CIF Releases Results from 2019 Survey of Financial Advisors on Faith Driven Investing
The full report of the survey is published here by the Christian Investment Forum.
Advisors are increasingly comfortable with Faith Driven Investing, are interested in recommending it, but have been slow to engage in conversations with investor clients.
Charlotte, NC / January 31, 2020 --- The Christian Investment Forum released the results of the 2019 Survey of Financial Advisors on Faith Driven Investing Awareness and Use. It shows continued, albeit slowing, improvements in all three areas of focus – awareness, knowledge, and use. This slowing growth is relative to the last survey completed in 2016, which had shown more substantial improvements compared to 2013. The results also show some interesting and seemingly inconsistent responses, such as:
Ninety-six percent (96%) were somewhat to very familiar with Faith Driven Investing concepts; BUT
Only thirteen percent (13%) were able to accurately identify that there are more than 50 Faith Driven Investing funds and ETF’s available in the market (there are over 90).
Ninety percent (90%) are interested in recommending investments that align with their clients’ faith and values; BUT
Twenty-four percent (24%) said no clients had asked about Faith Driven Investing in the last year, and another fifty-one percent (51%) said only 10% of clients had asked, yet industry research suggests just the opposite – the majority of investors are interested in values based investing.
To a large degree, the issues limiting the use of Faith Driven Investing remain the same since the initial study in 2013. There continue to be gaps in perception compared to reality on product availability and performance. Yet some further structural changes are needed – additional investment products that can more closely align with the different faith values of investors, increased acceptance of funds onto proprietary platforms, and additional research to support the already existing data on ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investing, FDI (Faith Driven Investing), performance, and expenses.
The greatest opportunities to build momentum towards increasing the use of Faith Driven Investing are in helping encourage further education, and more importantly encourage conversations between advisors and investors. Both advisors and investors show high levels of interest in Faith Driven Investing, but neither advisors or investors are initiating a conversation or asking questions about FDI. More education on the topic of Faith Driven Investing can help to increase confidence for advisors to have the conversation. Similarly, more investor oriented information can help Christians recognize their role in asking questions of their financial advisor.
For those interested in supporting and growing Faith Driven Investing, there are strong reasons to be optimistic about the future growth in the use of FDI overall, and as a share of total assets under management. Data from this survey confirms previous research that a majority of investors and advisors alike have an interest in better aligning investments with the client’s personal faith and priorities. Macro trends in the market are showing strong investor interest in a more meaningful and integrated approach to investing in alignment with values. There are more organizations engaging in the conversation about Faith Driven Investing, and collaboration between them is improving. All of this helps to encourage others to understand they are not alone in desiring a more integrated approach to investing with their faith.
Check out the full report of the survey here!
About the Christian Investment Forum:
Founded in 2012, the Christian Investment Forum (CIF) is a Kingdom-focused 501c6 investment association committed to educating advisors and investors by providing opportunities to bring about change – in the hearts, homes, cities, and world that we serve. CIF strives to be an organization that enables others to advance and promote Faith Driven Investing (sometimes referred to as Biblically responsible investing or BRI), and cause greater Kingdom impact. CIF Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that is a wholly owned non-profit entity of the Christian Investment Forum. The objective and purpose of the Foundation is to support the activities and purpose of the Christian Investment Forum (CIF), its sole member, in order to more effectively achieve the mission and goals of CIF. It is the intent of the CIF Foundation to provide research and education services to individual investors, advisors, and financial professionals related to Faith Driven Investing. Learn more at www.christianinvest.org