The inaugural Latter-day Saint Investment Advisory Council (hereafter “AC”) was held on June 20, 2024 and was entitled “Faith, Values, and Investments: A Framework for Alignment”. The meeting was attended by roughly a dozen individuals who have been selected to be members of the AC based on their unique professional, faith, and personal qualifications. Below is a brief summary of the topics discussed, key takeaways and action items to be addressed by Bountiful.
Topic: Adequacy of the Bountiful Latter-day Saint Investment Framework.
Takeaway: The unique aspects of the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should perhaps feature more prominently in the Framework. One example is the Word of Wisdom (a law of health). The Framework could, for example, take a more stringent approach to black and green tea and coffee while focusing more on the positive impact of companies that promote good nutrition and healthy lifestyles.
Action: Bountiful will continue to seek feedback on the most appropriate approach to tea and coffee within the Framework. Bountiful will include good nutrition and healthy lifestyles in its impact dataset.
Topic: Adequacy of the Bountiful Latter-day Saint Investment Framework.
Takeaway: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been noted throughout its history for its focus on education. This could be more prominently represented in the Framework. This could be broad in scope to include educational toys and games as well as educational technology.
Action: Bountiful will explore ways to make education more prominent in the Framework.
Topic: Living Abundantly Standard of the Bountiful Latter-day Saint Investment Framework.
Takeaway: The emphasis on “Living Abundantly” as a distinct Standard within the Framework is grounded in more than 50 years of statements and sermons by Church leaders and should resonate with Church members. Other doctrinal principles that align with this Standard include “enough and to spare”, “no poor among them”, “all things in common”, “Zion-like society” and self-reliance.
Action: Bountiful will consider adding to the list of principles aligned with the “Living Abundantly” Standard.
Topic: Identifying appropriate revenue thresholds for screening out companies involved in problematic business activities.
Takeaway: The Advisory Council members agreed with clear differentiation between types of involvement. For example, a producer or manufacturer of a problematic product should be treated differently than a retailer that happens to carry some problematic products in their offerings.
Action: Bountiful will consider the degree and type of involvement and propose different involvement thresholds for the varying types of involvement.
Topic: Assessing the applicability of a faith-based Framework.
Takeaway: A faith-based framework can never reflect the full diversity and nuance of faith expression within a faith community. The framework serves an important purpose but needs to accommodate customization and fine-tuning.
Action: Bountiful sees its frameworks as a starting point only. Bountiful continues to work with partners (such as direct indexing platforms) that allow for this type of customization.