Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing
AspireQuest Values Based Portfolios
Value Based Investing for a Sustainable Future
There has been much recent discussion about sustainable investing. Investors are increasingly aware of the impact the companies they invest in can have on society in general and their performance in three key areas – the environment, social issues and corporate governance.
Sustainable, responsible and impact investing involves several approaches that can be characterized as Avoid, Incorporate, Emphasize and Engage. These are not mutually exclusive, and sustainable investments often incorporate one or more of these approaches. The objective is to generate long term competitive investment returns and positive societal impact.
Investment Approaches:
AVOID (also known as exclusionary/negative screening, socially responsible investing)
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What it means: Avoiding companies, industries or sectors that do not align with your goals and values or those that disregard widely accepted environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) norms
INCORPORATE (also known as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factor integration, risk-return ESG, positive screening/best-in-class)
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What it means: Intentionally incorporates ESG factors into investment decisions to help unveil company-or-industry related risks/issues while also helping identify potential opportunities
EMPHASIZE (also known as impact investing, thematic investing)
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What it means: Thematic investing pursues long-term themes tied to sustainability and ESG while impact investing targets investments with the intention of achieving specific social and/or environmental impact that can be tracked and reported over time
ENGAGE (also known as shareholder/stakeholder advocacy, proxy voting)
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What it means: Engaging with company management to address issues stemming around ESG factors or being actively involved with voting proposals designed to influence corporate behavior on ESG issues
AspireQuest Values Based Portfolios Approach
Our portfolios are customized to incorporate investments that best reflect your values and concerns at an appropriate level of risk based on your investor profile and still seek to achieve competitive investment returns.
We work with you to identify socially responsible investments in four steps:
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Identify your SRI investment guidelines.
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Identify any specific restrictions on types of companies that you wish to own and if the portfolio should include any specific areas of concern that you would like to see incorporated (e.g., climate change, clean water, gender equity, etc.).
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Determine your appropriate risk level and investment goals.
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Determine your risk level and discuss the planning and investment goal(s) that your portfolio(s) will support
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Select the appropriate investment managers and vehicles and asset allocation.
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Based on what we have decided in steps one and two, we construct a portfolio using individual securities, actively managed and index mutual funds, and exchange traded funds.
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Monitor the portfolio and adjust as needed.
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We then continually monitor the portfolio and adjust based on changes in your personal investment objectives, and changes in the financial and economic environment or manager performance. Portfolios are generally re-balanced on a quarterly basis.
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Sustainable investing requires specialized expertise. Senior Wealth Advisor, Ed Yetsko, has earned the Chartered SRI Counselor™ (CSRIC®) professional designation. The CSRIC® designation was developed jointly with the US Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment and is conferred by the College for Financial Planning. It is a program that provides a blend of foundational knowledge and scenario learning to work with sustainable, responsible and impact investments for both individual and institutional clients.
Ed Yetsko and Brianna Sternkopf both wok with our clients interested in sustainable investing. Contact Ed or Brianna to learn more about sustainable investing and align your investments with your values.
