Aligning Your Money and Values
http://www.faithinreligion.net/articles/3659/1/Aligning-Your-Money-and-Values/Page1.html
Jay Peroni
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.Values First http://Advisors.com a firm dedicated to faith-based financial planning. By Jay Peroni
Published on 08/24/2009
Do you know where your financial services firm invests your money? If it is important to you to know how and where your money is being invested, here are some questions you should ask yourself.
You should take a personal and moral inventory of your values and beliefs when evaluating how to handle your finances. Psalm Chapter 139 verses 23 through 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:
1. What in my life is extremely important to me?
2. What has been keeping me from concentrating on the most important things?
3. What areas do I feel passionate about?
4. What types of companies (if any) would I not want to support financially?
5. What types of companies (if any) would I be excited to support financially?
6. 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. These answers can serve as your moral compass when you are making decisions regarding how and where you will invest your money. 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.
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:
1. What in my life is extremely important to me?
2. What has been keeping me from concentrating on the most important things?
3. What areas do I feel passionate about?
4. What types of companies (if any) would I not want to support financially?
5. What types of companies (if any) would I be excited to support financially?
6. 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. These answers can serve as your moral compass when you are making decisions regarding how and where you will invest your money. 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.