Investing in Stocks: Three Models of Faith Integration

By some estimates, 80 percent of the American population owns stocks or stock mutual funds. This percentage is even larger when one considers those that are indirectly invested in the market via owning insurance or participating in pension funds. Christians are among these market participants, and many of them struggle as to how their faith should be integrated into their investment decisions. The 2001 report, “Where Faith and Wall Street Intersect, ” analyzes data from a survey of 1,141 investors, revealing the importance of faith in one’s investment decisions (Berger and Hunter). Some findings of the study include: • A large majority (79 percent) of investors describe themselves as religious or spiritual • A majority (62 percent) of religious investors exercise faith in their financial decisions, whereas only 33 percent of non-religious investors exercise personal values in their financial decisions • Though investors are willing to integrate faith in their investment decisions, 81 percent are not familiar with religiously oriented mutua