NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO – FundX Investment Group announced today that it has launched the FundX Sustainable Impact Fund (Ticker: SRIFX). The new fund seeks to help investors own funds with strong returns and robust environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) standards.

“We designed the Sustainable Impact Fund to help investors build wealth and a better world,” said FundX President Janet Brown. “Our goal is to help investors meet lifelong investment goals and make a difference.”

FundX Investment Group, a registered investment advisor, was one of the first firms to manage money using no-load funds in 1969. In addition, they have offered their clients portfolios of self-identified sustainable or socially responsible funds for over two decades.

“The Sustainable Impact Fund uses the same momentum-based Upgrading approach that we’ve used for nearly 50 years, and it also seeks to capitalize on new tools that evaluate the ESG impact of mutual funds,” Brown said.

Previously, investors were limited to self-identified sustainable or socially responsible funds. Morningstar estimates that these funds make up just 2% of the fund universe. Today, there are ESG ratings for thousands of funds and ETFs, which gives investors many more funds to choose from.

FundX’s approach differs from other strategies in three ways. First, it focuses on diversified mutual and exchange traded funds (ETFs), rather than individual stocks. Second, it employs the firm’s time-tested, momentum-based Upgrading approach to target funds with strong recent returns.  Lastly, it uses ESG ratings to screen for funds that have scored highly on environmental, social and governance criteria.