Our Services
Socially Responsible Investments
We offer a selection of mutual funds with both negative and positive screens. A negative screen means companies that don’t meet a particular set of values are not included in the fund. A positive screen means that a particular company’s stocks have been purchased because of the positive things they are doing. In some cases stocks are included in a fund because it is a good business decision, but also so that a particular issue can be addressed through shareholder activism.
We also use mainstream investments, and check to ensure they are meeting your values.
In most cases we have access to the people choosing the stocks and bonds for the funds we are considering. We monitor your investments and make a commitment to you that if we are concerned, or if you express a concern, about a particular investment, we will always give you our unbiased opinion about whether or not we should keep it.
SRI means a different process, as well as different products.
Before we begin to discuss investment choices, we develop what we call a values-based investment strategy. It looks closely at how well you can handle volatility. How did your investments and nerves fare during the past several years? We have found that many people were too aggressively invested. But there is also a danger of investing too conservatively. It’s a balancing act. We will attempt to find the right mix of assets for you, so you can sleep at night.
The second part in choosing investments involves your values. We use your road map as a compass to guide your investment choices.
Many people we deal with are unhappy with the way some of the world’s companies have been conducting certain aspects of their business. Whether it’s lying about profits and hiding expenses, or the denial of major future liabilities, like workplace health or future environmental costs, all of these issues can affect the price of a company’s stock. It is our job to demonstrate how being sensitive to these costs may actually reduce the risk of your investment.
