Investing Is Different than Consuming:
A common question is whether excluding certain companies from an investment portfolio also means avoiding them as consumers.
There is an important difference between ownership and consumption. When you own a company, you are participating in the whole enterprise. Your returns are generated from everything the business does. As an owner, you cannot separate the good from the bad. You profit from it all.
For consumers, the responsibility is narrower. You are accountable for what you personally purchase, not for every product a company makes or every decision it takes.
A helpful example is Johnson & Johnson. Many families used their baby shampoo for years. Unfortunately, alongside everyday consumer products*, the company is involved in abortifacient drugs and pharmaceutical processes that rely on fetal tissue obtained through abortion. Owning the stock would mean willingly earning money from those activities.
Dividends do not come labeled. They are derived from the company’s total business, not just the parts we prefer.
Consumer decisions work differently. Purchasing baby shampoo does not make someone responsible for other products the company produces. In fact, consumer spending can send a signal itself.
Buying one product and not another communicates preferences in the language businesses understand. There may also be times when a consumer chooses to boycott a company altogether. That can be wise and appropriate. But Scripture treats that decision as a matter of conscience, not a universal mandate.
Paul addresses this clearly in 1 Corinthians 8 when discussing food sacrificed to idols. Christians were free to eat or abstain according to their conscience and were not to impose their convictions on others. The same principle applies here.
Investing, however, is different. Ownership carries moral weight. When you invest, you fund what a company funds and profit from what it profits from. That is why excluding companies whose business activities violate Biblical ethics is not merely a personal preference, but an issue of faithful stewardship.
A question that helped frame this for many Christians is how much money is it acceptable to earn from abortion, pornography, or other immoral practices? The only faithful answer is zero.
At Oakstreet Financial, we help faith-driven Americans Invest on Purpose. We build a plan that brings confidence and peace. If you would like to explore whether this approach is right for you, we invite you to start a conversation with us.
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This content and the Endorse, Engage, and Exclude framework referenced here are adapted from Robert Netzly’s Biblically Responsible Investing: On Wall Street as It Is in Heaven and are applied within Oakstreet Financial’s broader stewardship-focused investment process. Robert’s book is available at https://canonpress.com/products/biblically-responsible-investing-a-wake-up-call-to-christians-everywhere.
*Johnson & Johnson separated from its consumer health division on August 23, 2023, and spun off a new company called Kenvue. As of January 2026, Kimberly-Clark is in the process of acquiring Kenvue, with the deal expected to be finalized in 2026.