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• The fastest growing subset of SRI funds is religious mutual funds, growing from less than $500 million ten years ago, to over $17 billion today
• The Faith and Family Values 100 Index (FFV 100) is a sector neutral, market cap weighted index made up of the 100 largest U.S. companies that meet the criteria based on Catholic social justice teachings developed by Trinity Fiduciary
• The goal of the FFV 100 is to produce investment returns that generally correspond to the S&P 500 Index, making it the “Catholic S&P 500”
• The vision of Trinity Fiduciary is to influence companies to consider not just shareholders, but anyone influenced, directly or indirectly, by their policies and actions
• The Epiphany Faith and Family 100 Fund is an opportunity to live the faith more fully by planning for your future and influencing companies to be better corporate citizens at the same time
• Catholic investing is different than other investments because its goal is to have a social as well as economic return.
• Trinity’s process of evaluating corporations is unique in that they have an exclusion component that eliminates companies for specific activities AND a scorecard that assesses remaining companies
  based on their corporate policies and activities.
• Pope John Paul II said“…The decision to invest in one place rather than another, in one productive
  sector rather than another, is always a moral and cultural choice.” “Centesimus Annus”, 1991
• Pope John Paul II declared: Profit is a regulator of the life of a business, but it is not the only one; other human and moral factors must also be considered, which, in the long term, are at least equally
  important for the life of a business. (Centesimus Annus #35)
• InvestCatholic.com is the only web portal of its kind offering business, finance and investment news and content led by Catholic teachings

To review the complete FFV 100 methodology, please visit www.trinityfiduciary.com or call 866-716-0077.

ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR ALL

Have you ever thought about how many Catholics are in this country?  You might be surprised to know that the number is somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 million!  Yes, its true - Catholics make up almost 25% of the population of the United States. 

When you consider that only 40% of the population voted in the last presidential election, the potential influence of Catholics in our country is astounding.  While the idea of influencing politics immediately comes to mind, there is another less obvious area of life where Catholics can have a big influence – the economy. 

The US Catholic bishops actually issued a personal invitation to all Catholics to do just that in the form of a pastoral letter written in 1986, entitled Economic Justice for All.

In our every day life, it is easy to see how our path to holiness is deeply entwined with our family life, as we perform the role of spouse, parent, sibling or child.  The bishops make the point that our economic life is also part of how we live out our faith and achieve holiness.  Their goal in writing the letter was to look at economic life through the eyes of faith in order to help Catholics live their faith in the marketplace; as consumers, citizens, workers, and owners.  We must realize that we are each economic actors every day.

Every dollar we put into the economy, by purchasing goods and services or investing in a company’s stock through a mutual fund, annuity, or direct purchase, serves a purpose.  We are enabling companies to make a profit, expand their business, and donate to charities.

Do we think about what activities we are supporting by the way that we spend our money?  Are we aware of what the companies we support are doing with their earnings, how they treat their employees, or if they are harming the environment?

We are responsible for the economic decisions we make and the outcome of those decisions.  The bishops say in Economic Justice for All that “economic decisions have human consequences and moral content; they help or hurt people, strengthen or weaken family life, advance or diminish the quality of justice in our land.”

Given the size of our Catholic population, we can go a long way to ensuring economic justice for all by recognizing our economic power and choosing to support companies through our purchasing and investing that enhance our life together as a community.  

If you are currently invested in mutual funds, evaluate them and see what companies they are invested in.  Do those companies have any OSHA violations?  Do they make violent video games?  Are they paying a just wage to their employees?  How much cash compensation do their board and CEO make?

If you aren’t comfortable with the answers to those questions, it’s time to look for a new place to invest your money.

“Followers of Christ must avoid a tragic separation between faith and everyday life.”
                                                                                                - Economic Justice for All

MUTUAL FUND BASICS

Given that 44% of the households in the United States now own a mutual fund, it’s beneficial to understand how they work.

A mutual fund is a company that pools money from many investors to purchase stocks, bonds, other securities or assets, or some combination of these items.  The combined holdings of a mutual fund are referred to as its portfolio.  Similarly, the combination of stocks, mutual funds, cash and other assets you hold would be considered your portfolio. 

To start a mutual fund, the SEC (Security and Exchange Commission) requires the development of a prospectus, which is a document outlining the fund objective, investment strategy, and other details necessary for someone to decide if they want to invest.  A fund company is required to provide every investor with a copy of the prospectus. 

If you are in one of the 51 million US households that currently own a mutual fund, you’ve received a prospectus for the funds you own.  What did you focus on when you read it and made your investment decision?  You or your financial advisor probably focused on which style of investment the fund represents, meaning the size of companies purchased and the goal of the returns.  For example, a large income fund purchases shares of companies with a market capitalization greater than $10 billion who pay dividends.    

While the style of investment is important when considering your overall portfolio, it’s by no means the most important consideration.  Because as we’ve said, a mutual fund invests in a group of companies, it’s equally important to consider the investment strategy of the fund.  This is where the rubber meets the road if you are concerned about making sure your investments match your morals. 

This section of the prospectus details what type of criteria the fund will use to determine which companies to invest in.  Does the fund invest in companies that engage in embryonic stem cell research?  Make violent video games?  Provide abortions?  Make contraceptives?  Manufacture guns? Make pornography? 

There are over 8,000 mutual fund options available in the United States.  More importantly, there are now many socially responsible investment choices that allow you to make sure that you put your money where your faith is. 

Read the prospectus of the mutual funds you hold and see if they exclude any companies that negatively impact human dignity.  If they don’t, it’s time to move your money to investments that match your morals.

Invest Catholic

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