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“You have all this terminology, you have all this jargon between SRI ESG and Impact Investing. The average consumer has no idea what it all means, because it's all just a jumbled mess of acronyms. And so all the noise out there, I think was the biggest challenge for me, just sifting through all of it. And I think it's really easy to get caught up in, in all the noise. and every fund company pretends to have an ESG strategy and ESG educational materials. And, so what I found was really helpful was to, really seek out the, the best possible most credible sources to help me develop a philosophy around my practice.” Michael Reynolds, CSRIC®, AIF®, CFT-I™
Welcome to another episode of “YourStake, Your Story,” a podcast dedicated to telling the stories of financial advisors who lead with socially responsible and values-based investing. In this episode, Gabe Rissman talks with Michael Reynolds of Elevation Financial. Michael is the founder and in an investment advisor, SRI counselor, and accredited investment fiduciary at Elevation Financial. He transitioned to Financial services after his previous job as the founder and head of his digital marketing agency for 23 years. What drove the transition to starting as an RIA was the ability to work with individuals and families directly again and help drive meaningful change in their lives and aligning a client’s values to their investments.
In this episode, Michael and Gabe talk about:
- The trend of more investors being interested in protecting and growing their wealth, but also creating more good with their money in the world.
- How Michael finds his clients ESG interest in his use of a questionnaire, and further conversations with what ESG means to each client.
- The challenges around making the transition to ESG and how the space is constantly evolving.
- The power of shareholder advocacy to drive change at a company level and how to assess that through a client’s investments.
- The future of ESG terminology as new disclosures and rules will bring some standardization to this industry.
About YourStake Your Story:
YourStake aims to provide advisors with everything they need to understand ESG issues, analyze portfolios, and report to clients. We want to equip you with the underlying data and analysis tools to navigate ESG. The YourStake, YourStory podcast is designed to amplify voices in the financial industry who are leading the charge for socially responsible investing practices.
Each episode, we are joined by experts in the field to hear their stories about what brought them into the industry, why they are passionate about ESG and values-based investing, and much more.
Resources:
- YourStake Website
- YourStake, YourStory Podcast Home
- Wealth Redefined(R) with Michael Reynolds
- Elevation Financial
- Michael Reynolds LinkedIn
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