Increasingly, and certainly over the last few years I’m having significantly more conversations with clients who are interested in having conversations about their wealth not only helps them achieve their financial goals but also are interested in the impact their investments have on the world.

As an independent financial planning firm, it’s important that our starting point is always the same. Initially it’s about understanding how important this is to our individual clients. 

We’re not here to judge what’s right but we are here to help facilitate the right solution for our clients. 

We do this by listening and helping our clients understand the options available when it come to investing their money. 

So, if you’re interested in making sure that your money grows in a way which helps support your goals and contributes positively to the world then we’ve been working hard building solutions which work.

One important disclaimer on this point. 

When it comes to investing for good, as with so much in life, there is no ‘perfect’. We believe based on the independent research we’ve done over the past 2 years that the solutions we have are market leading and we review these portfolios regularly to make sure they continue to work for our clients.

However, there’s always going to be conflicts of interest in this space (greenwashing being the most prominent). One of the things I’ve thought about a lot over the past 18 months is how we make sure our new portfolios do their job efficiently and cost effectively as well as avoiding many of the conflicts involved in building an efficient solution for individuals who want to achieve their financial goals whilst controlling the impact these investments have. 

Avoiding all conflicts at all times is impossible and I’m happy to chat through in more depth  the due diligence process we went through, the client consultations we conducted and the work we did to make sure the solutions were good.

So, in this article I want to explain the three main portfolios most of our clients use and the difference between the three.

For the majority of the client money, we look after we use our Cervello Core portfolios.

These portfolios follow clear evidence led investment principles are widely diversified and meet all of the principals of investing we follow. However our Core portfolios are designed to simply invest well with no particular bias towards companies who are making a positive impact.

We use Dimensional fund investors for this portfolio.

The first of our two new portfolios is our Cervello Earth portfolio. This portfolio is designed to follow all of the principals we know work. It keeps costs low. It broadly diversifies. However it does so with a difference to our core porfolios.

The Cervello Earth portfolio is designed to favour companies who follow specific Environmental, Social and Governance standards. This means that more of your investment is used to invest in companies who have committed to do more to support the planet, their communities and to ensure their businesses are well run.
These portfolios are run by EBI Portfolios.

For our clients who are looking to make a direct investment into companies who actively do good in the world then our Cervello Impact portfolios might be worth considering.

These portfolios only invest in companies designed to have a positive impact on the world. Now it’s important to mention that whilst the Cervello Core and Cervello Earth portfolios are really well diversified the Impact portfolio is less so. The reality is that you need to take a more active management style to ensure that you only invest in companies doing good in the world.

However for those of you who either believe that the future growth of companies who contribute positively is bright and you want to make sure your capital has the maximum positive impact then this portfolio might be worth discussing.

These portfolios are run for us by EQ Investors.

I’m excited to talk to you about how we’ve tried to make sure we’ve built amazing solutions which allows us now to have conversations not only about a positive achievement of your financial goals but the options you’ve got to ensure your capital might have a positive impact on the world too.

As always, if you’d like to talk about the subject we’re here to help and support you if we can.