Christian convictions
Start with the values you want considered and the questions that brought you here. Clear convictions make it easier to have a meaningful conversation about what a portfolio is designed to reflect.
BRI Investing
Biblical Investing Portfolios
Bring Christian convictions, investment discipline and the life you are building into the same portfolio conversation.
A More Intentional Starting Point
Consider what your investments are helping to support.
Biblical investing begins with a practical question: do the investments inside your accounts reflect the Christian convictions that shape the rest of your life? Mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles can hold stakes in many businesses. For investors who want to be more intentional, it can be worthwhile to understand what is there before making a change.
At BRI Investing, biblical investing means Biblically Responsible Investing. The approach seeks to give Christian values a defined place in the investment process while keeping the financial questions that shape a durable plan in view. Risk, diversification, time horizon, liquidity, costs and the purpose of each account still matter.
This is not about finding a label and assuming the work is finished. It is about having a clear conversation about your convictions, the screening approach and the tradeoffs that may come with a narrower investment universe. That can help you move from uncertainty to a more informed decision.
What Biblical Investing Considers
Four parts of a more useful portfolio conversation.
Portfolio screening
Understand the activities a BRI portfolio seeks to avoid or reduce, how screening information is used and why no screen can promise perfect alignment across every holding at every moment.
Investment discipline
Consider allocation, diversification, costs, liquidity, risk capacity and time horizon. A values lens changes the conversation, but it does not remove the need for a disciplined investment process.
Ongoing review
Portfolios, companies and personal circumstances can change. Periodic review helps keep decisions connected to the goals and responsibilities that matter over time.
The Values Lens
Know what the portfolio is designed to consider.
MRA’s Biblically Responsible Investing process seeks to avoid or reduce exposure to companies involved in business activities that conflict with the Biblical principles applied to the portfolios. Those areas include abortion, human exploitation, sexuality-related activities inconsistent with the screening methodology, cannabis, alcohol, tobacco and gambling.
Specificity matters. Broad phrases such as ethical or values-based can mean very different things depending on the manager. A useful biblical investing conversation explains the principles being applied, the information used to assess companies and the limits of any screening process. Company activity can change, data can be incomplete and pooled investments can make direct control over every holding impractical.
It can also help to look beyond the name of a fund or portfolio. Ask how the screen is maintained, whether the underlying holdings can be reviewed and how changes in a company’s activity are handled. A clear process gives you a better basis for deciding whether an approach reflects the stewardship questions that matter to you.
That does not make screening meaningless. It makes honest expectations essential. The point is to pursue greater alignment through a defined process, not to suggest that a portfolio can perfectly represent every Christian interpretation or guarantee an outcome.
From Conviction To Portfolio Fit
A measured process before any investment change.
- Understand your current accounts
- Discuss your Christian priorities
- Review the BRI screening approach
- Consider risk and diversification
- Assess the role of each account
- Complete a suitability review
A portfolio change often begins with a question about what you already own. Retirement accounts, taxable investments, workplace plans and inherited assets can each have a different purpose, tax treatment and timeline. Seeing the full picture helps avoid a rushed decision made around one account or one recent headline.
The next step is to put your values in plain language. You may want to know more about a current fund’s holdings, understand how MRA applies its BRI screen or consider whether a values-led portfolio fits your family’s plans. There is room for those questions alongside a candid discussion of the financial tradeoffs involved.
Only then does it make sense to evaluate portfolio fit. A suitable approach considers the return you need, the market movement you can reasonably accept, the income or liquidity you may need and the role of the account in your broader financial life. Individual recommendations come after the appropriate suitability process, not before.
Risk Still Matters
Faith does not eliminate investment risk.
A BRI portfolio remains an investment portfolio. It can rise or fall in value, and a values screen can create differences from a conventional or unscreened approach.
Risk capacity
Your ability to accept losses depends on more than preference. Income needs, emergency reserves, other assets and the role of the account all shape how much risk may be appropriate.
Diversification
A screen can affect exposure to sectors, companies and regions. Diversification does not guarantee a profit or protect against loss, but it remains an important guard against relying too heavily on one outcome.
Long-term purpose
Retirement, education, legacy and charitable goals can have different timelines. Connecting each account to a real purpose gives investment decisions a steadier frame than reacting to short-term market movement.
Markets can be unsettled, and a values-led portfolio is not meant to make normal market changes disappear. The more useful question is whether the portfolio’s level of risk remains appropriate for your circumstances and whether you can remain committed to a long-term plan through the periods when investing feels hardest. Regular review can keep that question connected to changes in your life, not just changes on a screen.
Who This May Help
Make space for both stewardship and practical decisions.
- You want your Christian convictions reflected more intentionally in the investments you own.
- You are unsure what your retirement, taxable or inherited accounts currently hold.
- You want to understand how a BRI screen may affect diversification, risk and costs.
- You are considering a portfolio change and want your financial circumstances considered first.
- You value a relationship that can revisit investments as life and priorities change.
There is no one biblical investing solution that fits every person. A thoughtful conversation can help you understand your options, identify the questions that deserve follow-up and decide whether a BRI portfolio belongs in your plan. It can also help you distinguish between a meaningful values preference and a change that does not fit your wider needs.
Common Questions
Begin with the questions you already have.
What is biblical investing?+
Biblical investing is an approach that considers Christian convictions alongside traditional investment considerations. At BRI Investing, it means bringing a values screen into a disciplined portfolio conversation that also considers objectives, risk, diversification, costs, liquidity and time horizon.
What does a biblical investing portfolio seek to avoid?+
MRA’s BRI process seeks to avoid or reduce exposure to companies involved in business activities that conflict with the Biblical principles applied to the portfolios. These include abortion, human exploitation, sexuality-related activities inconsistent with the screening methodology, cannabis, alcohol, tobacco and gambling.
Can biblical investing be diversified?+
Diversification still matters. A values screen can change the available investment universe and may change a portfolio’s exposure to sectors, companies or regions. It does not guarantee a profit or protect against loss, so portfolio fit should be considered carefully.
Does biblical investing promise better returns?+
No. A biblical investing approach is not a performance promise. All investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal, and a screened portfolio can perform differently from an unscreened portfolio.
How do I know whether a BRI portfolio fits my circumstances?+
A useful starting point is a conversation about your accounts, objectives, timeline, income needs, risk capacity and the Christian principles you want considered. Individual recommendations are made only after MRA’s suitability process.
A Conversation About BRI
See whether biblical investing belongs in your plan.
Bring your account statements, questions and the convictions you want your investments to consider. An MRA advisor can help you explore whether a BRI portfolio fits your circumstances.
Meet an advisor