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

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Amid growing investor interest in integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into investing, the Money Management Institute (MMI) and The Investment Integration Project (TIIP) have introduced a new guide to help  financial advisors effectively integrate sustainable investment into their practices.

The guide, entitled “Fundamentals of Sustainable Investment: A guide for financial advisors,” addresses pervasive industry myths about sustainable investing, disentangles the complicated web of vocabulary used to describe the approach, and provides practical recommendations on how to help clients reach their sustainable investing goals.

Co-authored by William Burckart and Jessica Ziegler of TIIP, the guide is informed by extensive interviews with leading financial advisors and other sustainable investment thought leaders and influencers. Outlining a practical four-step process for how FAs can talk with their clients about sustainable investment, it helps advisors to:

• Prepare for conversations with clients about sustainable investment by learning about the sustainable investment products that are available to them,
• Discover client sustainability goals through structured conversations,
• Recommend strategies that reflect risk tolerance, financial goals, and sustainability goals, and
• Manage sustainable investment progress over time through appropriate monitoring and reporting.

The guide is appropriate for both independent and affiliated financial advisors, those with sustainable investment experience and those without. Beyond providing a “how to” for discussing sustainable investment with clients, the guide debunks common myths about sustainable investment and ESG and untangles and clarifies the often-overwhelming range of sustainable investment-related jargon.

It answers common questions from financial advisors, including: When should I discuss sustainable investment with clients? What exactly should I say? How should I conduct the conversation? How do I translate the discussion into action?

The guide includes four hypothetical “real world” scenarios – situations that financial advisors might recognize – and suggests how advisors can identify and address specific clients’ sustainable investment wants and needs. A series of appendices accompany the guide, including a checklist and talking points for advisor-client sustainable investment conversations, as well as examples of sustainability performance reports to help financial advisors better understand the what, why, and how of sustainability performance monitoring.

The development of the guide was sponsored by Bank of America Global Wealth and Investment Management, High Meadows Institute, Money Management Institute, State Street Corporation, and Thornburg Investment Management.

Photo courtesy of Dean Hochman.