Investing with a Conscience

Let your money do the talking

What if you could make money and help change the world at the same time? That’s the premise behind sustainable or socially responsible investing (SRI). Socially responsible investing is a progressive way of using your money, pooled with that of other investors, to add value to your portfolio and look to improve the future. It’s a strategy where social good is just as important as financial return. And it’s easier to do than you might think. 

The first step is to share your values with your investment advisor. Once your investment professional knows that environmental, social and governance performance are as important to you as financial gains when choosing an investment, he or she can recommend funds that meets those objectives.

NEI Investments, for instance, was started by credit unions like ours more than 15 years ago to provide members with more choice about which industries they did—and more importantly did not—want to invest in. Back in the early days, the company focused on avoiding investments related to nuclear energy, weapons manufacturing, and tobacco.

Today, NEI Investments also evaluates companies on the basis of their social and environmental performance, as well as their management systems. It’s a system that looks at everything from good employee relations and strong records of community involvement, to progressive environmental policies and procedures.

The company is also known for having a robust shareholder action plan. Simply put, you can’t change a company you don’t own. Owning shares in a company brings powerful shareholder rights — a voice in reshaping the way it does business. If a company’s shareholders band together and ask management to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, or ensure workers in its overseas factories are fairly treated, management has to listen. Enough money and enough pressure put in the right directions can, indeed, bring about these results.

Thus, the power of shareholder action lies not in avoiding companies with poor practices, but by helping to improve them. Visit the NEI Investments website (Home - NEI Investments) and you’ll find all kinds of stories about how pressure from NEI Investments, on behalf of investors, helped to make good companies better by adopting new policies on climate change and human rights.

To learn more about all your investment options and socially responsible investing, contact your local branch. Or check out Responsible Investing 101 - NEI Investments!

Mutual funds and other securities are offered through Aviso Wealth, a division of Aviso Financial Inc. NEI Investments is a registered trademark of Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. (“NEI LP”). Northwest & Ethical Investments Inc. is the general partner of NEI LP and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aviso Wealth Inc. (“Aviso”). Aviso is the sole limited partner of the NEI LP. Aviso is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aviso Wealth LP, which in turn is owned 50% by Desjardins Financial Holding Inc. and 50% by a limited partnership owned by the five Provincial Credit Union Centrals and the CUMIS Group Limited.