Ethical & Socially Responsible Financial Planning

What is Ethical Financial Planning?

Ethical or Socially Responsible Financial Planning provides a positive way for individuals to match their ideals and principles with their financial needs, typically by adopting an ethical screening process within their financial planning strategy. This process involves evaluating financial services providers and their investments in accordance with a specific set of ethical criteria.

Profit, with a conscience

By investing in businesses that adopt ethical practices, you will actually be helping these companies to continue their good work. Similar logic applies to avoiding companies whose activities you find objectionable. Shareholder power within companies is enormous and many ethical fund managers now use their collective voting power to influence company policy on environmental and social issues.

What are ethical screening criteria?

Ethical screening criteria vary widely between individuals, necessitating a bespoke approach to each portfolio, giving consideration to the personal views and concerns of each client. Typically criteria are split between negative and positive:

Negative Criteria - to be avoided:

· Armaments / Nuclear Weapons

· Repressive Regimes

· Animal Exploitation

· Gambling

· Political Power

· Nuclear Power

· Banks & Third World Debt

· Pornography

· Tobacco or Alcohol Production

· Offensive Advertising

Positive criteria - to be encouraged:

· Pollution control

· Protection of the environment

· Conservation and recycling

· Social housing

· Provision of education

· High employee welfare standards

· Equal opportunities

· Charitable giving

· Community involvement

This list is not exhaustive, but having established your view on each subject area we then seek to select investment holdings that are reflective of your individual concerns.

Our Pedigree

When it comes to investing ethically we, quite literally, wrote the book, publishing the UK's first guide to ethical investments in 1988 and being the first company to include ethical screening questions in our client fact-finding process. We've been at the forefront of the movement for over 20 years, being founding members of the UK Social Investment Forum (UKSIF) and the Ethical Investment Association (EIA) as well as being one of the first subscribers to the Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS). Our expertise is sought by both individuals and other financial service professionals. Michael Daniels currently serves as an adviser to Merchant Investors' Ethical funds.