According to the Social Investment Forum...

...Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is a broad-based approach to investing that now encompasses an estimated $2.71 trillion out of $25.1 trillion in the U.S. investment marketplace today. SRI recognizes that corporate responsibility and societal concerns are valid parts of investment decisions. SRI considers both the investor's financial needs and an investment’s impact on society. SRI investors encourage corporations to improve their practices on environmental, social, and governance issues. You may also hear SRI-like approaches to investing referred to as mission investing, responsible investing, double or triple bottom line investing, ethical investing, sustainable investing, or green investing.

As a result of its investing strategies, SRI also works to enhance the bottom lines of the companies in question and, in so doing, delivers more long-term wealth to shareholders. In addition, SRI investors seek to build wealth in underserved communities worldwide. With SRI, investors can put their money to work to build a more sustainable world while earning competitive returns both today and over time.

Socially responsible investors include individuals and also institutions, such as corporations, universities, hospitals, foundations, insurance companies, public and private pension funds, nonprofit organizations, and religious institutions. Institutional investors represent the largest and fastest growing segment of the SRI world.

SRI In My Practice

As the world has developed the past few decades, and recently accelerated that pace of developement, mankind has put tremendous strains on the planet's resources.  Of the utmost importance for any investor to understand, socially responsible or not, is this quote from Vinod Khosla, "500 million people on earth enjoy a lifestyle that 9 billion people will want in 2050.”

It is clear that we are entering a period where concerns about energy, water, arable land, air quality, climate change, global health and national security are peaking after decades of ebbing and flowing with the political winds. The developments that are taking place and will continue over the next few decades which are designed to avoid war, catastrophies and human tragedy of epic proportions later this century are evident. 

I have spent much of the last two decades learning the economics of socially responsible investing and its various subsets of investments.  So, while there other social issues to be concerned with than those noted here, it is global healthcare, water resources, sustainable agriculture and perhaps the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime, alternative energy- which impacts our standard of living and national security in the most profound ways, that I focus on due to the immense investment opportunities.

Consider these quotes about alternative energy:

Ted Turner, billionaire business man: I’d be investing in clean, renewable energy. The big new fortunes of the future are going to be made by those who develop alternatives to burning fossil fuels.

George Soros, billionaire investor who commited $1.1 billion to alternative energy investments in 2009: ...we have a big problem. Global warming. It requires big investment. And that could be the motor of the world economy in the years to come.

Vinod Khosla, billionaire venture capitalist and Founder of Sun Microsystems, who recently invested over $1 billion towards alternative energy development: You can "absolutely" make money by going green.

Barack Obama, President of the United States: To truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy.

Also notable are multi-million dollar investments by Bill Gates and Rockefeller family into alternative energy.  So while it is not only likely moral to invest with a socially responsible tilt, socially responsible investments are also quite likely among the most profitable and least risky (when done well) investment opportunities available to you.

As a result of the times we live in, especially due to the growth of the world population and gradual scarcity of many resources, I am always on the lookout for investments and asset classes that will benefit from trying to solve the problems we face.  To date, we have made some investments in most of the areas mentioned above and will continue to do so as volatility gives us attractive entry prices.

Socially Responsible Links

Forwardly looking,

Kirk Spano