in businesses that bless the communities they serve.

We are going to be investing somewhere. What types of companies do we want to own? How can we leverage our capital to promote a positive impact? OneAscent’s tools can help you analyze and align your portfolio with your values.

5. Generosity: Reflecting God’s Character

Generosity is the natural outcome of faithful stewardship. It allows us to reflect God’s generosity by using our resources to address needs and solve problems that God has placed on our hearts. Here are some thought-provoking questions to ask yourself as you reflect on this:

How do you approach stewardship intentionally?
What does generosity look like for your family?
What problems in the world has God called you to address?

A Call to Align Your Investments

Values-based investing is more than a financial strategy; it’s a way to live out your faith. By following these five steps—Milestones, Perspectives, Priorities, Values, and Generosity—you can ensure your financial decisions honor God and bless others.

For more information on values-based investing, visit OneAscent.com and click “Analyze My Investments.”

On Today’s Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:

I just started a new job. I'm 55 years old, and my company is finally offering a 401(k) match with different investment tiers to choose from—conservative, moderate, and aggressive. As a 55-year-old woman, what investment tier should I choose for my 401(k)?
When a married couple invests in a car, is it better to put the loan in one person's name or both people's names? And why would that be the better approach?

Resources Mentioned:

Remember, you can call in to ask your questions every workday at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. You can also visit FaithFi.com to connect with our online community and partner with us as we help more people live as faithful stewards of God’s resources.

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