Explore Responsible Investing

Putting your money where your values are – Responsible Investing (RI)

Although it has been around for decades, ESG investing has finally come around and become a mainstream topic in investment discussions and articles. If you haven’t quite caught up on your investment reading, socially conscious portfolios are fast becoming mainstream in the investment world. Although it goes under different names, responsible investing is the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance factors into investment decisions. A few examples include how companies are responding to climate change, diversity in corporate governance and workforce, a company’s track record on human rights issues and how it monitors its own supply chain to ensure suppliers comply with corporate responsible investment values.

The best way to start exploring RI is through conversations with a Financial Advisor. Seeking someone with a certification in the field, such as the RIS (Responsible Investment Specialist) certification, is a plus as this certification requires continuous education in the evolving spectrum of Responsible Investing.

The conversation should focus on your investment priorities, goals, and if your investment decisions are driven more by performance or purpose, or both. In other words, is there a strong value placed on prioritizing RI in your portfolio? That will be the base to determine if we are adding any specific RI investments, some RI investments, or will your whole portfolio consist of RI investments.

Once we determine consideration, do we want to screen out any investments that contain products such as tobacco, guns and fossil fuels? At this stage, we are looking to avoid a negative impact in the investment selection.

Next is integration where ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors come into play in the investment selection process.

We can even go as far as investing based on themes such as investments that focus on carbon reduction whereby the investments focus on clean energy or other priorities where we have seen that the investments focus on companies with women in leadership positions. This stage seeks positive impact solutions.

We can take it an extra step for clients that are seeking to create the greatest impact with their responsible investment portfolio whereby we can focus on engagement and advocacy. More precisely, we choose investments whereby the fund managers not only invest in companies that fit the profile of a good responsible investment, but also seek to drive change by opening and participating in the dialogue with these companies to drive changes focusing on different ESG factors. The fund managers can also use the power of client’s investment dollars to lobby government and different industry regulators to affect change in policy to create further positive change.

At all steps of the process, the investments need to make sense and fit the clients financial plan because without a plan, you don’t know where you are going.

We invite you to visit and like our social media pages below for more interesting articles about Responsible Investing and other financial planning topics. For a discussion about your unique situation, we are available for questions at 902-407-9925 or mpinet@assante.com.

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Marc Pinet has made Halifax home since 1996. He is a Wealth Management Advisor with Assante Capital Management Ltd. and holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and Responsible Investment Specialist certifications. Pinet is the former Vice-President of the Halifax Francophone Chamber of Commerce and is currently a provincial councillor for the provincial Acadian School board, the CSAP. Family life is busy with his wife, Sunita, and two daughters, Ari (9) and Maya (6).

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Marc Pinet, CFP®, RIS, BComm
Wealth Management Advisor
Assante Capital Management Ltd.
Assante Hydrostone
5548 Kaye St | Halifax, NS | B3K 1Y5

Assante Capital Management Ltd. Assante Capital Management Ltd. Is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. This material is provided for general information and is subject to change without notice. Every effort has been made to compile this material from reliable sources however no warranty can be made as its accuracy or completeness. Before acting on any of the above, please make sure to see a professional advisor for individual financial advice based on your personal circumstances.