Resources

Stories, articles, and interviews designed to get you thinking about new ways to connect with your clients and their values

The Future Looks Green With A Change Of Power

January 19, 2021

While COVID-19 certainly dominated headlines in 2020, the world also faced a record year for climate-related disasters, including massive wildfires, floods, and hurricanes. Having cited climate change as the “number one issue facing humanity,” President-elect Joe Biden seems likely to drive ESG-friendly policy initiatives particularly directed at such crises, all while aggressively moving the economy toward a long-term carbon transition. Now, under a unified government, such policies have a clear path forward, suggesting investors can expect ESG issues to become increasingly relevant to the success of companies—and therefore increasingly important to asset managers and investors—in the years ahead.

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New York State Unveils Bold Green Economy Plan

January 15, 2021

As the country awaits the transition to a new administration, the way political talking points from the campaign trail become policy reality comes into sharper focus. In particular, Biden’s sweeping plans to prioritize climate issues and move the economy onto a more sustainable path will likely give guidance to other politicians and policymakers at all levels across the country.

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Top 2020 Trends & New Year Updates

December 31, 2020

As we head into year-end, we wanted to share some thoughts on 2020's top industry trends along with a sneak peek at exciting New Year updates to the Seeds platform. We know what advisors who recognize these trends can accomplish, especially with a little help from their friends at Seeds.

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Seeds Investor Featured on "The ESG Update" Podcast by Change Finance

November 25, 2020

Our CEO sat down with Change Finance to talk all things ESG, from funds flows to how advisors can leverage tech to discuss values and deepen client relationships.

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The DOL Missed The Boat As The ESG Tide Continues To Rise

November 3, 2020
Zach Conway

The newly finalized DOL rule limiting ESG in retirement accounts not only perpetuates fallacies but misses a critical opportunity to actually serve investors.

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It’s Too Late If Clients Are Starting The ESG Conversation

October 6, 2020
Zach Conway

Advisors recognize the need for proactive engagement with clients. Talking to them about aligning personal values with portfolios shouldn’t be the exception to that rule.

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From our CEO with U.S. News & World Report

September 18, 2020
Rebecca Lake, Contributer

U.S. News & World Report: 7 Best ESG Funds to Buy. These funds promote societal progress. Investing with environmental, social and governance, or ESG, issues as a focus emphasizes the concept of sustainability in a portfolio. When you invest in ESG mutual funds, you're backing companies that are committed to following best practices in regard to environmental impacts, social responsibility and corporate governance. The incorporation of ESG metrics in investment management could become an industry standard in the coming years, says Zach Conway, CEO of financial services firm Seeds. "While much of the industry still thinks of ESG as a stand-alone asset class, prudent investors and asset managers instead recognize it as another lens through which to view and assess a company's likelihood of future success." If you're interested in giving back with your investments, here are seven of the best ESG funds for achieving that goal.

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Summit Financial Partners with Seeds to Introduce ESG Investment Resource for Advisors

August 6, 2020
Summit Financial

Summit Financial, a prominent financial services firm for top independent and breakaway advisors, has partnered with Seeds, a new ESG-investment platform that allows financial advisors to assess the personal values of clients and automatically design tailored sustainable investment solutions that align those values with financial goals. Summit has supported the development of Seeds, which became available to Summit advisors as the platform’s exclusive first users as of July 15, 2020.

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As Social Issues Own The National Conversation, Investors Can Use Money To Talk

August 5, 2020
Zach Conway

As the country endures an ongoing pandemic and social unrest following the murder of George Floyd, tragedy has at least offered the positive byproduct of pushing both social and environmental issues into the national conversation. And arguably more so than at any point in recent history, people feel outright obligated to convert that conversation into active engagement and change, made most evident by the massive protests across the country.

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The modern investor guide: Tackling sustainable investing’s most common myths

July 6, 2020
Zach Conway

For years, the status quo has dismissed socially conscious investing as the well-intentioned but misguided philosophy of naïve investors. To some, investment decisions should prioritize returns above all else, regardless of personal values that might directly conflict with the investment itself.

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How voting with our dollars hits our political divide, our problems and our pockets

February 3, 2020
Zach Conway

In our beautifully complicated representative democracy, we have the privilege of enduring years of dramatized, spectacular political debate, all leading up to a high-stakes binary choice. And after all the televised and tweeted hysteria,

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Socially responsible investing has a politics problem

April 2, 2019
Zach Conway

As a topic up for public discussion, socially conscious investing comes with some political touchiness, mostly thanks to its inherent interconnection with the broader climate science debate. Just as our overall political climate has pulled us further apart and closer to the poles of our partisan spectrum, the divisiveness surrounding socially conscious investing has created the appearance of two camps in total opposition. And just as in our political discourse, fundamentally important nuance falls to the wayside.

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4 Ways the financial industry fails socially conscious investors

April 5, 2018
Zach Conway

For years, financial institutions and advisors have dismissed socially conscious investing as the well-intentioned but misguided philosophy of naïve investors. To the old guard, investment decisions should prioritize returns above all else, regardless of personal values that might directly conflict with the investment itself. The idea that investing could and should serve a dual purpose—to improve both performance and the world—has forever clashed with the “greed is good” cutthroat convictions of Wall Street.

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