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      Ron
   Robins
     MBA

 Founder
& Analyst

Media Coverage of Investing for the Soul

Editorials

Shareholder Values

 
"Of the 1,003 investors surveyed, nearly half (49%) said that over the next 12 months they were likely to invest in a company or mutual fund looking to provide solutions for environmental problems."
--
Allianz Global Investors
   
(USA) January 2008

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

84% of Canadian shareholders agreed with this statement: "[The] financial community should pay more attention to social and environmental performance when valuing companies."
-- GlobeScan
   
(Canada) February 2004

 

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

              Founder & Analyst, Investing for the Soul
                 
Publisher & Editor, The Soul Investor
                  
Blog Author, Enlightened Economics



His personal mission is to help investors bring their higher values into investing decisions. This mission arose out of discussions, beginning in the 1960s, with numerous investors seeking to bring their spiritual, ethical, and ecological values into their investment selections.

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 investors and investment professionals how to find, research, and evaluate ethical stocks and bonds. In 2007, he added Ethical Investing News & Commentary to this 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.

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. 

Mr. Robins has held investment analyst positions at two leading investment firms. First 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 firm in global private investment securities sales to wealthy Americans and Europeans.  

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.

Mr. Robins is also writing a book with the title, "Investing for the Soul--Investing for Superior Profits and Spiritual Fulfillment." In addition, he has achieved significant media successes by authoring, publishing and promoting numerous articles and media stories on the TM programme, spirituality, and investment related matters. These stories included feature articles in the Financial Post, The Toronto Star, and in broadcast media interviews with CFRB Radio and CBC Radio One, Toronto.

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

  • 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. (PDF)

  • 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. (PDF)

  • 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

Blog posts by Ron Robins -- see  Enlightened Economics

 

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Disclaimer: This website does not make investment recommendations. Nothing in this site should be interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation to buy/sell any securities or investments. Investing for the Soul is a source of general information and resources for spiritual investing, ethical investing, and socially responsible investing (SRI). Investors should consider their actions thoroughly and consult their financial advisers and other professionals, prior to taking any investment action. This website does not necessarily agree with the opinions expressed in articles on its pages or offered on the web pages to which it might be linked. Such opinions are the responsibility of the writers themselves. Furthermore, this site does not offer or provide any warranties, representations, guarantees, implied or otherwise, as to the accuracy, legality, copyright compliance, timeliness or usefulness of the information, materials or services on this, or other sites, to which it is linked.

 

Investing for the Soul is a registered business name in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

Sunburst image in logo complements of http//:freeimages.co.uk             Copyright © 2003-2008 Ron Robins. All rights reserved.