Report: Over One-Quarter of Investors Under 45 Have Significant Investments in Socially Responsible Companies

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Millennials and Gen Xers are more comfortable with robo-advisors, and women are more risk averse, according to surveys of investors and financial advisors. Now comes another difference between these investors and others: They are more inclined toward socially responsible investing.

According to a new report from Spectrem Research, more than one-quarter of investors under the age of 45, which includes millennials and Gen Xers, allocate at least 25% of their investable assets in socially responsible companies. Twenty-one percent of female investors do the same. The results were based on a survey of 3,070 investors with assets ranging from $100,000 to $25 million.

Advisors interested in expanding their client base may want to consider these survey results. “Familiarity with socially responsible companies may allow you to develop a relationship with the children of your existing clients,” the report says.

Not only are more investors expressing more interest in socially responsible investing but the total SRI assets are growing quickly. SRI assets have expanded by 76% over the previous two years to a $6.57 trillion at the start of 2014, according to the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, also known as is the US SIF.

Those assets include companies that promote policies such as water conservation and solar energy — which also come under the heading of “impact investing” — and assets that exclude companies that hamper human rights or harm health, such as cigarette producers.

Source: ThinkAdvisor (link opens in a new window)

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corporate social responsibility, impact investing