Finding a Christian Financial Advisor

A Christian financial advisor provides traditional financial guidance, but does so through a faith-based lens. If you’re looking to blend practical financial strategies with Christian values, these advisors can help. They generally offer investment planning, budgeting, and retirement strategies, all while prioritizing biblical principles throughout the planning process.

A financial advisor can talk to you about building an investment strategy that matches your values.

Benefits of Hiring a Christian Financial Advisor

When working with a financial advisor, you want to choose someone who understands you. This includes grasping your current financial situation, your goals for the future and, oftentimes, your values. A Christian financial advisor offers the same services as other advisors but can also connect with clients through shared faith.

David Sandhu, a Christian financial advisor at Wise Wealth in Fort Worth, Texas, says this can make it easier to facilitate financial conversations within a faith-based context. “Integrating faith and finance in our conversations — particularly when we discuss items such as stewardship, debt, retirement planning and how it relates to my clients’ ‘calling’ — are extremely important to people of faith,” Sandhu said. “Biblical financial guidance is rooted in wisdom from the Bible, and Scripture is the guiding principle behind the advice we give.”

A Christian financial advisor helps align your strategy with your values, not just financial outcomes. For example, one of your values may include charitable giving. A Christian financial advisor can help you create a financial plan that incorporates charitable giving within a biblical framework.

You may also feel more comfortable working with an advisor who applies the same principles in their own financial lives. For instance, they may be able to provide examples of how biblical principles helped guide their path in building wealth.

What a Christian Financial Advisor Can Do: Services and Examples

Beyond BRI screening, a Christian financial advisor typically offers several services shaped specifically around faith-based priorities. Here’s a closer look at what each might involve in practice.

Charitable Giving Strategy

• What an Advisor Can Do: An advisor can help structure giving, tithes, church support, mission trips, or larger charitable gifts, in a way that’s both consistent and tax-efficient. They often recommend tools like donor-advised funds or appreciated stock donations.
• Example: A couple wants to tithe 10% of their income consistently. However, they also make a larger one-time gift to fund a church building project. The advisor sets up a donor-advised fund. This allows them to contribute appreciated stock now for an immediate tax deduction, while distributing the funds to the church over several years as construction progresses.

Debt Elimination Aligned With Biblical Principles

• What an Advisor Can Do: For clients who view debt as something to avoid or minimize based on their faith, an advisor can build a structured payoff plan. They can prioritize becoming debt-free, even if it means a more conservative approach than a purely numbers-driven strategy might suggest.
• Example: A client wants to eliminate their mortgage, car loan, and credit card debt before increasing retirement contributions. They hold a personal conviction about avoiding financial bondage. The advisor builds a debt-payoff timeline prioritizing the highest-interest debt first, while still capturing any available employer 401(k) match along the way.

Estate Planning With a Legacy and Stewardship Focus

• What an Advisor Can Do: An advisor can help structure a will or trust that reflects a family’s values. That might mean designating a portion of the estate to a church, or structuring inheritances to encourage financial responsibility.
• Example: A client wants to leave 10% of their estate to their church and a Christian relief organization. The remainder goes to their children. The advisor coordinates with an estate attorney to structure the will accordingly. They help the client decide whether to give some of that charitable portion now for a more immediate tax benefit.

Retirement Planning Centered Around Calling

• What an Advisor Can Do: Clients who plan to continue ministry work, mission trips, or volunteer service in retirement have specific needs. An advisor can build a retirement income plan that accounts for reduced or irregular income from these activities.
• Example: A client plans to retire from their full-time career but continue leading short-term mission trips and volunteering. These activities that generate little to no income. The advisor builds a retirement withdrawal strategy that assumes this reduced income. It ensures the client’s savings can support both their living expenses and their continued involvement in ministry work.

Faith-Based Education Funding

• What an Advisor Can Do: For families planning to send children to a Christian school or college, an advisor can help structure education savings accordingly, since some faith-based institutions have different cost structures or financial aid approaches than public or secular private schools.
• Example: A family wants to fund private Christian schooling from kindergarten through college. The advisor helps them open a 529 plan early, modeling out the combined cost of K-12 tuition and a Christian university, and adjusts their monthly contribution amount to stay on track for both goals simultaneously.

What to Look for in a Christian Financial Advisor

There are a few things to consider when looking for a Christian financial advisor. The first is understanding the advisor’s investment strategy and overall philosophy.

“I would look for a Christian financial advisor that understands biblically responsible investing (BRI),” Sandhu says. “Many investors want to honor God through their investments and BRI is the solution, especially for socially and/or biblically aware individuals, which allows Christians the opportunity to align their faith with their investments.”

Biblically responsible investing (BRI) is similar to socially responsible investing (SRI) in that both prioritize values in investment decisions. While SRI focuses on sustainability, corporate governance or social justice, BRI uses moral and social principles to guide investment choices.

For example, an advisor who follows a BRI strategy might direct investors away from alcohol, tobacco or cannabis companies. In turn, they may encourage investments in companies that promote giving back to the community or that engage in practices that yield a tangible environmental or social benefit.

Beyond Christian values, make sure the advisor’s other investing characteristics and financial planning services align with your needs. For example, a financial advisor that prefers short-term investing might not work for you if your primary goal is to save for your impending retirement. In addition, if you want to set up a college fund for your children, focus on advisors that offer college planning.

In addition, be sure you sign up with an advisor who has a fiduciary duty to act in your best interest. All SEC-registered advisors fall into this category. Being a fiduciary ensures that your advisor is legally required to make decisions in your best interest, regardless of any other factors.

Christian Financial Advisor Certifications

Financial advisors can obtain various certifications. Christian financial advisors can opt to earn the certified kingdom advisor (CKA) through Kingdom Advisors, a Christian financial organization. To attain the CKA certification, advisors must:

• Hold an industry-approved designation, including CFP®, CPA, ChFC, EA, CFA, CIMA, AAMS, CLU, FIC, JD or have at least 10 years of experience in a specific CKA discipline, such as insurance, investments, financial planning, law or accounting.
• Complete the university-based CKA Educational Program and pass its associated exam.
• Offer one pastoral reference and at least two non-family client references who have known them for at least two years.
• Complete 10 hours of continuing education training each year to maintain the certification.

Advisors must complete multiple training modules. These span a range of topics, including stewardship, leadership, discipleship, investing and life planning. The training is intensive and takes approximately 60 hours to complete online. ¹

Keep in mind that a financial advisor can still use faith-based values to shape their investment style without this certification. Not every Christian financial advisor may choose to obtain a CKA designation. The process can be time-consuming, and completing the coursework and exam through Kingdom Advisors starts at $999.

How to Find a Christian Financial Advisor

To find a Christian financial advisor, there are a number of online resources you can turn to. One option is the Kingdom Advisors’ Professional Directory Search tool. Another is Inspire Investing, which connects investors with Christian financial advisors who use a BRI approach. If neither option works, the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants (NACFC) can help you find advisors.

You may also be able to connect with a Christian financial advisor by asking for referrals from your pastor or other leadership at your church. Also consider asking fellow church members, coworkers, friends and relatives.

When seeking referrals, ask about their personal experience working with the advisor. Ask what they like or don’t like about them, or whether they’ve ever had any issues in working with them. Hearing from someone you trust can help you decide whether the advisor is a good fit for managing your money.

If you’re open to financial advisors who don’t only abide by Christian values, consider SmartAsset’s free online matching tool. By using this, you’ll be paired with up to financial advisors who serve your area, with the final choice of whom to work with being completely up to you.

Questions to Ask a Christian Financial Advisor

Before deciding whom to work with, it can be helpful to prepare a list of questions that will help you determine whether an advisor is a good fit for your financial and spiritual needs. As you interview candidates, consider asking questions like:

• How do you integrate biblical principles into financial planning?
  This helps you understand how actively the advisor incorporates scripture or faith-based concepts into your overall strategy.
• What is your investment philosophy, and how does it incorporate biblically responsible investing (BRI)?
  Not all Christian advisors apply BRI in the same way, so ask how they screen investments and how those choices may affect your investment portfolio.
• Are you a fiduciary?
  A fiduciary is legally required to act in your best interest, which can offer additional peace of mind when discussing long-term financial goals.
• How are you compensated?
  Advisors may charge fees, earn commissions or use a hybrid model. Understanding how they’re paid can help you determine whether the structure aligns with your expectations.
• How comfortable are you discussing topics like tithing, debt or stewardship?
  These issues can be deeply personal, so it’s important to work with someone who can navigate them with sensitivity and experience.

Asking these questions early can help you evaluate whether the advisor’s approach matches both your financial objectives and your faith-based priorities, making it easier to move forward with confidence.

Bottom Line

Ultimately, finding a Christian financial advisor follows the same process as finding any advisor. Keep your ultimate needs and values at the core of your search, as they’ll guide you to a good match. Remain open-minded and interview multiple advisors to find the best fit. Beyond that, be sure to ask each financial advisor many questions so you can make an informed decision.

Tips for Choosing a Financial Advisor

• It can be tough to know where to start when you’re looking for a financial advisor, Christian or otherwise. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
• When choosing an advisor, it’s important to vet them properly to ensure they’re the right choice. Key things to consider include whether the advisor is fee-based or fee-only and what type of specialties they have. It’s also important to know whether they’ve ever been subject to any disciplinary or legal action.

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