First and foremost are differences in general investing; that is, whether investors prefer wealth building to wealth preserving. Overall, six in ten wealthy investors prefer a wealth-building investment strategy, with investors who are Catholic more likely than investors who are Jewish or Protestant to embrace this approach. Spectrem research found that most affluent investors also set aside assets for speculative/higher risk investments.

Investors who are Catholic are more likely to allocate their resources this way than investors who are either Protestant or Jewish. Interestingly, despite preferring an investment strategy that builds rather than preserves wealth and also sets aside assets for speculative investments, those that are Catholic also are the most likely to say they prefer a guaranteed rate of return for the majority of their investments. One of the issues on which investors differ the most is advisor dependency. Catholic and Protestant investors surveyed are more likely than Jewish people surveyed to be either entirely self-directed or entirely advisor dependent in their investment strategies covering the ends of the spectrum.

On the other hand, Jewish investors are more likely to involve their advisors, especially regarding special life situations like retirement planning. Eight in ten Jewish respondents use their financial advisors in that consulting capacity compared to six in ten Catholic and Protestant investors. This difference in advisor usage also appears when examining the financial goals different religious groups feel are important. Investors who are Jewish are considerably less likely than either Catholic or Protestant investors to rate “ensuring a comfortable standard of living during retirement”, “maintain my current standard of living”, and “long-term care” as important to them. For Jewish investors, the greatest level of agreement is found for “minimize my tax burden”. Catholic investors are significantly more likely than either Jewish or Protestant investors to say that building a sizable investment portfolio is important to them.

Different types of investments and investment activities are attractive to different religious groups as well. Investors who are Catholic and Protestant are considerably more likely than those who are Jewish to feel that real estate investments are important to them. Additionally, while four in ten of those who are Catholic and Protestant feel that creating a written financial plan is important, fewer than one in five Jewish investors feel the same.

Alternative investments and global situations including international securities, offshore trusts, out of country residences, and foreign tax issues are not considered important by most wealthy investors. The majority of wealthy investors across all religious segments indicate that hard work, education, and smart investing, were each important contributing factors in the accruement of their wealth. “Taking risk” was more likely to have had a strong influence for the wealth obtained by Catholic and Protestant survey respondents compared to that of Jewish respondents. “Frugality” is seen by considerably more Catholic and Jewish people to have been important in obtaining their wealth compared to Protestant investors. “Inheritance” is cited more often by Jewish and Protestant investors than by Catholic respondents to have been an influential factor in their wealth obtainment. “Family connections” played an influential role in wealth obtainment for one in four Jewish investors compared to one in ten Catholic and Protestant respondents.

However you identify your faith, religion or beliefs, it seems that those factors may play a role in how you invest, deal with an advisor and even contribute to charitable organizations. Examining the reported habits of other wealthy investors based on faith could teach you something about your own habits.

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