There’s Now An Easy Way to Invest for Retirement that Doesn’t Compromise Your Values

The majority of Americans are behind on saving for retirement (raises hand) and most of us aren’t saving enough. So adding on another layer of investing—socially responsible and sustainable investing—may seem daunting. It doesn’t have to be any longer. I just finished going through the first step of the process and I’m so glad I finally made the leap.

Many of us shop for organic foods and clean beauty products, buy from companies who treat their employees well (Certified B Corporations), avoid companies and banks with shady practices (Wells Fargo), and generally try to vote with our wallets.

But then every month we put away money into retirement accounts that invest in in the very companies we try to avoid. That’s frustrating, right?

In order to bridge that gap I decided to work with Invested Values, a highly effective service designed to help you take the first critical steps to making the transition to socially responsible investments. The best part, it’s easy and affordable.

Here’s how Invested Values works:

1- Take a Short Online Survey

We all value different things, and so the easy-to-take survey helps Invested Values understand exactly what you care about most. Do you want to divest from big oil? Are you concerned about social issues, or how well workers are compensated? All of this will be weighed and measured to help guide your investment decisions.

Importantly, the information you share through the survey is kept private and they don’t require you to disclose any sensitive personal information like account numbers.

2 – Receive a Custom Values Statement

From the results of your survey, Invested Values will create a unique, data-driven values statement for you. I found this document to be particularly helpful, since it helped clearly articulate how much I value protecting water and forests, versus investing in companies that treat their workers well. This values statement is detailed, and is geared towards you the client, as well as your retirement planner or investment advisor.

In addition to a narrative summary of your values, there are graphs to help show where your priorities lie. Here is a sample from the graph section of my values survey:

Many retirement planners may have some knowledge about socially responsible funds, but they wouldn’t know how to tailor the investments to your values, this values statement gives them detailed information on how best to align your values with your investments.

Another example:

3 – Your Investment Advocate

This is where things get pretty cool. You can hire the Invested Values team to be your advocate when having conversations with your financial advisor, or they can help you find a new one.  I know that the second I get on the phone with my financial manager, I defer to him to tell me what I should do, mostly because I don’t understand the lingo.

Invested Values is your friendly advocate, who can help translate the conversation and find more socially responsible investing with your current plan, or elsewhere. They can also push back in a friendly way if your advisor says these funds don’t exist, or they do not have good returns.

And, for the over-achievers, Invested Values also works with companies and HR departments to transition the company portfolios so that you and your colleagues have more options in your retirement plan or 401(k).

Do Sustainable Investments Make Less Money?

I’ve been told several times that socially responsible investing means that you have to make less money. Thankfully for all of us, we don’t have to compromise our values with our savings. According to Invested Values,

“Empirical data from thousands of studies shows comparable performance over time and positive links between strong sustainability/ESG performance in companies and strong financial returns for investors.”

This is backed up by studies from Oxford University, RBC Global Asset Management, Morningstar, Morgan Stanley, among others.

The best part about all of this? The process doesn’t take a lot of your time and is a nominal cost to you (especially considering the long term value).

I highly recommend you check out Invested Values and if you’re ready to start, email colin (at) colinpriceconsulting.com today!

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*Disclaimer: Invested Values is run by my husband. You should know that I met him professionally and his wicked smarts is one of the things I fell in love with first. Rest assured you’re in the best of hands.