Inspire Ranked Among Top Ten Fastest Growing RIAs

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by Robert Netzly

Biblically responsible investing firm Inspire Investing came in at number 8 fastest growing firm out of the 683 registered investment advisory (RIA) firms listed in Financial Advisor Magazine’s annual report.

Inspire Investing, a global leader in the faith-based, biblically responsible investing (BRI) movement, ranked as the 8th fastest growing firm in Financial Advisor Magazine’s (FA) annual “RIA Ranking” report. This marks the third consecutive year that Inspire has been recognized in the RIA Ranking of fastest growing firms.

FA’s 2019 RIA Survey and Ranking report is an annual survey that ranks firms’ based on percentage growth in assets from the previous calendar year and is the premier industry ranking of independent RIA growth. Financial Advisor Magazine is a major publication targeted to financial professionals that aims to deliver essential market information and strategies to help advisors better serve their clients and grow their firms.

“To be listed three years running as one of the fastest growing firms in the nation is a testament to the momentum of the biblically responsible investing movement that is exploding across the globe. God is doing a mighty work in the financial industry, and it has only just begun,” said Robert Netzly, CEO of Inspire Investing.

Inspire Grows Assets Despite Market Pullback

Inspire Investing grew assets under management (AUM) by an astounding 92.43% in the 2018 calendar year. This dramatic increase is even more admirable given that stock markets around the world ended the year with losses. The US stock market as measured by the S&P 500 lost -4.83%, while global stocks tracked by the MSCI All Country World Index lost even more with a -9.41% decline.

“2018 was a difficult year for many investors, particularly in the sharp selloff of the fourth quarter. But despite poor performance of stocks around the world, we continued to see large inflows into our biblically responsible investing products. This is another proof of the strength of the BRI movement,” commented Netzly.

Inspire has continued to attract inflows in 2019, growing a sensational 113% during the first half of the year, bringing total Inspire AUM to $537M managed in their unique, biblically responsible investing approach to faith-based, environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing as of the end of June.

Inspire’s Data Driven Approach To Biblically Responsible Investing

At the center of Inspire’s approach to biblically responsible investing is their proprietary Inspire Impact Score methodology. Inspire Impact Scores allow investors to easily identify how aligned or how opposed a company (or portfolio of companies, like a mutual fund or ETF) is to biblical values.

Using a wealth of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data from some of the most respected data providers in the world, Inspire analyzes companies from the bottom-up with a rules based, methodology driven process through the lens of a biblical values worldview.

The result of this objective, data-focused process is an Inspire Impact Score that ranges from -100 to +100, with scores closest to +100 representing greater alignment with biblical values. Inspire invests in those companies closest to +100 and never invests in companies with scores lower than zero in any of their strategies.

“We believe that companies more closely aligned with biblical values represent higher quality investment opportunities, and the number of our strategies outperforming their benchmarks seems to be supportive of that thesis,” says Netzly.

Inspire recently released a free online tool at www.inspireinsight.com that allows investors to lookup the Inspire Impact Score of more than 25,000 stocks, mutual funds and ETFs to investigate the good, bad and ugly of what their portfolio is invested in from a values perspective, quickly and easily with a simple ticker symbol search.

Inspiring Transformation Around The World

Not only does Inspire Investing seek to invest in the most inspiring companies in the world, but they also aim to be one of the most inspiring companies in the world. As such, Inspire donates 50% or more of their corporate profits to Christian ministry every year. Most recently Inspire adopted a village in the coffee farming mountains of Guatemala and is working to provide a church building, clean water, improved education, a fully functional medical clinic, and child sponsorship to completely transform the lives of the those living in that impoverished village.

Learn more at inspireinvesting.com/impact