The Stewardship Bet: A New Firm Blends Theology with Fiduciary Finance

WESTMINSTER, MD – August 18, 2026 – In the world of wealth management, where alpha and algorithms are king, a new firm is making a quiet but profound bet on a different kind of metric: shared conviction. Christian Planning, a Maryland-based advisory firm launched today, is built on the premise that when a client's deepest beliefs are already understood by their advisor, the entire financial conversation changes. It’s a strategic maneuver that signals a deeper shift in the professional services landscape, away from mere transactions and toward radical alignment.

Founded by brothers Jacob and Aaron Puckett, the firm presents a unique fusion of credentials. Aaron brings over two decades of experience as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. Jacob, also a CFP® professional, brings a different kind of authority: he’s a former pastor with a master's degree in theology from Westminster Theological Seminary. This combination isn't just a marketing footnote; it's the core of their business model. They are betting that for a certain segment of the population, the most valuable financial counsel comes from someone who can navigate both a tax code and a theological framework with equal fluency.

The Efficiency of Shared Conviction

The central problem Christian Planning aims to solve is one of translation. The founders argue that Christians with significant assets often spend years educating their advisors on a worldview that diverges from the industry’s default settings—namely, the endless pursuit of more.

"If you have commitments about money that don't match the industry's defaults, you learn to explain yourself," founder Jacob Puckett stated in the firm's launch announcement. He paints a familiar picture for many: defending significant charitable giving, expressing concern about the potentially harmful effects of a large inheritance, or rejecting the cultural mandate of early retirement. "Every one of those becomes a variance you argue for. Most people have had that conversation so many times they've stopped noticing they're having it."

Christian Planning’s intent is to start the relationship on the other side of that wall. The value proposition is not just understanding, but efficiency. When the preamble is removed, conversations can immediately access a deeper level of concern and aspiration. As Puckett puts it, a client can say, "'I'm worried about what this money is going to do to my kids,' ... and it isn't an eccentricity to be accommodated. It's a normal thing to say in that room."

This approach taps into a well-documented phenomenon in professional services. Experts in client behavior note that relationships built on shared values often achieve a level of trust and candor that traditional models take years to build, if ever. When clients feel their core identity is understood and respected, they are more likely to reveal the full context of their financial lives—the fears, hopes, and obligations that truly drive their decisions.

Marrying Fiduciary Duty with Biblical Stewardship

Beyond relational efficiency, the firm makes a bold claim about the nature of its professional obligation. It seeks to seamlessly integrate the legal standard of fiduciary duty with the theological concept of biblical stewardship.

"A fiduciary obligation is a legal way of saying something Scripture said first: when you are handling what belongs to someone else, you are accountable for it," Puckett argues. "That is the definition of stewardship... Those two things are not in tension. One is the professional expression of the other."

This is a powerful framing. It elevates the fiduciary standard from a legal requirement to a moral imperative, rooted in their core framework: "God owns. We steward. Christ redeems. And the Spirit forms." For the firm, every financial decision is "answerable" because nothing is truly owned by the client in the first place; it is merely managed on behalf of its ultimate owner.

This synthesis is not without precedent. An increasing number of advisors are seeking designations like the Certified Kingdom Advisor® (CKA®), which Jacob Puckett holds, that specifically train professionals to integrate biblical wisdom with fiduciary responsibilities. The existence of such a credential lends formal structure to what Christian Planning is attempting to build.

Operationally, the firm functions as a division of Puckett Financial Group, an established independent practice that was recently named to the Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams list. Their affiliation with LPL Financial, one of the nation's largest independent broker-dealers, provides them with a robust platform of technology, research, and compliance support while allowing them to maintain their independent, product-agnostic approach. This structure suggests a serious, well-capitalized effort to carve out this niche, not a fringe experiment.

A Crowded Field of Faith

Christian Planning is not entering an empty market. The faith-based financial advising sector is a growing and increasingly competitive space, with established players like Inspire Advisors and GuideStone Wealth Management having already built significant brands around Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI).

However, Christian Planning appears to be signaling a subtle but important differentiation. While the press release mentions services like investment management, the overwhelming focus is on the planning process rather than specific investment products or screening methodologies. The core offering seems to be counsel that addresses the questions underlying the numbers.

"Think about the decisions people actually face," Puckett challenges. "How much to give, and to whom. Whether to take the role that pays more and costs your evenings. What to leave your children... Those aren't arithmetic problems. They're stewardship questions with real financial mechanics attached, and they deserve to be treated as both."

This is where the firm's intent becomes clearest. They are not simply selling a Christian-themed investment portfolio. They are selling a unified advisory experience, aiming to merge the roles of financial planner and pastoral counselor into a single point of contact. The goal is to eliminate the gap where "the advisor handles the mechanics" and "the pastor handles the moral weight," ensuring both are in the room when a decision is made.

The Unspoken Signal

In any market maneuver, the stated rationale is only half the story. The launch of Christian Planning sends a powerful signal about the future of bespoke professional services. In an industry being steadily consumed by automation and low-cost robo-advisors, the ultimate competitive advantage may lie in deep, authentic human connection rooted in a specific cultural context.

Crucially, the firm is deliberate about what it does not claim. The press release is explicit: "Shared conviction between advisor and client does not produce superior investment results, and Christian Planning makes no such claim." This is a remarkably shrewd piece of positioning. By disavowing any claim to generating alpha, they sidestep a debate they cannot win and focus the client's attention squarely on their unique value proposition: alignment.

The product is not outperformance; the product is fluency. Christian Planning is selling fluency in a client's moral, spiritual, and financial language. It's a service that, by its very nature, cannot be commoditized or replicated by an algorithm. The ultimate test will be whether clients find this integrated counsel—this fusion of the spreadsheet and the sermon—valuable enough to build their financial future upon.