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It's about reflecting what we truly value. Hi, I'm Rob West. Our faith is meant to guide every area of life, including how we invest. When our hearts are set on God, our investing reflects His priorities, caring for creation, serving our neighbor, and letting what we treasure shape how we steward His resources. Tim McCready joins us today to talk about a theology of investing.
And then it's on to your phone calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7,000. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.
Well, our guest today is my friend Tim McCready, head of global multi-asset investing at Brightlight, part of the Eversource Wealth Advisors team. Tim, great to have you back. Rob, it's a joy to be with you and your listeners again. Thank you, Tim. I've been looking forward to this.
You have written an incredible article, the first of probably many that we'll do on this topic, in our magazine, Faithful Steward, on a theology of investing.
Now, many in our listening audience may not be familiar with that term, so why don't we start with a definition? Yeah, I mean, theology can be an intimidating word, Rob, but like we're just talking about studying God. And then learning about how our study of God can then be lived out in certain areas. Our faith is not just about. Belief or conviction, but also about lived action.
And theology enables us to kind of transfer this, what we believe about God to lived action in different areas of our lives. That might be art, that might be work, it might be suffering. In this case, we're talking about a theology of investing, bringing our heart, our head, and our hands together to reframe investing as an act of stewardship, of love, of even spiritual formation and character development, not just the physical act of putting a certain amount of dollars into a certain company or a certain instrument. And so, with this theology, we're trying to move beyond just money management into discipleship and even into, yes, worship. Mm-hmm.
What a beautiful picture you paint there, Tim, and perhaps a brand new idea for many, and that's why I'm so excited to unpack this. Let's go back to the beginning, literally, and begin with the story of creation and how it relates to investing. Yeah, I mean, what we see in Genesis 1 and 2, out of God's divine goodness, he creates something good and then he entrusts to mankind, to humanity, the cultivation and development of what he has created. And we could talk for hours about this, Rob, but it boils down to what does investing do?
Well, investing takes the resources that God has given us and reallocates them so that they become productive. It's a way of fulfilling this creation mandate of Genesis 1 and 2 to bring abundance and human flourishing. And then the financial returns come alongside, even out of what we do as we steward creation for God's glory and for our joy. Yeah, that's exactly right. And God gives humanity this mandate to work.
We're co-creators with Him. He creates out of nothing. We create out of His creation. But then we're also to steward creation as well.
So, Tim, how does that shape then our perspective on investing?
So I think, again, going to Genesis 1 and 2, God calls us to work and to keep the garden. I like to think of humanity's role as both farmers and gardeners. The farming part of our role tends the earth, it stewards it so that it can be productive. And the gardening part of our role is to preserve and expand the beauty and the blessings of God outside the garden to the whole earth and to humanity. Our work, in economic terms, our labor and our capital are part of this stewardship of creation.
And so, investing is part of this. It's a means of enabling men and women to expand and enjoy God's blessings through creation. We use the resources He has given us to create technology, infrastructure, medicine, education, all kinds of other goods and services for human flourishing. And that reflects the faithful engagement that we have with the work that God gives us to do from the very beginning in Genesis. Yeah, it sure does.
And, you know, Tim, we often get the question here on this program: isn't investing akin to gambling? And, you know, we point back to even the parable of the talents, and we see that investing is modeled, but this idea of starting with creation and seeing our role in living out this work and stewardship mandate that God has given us, it takes investing to a whole nother level, doesn't it? It does. It's exciting. It enables us to more clearly distinguish between what is investing and what is gambling.
Investing takes these resources and uses them for good. Gambling is speculation. It's a zero-sum game. It's not contributing productively in the way God. Asks us to.
That's exactly right. We're talking with Tim McCready today: a theology of investing, perhaps a brand new idea for you. We'll continue to unpack this just around the corner, including what practical next steps you can take. This is Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West, and we're just getting started.
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With me today, my good friend Tim McCready. Tim is head of global multi-asset investing at Brightlight, part of the Eversource Wealth Advisors team. He's also the author of an article in the most recent edition of our magazine, Faithful Steward, on a theology of investing. And this may be a brand new idea. In fact, Tim, you know, this is not something that the typical person hears when they show up at their local church and listen to a message on Sunday morning.
Why do you think that is? On many topics, the Bible has very little to say directly. It doesn't necessarily give us instructions about how to manage an IRA account or how to save with our local bank or community finance institution. This is hard work to think about the timeless principles that scripture gives us and translate it faithfully in ways that are relevant for us today with modern investing. The way that we invest today looks nothing like the way that money was used 2,000 years ago.
That doesn't mean the Bible doesn't have a lot to say. It really does. We just have to do that work of unpacking those principles. Yeah, and you've done such an effective job at that. Tim, you also point in this theology of investing to this idea that we can use investments to love our neighbor.
Talk about what that looks like in practice. I think much of applying biblical wisdom comes down to Jesus' greatest commandment in Matthew 22: to love God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. And then the second greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. And I think investing is an act of neighbor love. It takes capital that would otherwise be unproductive and it puts it in places where businesses can be fueled to create jobs and to meet needs, where goods and services can be created that delight the heart of people and gives them joy and contributes to flourishing.
In many ways, investing is a choice to place our capital at risk. We know investing can come with losses as well as gains. Investing is this choice to place our capital at risk so that others can benefit and so that the community can be built up through this mutually beneficial economic activity.
Now, that's an idealized understanding of investing. I get that it doesn't always work that way in the real world. But I think when we dig down into it, that's what's happening. We're placing capital at risk so that we can love our neighbor and our community can benefit. Yeah, that's exactly right.
Now, we've talked about this idea that God gives humanity a mandate to work and to steward. We've talked about investing as a way to love our neighbor. There's a third relationship you mentioned, and that is investing as an act of spiritual formation. Since Jesus taught that our hearts follow what we treasure, how should that reality, Tim, guide the way we think about investing? Yes.
I mean, Matthew 6 is one of the verses I think all of us in the financial industry and all of us who've been entrusted with assets need to understand and wrestle with. And we rightly understand that parable that Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 to mean that if you show me your balance sheet, if you show me your bank statement, I can probably understand what you treasure. It shows up in the way that we use the money that God has entrusted to us. But there's another principle, I think, in that parable that we often miss, and that's the principle that our heart is shaped by the way that we use our treasure. It's this virtuous cycle or this unvirtuous cycle, depending on how we approach it, of heart shaping the way we use our treasure.
And then where our treasure is shapes our heart. This is what Jesus is saying. Our investment choices, our spending choices, these flow from what we value most. And if our hearts are anchored in Jesus, we will see investing not just as growing wealth, but as stewarding resources for his purposes, and our hearts will be shaped accordingly. Every dollar we invest participates.
In building something, whether it's companies or industries or communities, that reality presses into our hearts. What are we funding that honors God and serves our neighbor? What are we investing in that undermines God's plans and purposes and serves our neighbor? And all of that leads to, I think, this spiritual formation of Christ-like character that as believers and followers of Jesus we all long for. Yeah.
Now Tim, that requires that we understand what we're invested in. And because of the rise of passive investing, a lot of folks listening right now may be invested in an index or a mutual fund and have no idea the companies they're invested in. That idea of being kind of once removed from our investments makes this difficult, but it doesn't change the opportunity that we have, does it? That's right, Rob. And I don't want to place a burden on any of our listeners today to feel like they have to act in a certain way.
This is about wrestling with what God's inviting us into through this spiritual formation. And I also think we need to remember that fundamentally, what investing does is it creates a relationship. This was obvious 400 years ago when I might go down to the local market and lend to a grocer or a shoemaker, and there was a direct personal relationship between me and the person that I've invested in. The markets do wonderful things, but one of the downfalls is it obscures that relationship that's being created. But every investment represents a relationship between people at both ends of the chain, no matter how many kinds of pieces of paper and screens and intermediaries lie in between us.
Yeah, that's well said. Tim, in your article, you also note that wealth brings its own set of temptations.
So let's talk about that for a moment. What specific dangers should believers be mindful of? of here. Yes, and I mean, this has been well covered by many Christian thinkers over the years. C.S.
Lewis reminds us that when you have all the things that wealth brings, it can be very difficult to rely on God because you have, in his case, a checkbook, and in my case, now a piece of plastic that magically enables me to take goods home with me. It's very easy to just come to rely on that as our source of security. Where does the next meal come from? Where does everything that we need for life and flourishing come from?
Well, it comes from God. And it's very tempting to us to think that it comes from that little piece of plastic in our wallets. Wealth always tempts us to trust itself, to trust money instead of God. And if we listen to it, it will create this false sense of security. The Bible warns against greed because it says greed is idolatry.
Idolatry is just the act of trusting in something other than God. We today think it's perhaps ridiculous that people would ever trust in carved idols or things that they have made. But our temptations are in this often in this area of wealth. which can blind us to the reality that we are constantly dependent on God every second of every hour of every day to provide that which we need. He is our provider.
And that's what wealth tries to lie and say that it's not. Yeah, that's exactly right. I love that. Tim, in practical terms, what does it look like then to invest with God's purposes at the center? And you've just articulated that beautifully, rather than focusing only on returns, which is our typical default.
Yeah, I think this looks like different things for different people.
Some investors have access to the types of investments that others don't. But ultimately, we can make the choice, whatever's available to us, to invest in ways that align with biblical values. towards flourishing and away from exploitation.
Sometimes we might even accept lower returns at times to serve the greater good. I'm sure many of our listeners will have had the experience of making a loan to a friend or a family member with all the risks that come with that, but choosing to do so on very concessional terms. To reflect the reality of the relationship. And that is one way of seeing investing as a way to love God and love neighbor rather than just accumulating wealth. And we can take that principle elsewhere in our lives as well.
And I think just even reframing our thinking from a profit being just numbers on a page to profit representing faithful stewardship and this mutually beneficial economic exchange that creates goods and services that enable human flourishing. Wow. What a picture of God's design for investing. Perhaps one that we haven't considered before. Tim, I love this article.
We've just scratched the surface, so we're going to have you back. Thanks for your time today. Great to be with you, Rob. That's Tim McCready. You'll find more in our recent edition of Faithful Steward.
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I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today at 800-525-7000. Let's head right to the phones. Ruby in Florida, tell me what's going on. How can I help?
Yeah, this is what I want to do. I want to tap into the equity in my home. Because I need a new roof. It's the original roof, so it's almost 20 years old, and I need to get my house painted.
So I want to do those two main things.
Now my home right now. Has a balance of about $167 or so, and the equity or the equity in it, it's worth about. 370, 380. And so, I want to pull some of that money out.
So, I went to bankrate.com, you know, to start my research. And this company. Popped up Avin, and they are offering a credit card that takes 15 minutes from start to finish to get. Um zero cost up front. And it taps into your home equity.
So, I wanted to get your thoughts on that. Yeah, I appreciate it. I don't like it at all. And here's why. Boy, it just makes accessing that home equity way too easy.
Now, I realize at face value, you know, you could make a case for it and say, well, wait a minute. You know, it's a revolving line of credit, meaning you borrow, you repay it, you borrow it again. You're going to get a lower rate than a normal credit card, probably by a lot because you're putting up the collateral on your home. Perhaps there's no annual or maintenance fees or even origination fees, although I'd want you to do your homework on that because you absolutely shouldn't have to pay origination fees. There are fee-free HELOCs going out, you know, going on right now.
I know B of A had one recently. I don't know whether they still do. The thing that I don't like about this is it is just way too easy. to access this money. I mean, this kind of, you know, feeling like you've got quote unquote free money can lead to overspending in a hurry.
And the idea that, you know, we could go out to dinner and put it on the house just scares me to death.
Now, is a home equity line of credit and is your home equity an appropriate place for you to tap into some funds to put into the home for either renovations and that kind of thing? Sure, it absolutely could be so long as you understand what the, you know, that the cost is going to fit in, you know, the monthly payment's going to fit into your budget, and ideally that you'd have a payback. of less than 10 years on that. Because I'd rather this not stick around for really long. But, you know, especially when you're using it to improve the home or maintain it, you've got some equity, you don't have the cash on hand, tapping into some of the equity in your house, which is probably appreciated quite a bit recently to be able to do that, I think makes sense.
But attaching that to a credit card where you can get the equity with a swipe just feels way too easy to me.
Now, if you say, Rob, I promise I'm disciplined. It's really just about convenience. You know, maybe. But for the average person, I'd say stay far from that. Does that make sense though?
That does make sense. It does. You know, I really only want to use it for my roof and the painting of the home, and that's it. I am very disciplined. I mean, I try to be.
I never use my card, my credit card. I only accidentally have one credit card, and it's a zero interest rate, and it's going to be, it'll be paid off before it transfers over.
So, and then, you know, and then that's it. I guess I, you know, like the idea. It does say no annual fee. You know, you get, you, you actually, I guess. I'm get cash back, 2% cash back.
But I really only want it for my roof and the paint of my house. And then that's it. I could probably cut up the card and never use it again. Yeah.
So I think for that reason, I would set this idea of the card aside, and I would just look at what is the right lender for me that's going to give me the lowest rate, and it's probably going to be tied to Prime. Hopefully, it's Prime plus zero, and Prime's going to move with interest rates, which means hopefully the trend over the next You know, year plus is down, but where you don't have any additional premium over prime and where you don't have any initial cost, no appraisal, no origination fee, none of that. And I would just completely remove the credit card from the equation because, to your point, you only need two draws. Perhaps you only draw once and you do both of them at the same time, and then you're done. And from that point forward, you're just trying to pay it back as quickly as you can.
So I don't think there's any benefit to this credit card. It really just comes down to who can give me the best HELOC with the best rate and the best terms.
Okay, so prime plus zero and then Um no fees.
So look for for lenders with those provisions. Yeah.
Okay.
Okay, great.
Well, I appreciate your feedback on that. Happy to do it, Ruby. Thanks for your call today. 800-525-7,000. Boy, that's scary.
Maybe not for Ruby, but for the average person to have a credit card that they can swipe to charge against the house, that's just way too easy. Let's finish up in Indiana. Go ahead, Kay. How can I help you? Hi, Rob.
Thanks so much for taking my call. I appreciate your show. It's brought really good conversations with my fan financial advisor. Um Today I'm calling about Roth IRAs. I have two kids that are in their early and mid-20s.
And I'm really encouraging them to get started, even if it's a small amount, investing in a Roth IRA. And I wanted to know a good place for them to look where they're not going to have everything eaten up by fees because it's probably going to be a smaller contribution to start out with. Yeah, it's a great question. I love that you're encouraging them in that nothing better than to start a Roth IRA early. The power of that tax-free combating is amazing.
If they were going to pick their own investments, like exchange-traded funds or mutual funds, then I would say either Fidelity or Schwab would be great. Fidelity has no account minimums, they have commission-free ETFs. It'd be a great place for you to go with little or no fees. Charles Schwab, same thing: zero account minimum, a broad set of index funds, no trading fees.
So, those would be great if they want to pick their own investments. If they want kind of a robo-solution where the algorithm would pick the investments for them for a small fee, I would look at. First one is Schwab again, but it's the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. That's the Robo solution inside Charles Schwab. And then the second one is called Betterment.
So, do-it-yourself, Fidelity or Schwab, just a straight investment account, RoboAdvisor, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, or Betterment, okay?
Okay.
Can I ask real quick a second question?
So we're not real savvy on the investing side.
So, and I've heard you mention Soundmind Investing. Would that be a good beginning to you? It totally would. Yeah.
So they could get the Soundmind Investing newsletter, and they would provide every month, if they wanted to, exactly which mutual funds to buy. They have a phenomenal track record. They're all believers. And you'd be really pleased with that. Oh, awesome.
Thank you so much. All right, soundmindinvesting.org is the website. Thanks for your call.
Well, that's going to do it for us today. I hope you found something helpful and encouraging today, but above all else, I hope you were encouraged to go back to God's word. You know, in our role in managing God's money, we always need to be reminded that God owns it all. We're stewards, and money is a tool to accomplish God's purposes.
So, as stewards, we have to understand the heart of the master. We find that in scripture. A big thanks to my team today: Taylor, Devin, and Pat. And we'll see you next time right here on Faith and Finance. Faith in Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.
