USCCB vs ESG: What’s a Catholic Investor Supposed to Do?

USCCB vs ESG: What’s a Catholic Investor Supposed to Do?

We’ve talked in earlier articles about the Socially Responsible Investment Guidelines of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). In that 26-page document, the bishops enumerate a number of business activities that make a company unfit for investment. The investment activities that the USCCB identify as unfit for investment include, but are not limited…

The Catholic Investor: My Journey

The Catholic Investor: My Journey

I began transforming into a Catholic investor while working as a portfolio manager for Northwestern Mutual Life. I had been a pro-life Catholic for a long time and was serving on the Wisconsin Right to Life Board of Directors. A stockbroker I worked with regularly approached me with a new idea for a stock to…

Preparing for Libor to Leave the Building

Preparing for Libor to Leave the Building

The London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) — once called the world’s most important number — is an interest-rate benchmark that has influenced borrowing costs for consumers, businesses, and investors around the world since 1986.1–2 It’s been quoted in five currencies (British pound, Swiss franc, Euro, Japanese yen, and U.S. dollar) from the daily submissions of…

Pivots to Fight Inflation

Pivots to Fight Inflation

On December 15, 2021, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve System made a significant shift in monetary policy in response to rising inflation. The Committee accelerated the reduction of its bond-buying program in order to tighten the money supply and projected three increases in the benchmark federal funds rate in 2022,…

Meet the quiet Catholic money manager who’s comfortably beating the market

Meet the quiet Catholic money manager who’s comfortably beating the market

MarketWatch—More than 30 years ago, Philadelphia stockbroker Mark Mulholland bought a sandwich for a homeless man and it changed his life. “He said to me, ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did unto me,’” Mulholland recalls. “Then he said, ‘That is Matthew, 25.’” He pulled a bible…

How Ethics Benefits Corporate Profits

Just as strong ethics are necessary for beneficial relationships with friends and family, so they are vital for driving a company’s long-term financial performance. A company’s strong ethical culture equates with honesty, respect for employees, clients and shareholders alike.