The Direct Approach

Ashrinking violet he is not. Calling Christian planners who keep their religious beliefs out of the workplace "entirely misguided," Dennis Carpenter even says he hopes planners who disagree with him will call him up so he can try to change their minds.

The head of International Wealth Management in Grapevine, Texas, is equally forthright when it comes to his own clients. If a client says, "Invest my money with an eye only to returns," he'll do it–but in subsequent meetings, don't expect him to keep quiet about investment alternatives that screen stocks for involvement in abortion, pornography, "anti-family entertainment," and the like. If the client changes her tune, wonderful. If not, well…. "It's like if I told you I hated your hair every time I saw you," he says, chuckling. "Pretty soon one of two things is going to happen: You're either going to change your hair, or you're going to stop hanging around me."

There are more people interested in "changing their hair" than you'd think, he notes. "You'd be amazed: If you sit down with a client and say, 'Here's a list of 10 things. Do you want your dollars to support any or all of these things?'" he says. "'If I can share with you investment alternatives that would give you competitive rates of return without supporting these things, would you be interested?'" More often than not, the answer is yes–though, granted, clients who'd have said no would probably not be having this meeting in the first place, since Carpenter's Biblical bent is clearly apparent on his company materials.