Not long ago my wife had a conversation with a financial\u00a0adviser\u00a0 \u00a0She\u2019d worked for many years at a large non-profit and they\u2019d been putting money aside for her in a 401(b) (the non-profit version of a 401(k)). \u00a0She hadn\u2019t paid much attention\u2013statements came, the account kept growing. \u00a0Then she left that work to spend more time with our daughter and she started getting letters that said that it was time for her to find someplace else to put her money\u2013an IRA, etc.<\/p>\n
The trouble is that we\u2019re those finicky types who don\u2019t like blood with our cash. \u00a0We don\u2019t want to invest in the kinds of companies we sign petitions against or whose products we refuse to buy. \u00a0We don\u2019t want to invest in companies that would never be allowed to operate in the kingdom of God. \u00a0That makes it really difficult for us to invest in the normal channels\u2013try to find a\u00a0publicly\u00a0traded company that doesn\u2019t have some environmental, labor, or other moral problem. \u00a0It is very difficult. \u00a0What\u2019s more difficult is that there isn\u2019t really enough transparency at most companies to have the answers to the kinds of questions we\u2019re asking. \u00a0We kept dancing around the issue\u2013where will we put our money, which isn\u2019t really our money?<\/p>\n
Still the money was there and it had to go someplace (I guess). \u00a0So my wife called this financial\u00a0adviser\u00a0who was quick to tell us that he too was a Christian. \u00a0He started going into all the different options with my wife, the different strategies and how they would result in this or that pay out in the thirty five years we have until \u201cretirement\u201d. \u00a0My wife explained that we weren\u2019t really concerned with our payout in thirty five years as much as investing in companies that were morally good and not investing in those companies that are morally evil. \u00a0\u201cLike tobacco and alcohol companies,\u201d the\u00a0adviser\u00a0asked trying to understand this strange idea. \u00a0No not really, my wife thought, but didn\u2019t push it as it became more and more clear this wasn\u2019t our guy.<\/p>\n
This financial\u00a0adviser\u00a0 who mostly networks through Christian groups, then told my wife that it was important \u201cnot to let your emotions get too involved in investing.\u201d \u00a0My wife said that emotions weren\u2019t really her problem, ethics were. \u00a0The man said that he\u2019d love to talk with her husband. \u00a0My wife politely got off the phone.<\/p>\n
We still don\u2019t know what to do with that money. \u00a0We keep thinking about just taking the tax hit as a donation to Obamacare and then investing the remainder in the kinds of things that will last past the fall of this economy, this Empire of greed. \u00a0No solution is clean and clear, but what we do know is that where our treasure is, there our heart is also. \u00a0This money is by no means our treasure, we\u2019d be just fine without it even existing, but we do know that it has the ability to corrupt our treasure\u2013the kingdom of God coming into the world, reconciling all things, liberating the oppressed. \u00a0Not only are our emotions involved in this question, our soul is as well.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Not long ago my wife had a conversation with a financial\u00a0adviser\u00a0 \u00a0She\u2019d worked for many years at a large non-profit and they\u2019d been putting money aside for her in a 401(b) (the non-profit version of a 401(k)). \u00a0She hadn\u2019t paid much attention\u2013statements came, the account kept growing. \u00a0Then she left that work to spend more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[70,229,132],"class_list":["post-1099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity","tag-investing","tag-money"],"yoast_head":"\n