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
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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.
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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 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.
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The Media & Government Statistics, by Ron Robins, The
Corporate Ethics Monitor, September-October 2006.
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The passion of investing. Putting your beliefs to work for
higher returns, by Thomas Kostigen, CBS MarketWatch, August 23,
2005.
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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.
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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 |
