Values-Based Investing Terminology – An Overview of Usage

We talked in our recent paper that there are three primary communication problems for values-based
investing (the generic term that we use to describe these strategies): Murky Terminology, Evolving Context, and Stubborn Perception.

This is the first in a series of three reports we are creating, looking closer at each of these challenges.  In this report, we are focusing on Murky Terminology.  We wanted to get a clearer picture of what investors see when they explore investing options that fit with their values. To do that, we conducted an overview of public-facing websites and other data sources to determine who is saying what, and what conclusions we could draw from those trends.

What we found is that the largest asset managers are coalescing around two preferred terms when discussing values-based investing – but they have a ways to go in terms of following through on what those terms mean.

Click on the link below to find out what terms are taking the lead here and what this means for investment communications moving forward.