ESG Investing – The Flexible Advisor

Ep 78: Expand Your ESG Investing Expertise — With Michael Young

By The Flexible Advisor | June 13, 2022

Understanding Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) criteria points and how they relate to investment portfolios is critical for helping your clients navigate ESG issues.

In this episode, Laura Gregg and David Partain talk with Michael Young, Manager of Educational Programs at US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. They discuss ESG investing and how you can better educate yourself and your clients on the topic to generate new conversations and investment strategies.

Michael discusses:

How US SIF has created tools and programs to support advisors in selling sustainable investments
Growing your understanding of ESG alongside your client
Tools and resources that can jumpstart your learning and the integration of ESG data points
How you can begin to measure impact investing to enhance your client conversations
And more

Resources:

Connect With Michael Young:

Linkedin: Michael Young

Connect With Laura Gregg:

Connect With David Partain:

About Our Guest:

Michael Young is the Manager of Educational programs at US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. He is responsible for education initiatives, all US SIF course offerings, and private training services.

He continually develops existing courses, creates educational materials for the US SIF Foundation, and contributes to new materials and resources to advance the field. He presents frequently on sustainable investing at industry events and enjoys sharing the work of US SIF and its membership on podcasts and radio programs.

Michael’s comments have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Investment News, and Bloomberg, among other publications.

Prior to joining US SIF, Michael worked in mutual funds, separately managed accounts, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds. His clients ranged from registered investment advisors and financial planning firms and broker-dealer firms to registered investment companies and hedge funds.

While at AdvisorShares, Michael helped launch the first actively managed fossil fuel free ETF in 2012

Delta expresses the amount of price change a derivative will see based on the price of the underlying security.

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Ep 76: Are Advisors Missing the Forest for the Trees? – Kiley Miller on Sustainable Investing

By The Flexible Advisor | May 20, 2022

As sustainable investing grows in popularity, so do the misconceptions about its framework.

In this episode, Laura Gregg and David Partain speak with Kiley Miller, Director of ESG Investment Solutions at Envestnet.

Kiley is a passionate leader in the ESG investment space. She shares how she is working to help advisors better understand underlying value of ESG information, its various applications, and what it brings to an advisory practice.

Kiley discusses:

The differences between ESG aware and ESG focus
How the industry falls short in helping advisors appreciate sustainable investing
Simple answers to common objections
The value proposition sustainable investing brings to an advisory practice.
And more

Resources:

FlexShares Exchange Traded Funds

Connect With Kelly Miller:

Linkedin: Kiley Miller
Sustainable Me

Connect With Laura Gregg:

Connect With David Partain:

About Our Guest:

Kiley leads ESG product development and ESG product management for PMC’s suite of investment products and service offerings. This includes PMC’s ESG focused managed portfolios and ESG due diligence within manager research. Kiley also oversees ESG and impact data relationships and strategic development of ESG and impact reporting initiatives. Prior to joining PMC in 2019, Kiley was a senior client advisor at Sustainalytics, an ESG research, ratings and analytics firm. There she supported U.S. asset managers to integrate ESG research into the investment process. Kiley also previously worked at the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment. Kiley holds an MS in Sustainability Management from Columbia University. She also holds a BS in Environmental Sustainability with a double minor in Business and Environmental Economics & Law from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Kiley is a CFA Level III Candidate.

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Ep 75: ESG Investing: “This is where people are” – With Jon Hale, Morningstar

By The Flexible Advisor | March 29, 2022

Workers and consumers are holding businesses to higher standards. Why wouldn’t investors do the same? As awareness of environmental, social and governance issues grows, more people are saying ‘I want an investment that’s going to help me reach my financial goals, but I’d like the more sustainable version, please’.

In this episode, Laura Gregg and David Partain speak with Jon Hale, Ph.D., CFA, Director of ESG Strategy at Morningstar. A widely recognized leader in the ESG and sustainable investing field, Jon addresses some persistent misperceptions and explains why he sees ESG becoming a permanent component of investment analysis.

Jon discusses:

Recent commentary in the press
Investing vs. activism
The facts about performance
ESG research and resources at Morningstar
And more

Resources:

Connect With Jon Hale:

Connect With Laura Gregg:

Connect With David Partain:

About Our Guest:

Jon Hale, Ph.D., CFA, is Director of ESG Strategy at Morningstar. Hale focuses on ESG thought leadership and product strategy. Prior to 2021, Jon was Morningstar’s head of sustainable investing research. He directed the company’s research initiatives on sustainable investing, beginning with the launch of the Morningstar Sustainability Rating for funds in 2016.

He has been named to Barron’s list of the 20 most influential people in ESG investing (2018), and in was included in the InvestmentNews’ 10 Leaders of ESG & Impact Investing (2019).