Faith-based financial advice is a huge industry, with Dave Ramsey perhaps the most successful at helping financial advisors target the lucrative niche market of Christian investors.
But one group, Kingdom Advisors, appears to continue to make inroads with some of the largest financial advisor firms in the industry, including Edward Jones, LPL Financial and Ameriprise Financial, particularly through its “Certified Kingdom Advisor” certification.
“We celebrate the leadership of large firms like Edward Jones in supporting their Christian financial advisors,” according to a recent LinkedIn post by Kingdom Advisors.
While Kingdom advisors has been up and running for decades, its relationship with Edward Jones started in 2023.
The firm’s CEO Rob West and others recently met with more than 175 Edward Jones advisors in St. Louis for a “Faith & Finance Forum” focused on values-based investing, according to the LinkedIn message.
According to a report this year by Kingdom Advisors, its network at Edward Jones was established two years ago and has grown quickly to connect with hundreds of advisors.
“By April 2025, over 135 advisors at Edward Jones had earned the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation, and over 100 more were studying to earn it,” according to the report, which states that more than two dozen large firms have approved the Certified Kingdom Designation for advisors.
The benefits of the designation, according to the company’s website, include: building deeper relationships with clients “by helping people manage God's money God's way;” access to study groups; and attracting “values-aligned clients by showcasing the distinctiveness of a biblical worldview.”
The target market for such a designation is huge, according to the report. “Christian church members hold an estimated 49.7% of the stock, bond, and mutual fund investments in America today, or $22.4 trillion in public market investments,” the report states.
West, the CEO of Kingdom Advisors, did not return calls this week to comment.
A spokesperson for Edward Jones wrote in an email: "To support our commitment to serving more clients more completely, we invest in the development of our branch teams by covering the cost of 24 industry designations that demonstrate the breadth and depth of their knowledge. These include specialized credentials such as the Accredited Behavioral Finance Professional, Certified Exit Planning Advisor, and Certified Kingdom Advisor."
The business of financial advisor designations at times requires careful navigation. Is the training the advisor receives as an area specialist truly germane to his or her clients’ financial needs, or is the title simply window dressing for advisors’ business cards as they attempt to win more clients and referrals?
And issues of faith can also be tricky for large, highly-regulated companies like brokerage firms to navigate.
“This designation has been around for a while now, and some broker-dealers in the past didn’t allow it but may have changed their thinking,” said one senior industry executive who spoke privately to InvestmentNews about the matter. “The worry was it could somehow be misleading.”
Dave Ramsey is perhaps the most high-profile and influential Christian financial guru in the market today.
Ramsey isn't a licensed broker or financial advisor, but focuses on personal finance in his books and various radio shows and media appearances.
As InvestmentNews has previously reported, a small but motivated group of financial advisors pay Ramsey’s business, Ramsey Solutions, a fee for client referrals routed through his website that turn into “red hot” prospects, as some industry executives have said in the past, because of customers' fervor and devotion to Ramsey's financial nostrums.
Data covering 54 million retirement accounts show workers saving through market turbulence, with stock plans coming into their own as an investing tool.
California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York's Alex Bores target Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund with full clawback tax proposals targeting resident recipients.
The wealthiest investors on earth are quietly reshuffling portfolios for permanent uncertainty, not just another rough patch.
ACLI research reveals middle-class financial resilience rebounding, even as inflation anxiety and a deep savings confidence gap cloud the outlook.
As $84 trillion prepares to change hands, advisors who treat estate planning as peripheral are quietly building a sieve, not a book.
As $84 trillion prepares to change hands, advisors who treat estate planning as peripheral are quietly building a sieve, not a book.
In volatile markets, the advisors who win aren't the ones with the best calls - they're the ones whose clients stay the course.
