What do people really mean when they talk about “impact investing?” Why do people make impact investments, and how do they do it? What counts, and what doesn’t? This primer provides family enterprises with clear explanations of the “why,” “how,” and “what” of impact investing. Whether families are just dipping their toes in the water, or ready to dive in, families can make more impact investments more effectively.
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Fixed income is a cornerstone of traditionally balanced investment portfolios, offering stable income, varying liquidity, and a relatively low-risk profile. Given the prevalence and diversity of fixed income investment opportunities, families who wish to create or expand an impact investment portfolio may find fixed income to be a good place to start. Families can align their investments with their values (or philanthropic mission) by incorporating social and environmental factors into their fixed income investment decisions.
For decades, asset owners have worked to align their public equity investments with their values. Today, many investors in public equity consider social and environmental issues in their investment selection processes. Given the diversity and demonstrable track records of these strategies, families may find public equity to be an accessible asset class as they develop impact investment portfolios. Families can make public equity impact investment in several ways to achieve their overall impact and financial objectives.
Amidst headwinds such as economic weakness in China and emerging markets, financial and stock market volatility, falling oil prices and a stronger dollar, the U.S. economy weakened to end 2015. Despite these impediments to growth, several economic indicators were encouraging. During the 4th Quarter 2015, leading indices showed that consumer confidence increased, the labor market strengthened, and the unemployment rate ended at a year low at 5.0 percent.
Before executing a commercial property lease or sales contract, the parties may prepare a letter of intent or an agreement in principle. The letter of intent or a similar document (the “LOIs”) generally signals that the parties have agreed on the outline of a deal, but not on all of its provisions or details.
Most market updates are preoccupied with shorter-term phenomena and near-term concerns. However, today’s realities are best assessed through a longer-term lens—one based on the goal of generating attractive, or at least sufficient, compounded returns over decades rather than months, quarters, or even years. Great investment opportunities are rare, and an investor’s job is to recognize them when they occur and to avoid putting capital in harm’s way.
In a recent venture market survey, entrepreneurs said they have lowered their valuation expectations and venture capitalists reported having slowed their investment pace. One of the most interesting questions in the survey was also most likely one of the hardest to answer: Which two metrics are most important when evaluating new investments today?
The combination of improving economic data, stronger corporate earnings, and, particularly, potential policies from the Trump administration has created a heady brew for domestic equity markets. Even stocks abroad are posting robust returns. While President Trump’s plans for infrastructure spending, tax cuts, deregulation, and generally growth-focused policies are a key factor in the current U.S. stock rally, these policies are also a main source of uncertainty, and therefore risk, for investors.
Political events in 2016 gave rise to increasing nationalism and populism globally. Combined with a global slowdown in economic and trade growth, international integration may already have plateaued and could begin to reverse over the coming decade. Multinational organizations should prepare for potentially significant implications by carefully considering the political threats in the countries in which they operate.
The potential economic and development gains from gender equality are vast and well-documented—and yet they are currently being bypassed. This joint report with the United Nations Foundation explores the market potential of advancing gender equality. By investing in companies offering products and services that promote gender equality, investors can earn the “return on equality,” seizing profitable, under-tapped market opportunities. In fact, narrowing the global gender gap could add U.S. $12 trillion in annual gross domestic product.