For the first time, the LDS Church’s biggest investment fund has disclosed its Wall Street holdings, revealing $37.8 billion in stocks and mutual funds.
The federal filing may be the best answer ever to how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has invested the excess tithing paid by its 16 million members. The detailed list included 1,659 stocks and mutual funds, including household names like Amazon, Chevron and Walmart, that the fund held for the quarter ending Dec. 31.
The investment fund, called Ensign Peak Advisors, quietly submitted the filing Feb. 14 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The stock portfolio appears to represent a large portion of the total value of Ensign Peak, which whistleblowing brothers Lars and David Nielsen said in a complaint sent to the IRS controls assets worth at least $100 billion.
The SEC filing is standard for “institutional investment managers” with assets of at least $100 million.
Ensign Peak Advisors has met that threshold for years, yet the SEC website shows this is the first time the fund has submitted such a filing.
The LDS Church, through a spokesman, declined to answer questions about the recent filing or why it wasn’t submitted before.
“They may have previously read the rules to exempt advisers to religious institutions, and are now disclosing in light of the recent controversy,” said Jeff Schwartz, a University of Utah professor who focuses on corporate and securities law and reviewed the filing for The Salt Lake Tribune.
This filing doesn’t encompass all of the church’s financial holdings. Some assets are held in shell companies that file separately.
In 2018, The Truth and Transparency Foundation, the nonprofit newsroom behind the former MormonLeaks site with a stated mission to disclose information about religions, said it had found 13 such shell companies with assets of $32 billion.
Apple to Zions
Ensign Peak Advisors itself is far larger and more diversified than any of those smaller funds, the Feb. 14 filing shows. About $3 billion of the Ensign Peak Advisors stock holdings — or 7% of the value reported in the filing — was almost evenly split between Apple and Microsoft stock.
Two-thirds of Ensign Peak Advisors’ reported stock holdings came from 100 companies or mutual funds. Of those 100, the plurality of the investment — 26% — was in the technology sector.
The next two biggest sectors were health care, including Johnson & Johnson and Merck stocks; and financial services — stocks such as Bank of America and Berkshire Hathaway.
There also were investments in two Utah-based companies.
The fund reported owning $91.8 million of stock in Zions Bank. That bank can trace its history to a bank founded in 1873 by LDS Church President Brigham Young. The church sold its majority stake in Zions in 1960.
Ensign Peak Advisors also owned $76.7 million of stock in Pluralsight, an online education company based in Farmington.
While the LDS Church owns for-profit insurance and personal investment businesses as well as radio stations and Salt Lake City’s NBC affiliate, KSL-Channel 5, Ensign Peak Advisors invested in those businesses’ competitors. It owned stock in SiriusXM, the three companies that combine to own the local ABC, CBS and FOX affiliates, and in The New York Times Co.
The church counsels its members to not consume tobacco, alcohol or hot caffeinated drinks. And the portfolio reflects that. There were no cigarette or beer manufacturers, nor was there an investment in a coffee chain, such as Starbucks.
Of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Coca-Cola is the only one Ensign Peak Advisors did not invest in. The fund didn’t own stock in soda makers PepsiCo or Keurig Dr Pepper, either.
Caffeinated sodas are not part of the church’s health code, known as the Word of Wisdom.
Part of the picture
The SEC filing discloses only Ensign Peak Advisors’ holdings in publicly traded companies or funds, and such filings do not include investments in real property or private companies.
How the LDS Church plays the stock market has been the subject of speculation for decades. After the church in 2018 expressed opposition to medical cannabis, for example, some online forums wondered if the reticence was influenced by church investments in pharmaceutical companies that sell opioids.
Roger Clarke, the head of Ensign Peak Advisors, told The Wall Street Journal last month that one reason for the shell companies was to make church investments harder to track so that parishioners with insufficient information didn’t mismanage their own portfolios by trying to mimic what Ensign Peak Advisors was doing. The Journal reported that the fund also owns Florida timberland and investments in big hedge funds.
D. Michael Quinn, a historian who has focused on LDS Church finances, said it’s no surprise the church invests in blue chips stocks. But the specifics offered in the SEC filing represent a milestone for an institution that has been famously secretive about its money.
“It’s great detail that we haven’t had before,” Quinn said, “but it’s only part of the picture.”
Quinn says Ensign Peak Advisors is just one of the church’s investment firms. There are other firms working on both the nonprofit and for-profit sides of the church that combine to handle even more money than the $100 billion Ensign Peak Advisors is said to be worth.
As to Clarke’s concern, Quinn suspects only journalists, academics and historians will be interested in studying the portfolio. He doubts rank-and-file Latter-day Saints will refer to the SEC document for investment advice.
“Members of the church don’t need to do extensive research to invest in blue chip stocks,” Quinn said.
Schwartz, the law professor, believes any penalty Ensign Peak Advisors might face for failing to file a quarterly report until now would be light by the standards of a multibillion-dollar fund. He found one case in which an investment firm failed to file the necessary reports for three years. The SEC issued a fine of $100,000.
“It doesn’t seem like there would be huge penalties,” Schwartz said.
If Ensign Peak continues issuing quarterly reports, the next one would be available on the SEC website in mid-May.
The Nielsen brothers’ complaint, first reported by The Washington Post, drew international attention to the church’s financial interests and shocked many outsiders and members of the faith. The brothers argued that the church was violating tax laws by not spending more of this reserve on charitable purposes.
The church’s governing First Presidency — made up of church President Russell M. Nelson and his counselors, Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring — rejected that allegation in a news release, saying the faith “complies with all applicable law governing our donations, investments, taxes and reserves.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) President Russell M. Nelson, center, greets President M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles while followed by President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency and Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency for the start of the Sunday afternoon session of the 189th twice-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019.
Other Latter-day Saint officials later said they didn’t previously disclose how big the financial reserve had grown because they didn’t want to discourage members from tithing, which is donating 10% of one’s income to the faith.
The church collects that tithing, which it uses to run its operations around the world, and it sends the excess to Ensign Peak Advisors to invest.
Church officials have called the fund a “rainy-day account” to help pay for operations in poorer parts of the world — such as Africa, where the faith is booming — and at some future time when member donations stagnate.
FAQs
For the first time, the LDS Church's biggest investment fund has disclosed its Wall Street holdings, revealing $37.8 billion in stocks and mutual funds. The federal filing may be the best answer ever to how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has invested the excess tithing paid by its 16 million members.
Did the SEC charge the Mormon church for concealing $32 billion portfolio? ›
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a nonprofit entity that it controlled have been fined $5 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission over accusations that the religious institution failed to properly disclose its investment holdings.
How much does the LDS Church have in stocks? ›
These are the top 10 holdings of the Mormon Church's $46 billion stock portfolio. The $100 billion investment arm of the Mormon Church revealed its holdings in a 13F filing this week.
How much is the LDS Church worth 2023? ›
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' prominent investment fund, which has become the subject of widespread public scrutiny, swelled to $46.2 billion in the first three months of 2023.
Is the LDS Church worth $100 billion? ›
Mormon church has $100bn 'clandestine hedge fund', says whistleblower. A former investment manager for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says that the organization stockpiled more than $100bn in funding intended for charity work but never spent it on such projects.
Did the LDS Church get fined for hiding money? ›
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday the LDS Church, and its investment manager, agreed to pay a 5 million dollar fine - connected to the charge that the church hid an approximately 32-billion-dollar investment fund.
Who is the whistleblower for the LDS Church finances? ›
Whistleblower David A. Nielsen is stepping up his push for federal authorities to fully investigate his billion-dollar allegations of financial wrongdoing by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors.
Who is the highest paid LDS employee? ›
The average salary for LDS Church employees is around $80,492 per year, or $39 per hour. The highest earners in the top 75th percentile are paid over $92,088.
Who is the highest paid LDS Church employee? ›
According to our data, the highest paying job at LDS Church is a Solutions Architect at $151,000 annually while the lowest paying job at LDS Church is a Cook at $16,000 annually.
Does the LDS Church own Pepsi? ›
The fund didn't own stock in soda makers PepsiCo or Keurig Dr Pepper, either. Caffeinated sodas are not part of the church's health code, known as the Word of Wisdom.
List of wealthiest religious organizations
| Organization | Worth (billion USD) | Country |
|---|
| Trinity Church | 6.0 | United States |
| Opus Dei (part of the Catholic Church) | 2.8 | Italy |
| Church of Scientology | 2.0 | United States |
| Holy See (Vatican) | NA | Vatican City |
9 more rowsIn recent years, the global faith of 16.8 million has grown by less than 1% annually and, in fact, is shrinking in a number of regions. In the United States over the past two years, for instance, 21 states saw Latter-day Saint membership decline.
Is the LDS Church richer than the Catholic Church? ›
For Latter-day Saints, who have 16.3 million members, our church's wealth translates to about $6,130 per member, or 161 times the Catholics' money-to-member ratio.
What is the financial trouble with the LDS Church? ›
In February, the SEC fined the Mormon church and Ensign Peak a total of $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of its investment portfolio. SEC investigators found the church "went to great lengths" to hide $32 billion in securities over nearly 20 years.
Do the apostles of the LDS Church get paid? ›
When they do so, they focus all of their time on serving the Church, and are given a living allowance. The living allowance is uniform for all General Authorities. None of the funds for this living allowance come from the tithing of Church members, but instead from proceeds of the Church's financial investments.
Why was the LDS Church hiding money? ›
Roger Clarke, the head of Ensign Peak, tells The Wall Street Journal that LDS leaders wanted to keep the church's $100 billion reserve a secret because they were afraid, upon seeing the church's amassed wealth, some members might stop paying tithing.
How much does the LDS Church give to the homeless? ›
"Over the last decade, the church has donated cash and commodities totaling more than $42 million to eight community and religious organizations that serve the homeless in Salt Lake City. There are dozens of partners that draw upon the church's food reserves at bishops' storehouses on a monthly basis.
What are the unforgivable sins in the LDS Church? ›
The unpardonable sin is to willfully deny and defy the Holy Ghost after having received His witness. No man can sin against light until he has it; nor against the Holy Ghost, until after he has received it by the gift of God through the appointed channel or way.
What happens if you don't tithe in LDS? ›
The tithe is God's law for His children, yet the payment is entirely voluntary. In this respect it does not differ from the law of the Sabbath or from any other of His laws. We may refuse to obey any or all of them. Our obedience is voluntary, but our refusal to pay does not abrogate or repeal the law.
Have any LDS apostles been excommunicated? ›
Richard Roswell Lyman (November 23, 1870 – December 31, 1963) was an American engineer and religious leader who was an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1918 to 1943. Lyman is often noted as the most recent LDS Church apostle to have been excommunicated.
Journalists and whistleblowers have estimated the Mormon church's portfolio at around $100 billion.
How many people have resigned from the LDS Church? ›
Resignations from the LDS Church
Out of 33,470 resignation requests, 79.3% were wiped off church records but 14.4% remained on the church membership records despite efforts to remove them. The remaining 6.3% of resignation requests were an unclear membership status.
How much do Mormon pastors get paid? ›
A second newly leaked document, from a more recent year, is a 2014 memo from the church's Presiding Bishopric (which handles all financial issues for the faith), noting that the "base living allowance" for all Mormon general authorities was being raised from $116,400 to $120,000.
How much do LDS bishops get paid? ›
The bishop is often called "the father of the ward" as he is the priesthood leader who is most intimately involved with individual church members. The bishop is not paid for the time he devotes to his position.
What is the average salary of Mormons? ›
How much does a Mormon make? As of Jun 8, 2023, the average annual pay for a Mormon in the United States is $42,815 a year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $20.58 an hour. This is the equivalent of $823/week or $3,567/month.
Are there any LDS celebrities? ›
Katherine Heigl, Amy Adams and Ryan Gosling are among the A-listers that grew up in the Mormon church.
Do LDS Church leaders pay tithing? ›
Tithing donations are most usually remitted through the local congregational leader, or bishop, and from there to Church headquarters, where they are allocated and disbursed directly to the Church's many worldwide programs, including its educational, missionary, building, humanitarian and welfare efforts.
Are Mormon stake presidents paid? ›
He is not paid for his service, but he donates his time to serve the congregation.” As we explain in chapter 10 of our book Answering Mormons' Questions, the Bible teaches that there is nothing wrong with Christian church leaders being financially supported.
Is Walmart Mormon owned? ›
The Mormon Church's fund has a $522 million stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), one of the most stable companies out there.
Does the Mormon church own Amazon? ›
The Mormon Church's investment arm has bought a 186,455 sq ft Amazon warehouse in Wembley for £74 million. The property, bought from UK Commercial Property REIT (UKCM), will become part of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints' investment portfolio, which was valued at $44.8 billion at the end of 2022.
So many Mormons then will say well, we should not drink any caffeinated beverages. MARTIN: In 2012, the church released an official statement stating explicitly that caffeinated soda is allowed under church doctrine. Still, many Mormons will not consume caffeinated drinks.
What is the richest religion in US? ›
Another study in the United States, from 2012, stated that 48% of Hindus had a household income of $100,000 or more, and 70% make at least $75,000, which is the highest among all religions in United States.
Does the Pope get paid? ›
Popes usually get paid hendsomely, the current wage he gets is $32,000 on a monthly basis but he refused to get any of that money. Instead, Pope Francis decided to either donate this money to the church, use it to endow a foundation, placed in trust or pass it on to a family member.
What companies does the LDS Church own? ›
Deseret Management Corporation
| Type | Private |
|---|
| Divisions | Deseret Digital Media Deseret Media Companies KSL Broadcast Division |
| Subsidiaries | Beneficial Financial Group Bonneville International Corp. Deseret News Deseret Book Hawaii Reserves Temple Square Hospitality |
| Website | Deseret Management Corporation |
6 more rowsReasons for leaving
Most ex-Mormons leave Mormonism and the LDS Church because specific intellectual or spiritual reasons have led them to a conviction that the religion is false. The foremost reasons are disbelief both in Joseph Smith as a prophet and in the Book of Mormon as a religious and historical document.
What religion is closest to Mormon? ›
Similarities. Mormonism and Islam each believe in a life after death: belief in the Last Judgment and an Afterlife is one of the Six Articles of Belief of Islam; it also forms an essential element of the Mormon belief system.
Which church is losing the most members? ›
The Presbyterian Church has had the sharpest decline in church membership: between 2000 and 2015 it lost over 40% of its congregation and 15.4% of its churches. Infant baptisms have also decreased; nationwide, Catholic baptisms are down by nearly 34%, and ELCA baptisms by over 40%.
What percentage of Americans are LDS? ›
Mormons make up 1.7% of the American adult population, a proportion that is comparable in size to the U.S. Jewish population.
Which is the largest LDS Church of USA? ›
The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At 253,015 square feet (23,505.9 m2), it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area.
What is the name of the richest pastor in the world? ›
Without a doubt, Kenneth Copeland is the richest pastor in the world right now. The Kenneth Copeland Ministries was founded by him. Due to the fact that he has three private planes, which he primarily uses for vacations and trips to resorts, he is renowned for leading an ostentatious and extravagant lifestyle.
Mission costs for senior missionaries range from $800–$4,000 per month (which includes expenses for housing, utilities, food, and transportation), but about 80% of all missions cost less than $1,800 per month. Missionaries are expected to pay their own expenses while on the mission.
Who controls the money in the Mormon church? ›
The faith, known as the Mormon church, maintains billions of dollars of investments in stocks, bonds, real estate and agriculture. Much of its portfolio is controlled by Ensign Peak Advisers, a nonprofit investment manager overseen by ecclesiastical leaders known as its presiding bishopric.
What does LDS tithing go to? ›
Tithing funds are always used for the Lord's purposes—to build and maintain temples and meetinghouses, to sustain missionary work, to educate Church members, and to carry on the work of the Lord throughout the world.
Does the LDS Church take 10% of income? ›
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints give one-tenth of their income back to God through His Church. These funds are then used to build up the Church and to further God's work throughout the world. God promises great blessings to those who pay tithing.
Did the LDS Church pay a $5 million dollar fine? ›
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm have been fined $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of the portfolio under church control, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday.
Did the LDS Church pay a $5 million fine? ›
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday the LDS Church, and its investment manager, agreed to pay a 5 million dollar fine - connected to the charge that the church hid an approximately 32-billion-dollar investment fund.
How much is the LDS Church worth in 2023? ›
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' prominent investment fund, which has become the subject of widespread public scrutiny, swelled to $46.2 billion in the first three months of 2023.
Is the Mormon Church fined for using 13 shell companies to hide a $32 billion investment portfolio? ›
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm have been fined $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of its $32 billion portfolio, which was under church control, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday.
When did the LDS Church become debt free? ›
By the time Lorenzo Snow became church president in 1898, the church was $2.3 million in debt. Snow reemphasized the payment of tithing (giving 10% of one's income to the church) and by 1907 the church was completely out of debt and since then has not used debt to fund its operations, even for capital projects.
What is the LDS IRS scandal? ›
A former senior portfolio manager who worked at the investment arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alleges the firm masqueraded as a charity and violated its tax exempt status by directing funds built from member donations to bail out business with ties to the church.
The federal Securities and Exchange Commission charged the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on Tuesday for violating federal tax laws, after a whistleblower revealed the church had allegedly deceived donors into raising money for a massive fund that has never been touched.
Is the LDS Church more wealthy than the Catholic church? ›
For Latter-day Saints, who have 16.3 million members, our church's wealth translates to about $6,130 per member, or 161 times the Catholics' money-to-member ratio. Looked at in the aggregate, $100 billion seems like a hell of a rainy-day fund.
Do you have to pay 10% of your income to the Mormon church? ›
Because each person gives 10% of their income, Mormons regard everyone's contribution as of equal merit, because the cost to each person is the same. And so each giver is equally blessed by God for their gift, regardless of its actual size.
Do Mormons have to give a percentage of their income to the church? ›
Money may be the root of all evil, but, for Mormons, it also provides a pathway to the highest heaven. That's because to gain access to the sacred spaces and saving rituals of a Mormon temple, LDS believers must donate 10 percent of their income to the church.
What is the wealthiest church in the world? ›
List of wealthiest religious organizations
| Organization | Worth (billion USD) | Country |
|---|
| The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | 100.0 | United States |
| Sree Venkateswara Swamy Temple | 30.0 | India |
| Catholic Church in Germany | 26.0 | Germany |
| Catholic Church in France | 23.0 | France |
9 more rowsLocal clergy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serve as volunteers, without pay. But “general authorities,” the top leaders in the church, serve full-time, have no other job, and receive the living allowance.
Does God trust U.S. LDS? ›
He knows us; He loves us. He placed His trust in us by giving us His priesthood power and authority.
How much does the LDS Church make per year? ›
Relying heavily on church records in countries that require far more disclosure than the United States, Cragun and Reuters estimate that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints brings in some $7 billion annually in tithes and other donations.
What property does the Mormon church own? ›
California records show the church owns $67 million in commercial properties, including $15 million in apartment buildings in Stockton and Glendale, a $10.6 million office building in Anaheim and a $4.5 million retail development in Fresno County.
