Press Kit - Investing for the Soul
Mission
Research shows that though most investors want to engage
in ethical investing, they have great difficulty in doing so. The mission of Investing for the Soul is
to help these investors do that and to assist investment professionals in
appropriately servicing clients with such interests.
Facts
-
UK investors
asked: "How important do you think it is for companies to take
social, environmental and ethical issues seriously?’ Some 47% of
those surveyed replied ‘very seriously’ and a further 40% ‘fairly
seriously." F&C Investments, (UK) January 2007.
-
The "Financial community should pay more attention
to social and environmental performance when valuing companies" --
84% of Canadian shareholders agreed with this statement.
Survey by GlobeScan, February 2004.
-
"Discussed Corporate Social Responsibility
performance of companies in investment portfolio with financial
advisor" -- just 13% of Canadian shareholders and 8% of advisors
brought-up this subject when discussing investments. GlobeScan, February 2004.
-
"92% of [US]
investors said they now want their financial advisors to investigate
the ethical as well as financial performance of investments before
making recommendations." Harris Interactive survey for
Calvert Mutual Funds Group (US), released November, 2003.
-
Despite the
growing and significant shareholder interest in socially responsible
investing (SRI), US registered
investment advisors (RIA's) still show a bias when it comes to
recommending SRI to their clients. The average respondent {advisor}
has only 2.5% of assets in SRI funds and only 20% of them research
and recommend SRI funds. Data from a survey by Citizens Advisers
with readers of Registered Rep magazine, April 2006.
Concerning growth and performance of socially
responsible investing
-
"Socially responsible investment (SRI) assets grew
faster than the entire universe of managed assets in the United
States during the last 10 years, according to the Social Investment
Forum’s fifth biennial report on SRI trends. Total socially
responsible investment assets rose more than 258 percent from $639
billion in 1995 to $2.29 trillion in 2005, while the broader
universe of assets under professional management increased less than
249 percent from $7 trillion to $24.4 trillion over the same
period." Social Investment Forum."
-
A higher percentage of SRI (Socially
Responsible Investing) funds have repeatedly
received four or five star (Morningstar) ratings than one would
statistically expect, during 2001 to 2003." From 2003 Report on
Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States, p.
45, Social Investment Forum.
-
In
Canada, out-performance has been
recorded by the Jantzi Social Index (JSI). As of June, 2007,
"From its inception on January 1, 2000 through June
30, 2007, the JSI achieved an annualized return of
9.17%, while the S&P/TSX Composite and the S&P/TSX
60 had annualized returns of 8.80% and 8.40%
respectively, over the same period." See
Jantzi Social Index.
Ron Robins, MBA
His personal mission is to help investors bring their
higher values into investing decisions. This arose
out of discussions, beginning in the 1960s, with
numerous investors seeking to bring their spiritual,
ethical, and ecological values into their investment
selections.
Current Activities
Mr. Robins was, and still is, a pioneer in the concept
of ethical investing. To help in this task, he conceived
and created
Investing for the Soul in 2001. By 2005,
Investing for the Soul was offering
Ethical Investing Workshops and
Ethical Investing Services,
talks, and enjoying
widespread
media coverage. The workshops and services
show/assist investors and investment professionals in
finding, researching, and evaluating investments
according to a set of desired personal values.
In 2007,
he added
Ethical Investing News & Commentary to his website;
an e-newsletter
The Soul Investor;
and the
Enlightened Economics blog to create a
discussion in formulating a practical economics that
integrates consciousness, natural-law, and free-market
theory.
Please
not though, Mr. Robins is not an investment advisor and
does not make investment recommendations.
Background/Education
Mr. Robins was born in 1948 in London, England, and
immigrated to Canada in 1967. His education includes
business and spiritual studies at institutions of higher
learning in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada and
the United States. Among his many qualifications are an
MBA degree (joint major in finance and marketing), and
Honours standing in the Canadian Securities Course.
Prior Investment Industry
Experience
Mr. Robins has held investment analyst positions at two
leading investment firms. Firstly at Bongard Leslie &
Co. Ltd.—now for many years part of BMO Nesbitt Burns,
Canada. This was followed by a more senior analyst
position at Babson Canadian Reports, a distinguished
Canadian investment advisor/manager in the 1970s that
had an arms-length relationship to the prestigious U.S.
investment firm, David L. Babson & Co. Inc., of
Cambridge, Massachusetts. At Babson’s, Mr. Robins also
edited their weekly investment newsletter.
In the
late 1990s, Mr. Robins worked for five successful
years in a small Toronto investment boutique in global
private investment securities sales to wealthy Americans
and Europeans.
Teaching TM to Executives
Mr. Robins has also practiced and taught Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation (TM) programme
for over 30 years. He is regarded as North America’s
most successful marketer and instructor of this
programme to executives, having given over 2,000 TM
sales presentations and seminars. He has taught TM at
leading North American corporations such as the
Toronto-Dominion Bank and The Imperial Life Assurance
Co. of Canada; at elite health clubs such as the Granite
Club and The Fitness Institute; and has been a keynote
speaker at functions of many organizations, Chambers of
Commerce and Rotary Clubs.
His
studies in spirituality have involved years in
seclusion. It is his inner experiences of the beatitude
within that greatly motivates him on his present path.
Media
Coverage
Mr. Robins has also achieved significant media
successes by authoring, publishing and promoting
numerous articles and media stories on investment
related matters, the TM programme, and spirituality.
These stories included feature articles in the
Financial Post, MarketWatch, The Toronto Star, and in
broadcast media interviews with CFRB Radio and CBC Radio
One, Toronto. Mr. Robins is
also writing a book with the title, "Investing for
the Soul -- Investing for Superior Profits and Spiritual
Fulfillment."
TV & Radio interviews with Ron Robins discussing Investing for the Soul
-
Report on Business Television, Business Morning, with Jim
O'Connell, June 21, 2005, at 11:15am
-
CIUT
Radio, Toronto, The First Word with host Wendy Baker,
June 20, 2005, at 9:15am.
-
Rogers Television (Cable 10 & 63),
Toronto, Money Line with host Linda Leatherdale, November 15,
2004, 7pm-8pm.
-
CBC Radio
One, Toronto, Metro
Morning with Michael Hlinka, (business commentator), and Andy
Berry (host), September 20, 2004 at 6:45am.
-
680 News, Toronto,
Weekend Business Minute with James Munroe,
played repeatedly throughout the day of September 18, 2004.
-
ENN Radio, U.S. With interviewer Jerry Kay, August 4, 2004.
Played repeatedly on their member stations and the SIRIUS Satellite
Network.
Published articles by, or about, Ron Robins
& Investing for the Soul
-
Ron Robins:
Investing for the Soul, by Vita Sgardello, VITA Europe,
November 5, 2008.
-
The Ethics of Statistics, by Ron Robins, Canadian
Treasurer, October-November, 2007.
-
The Media & Government Statistics, by Ron Robins, The
Corporate Ethics Monitor, September-October 2006.
-
The passion of investing. Putting your beliefs to work for
higher returns, by Thomas Kostigen, CBS MarketWatch, August 23,
2005.
-
Investing using a 2,000-year-old strategy, by Michael Swan,
The Catholic Register, August 15, 2005.
-
Listen to this. Pension education can be an employee benefit,
by Ron Robins, Canadian Treasurer, December 2005/ January
2006.
-
Moral Investing: How pension education can be an employee benefit.
by Ron Robins, HR Professional, April-May, 2005. Discusses
the reasons why companies should offer socially and environmentally
responsible investing workshops for their employees.
-
Moral
Investing: Employers should offer employees workshops on ethical
investing for their RRSPs,
by Ron Robins, Straight Goods, June 13, 2005.
-
Soul man preaches 'values' investing, by William Hanley,
Financial Post, FP Money, September 11, 2004. An article about Ron
Robins and Investing for the Soul.
-
Good for the soul, if not the wallet, by Jonathon Chevreau,
Financial Post, FP Investing, September 14, 2004. An article
about Ron Robins and the performance of Canadian socially
responsible investing mutual funds.
-
A Healthy Investment,
by Ron Robins, New Directions,
October/November, 2004, P. 32. An article relating our health
to the health of our investments.
-
Investing for the Soul Workshop, by Ron Robins,
Vitality, September, 2004, P.134.
-
Careful about your food, what about your investments? by Ron
Robins, Lifelines (publication of the Toronto Vegetarian
Association), September-October, 2004, front-page. (PDF)
-
The Unfulfilled
Investor, by Ron Robins, FORUM, Social Investment
Organization, Canada, June 2003, P. 9.
Editorials by Ron Robins for Investing for
the Soul
-
'Best In
Class' Focus Provides Premium Returns, December 22, 2009.
-
Blogs for Ethical Investors, July 19, 2009,
-
Voluntary Simplicity? An Ethical Investing Perspective, May 13,
2009.
-
Can SRI Ratings Predict Stock & Portfolio Performance? March 13,
2009.
-
Can SRI Ratings Predict Corporate Behaviour? March 13, 2009.
-
Investing Returns: Virtue vs. Sin, December 12, 2008.
-
We Need Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reporting,
October 17, 2008.
-
Top
Ethical Investing Indices: A Global Overview, September 5, 2008.
-
Advisor: KNOW
Your Client. It means more now. August 12, 2008.
-
LOHAS -
opportunities for ethical investors, June 3, 2008.
-
Everyone becoming a Cultural Creative, May 22, 2008.
-
Retiring the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), May 8,
2008.
-
Unethical US Job Numbers?
Revised and updated December 13, 2007.
-
Unethical Statistics – the US consumer price index?
Revised and updated, December 14, 2007.
Blog posts by Ron Robins -- see
Enlightened
Economics |
