Custom ESG investing

To offer clients custom, custom ESG investing, we partnered with Ethic. They are a registered investment adviser that uses direct indexing to allow clients to drill down to their values. Ethic is unique in its approach to values integrated portfolio investing. For example, let’s examine their Racial Justice Pillar, whose focus is promoting a racially equitable society. They divest from companies with poor anti-discrimination policies, substantial revenues from weapons or tobacco, or core business activities with disproportionately negative impacts on communities of color.

Their implementation drills down further including such issues as:

• Workplace Diversity
• Human Rights and Community
• Working Conditions
• Ware
• Firearms
• Exploitative Products
• Product Quality and Safety
• Water
• Waste

At this time, Ethic only provides stock exposure. That said, rather than use our mutual funds as your ingredients in your chosen Envision Justice Series™ Portfolio, we would substitute Ethic’s. We would use our bond investment to create that risk adjusted return enhance portfolio. Ethic requires a minimum $250,000 investment.

Core ESG Investing

Ethic has created a version of our Core Values that incorporates Racial Justice, Climate Change and Women’s Rights. This Core Values Strategy uses the same stock benchmark breakdown used in the Envision 100 portfolio in the Envision Justice Series™.

Envision’s Core Values, powered by Ethic drills down even further.

Custom ESG investing

If you’re able to invest $500,000 or more in the stock portion of your portfolio, we can look at more personalized customization. Ethic’s 19 Sustainability Pillars offer a wide set of values to choose from.

Once we understand your values, we use data to overlay them onto your portfolio. The data includes more information about how companies operate and determine which companies fit your values and which don’t. This is also a powerful risk-mitigation strategy.

Ethic is also involved in shareholder advocacy which seeks to create impact through proxy voting. Ethic utilizes Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a proxy advisory firm. Through ISS, Ethic will generally vote ESG-related proxies according to ISS’s Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) Research Policy recommendations. For non-ESG related votes, Ethic will generally vote according to ISS’s standard recommendations aimed at promoting shareholder value and risk mitigation. Connect with your financial advisor to understand how your proxy voting is currently set up and discuss how you would like to address it moving forward. You must opt-in, so if you are uncomfortable, you can take a pass.

Ready to set up a meeting to learn more? Book a 30 discovery meeting.