Saturday, March 16, 2013

An Hippocratic Oath for Stewardship Investors

First, do no harm.

That is an oath physicians take on caring for the biophysical integrity of the human body.

Stewardship investors should take a similar oath when caring for the financial integrity of their entrusted funds. Good stewardship investing achieves its financial goals without oppressing workers, despoiling the environment, defrauding other investors (stewardship or otherwise) or fomenting international discord.  

There is an important conversation to be had about how much more of a positive impact stewardship investors can be expected to have on societal values, but at a minimum they should be both empowered and expected to do no harm to society, to the environment and to the economy more generally in pursuit of their required financial returns.

This they can do by re-taking control of the decision to reinvest, so that they can always be directing their investments directly into real new value creation, where new value is being created, as value creation within the economy changes over time, and from time to time.  

That's the new stewardship portfolio design paradigm: a portfolio that evolves as the economy evolves.

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