The Timothy Plan values life, stewardship, liberty, purity, longevity, family, sobriety, and marriage. As an investment firm, its main goals include defunding Planned Parenthood and preventing stem-cell research. It also claims to stand against addiction, pornography, and human trafficking. The Timothy Plan filters publicly traded companies through its moral screening eVALUEator tool. It has identified 1,260 companies that fail the moral screening based on its values. Learn more about what the Timothy Plan is and how it works.
What Is the Plan’s History?
For almost 30 years, the Timothy Plan family of funds has called itself the U.S.’s first “pro-life, pro-family,” biblically based mutual fund group. It avoids investing in companies it sees as contributing to the country’s “moral decline.” This means those involved in abortion, pornography, anti-family entertainment, non-married lifestyles, alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. The funds were founded in 1994 by Arthur Ally, a former Lehman Brothers vice president. He wanted to address an investment need for the retirement plans of pastors of independent churches. While there were funds that screened for social or environmental issues, none was screened according to the principles of the pastors. The Timothy Plan created a “Know Your Investments” list of companies, formally known as the “Hall of Shame." These are companies that operate contrary to the firm’s investing principles and are excluded from investments. Aside from the moral screens, the funds aim to preserve capital. It also aims to match or beat their respective benchmarks. The list includes the top 30 companies that failed the eVALUEator screening.
What Are Other Types of Religious Funds?
Different strands of religious investing are now starting to emerge. One example would be Sharia investing; it has its roots in shared value and shared ownership. It shuns interest as a taboo practice. Religiously mandated funds need to be understood, not only for the branch of the religion you are trying to match but also for the specific goals and the issues that each fund attempts to avoid or solve.
Timothy Plan’s Current Fund Managers
Here are a few of the current fund managers that run the Timothy Plan: Westwood Management
Timothy Plan Large/Mid-Cap Value Fund (TLVAX): average annual return of 7.88%. Small Cap Value Fund (TPLNX): average annual return of 7.90%.
Barrow Hanley
Timothy Plan Fixed Income Fund (TFIAX): average annual return of 3.33%. High Yield Bond Fund (TPHAX): average annual return of 5.18%.
Chartwell Investment Partners
Timothy Plan Large/Mid Cap Growth Fund (TLGAX): average annual return of 3.88%. Aggressive Growth Fund (TAAGX): average annual return of 4.33%.
Timothy Partners Ltd.
Timothy Plan Strategic Growth Fund (TSGAX): average annual return of 2.35%. Conservative Growth Fund (TCGAX): average annual return of 3.26%.
Eagle Global Advisors
Timothy Plan International Fund (TPIAX): average annual return of 2.60%.
