Have you ever thought about your Christian principles when choosing a place to invest? At Core Capital, you don’t have to choose between a good return on your investment and following a Godly path.
Core Capital is an award winning Houston-based wealth management firm. Founded in 1997, they provide planning and investment management services to individuals, institutions, foundations, churches and businesses. They have been recognized as Five-Star Wealth Managers and have been named one of the Top Wealth Managers by the Houston Business Journal for the last five years.
Financial Advisor John Barry began his career in high net worth estate planning before joining Core Capital. He said, “What I found was there was one set of rules and techniques for them [high net worth investors] and a much less effective set for the average investor. I wanted to bring those techniques and strategies to a wider audience.” Barry had known the Senior Partner at Core Capital, Louis Pelz, from church and after realizing they had similar goals, he merged his company into Core Capital in 2014.
“Louis’ and my faith is at the center of everything we do and puts everything into focus,” Barry explained. “When most people invest their money, they look at companies they know well and maybe do a little bit of research. What they don’t normally understand is that you are actually buying a part of these companies and making money from their operations. As a Christian, can we be comfortable contributing to and profiting off a pharmaceutical, for example, that creates and sells abortion drugs? If our faith is the center of our lives, it has to also shape how we invest and plan for our retirement. Everything we have is a gift from God and we are just faithful stewards.”
Barry explained that a Christian investor can settle for some Christian Value mutual funds and, like most mutual fund investors, will underperform the rest of the market. He and Louis wanted to bring a better option to their clients. “We rejected the premise that you have to sacrifice returns to follow your faith. There are a lot of great companies in great industries that align with our faith. If you know how to choose them and have a disciplined strategy, your faith can direct you to a very comfortable retirement.
“We work with each of our clients individually to understand who they are and what their goals are, determine their comfortable level of risk and what kind of an investor they are. We then build and manage a unique portfolio designed for them that is in line with their faith. Along with Christian families, we manage money for Christian foundations and churches as well. It is all of our mission to use our gifts from God for His glory.”
Barry and Pelz both believe that how Christians manage their finances and allow others to use their hard-earned money matters. Barry said, “Too often, the financial industry is the source of really bad behavior and business practices. Too many investment firms consider fines for malfeasance just a cost of doing business. At Core Capital we have never had so much as a customer complaint letter!”
With happy clients and a commitment to responsible financial planning that honors God, Core Capital truly convicts you to put your money where your mouth is. For Christian investing advice, check them out at ccmrusa.com/christian-values-investing/
