Socially Responsible Investing

Socially Responsible Investing

If you are like many Americans today, you want to maximize resources to exact the best possible outcomes. One way of doing that is putting your investment assets to work in a way that represents your personal, social and philosophical beliefs. This is called Socially Responsible Investing (SRI).

SRI can be realized in three primary ways: Screening, Shareholder Activism and Community Reinvestment.

Screening is when an individual, by themselves or through an investment manager, includes securities in their investment portfolios that represent their belief systems or excludes securities that conflict with their belief systems. For instance, an investor may wish to exclude from his portfolio stock from any company that has been connected with sweat-shop labor or tobacco products. Conversely, he might want to include stocks in his portfolio from companies that have adopted excellent environmental practices or family-friendly employment programs.

In Shareholder Activism, the approach is somewhat different from Screening. In Shareholder Activism, an investor may wish to invest in equity securities in a company in which she is interested in promoting social or environmental change. For instance, she may buy stock in a company to promote actions by the board of directors that will lead to cleaning up pollution or adopting anti-discrimination guidelines. She would hope to add her voice to others of like mind to hasten progress in those areas.

Community Investment is when you invest by saving in a community development bank or credit union that then can provide funding for economic development in low or moderate income areas. According to Coop America, “Community investing is financing that creates resources and opportunities for economically disadvantaged people in the US and overseas that are underserved by traditional financial institutions. Community investors make it possible for local organizations in rural and urban areas to create jobs, provide financial services to low-income individuals, and supply capital for small businesses, affordable housing, and vital community services, such as education facilities.” It is a way to invest while providing a means for others to better themselves.

As a member of the Socially Investment Forum, Gemini Financial Services subscribes to the ideal that an investor should be able to promote their values while they work towards a secure financial future. We will help create a diversified portfolio for you that will help meet your social needs and your investment needs.