Sovereign Financial Group of OneAscent

Feb. 19--Spartanburg natives Will Hines and Mike Kuckel founded Sovereign Financial Group of OneAscent in December 2017 at 1 W. North St., Greenville. The two handle financial planning, investment management, and estate planning that take into account spiritual and ethical values of the companies. They also work with businesses on benefits planning. The hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. They hope to one day open an office in Spartanburg and other locations.

About the founders:

Will Hines, president of the company, is the son of commercial real estate broker Ben Hines of Spencer/Hines Properties in Spartanburg. Will, 24, graduated from Spartanburg Christian Academy in 2012 and then in 2015 from Clemson University where he majored in business management. He previously worked for Parallel Financial in Greenville.

Mike Kuckel, 44, CEO of the company, attended Spartanburg High School and later studied at Central Michigan as a finance major. He graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary with a master's degree of divinity in biblical languages. He previously worked at Merrill Lynch in Greenville. He is pastor of David Street Baptist Church in downtown Greenville. He and his wife, Hope, have nine children, with a 10th one due in April.

How they met

"We met when I was the administrator of First Baptist in Spartanburg and as chair of the board of Spartanburg Christian Academy. I met him while he was in school," Kuckel said.

What's different

"From estate planning to nonprofits to helping our clients to be good stewards to investing -- from a holistic view of life and what it means to plan with your values," Kuckel said. With biblically responsible investing, we screen our investments according to your values.

"We look for companies contributing to human flourishing, a positive impact, and screen out companies that have a negative impact, like a company that would profit from abortion or pornography. You do not have to sacrifice a return with your morals and beliefs."

Goals

"My goal is to help the general public to apply their values to a higher level of financial planning," Kuckel said.

Hines said, "We will work with companies that may have an owner that is a Christian or has strong moral beliefs and wants to offer employees the opportunity to invest in their 401(k)s that are in line spiritually and morally."

-- Compiled by Bob Montgomery

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