“Many advisors are aware of the hypocrisy of the woke culture that permeates their current firms, and they are actively looking for new platforms to practice.”
That’s how Aaron Hoffman—the newest financial advisor to join Christian advisory firm, Inspire Advisors—defined the current state of the investment community.
Hoffman manages $20M of client assets and is a native Texan and Louisiana transplant, currently residing near the city of Ruston, LA with his wife Sunni and their three daughters. “My experience working for one of the larger investment firms was good at the onset, but the longer I continued, the more I felt upper management was out of touch and sold out to ideals I disagree with. I finally realized that I couldn’t continue at a firm in constant contradiction with my values.”
Working in an environment that contradicts your beliefs is a condition often referred to as “cognitive dissonance.” This mental conflict occurs when your beliefs don’t align with your actions. In an article medically reviewed by Randy Bressler, PsyD, author Jennifer Tzeses writes, “Cognitive dissonance can cause discomfort, stress, and anxiety. And the degree of these effects often depends on how much disparity there is between the conflicting beliefs, how much the beliefs mean to that person, as well as with how well the person copes with self-contradiction.”
Inspire Advisors’ CEO, Robert Netzly shared his thoughts about the transition.
“The conflict Christian financial advisors face having their deeply-held beliefs and convictions constantly contradicted by the firms they work for can be cause for intense mental and spiritual turmoil.”
Netzly continued, “That was my experience. When I learned about biblically responsible investing, I lost the ability to function in my practice at a major bank because I didn’t know how I could continue investing in companies that profited off atrocities like abortion, let alone continue at a firm that advocated for these issues and provided no alternative solutions. It’s the exact reason we started Inspire Advisors, to allow Christian advisors to bring their whole selves to work and live in harmony with their religious beliefs and actions.”
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Mark 3:25
Firms that repeatedly take political or social stances on divisive issues that ostracize their Christian advisors and clients, and heap burdens of cognitive dissonance on their staff, will find themselves struggling to retain quality talent as advisors move to platforms like Inspire Advisors that enable them to align their work with their beliefs.
Hoffman shared his experience since making his transition,
“It’s liberating to move into a firm that offers greater flexibility in how I run my practice and more freedom to align investments with conservative biblical values.”
About Inspire Advisors
Inspire Advisors is the wealth management division of the Inspire Investing family of companies, an enterprise with $1.9 billion in assets under management (as of 3/25/22), ranked as the third fastest growing investment firm in the nation in the Financial Advisor Magazine annual report and top-quartile member of the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States.
The Inspire Advisors platform is purpose-built from the ground up to support Christian financial advisors who want to run their practices with diligent biblically responsible investing (BRI) alignment, a growing conviction among financial advisors and their clients.
Christian financial advisors interested in exploring a relationship with Inspire Advisors can email inspire@inspireadvisors.com or visit www.inspireadvisors.com to learn more.
