Wealth in Words

In The Last Safe Investment, authors Bryan Franklin and Michael Ellsberg describe a different path we can take toward acquiring true wealth . Ultimately they argue that we should double-down on investing and spending on ourselves  to develop our unique abilities. Not only will this pay future dividends  but it will also allow for you to live a more fulfilling present life, immersed in your passions. In order to achieve our best lives, the authors suggest that we develop two skill sets. First, we need to build our market skills. Market skills allow us to offer something to the workforce. For example, you go to college and study finance with a specialty in accounting and then earn your CPA designation. You have acquired the market skill of accounting and can use that to earn a living. While this path is reliable and traditional, there are inherent limitations noted by the authors. For instance, a market skill is not terribly unique and will not allow for you to differen...

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is an investment style that caters to environmental, social, and corporate governance concerns. A socially responsible investment has two mandates: find companies that promote positive social impact as well as offer opportunity for financial gain. As it turns out, the two are not mutually exclusive. For example, from 1990 through 2013 an investment in the MSCI KLD 400 Social Index would have produced a higher return on your investment than a buy and hold strategy with the S&P 500 Index. Visually, the chart below dispels the myth that investors may sacrifice some potential gains in order to meet their socially-conscious investment objective. Instead, the opposite may be true. That is, socially responsible companies may make better products and earn more money for their shareholders, thereby creating long-term value through a higher share price. As the markets have evolved so too have SRI objectives, driven by shifts in societal and i...