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. Socially Responsible-Ethical
Investing
Big, Profitable, Gaining Investor Acceptance
US SIF: 12.2% ($3.07
trillion) Of All Assets ($25.2 trillion) Under Management Involved In
Socially Responsible Investing In 2010. The report further
states that these assets are up over 13 per cent in two years despite
the economic downturn and in an environment where overall assets
increased less than 1 per cent.
US SIF.
press release, November 9, 2010, USA. FTSE4Good:
Global Assets Under Management
Incorporating ESG Now $10.1 Trillion.
"The growth [is] a four-fold increase since 2006.
This growth has been driven by institutional investors,
government regulation, transnational investor-led
initiatives, increased retail investor interest, and
heightened external scrutiny, such as NGOs and the
media."
FTSE4Good 1O years of impact & investment, May
24, 2011, FTSE4Good, UK. Eurosif:
European SRI Assets Up 87% In Two Years, From €2.7
trillion to €5 trillion, As Of December 31, 2009.
European SRI Study 2010, Eurosif, France.
SIO: Canadian SRI Assets At $531 billion As Of June
30, 2010.
SRI represents about one-fifth of total Canadian assets
under management.
Canadian Socially Responsible Investment Review 2010,
May 2011, SIO, Canada. Harvard
Study: High Sustainability Firms Outperform
Financially & In Stock Prices. "Using a matched
sample of 180 companies... we provide evidence that High
Sustainability companies significantly outperform their
counterparts over the long-term, both in terms of stock
market and accounting performance."
The
Impact of a Corporate Culture of Sustainability on
Corporate Behavior and Performance, by Robert Eccles
and George Serafeim of the Harvard Business School and
Ioannis Ioannou, London Business School, November 4,
2011. USA/UK. Allianz Global Investors: ESG
Investing Outperforms. "Introducing
environmental, social and governance [ESG] criteria into
an investor’s stock selection process has no
negative impact and is more likely to lead to
outperformance over the longer term... RCM, a company of Allianz
Global Investors, tested the impact of ESG issues on
portfolio performance over the period 2006 to 2010.
The evidence found investors could have added 1.6% a
year over five years to their investment returns by
allocating to portfolios that invest in companies
with above-average ESG ratings."
ESG investment results in outperformance long term,
by Chris Panteli, August 1, 2011, Professional
Pensions, UK.
Allianz Global Investors: ESG Reduces Portfolio
Risk. "The study found
the tail risk of an ESG risk neutral emerging market
equity strategy defined by the MSCI Emerging Markets
Index can be reduced from -64.5 p.a. to -38.8 per
cent. The same is true for corporate bonds defined
by the Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market Corporate
Index, it added, where the tail risk ‒ measured as
conditional value at risk (95 per cent) of the
default strategy ‒ can be reduced from -8.1 per cent
p.a. to -4.9 per cent. ESG risk factors are also
important for core asset classes such as developed
market equity." Source document
Click here.
ESG Strategies Improve Efficiency, April 19,
2011, Benefits & Pensions Monitor, Canada.
Swiss Bank Sarasin: Country's Sustainability Linked To Their
Sovereign Bonds' Performance. "The performance of
government bonds issued by countries living within
their ecological means has been better than those
pursuing unsustainable policies, according to
research by Bank Sarasin."
Sovereign bond returns linked to sustainability –
Sarasin, by Mark Nicholls, July 25, 2011,
Environmental Finance, UK.
Canadians View SRIs As Futuristic & Win-Win
For Individuals & Society, Says Ipsos Survey.
- [COMMENTARY]
"Canadian
investors are generally favourable towards SRI. A
third (32%) said they are 'very' or 'somewhat'
interested. [Additionally] 55 per cent indicated
that they would consider SRI if the return was 'as
good or better' than other investments... The
majority of investors surveyed view SRIs as
'futuristic' (78%) and 'a win-win for the individual
and society' (77%)."
Socially responsible investing consumer driven:
Ipsos survey, press release, October 27, 2011,
Ipsos Reid/Standard Life, Canada. 38% Of UK Investors Interested In Green Or
Ethical Financial Products Or Services, Says EIRIS.
UK ethical investment hits record £11.3Bn high,
press release, October 6, 2011, EIRIS, UK. 60% Of French Retail Investors Attach
Importance To Environmental, Social & Ethical
Factors.
Ethical investment: are the French public
interested? October 6, 2011, EIRIS, UK.
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.
In 2010, he became a financial and
economics columnist for
alrroya.com, a leading Middle Eastern business
portal/publication.
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 became a teacher of Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi's Transcendental Meditation (TM) programme in 1972
and taught it for almost thirty years. During the 1990s,
he was regarded as North America’s most successful
marketer and instructor of the programme to executives,
having given over 2,000 TM sales presentations and
seminars.
He taught TM at leading North
American corporations such as the Toronto-Dominion Bank
and The Bank of Nova Scotia; at elite health clubs such
as the Granite Club and The Fitness Institute (both of
Toronto); and have 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
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
-
SOP Radio's Judyth Piazza interviews Ron Robins about
Sustainable-Green Country bonds and Green Jobs, November 27, 2011.
-
Financial Impact Factor Radio. Hosts Paul Petillo and Dave
Kittredge interview Ron Robins for 60 minutes on socially
responsible investing, October 24, 2011.
-
The Green
Leader Radio Show host, Robert Thompson, interviews Ron Robins
on green investing, July 25, 2011.
-
SOP, Judyth Piazza chats with Ron Robins, Financial and
Economics Columnist for alrroya.com, June 1, 2011.
-
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 or Investing for the Soul
-
The US has More Than $6.00 Of Debt For Every $1.00 Of Income,
by Robert Lenzner, June 14, 2011, Streettalk, Forbes, USA.
-
Socially Responsible Investing, by Ron Robins, September
2010, Benefits and Pensions Monitor, Canada.
-
GETTING PERSONAL CANADA: Virtue May Now Trump Vice,
by Monica Gutschi, August 11, 2010, The Wall
Street Journal, USA.
-
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.
Ron Robins
Editorials at
Investing for the Soul, for blog posts see Enlightened
Economics,
and weekly columns at
alrroya.com |
