Sustainable and socially conscious investing is not a new concept, but it’s gained traction in recent years. And if there’s anything the last few years have taught us, it’s that our voices can be heard when they’re brought together. Our voices are powerful, as is investing in our belief systems.
My co-host Ana Trujillo Limon and I both had the pleasure of sitting down with some of the industry’s most trusted and innovative leaders in the environmental, social and corporate governance sector during ESG Week on our Framework podcast. You can catch up on those and past episodes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Sarah Kjellberg: Pushing the Industry Toward a More Sustainable Future
“The folks that I know within the industry, the colleagues that I work with day in and day out, the reasons why they do it is because they are deeply passionate about sustainability. And, yes, I think probably the underlying reason for them is because they see this as being truly their purpose.”
Sarah Kjellberg, Head of Sustainable ETFs at BlackRock, leads the overall strategy for sustainable ETFs and implementation for BlackRock’s industry partners. During this episode, Ana and I spoke with Sarah about why investors should care about sustainability and how data drives the evolution of sustainable investments that can truly impact the world.
Jay Lipman: How to Talk About ESG With Clients
“The idea was philosophy will give me the kind of moral compass to understand what one should do. Politics is how you change the systems from a regulatory perspective. And then economics was really the driver of systemic change because it’s how money flows.”
Jay Lipman, co-founder and President of Ethic, uses data to help companies understand how to utilize their resources to impact their clients and society as a whole. He has an interesting perspective on commoditizing what should be the most essential things in life – human ethics, human life and natural resources.
During this episode, Jay talks about how to broach the subject of ESG with clients and how ESG strategies can impact companies and their investors.
Gabe Rissman: How ESG Creates Impact for Clients
“2021 was a year of just amazing growth. Advisors are still getting questions about ESG, but now instead of exploring, they want to dive in. Advisors know that this is the future. They can differentiate their practice based on ESG, and they’re going to fall behind if they don’t.”
In this episode, Ana and I talk with Gabe Rissman, co-founder and President of YourStake, about building an ESG platform using metrics and other data to help investors see how their investments can positively impact our society. His journey to becoming an ESG advocate stemmed from his father’s influence to be more socially conscious.
Zach and Michael Conway: Aligning Life and Wealth in Investing
“In terms of breaking the status quo of the industry, understanding the investor has to be multi-dimensional now. It’s not just about risk tolerance and time horizon.” – Zach Conway
Zach and Michael Conway, from Conway Wealth Group and Seeds Investor, are firm believers in and contributors toward financial planning focused on intentional, purposeful and personalized investing. In this episode, they talk to Ana and me about how advisors can choose a more productive approach when talking about sustainable investing.
Listen to Zach and Michael’s episode.
Edgar Villanueva: Decolonizing Wealth and Wealth Management
“We have an obligation toward each other, as people of color, to support each other in this space and to find ways to support those coming after us and to make space for the brilliance of other people.”
Edgar Villanueva, founder of the Decolonizing Wealth Project and the bestselling author of “Decolonizing Wealth,” is a well-known expert on social justice philanthropy. In this episode, Edgar talks about how decolonization can help build wealth and the importance of socially conscious investing based on personal ethics.
If, after listening to these episodes, you’d still like to learn more about ESG investing, Ana and I were joined by Zach Conway of Seeds, Corrine Merriman of Ethic and Gabe Rissman of YourStake for an ESG-focused webinar. You can watch it by clicking the button below.
