What if the greatest benefit of financial advice isn’t simply what happens to your portfolio, but knowing your financial decisions reflect what matters most?
New research from Kingdom Advisors and Pinkston Group suggests that when financial counsel aligns with a person’s faith and values, the benefits can extend well beyond investment performance. Clients report deeper trust, reduced financial anxiety, and a broader definition of financial success.
Sharon Epps, President of Kingdom Advisors, joined the show today to unpack what the findings reveal about values-aligned investing, long-term advisor relationships, generosity, and the future of Christian financial advice.
The Gap Between Interest and Action
One of the study’s most striking findings involves values-based investing. While 81% of Certified Kingdom Advisors® offer values-based investment options, only 15% of their clients currently use them.
Why the gap?
Epps believes several factors may be involved. Some investors still assume that aligning their investments with their values necessarily means accepting lower returns. Others may simply be unaware that faith-aligned options are available because they've never brought it up with their advisor.
There may also be a natural progression in a person’s stewardship journey. Christians often begin by thinking about giving as the primary way their faith intersects with money. Only later do they begin considering whether their saving and investing decisions can also reflect their convictions.
That makes education essential. Advisors can help clients understand how values-based screening works, compare investment options, and evaluate them as part of a disciplined and diversified strategy. For hesitant investors, Epps suggests starting with a smaller portion of a portfolio rather than changing everything at once.
The larger principle is simple: stewardship begins by asking what matters to us before asking how our investments are performing.
Why Peace May Grow Over Time
The research also found that the benefits of working with a Certified Kingdom Advisor® appear to deepen over time.
Among CKA® clients who had worked with their advisor for more than five years, 66% reported a reduction in financial anxiety, compared with 49% among those in shorter advisor relationships.
That may be partly because trust is cumulative.
Over time, an advisor gets to know not only a client’s financial situation but also their family, priorities, goals, and convictions. The relationship becomes less transactional and more of a long-term partnership.
A sound financial plan can also provide perspective during difficult markets. Rather than reacting to every rise and fall, investors can return to a strategy built around long-term goals.
For Christians, there is an even deeper source of peace. Biblical financial counsel continually reminds us that God owns everything and that we are His stewards. That changes the central question from, “How do I protect everything I have?” to, “Lord, how would You have me manage what You have entrusted to me?”
That perspective cannot eliminate financial uncertainty, but it can keep uncertainty from becoming the foundation of our decisions.
More Than Finding the Lowest Fee
Another revealing finding involved the way clients choose advisors.
Only 20% of CKA® clients said fees were the primary factor in selecting an advisor. Epps emphasized that fees still matter. Wise stewardship means understanding what you are paying and ensuring those
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