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A personal note from Catherine... |
Dear Friend,
Getting what you want is important! For some reason children know this all too well. Last week I was reminded by my youngest son, James, that his birthday was coming up on May 1st. He wanted to make sure that I was going to make his favorite dinner, just like I did for his brother. He quickly rattled off, "lamb chops, tortellini and chocolate cake. Oh, and by the way, Mom..could I have chocolate icing on the cake?" Like magic, his wish was granted and he had a wonderful birthday.
All too often, as adults, we forgot to ask for things that are important to us. Many people don't realize that they can ask for things they want when it comes to investing. Over the years, Wall Street has become an asset gathering machine that has forced many clients to put their money into model portfolios or mutual funds. An advisor who is willing to customize your portfolio is a rarity in today's world. Today's newsletter talks about socially responsible investing. It's time for you to get what you want!
For those of you with questions, feel free to call me at 203.966.2712. Also please visit my website at www.catherineaveryinvest.com and take a look at the Free Portfolio Evaluation!
Please pass along this newsletter to friends and family to spread the word!
Warm regards,
Catherine Maniscalco Avery
CAIM specializes in creating and managing
customized and fully diversified investment portfolios
for private investors.
203.966.2712 p
203.966.5697 f
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Socially Responsible Investing |
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Did you know you can put your money where your heart is? Even if your heart is with the green, the renewable and the environmentally sound?
Socially responsible investing (SRI) is skyrocketing as millions of Americans start to take an active stand in how and where their money is used.
What exactly is SRI, you might ask? Wikipedia defines it as, "The intention to maximize financial return and social good by favoring corporate practices that are environmentally responsible, support workplace diversity, and increase product safety and quality." SRI really is an avenue for people to express their values through investing. People can support companies they feel are doing the right thing. What most investors don't realize is that when they buy a stock, they are buying ownership in a company and therefore giving the company capital to go out and grow the business. As we know, not all companies have the same values.
SRI represents specific companies meeting certain ethical standards, whether it involves the environment, health and safety, diversity and human resources policies, human rights or the supply chain. And it represents investors becoming conscious of their financial "footprint" on earth and their power to affect change. It's an exciting idea - our dollars actually working where we want them! With millions of investment dollars at their disposal, Americans have a very real opportunity to make a difference in the world through SRI.
Stats show that today nearly one out of every ten dollars under professional management in the United States is involved in SRI. And it's not just the US that's buzzing. The UK, France, Italy, Sweden and Belgium account for 63.7% of the world's SRI funds!
So how can YOU get involved? One way to play the green investing sector is via exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Two popular ETFs are the Market Vectors ETF Global Alternative Energy (GEX) and Powershares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio (PBW.) GEX is comprised of thirty of the largest, most actively traded alternative energy companies from around the world. Companies in the index generate over 50% of their revenues from alternative and/or related technologies and are engaged in solar, wind, biofuels, water and geothermal. PBW focuses on greener and generally renewable sources of energy as well as technologies that facilitate cleaner energy.
You can also mix it up a bit with traditional companies - GE and United Technologies are household names that have recently jumped on the SRI bandwagon.
So why not take this moment in time to look into SRI? Your values really can be expressed through your investing in a way that is profitable to you over the long-term.
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Copyrighted May, 2008 CAIM LLC |
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