Better client relationships
Many advisers comment on the benefits of ethical investment in terms of the type of client it attracts. They tend to be educated and caring and, as one adviser puts it, 'nice people to deal with'.
Case Study: Brigid Benson, Global & Ethical Investment Advice (GAEIA)
Brigid Benson lists the quality of her relationship with her clients as a benefit of ethical investment. "It is nice to be able to talk about things besides money", she explains. "It strengthens your relationship with people when you chat to them about their value systems".
"Ethical investors tend to be more demanding at the beginning", she concedes, "but they tend to be thoughtful, educated and caring people and very nice to deal with". Brigid Benson first became interested in the concept of ethical investment fourteen years ago when she was working for a charity campaigning for human rights. The organisation she worked for decided to set up a pension fund for its employees and they searched around looking for an investment that would not compromise their position by investing in South Africa during apartheid.
Benson realised that ethical investment was an area that many of her friends and contacts would be very interested in, if only they knew about it. A year later she joined a conventional firm of Independent Financial Advisers, training and working with them for several years. During that time, she persuaded the firm to ask their clients if they had any ethical requirements.
In 1993 Benson founded Global and Ethical Investment Advice (GAEIA). Like most IFAs they began with individual investors and now have a client base of 2,500 including institutions, charities and group pension funds. She says, "Members of the public are making connections between money and values. Surveys suggest that the majority of people do care about society, the wider community and the quality of life".
Many of her clients are people who used to keep their money in building societies because they were concerned about the stock market, some didn't really understand it and others were worried that their money would be used to invest in companies that are big polluters. "Most of my clients are relieved that their money will be invested with thought and care", she explains.
