Shadows in My Family History

Read Time / 2 Minutes

Theme / Biblical Investing

This is a hard blog for me to write because it sheds light on my family, but in a shadowy sense.   My mother told me stories of her grandfather, who I never met, that shocked and saddened me.  While riding to school on the bus through the small farming town where she grew up, my mother would see her grandfather passed-out in a drunken stupor on the sidewalk.  He was known as the town drunk.

My great-grandfather immigrated from Russia as a married young adult, but he could not escape the influences of his childhood.  His father was a wealthy mill and tavern owner in Russia whose patrons would give him drinks so they could laugh at his antics as an inebriated child.  As an adult in the States, his wife would try to hide his alcohol, but often to no avail, and he would lock her out of the house forcing her to sleep in their orchard.

Research has shown that most alcohol sales in the States are to those considered heavy drinkers.  They are the repeat customers who provide profit to alcohol makers.  The Bible warns us not to cause our brother to stumble, “It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble” (Romans 14:21).  This truth should cause us to evaluate what companies we are investing in through our retirement plans, stocks, and mutual funds.  Let us not profit from another person’s stumbling.

Thankfully, my grandfather chose not to emulate his father, therefore starting a new direction for his progeny.  But I still wince when I think of my mother, as a young girl on her way to school, seeing her grandfather in the proverbial gutter.  Let each of us consider if our investments are helping to build-up or tear-down others.

Doug Hanson, MBA

Wealth Advisor

(208) 697-3699

doug@christianwm.com