Positive News for Investors

For six years Blue & Green has scoured the UK investment universe for positive options that enlightened investors can use to minimise their portfolios’ harm, maximise good and still make a healthy return. It’s not been easy as many sustainable or ethical funds compromise too much in our opinion, investing in companies with seriously dubious ethical or environmental practices. But we think we’ve finally found a positive solution.

All investment means some sort of compromise between the competing demands of protecting the planet, its people and delivering a profit. Investment cannot be ‘pure’ in the dominant economic system we have. Even if you are going to pick individual stocks and invest in pure play renewable energy companies for example, you have to accept that even these most virtuous companies use scarce materials, can compromise our country’s natural beauty and sometimes divide the opinions of communities.  In addition, if you don’t get the balance of investments right, you might expose yourself to unacceptably high levels of risk.

Ultimately it’s about balance. Whereas most funds say to hell with people and planet, there is a small universe of funds that try and balance these competing demands.

That universe has been brilliantly defined and described by SRI specialist 3D Investing as covered in our Guides to Sustainable Investment here and here. These are the funds that have been weighed, measure and scored against impartial, clear and transparent criteria. Is there still some compromise? Yes. Are those small compromises clearly explained? Yes. Do the funds balance planet, people and profit? To a greater or lesser extent, yes.

So far, so good. But what do you do if you want to invest in a portfolio of the best of these funds? You could spend lots of time and effort building and managing a portfolio yourself. You could try and persuade a wealth manager to help build one for you. You could do that or you could look at the range of portfolios developed by our friends at Pennine Wealth Solutions (PWS), who have spent the last two years working with 3D Investing to build them for you.

Using the 3D Investing fund universe and ratings combined with expert asset managers, PWS have created a range of risk rated portfolios, Positive Pennine, which in our opinion best balances the needs of the planet, its people and investors need for a return.

Pennine Wealth Solutions can only be accessed through authorised financial advisory firms. To explore these portfolios in more detail you can contact True Bearing Chartered in the North West or the online and phone adviser Bread & Butter.

In accordance with the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, Blue and Green Communications Limited does not provide regulated investment services of any kind, and is not authorised to do so. Nothing in this magazine and all parts herein constitutes or should be deemed to constitute advice, recommendation, invitation or inducement to buy, sell, subscribe for or underwrite any investment of any kind. Any specific investment-related queries or concerns should be directed to a fully qualified financial adviser.