This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Praxis Mutual Funds. They are a leading faith-based family of mutual funds helping people integrate their finances with their values since 1994. With Praxis, your investments can make a difference for you and the world around you.
Learn more at Praxismutualfunds.com. The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it. For He has founded it on the seas and established it on the rivers. Psalm 24, 1 and 2.
Hi, I'm Rob West. In Genesis, God gave man dominion over the earth. And with that, a responsibility to take care of it. Mark Raguir joins us today to talk about investing in the care of creation. Then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.
That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Our guest today is Mark Raguir, Vice President of Stewardship Investing at Praxis Mutual Funds. So he's just the guy to tackle this topic. Mark, great to have you back with us.
Yeah, it's great to be here again, Rob. Appreciate it. Absolutely. And Praxis, of course, was a pioneer in faith-based investing going back nearly 30 years. And your approach has always been guided by a biblically rooted philosophy you call stewardship investing, which includes a specific commitment to care for all that God has created. So I'd love for you to tell us about your stewardship investing approach and how creation care fits into that work.
Thanks. Yeah, stewardship investing is our philosophy rooted in the concept of biblical stewardship. It really is about responsibility. What does it mean to be responsible for all that God has entrusted to us? And we understand, first of all, that God owns it all and that our job is really to manage it wisely and according to God's wishes.
So what does this mean? I mean, in addition to being productive in the work that we do, and we actually look and see throughout the scripture, you know, commands to care for our neighbor, to care for the stranger, to seek justice and peace, but also to care for the world that he has created for us. And let's dig into that a bit deeper. So share with us your perspective on stewardship and then specifically as it relates to care of creation. Well, you know, you started our episode here with one of the, I think, many reminders throughout scripture, this one in Psalms 24, that our job is to act as God's stewards.
In Genesis 2, for instance, we see, you know, God creating humankind and then a beautiful garden. And, you know, we are to work it and to take care of it. And, you know, what does that mean today in our complex society with our technology and our many, many ways, unfortunately, to harm the world and often others around us? And we believe that we need to understand that complexity. We need to understand the systems that are investing, that our work on a daily basis is involved in, and then to manage those impacts to the best of our ability and to invest in better solutions to try to shift our investments away from things that are harming the world. And that's what we try to do as we go about the work of caring for the futures of clients and institutions who depend on us.
Yeah, I can certainly appreciate that. Let's talk some specifics for a moment. What are some ways an investment manager like Praxis Mutual Funds can support creation care as an investing goal? Well, three ways come to mind quickly. The first one would be to invest in green and social bonds. These are bonds, much like any others, that are offered but have a specific social or environmental benefit. So these could be bonds that support the development of solar farms or wind projects. They could be bonds that help clean water programs in cities around the world. They can also be bonds that help developing countries adapt technologies or adapt other systems to some of the challenges of the changing climate that we have. In addition, shareholder advocacy, which is using our rights and responsibilities as shareholders in companies to claim a voice in what is happening at the companies in which we're invested. This can mean promoting positive policies around the environment, encouraging them to adopt green solutions and to put their energy into projects that benefit the environment.
And finally, we can also look at community investing, which is setting aside funds to help those on the margins adapt to our changing climate and to take advantage of the emerging technologies that are available today. Really good, Mark. Well, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about the Christian perspective on creation care versus the mainstream secular approach to environmental concern. We'll also talk about something called greenwashing. What is that and how does that relate to our conversation today? Mark Regeer joins us.
He's vice president of Stewardship Investing at Praxis Mutual Funds, an underwriter of this program. The topic, how you can be involved in creation care through your investments. We'll also be taking your calls around the corner at 800-525-7000.
We'll be right back on faith and finance. Stick around. Get a question, get an answer and share what you're learning about money and investing. So why don't you grab your phone right now and download the faith by app? What's most important to you when it comes to choosing your financial adviser, someone who's aligned with your biblical values? How about someone who will take the time to explain your options? Certified kingdom advisers are professionals who meet high standards and competence and integrity and have been trained to offer biblical financial advice.
To find a certified kingdom adviser in your area, visit faith.com and click find a C.K.A. We're so thankful to have you with us today on faith and finance. Our guest today is Mark Regeer. He's vice president of Stewardship Investing at Praxis Mutual Funds. We're talking today about investing in light of creation care. How do we demonstrate a commitment to care for all that God has created through our investments? Mark, before the break, you were sharing some practical ways we can do that through bonds that are committed to creation care, through shareholder activism. There's some very practical ways we can be involved in this. Let's talk about this, though, in light of a Christian perspective versus perhaps a mainstream secular approach to environmental concern that we hear about so often.
Sure. Well, I'm going to start with actually something that we actually share with that community, and one of them is a belief that these issues are material to the financial performance of the investments. That how a company treats the environment, how it manages its risk and opportunities in this space is material.
So that's something we share. Now, something where we differ grows out of where we're sourcing our values. Obviously, the mainstream environment is about returns, and in some areas, it's about an agenda. And so for us, it's looking at creation not as a campaign, but as a responsibility. So this brings, for us at least, a more moderate approach to things and understanding of this concern in the context of many responsibilities that God has given us for the world around us. So I think part of it is to remember those who suffer most are those at the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy.
So how do we care for those people as part of our Christian commitment to following Christ, caring for our neighbor, caring for those who are less fortunate? So it's those sorts of differences that I think shape how we approach this work, both in style as well as in substance. Yeah, that's very helpful, and clearly there's a case to go about this, where you're fulfilling a dual mandate, that mandate to provide value to your shareholders and bondholders, but also to care for God's creation. And to your point, you see a connection between the two, where companies who are in fact caring for creation can add compelling value to their companies. Is that right? That is absolutely true. I think there is a lot of evidence that as our world changes, as it grows more crowded, as resources become sort of a little more limited, we need these companies who understand some of those restrictions, but also on the flip side, understand the opportunities, our position to grow and to develop faster as our economy changes to adapt.
Yeah, very good. Now you mentioned on the secular side, often the discussion around environmental concerns is driving a political outcome or motivation. I'd like to talk about something called greenwashing. We've heard that term, perhaps in conversations in recent years.
Fill us in on that. What exactly is greenwashing? Well, greenwashing is fundamentally about a company or even an investment manager claiming to do more in a particular area related to the environment than they're actually doing. And this has grown up over the years as younger investors, as institutional investors have gotten interested in protecting themselves from the risk of environmental change and from also taking advantage of the opportunities. And so they're looking for managers, they're looking for companies who are performing better. And so it is always a conversation with companies about what they say and what they do. And, you know, a good manager, a good will approach this topic with by looking at what they're actually doing to do the research.
And I think that's really one of the most important things that we can do around greenwashing is to pay careful attention and not to just accept things on face value, but to dig a little deeper. And we've seen a sort of an industry coming to grips with that as we sort of gotten over the first rush of money and attention into this area. Yeah. So how do you and the team at Praxis Mutual Funds guard against this, Mark?
Yeah. One of the things that we do is, first of all, really look at those companies. And I think that's something any investor can do as well to take a careful look at the funds that they're wanting to invest in or if they're dressing directly in a company, obviously visit their website. There are often other sorts of related if you Google their name and the environment or concerns, you can actually see other sites that are maybe sharing information. And it's important to realize when you're reading on a website in particular, is this a campaign driven website or is it really something that's helping give a sort of neutral party sort of stuff?
And it doesn't mean that all campaigns are bad information. It's just that you need to know where the information is coming from and why it might sound the way that it does. In addition, I think we have the opportunity as shareholders to gain access to senior leadership. And we do that through our shareholder advocacy program. And a lot of it is sitting down, not telling a company what to do, but finding out what they're really doing.
Pressing them, maybe bringing a new perspective to a topic, introducing them to parties who are affected on the ground and saying, what are the solutions that are available to this problem? And understanding how the company responds. And to be honest, even their early response to whether they're willing to talk about it will tell you a lot about whether there's greenwashing going on or whether they're serious about this work.
And so it's doing some of these things that really can help us understand. And the same thing for a fund manager, understand where a company is coming from, where a fund manager is coming from and how serious they are about these topics. Yeah, I know the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is cracking down on greenwashing and other misleading marketing practices by investment funds.
So I'm delighted to hear the intentionality with which you all are taking this on there at Praxis. As our listeners, Mark, review their investments or speak with their financial advisor, let's say, what do you think is important for them to consider if they're concerned about caring for creation through their investing? First of all, take a closer look at the company. Don't just accept what's in your portfolio, but take a look at it and see, does this fit with my level of passion or concern about the environment?
Is it in a particular area? It may affect things a little differently than the manager looks at things. So take a careful look. One of the things that's also important to realize is that if you have a very deep passion and an extreme passion in a particular area, realize that trying to exclude everything that might be troubling to you may actually affect the performance of the portfolio. So just be aware.
Now, that may be perfectly acceptable based on the level of passion that you have, but realize that there is an interplay between our desire to be away from everything that troubles us and to make the types of returns that we may need for the future for our children's education and institutions as well. So taking a careful look and talking to your advisor. Advisors have tools that can help them get you the types of products that you are most interested in, and it will also help focus them on the resources that are available to them, and that will help.
Very good. And then Mark, what are some of the specific offerings at Praxis that intersect with today's conversation? For instance, I know you have some impact bonds that really fit well here, don't you? Yeah, that's probably our flagship fund is the Praxis Impact Bond Fund, which is a leader in the nation in investing in positive impact bonds, dealing with both social and environmental concerns in a whole range of topics. And so that's certainly one, but really all of our funds try to address this in the ways that they can.
So our index funds, which include our large cap growth, our large cap value, our small cap and our international index, all of these do shareholder advocacy and try to bring the power of this work to our investors. Well, this is really good information, Mark. I'm so delighted to hear about your work in this space and really appreciate you stopping by to share it with us. God bless you, my friend.
Thank you so much. That's Mark Regier, vice president of stewardship investing at Praxis Mutual Funds and underwriter of this program. You can learn more at PraxisMutualFunds.com. PraxisMutualFunds.com. All right, your calls are next. The number 800-525-7000.
We'll be right back. We are grateful for support from Praxis Mutual Funds. Praxis Mutual Funds has seven impact strategies that are designed to create positive real world change. More information is available at PraxisMutualFunds.com. The fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses are contained in the prospectus and summary prospectus. This and other information is available at PraxisMutualFunds.com. Investments involve risk.
Principal loss is possible. Foresight Fund Services LLC. If the heavy burden of debt is robbing you of freedom and peace of mind, Christian Credit Counselors can help. We're a nationwide nonprofit credit counseling organization that has helped over 300,000 individuals in the last 27 years get out of credit card debt 80% faster while honoring that debt in full. To learn how Christian Credit Counselors can help you, visit ChristianCreditCounselors.org. That's ChristianCreditCounselors.org or call 800-557-1985. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West.
This is the program where the 2300 verses on money and possessions found in God's word intersect with today's financial decisions and choices. The number to get in on the conversation, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.
All right, back to the phones we go to Lakeland, Florida. Hi, Heather, go ahead. Hi, how are you today? I'm doing great. Thanks for your call. Good. Yes, sir. My name is Heather.
I'm sorry, I'm nervous. I am on a fixed account of actually $914. I've been disabled since I was 16.
I'm 55 now. If I tied 10%, my bills... I won't be able to pay my phone bill, have a phone. So I do tie, but not 10%.
My income is $914 and the bills come to $824. So should I take something off of here and tie 10%? I'm a Christian. I just want to do the right thing with the Lord. Yeah, I appreciate that and obviously that's your heart's desire and I think the Lord knows that as well because he knows our hearts and that's ultimately what it's all about. Does God need our money?
No. It all belongs to him. We're his managers and money is the training ground of the heart and I think giving is one of those opportunities we have to be connected to his work. I would say the tithe is a great guideline for our giving, maybe a starting point, but at the end of the day it's not about checking a box or being legalistic about it. It's about ultimately you being able to give cheerfully. I was talking to Randy Alcorn this week, the author, and he was saying that when Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive, that word blessed is better translated happy making. It's this idea that it's not a religious activity, but that the idea that we get to give is happy making.
That there's actually a physical response, the joy that we get in being able to give as unto the Lord, so it becomes an act of worship and something we do cheerfully. And yes, we should do it I think systematically and proportionately to what the Lord has given us and you're in a tight spot. And so I realized on a fixed income of less than a thousand dollars a month, every dime counts, so ultimately what you give unto the Lord I think is between you and the Lord as to what that looks like.
And so I wouldn't say there's a right or wrong answer there. Again, God is not an accountant. What he wants is your heart surrendered to him, you giving with the right heart posture, the right attitude, and the right approach, and I think that's one that the giving that God accepts is the one that's done freely and cheerfully. I would just say, Heather, make that a matter of prayer.
Say, Lord, what would you have me to do? And ultimately wherever you come down, if you're giving I think systematically and proportionately, no matter what that percentage ultimately is, I would just say give something and let's see what God does as he continues to provide for you. Hopefully that will come even through the means of others seeing your need and rallying around you.
You've obviously been living on a little bit for a long time given how long you've been disabled and I know God has been faithful in that and yet I'm sure it's been a struggle and the Lord knows that. So I think at the end of the day it's between you and him and I wouldn't say it's less about a percentage and more about your heart condition in your giving. Does that make sense? Yes, sir, it does. And that's what I felt, but I've had other people's opinion, which really doesn't matter to me, but it did get me thinking because I think it's a heart thing as well.
I do it from my heart because I love the Lord so much and I would give him everything I had if I didn't have to pay rent, but it is a heart and it's joyful and I'm joyful at giving that to him. Well, I think that's what the Lord's looking for. So listen, I appreciate you being on the program today. If we can help further along the way, don't hesitate to reach out. Thanks for your call today.
Let's go to Crystal Lake, Illinois. Hi, Bobbi. Go right ahead.
Hi. Yeah, I just had a CD that matured and they're giving me 10 days to change it or roll it over, whatever. So like you say, I went to bankrate.com and I found some incredible rates and I'm just wondering if it's good to lock into a longer term because I can get a 4.75, 3, 4, or 5 years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, I like that. I think it all comes down to what's the time horizon on this money. If this is money you really don't want to take a lot of risk in, very little risk, then a CD is a great way to go. I mean, the other option would be looking at treasuries, so US government bills, bonds, and notes, depending on what duration you're looking for and you may need some help in doing that. How much money are you talking about?
About 200,000. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think it might be worth it. The only challenge with the CDs is, you know, so you lock it up for 4.6 for 5 years and that's a great rate, especially what we've been used to over the last couple of decades, but what happens when you get to the end of that 5 years? So I think there's something to be said about in this environment, perhaps building a portfolio of, you know, bonds, so US government bonds, and not only can you get an attractive rate, but you can also get some growth in the underlying price of the bonds because as the interest rates fall, those bond prices will increase. Now, you are taking some risk because those can move around, but we know that the Fed is not going to raise the interest rates too far from here.
They've gone up 12 times, which is almost unprecedented. And so, you know, I think the question is, would you like to have an advisor who can help you build a bond portfolio? Yeah, you're taking a little bit more risk, but you could have a longer term approach to this that goes well beyond 5 years and gives you a little bit more, you know, overall return. Or would you rather have essentially a risk free investment with FDIC insurance and just lock it up for as long as you can, which, you know, in this case is 5 years, you get the 4.6% a year or 4.75. And then in 5 years, you just have to take what's available to you, which may be something, you know, considerably lower than what you're getting today. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does make sense. But when I went to my bank that has held my CD, they tried to tell me that if I went someplace else, I would get a penalty of some kind if the rate changed. Is that true? What kind of penalty? I guess I'm confused. She said if the rate goes higher, you can get a penalty for, you know, and I'm like, what?
Yeah, that doesn't make sense to me. So what I would do is if you decide you want to go the CD route, you could use any of those online banks that you found on Bankrate, as long as they have FDIC insurance, and I'd probably go with one of the ones that's highly rated 4 or 5 stars. The other option is to connect with a certified kingdom advisor there in Illinois and have somebody work with you to build a very conservative bond portfolio or maybe a combination of CDs and bonds. And to do that, if you'd want to interview two or three CKAs, you do that on our website, faithfi.com, faithfi.com.
Just click Find a CKA, and you'll find a bunch of them there in your area. Bobby, thanks for your call today. I hope that helps. Thanks for listening to the program.
Well, that does it for us today. I'm Rob West. Thanks to our amazing production team and to you for listening. I hope you'll join us again next time right here on Faith and Finance. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.
