Investing Money for Social Change? Ya Gotta Love It

Perry Abbey

Investing money in social justice and ethical business practices seems to be catching on in Canada, according to the latest reports the two newly created mutual funds.

The new Real Assets Social Impact Balanced and Social Leader funds, which launched September 16, have been well received and have now attracted more than $25 million in their first month.

This is an extremely strong showing for new funds, and given that most social investment advisors and investors have yet to hear of the launch I anticipate continued strong uptake. So more is better.

If you are looking for the unit values of the new funds you can now find them in the Financial Post, Globe and Mail, or on www.globefund.com and search for Real Assets. And of course on www.realassets.ca, which will be sporting a new, look in the near future.

Equity markets have come through the often weak September period with only very modest losses this year, and the quarterly earnings seasons seems off to a fairly positive start with the likes of chip giant Intel beating estimates, among others. And we thought tech was dead!

Since the November through April season is historically and statistically the strongest season for equities (most years) this would be a good time to review your holdings.

I'll be sending out a longer e-letter on my return to look at current trends in social investing and the status of some of the ongoing shareholder campaigns we are involved in; and perhaps a sneak preview of Deb's new book Global Profit and Global Justice: Using your Money to Change the World.

Perry Abbey is an investment advisor at United Capital Securities, a Working Enterprises company. Helping individuals and organizations harmonize their money with their values and leverage capital for change.