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Investing with Your Values

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Investing with Your Values

Making Money and Making a Difference

Bloomberg Press,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

You might not make as much money investing with your values (although the authors disagree), but you will sleep better at night.

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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Analytical
  • Visionary

Recommendation

Authors Hal Brill, Jack A. Brill, and Cliff Feigenbaum are experts in "socially responsible investment" (SRI). They have written a detailed, authoritative and conversational guide to "natural investing." Natural investors put their money only in companies that embrace their particular ethics, values, or concerns, the most common of which include environmental, or "green," practices, and human rights. The book contends that this kind of investing is just as profitable (if not more so) as traditional investment strategies, a claim that is taken with a grain of salt within the investment community. But if you are interested in socially conscious investing, the authors present a very usable guide to determining where and how to invest to suit your philosophies, and also include a treasure trove of lists and resources for budding natural investors. getAbstract recommends this book to people who care as much about meaning as about means.

Summary

What is Natural Investing?

You’ve probably heard the phrase "put your money where your mouth is," but you may not know that that you can "put your investments where your mouth is," too. This strategy is values-based or social investing. The trend never has been stronger. Many people would like to invest in companies that support particular philosophies, such as protecting the environment. Or, they would like to support companies that promote responsible business practices, human right, and social or civil causes. Natural investing enables people across the entire philosophic and economic spectrum to identify their values and bring them into the financial arena. "Values-inclusive investors can actually outperform the market and be a force for social change."

As a shareholder, you may want more than just a financial return on your investments. Many investors now realize "that by investing their dollars in a socially responsible way they can be both a force for positive social impact on the planet and far more consistent with their own goals and value systems." Natural investors reject the conventional wisdom that you should "abandon ethics when making financial decisions...

About the Authors

Hal Brill is a co-founder in Santa Fe, New Mexico, of four community-based organizations addressing issues of low-income housing, economic development, education and ecological living. Jack A. Brill is a Registered Investment Adviser based in San Diego, California. Cliff Feigenbaum is the founder and publisher of the GreenMoney Journal, a quarterly newsletter that has become a leading clearinghouse for information of the SRI movement.

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