Are You Being a 'Muppet'?
The most famous Muppet of all, Kermit the frog, famously stated, "It's not easy being green." Turns out, it's not easy as being an empowered investor either.
This was supposed to be an 'easy' blog to write. All the fuss around the recent New York Times Op Ed "Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs" in which Greg Smith publicly took the opportunity to rebuke Goldman Sachs leadership, culture and attitude toward its clients inspired me to wonder what responsibility investors (the so-called 'Muppets') have to make responsible investment choices?
In an ideal world people would empower themselves by engaging investment advisors who genuinely and honestly have their best interests and long-term goals in mind, rather than abdicating decision-making and putting their finances into someone else's hands, blindly trusting them to 'do right' by them and their money. Surely, with all the socially responsible investment (SRI) funds and standards out there, investors have the ability to make sure that their investment portfolios match their personal values, their goals and their individual risk tolerances. Right?
It appears to be the case. Sustainable and socially responsible investing (SRI) continues to grow at a faster pace than the total universe of investment assets under professional management, according to the Social Investment Forum Foundation's Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States.
Growth of Socially Responsible Investing
Today nearly one out of every eight dollars under professional management in the United States is invested in some strategy of socially responsible and sustainable investing.
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John Friedman, an award-winning communications professional and recognized sustainability expert with more than 20 years of experience, is co-founder and vice chair of the board for the Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SBNOW).
On social media, Friedman is a recognized as a thought leader in CSR, listing among the top voices in CSR by Forbes’ Brandfog. His insights on sustainability issues and strategy have been a regular feature on SustainableBrands since 2008 and have appeared on Ecopreneurist.com, Forbes.com, Vaultcareers, and JustMeans.
When not volunteering his time, Friedman serves as director of public relations for Sodexo, Inc. He can be reached at johnf@sbnow.org, is @JohnFriedman on Twitter and can be connected on LinkedIn and Facebook.
This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post website and can be found here. For more information and posts by the author, visit his profile page here. This post was distributed with full permision of the author.
