Wealth & Finance International - January 2017

Wealth & Finance International 54 Guiding the Path to Success rawing on a heritage that dates back almost a full century, GuideStone Capital Management is the adviser to Guide- Stone Funds, and is responsible for portfolio management, operations, compliance and distribution of the firm’s funds. GuideStone Funds is a controlled-affiliate of GuideStone Financial Resources, a leading provider of retirement and insurance plans to an array of Christian churches, entities and individuals. David talks us through the innovative ap- proach the firm uses in order to provide clients with the very best solutions on the market. “By partnering with GuideStone, our clients can benefit from a sophis- ticated approach to investing that combines global asset allocation, manager selection and active portfolio management. We take a globally diversified approach to building portfolios and managing risks. We employ timely research and global capital market insights to allocate assets across a wide range of investment options, encompassing a mix of equity, fixed income and real asset investments. “Our manager-of-managers approach to implementing investment solutions means we research, select and monitor some of the world’s best money managers. Each manager (sub-adviser) we work with has significant expertise and a strong track record in a particular style of investing, so our clients are diversified across four levels — asset class, money manager, geography and investment style. “As a key part of our approach, GuideStone’s investment professionals are continuously working to develop strategies, products and processes designed to adapt to changing market conditions. Exploring new ways to manage risk and meet changing investor needs helps us better manage portfolios as we work toward our overall goal of achieving more consis- tent outcomes for our clients. “All of this is achieved while screening our funds according to the values held by most Christians. Investments are not permissible in any company that is publicly recognised as being in the alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography or abortion industries or any company whose products, services or activities are publicly recognized as being incom- patible with the moral and ethical posture of GuideStone.” Testimony to the success of this approach is the fact that over the last five years, GuideStone Funds has received increased recognitions. The firm has received the extraordinary recognition of being recognised by Lipper as the No. 1 mutual fund family (with up to $40 billion in assets) in the United States as well as several funds receiving individual awards. For 2016, the GuideStone Defensive Market Strategies Fund has been awarded Morningstar’s five-star rating and a top performer within the category of more than 800 funds. The fund provides investors who have a medium- to long-term time horizon with the ability to participate in most of the upside potential of stocks while also pursuing a risk level that has been up to 50% lower than the S&P 500® Index. This five-star fund allows our investors to combine historically excellent performance with Christian values. Ultimately David is excited to take advantage of the various opportu- nities the firm is being presented with thanks to its exceptional growth and proven successful approach. “Looking to the future, we have a tremendous opportunity to continue to grow our client base both inside and outside of our traditional market, which consists of Southern Baptist-affiliated organisations. In order to take advantage of this we are adding resources to sell our funds in the institutional and retail markets and have already experienced solid success. Importantly, we have an excellent opportunity to articulate our brand and value proposition to those who don’t know us yet. As with all investment firms, we are faced with consistent downward fee pressure and continue to seek to grow so that we can provide economies of scale, thereby helping to reduce the fees our investors incur, while also developing new, unique investment strategies that can’t be replicated by an ETF or index fund. “A great opportunity in front of us is the growth of investors who are actively seeking out SRI, ESG and faith-based approaches. While many investment firms are seeking to enter this space, GuideStone was an early leader in the field of values-based investing. According to one report, in 2016 some $8.72 trillion were held in SRI assets. This is one out of every five dollars under management in the United States and has grown 33% since 2014. While that includes the full breadth of ESG, and not just Christian-screened firms like GuideStone, it illustrates the huge potential, especially since both the retiring Baby Boomer genera- tion and the even larger Millennial generation look to be more purpose- ful in their investments.” Company: GuideStone Capital Management, LLC Name: David S. Spika Web Address: GuideStoneFunds.com Address: 2401 Cedar Springs Road, Dallas, Texas 75201 Telephone: 1-888-GS-FUNDS (1-888-473-8637) GuideStone Capital Management provides investment management services for retirement plans, institutional investors and retail investors and is the largest Christian-screened mutual fund company in the world. We caught up with GuideStone Capital Management President David Spika to find out more. D 1701WF21