Mutual funds are a great way for investors to get started. If investors choose a good no-load fund, with no redemption fees and buy it directly from the fund company, they will generally receive a good long-term return with low expenses. If they are worried about trading costs or the skill of the fund managers, they can invest in index funds, which rarely trade the stocks. Mutual funds are required by law to list fees and the largest stock holdings in their prospectus. So, they are very transparent.

What the author is recommending instead is that readers go to a qualified Kingdom Advisor, who is almost certainly going to steer them into commission-based products. The author fails to disclose his relationship and/or interest with these Kingdom Advisors, which I believe is important information for readers before investing.

Another critical issue for readers to understand is that independent investment advisors aren’t normally audited like a mutual fund. This could put their financial future at risk. I’m not aware of a single mutual fund that has stolen all of their investor’s deposits, but some investment advisors have done this and the result is devastating to the investors.

I have no problem with financial advisors or Christian values. But, I think investment advice should be accurate, unbiased and fully-disclosed. If a reader feels more comfortable with a faith-based advisor, I encourage him or her to do so, with full knowledge of the fees and commissions.

I don’t think this recession will be at all short and we’ll need ways to work through it and even thrive by thinking outside the box.