From “The Social Justice Investor: Advance Your Values While Building Wealth, Whether a Few Dollars or Millions” by Andrea Longton, CFA
Other than the standard annual check-in with her financial advisor, she hadn’t peeked under the hood of her portfolio in years. Was it even possible to use her investments to create safe, affordable housing in New York City?
Nicole called her financial advisor to find out. After a thorough conversation, she updated her investment strategy to reflect her goals: maintain an investment portfolio that delivered a consistent financial return of 6%, while choosing investments reflecting Nicole’s belief that every person had the right to safe, affordable housing.
During a portfolio review, her financial advisor asked Nicole to consider investing in an exchange-traded fund (a basket of stocks often referred to by its acronym, ETF) that capitalized affordable housing developers. The ETF projected a financial return of 8% (exceeding Nicole’s “sustainable” target of 6%) while projecting the collective creation of 1.5 million units of affordable housing in the next three years.