Editor's Note: This post originally appeared in Green Money Journal. Click here to view more posts in this series.
By Cliff Feigenbaum
Green Money Journal's new issue has an impressive set of five articles that all come from millennial voices and deal with their approaches to investing and business.
In the July edition, Liesel Pritzker Simmons of Blue Haven Initiative walks us through the experiences that have shaped her thoughts on investing, while offering some suggestions for financial advisors; Julius Tapper of TD Bank Group provides a personal story about the importance of aligning identities in the investment world; Morgan Simon of Pi Investments & Transform Finance pushes us to achieve more community accountability and more actively engage the people that matter most in impact investing; Brian Weinberg of Nexus describes the global organizing of millennials taking place through Nexus; and Justin Conway of Calvert Foundation provide some observations of how millennials are already changing the investment conversation.
Take some time to read these article excerpts, below, from some millennial leaders who are actively pushing the envelope in helping to shape how not just millennials, but all of us, think about and engage in investing and business. We hope you find some of their perspectives exciting and challenging, and ultimately cause you to be more inspired in your work to build a better world. We’ve certainly got a lot of work to do together.
An Open Letter to the Financial Services Industry from a Concerned Millennial
By Liesel Pritzker Simmons, Blue Haven Initiative
As millennials we want our work to have meaning for ourselves and the world, and we place a higher value on consumer goods that have some sort of beneficial social or environmental impact. Although we are generally more conservative in our investment decisions than previous generations (can you blame us?), we are willing to take on more financial risk if it increases exposure to ESG impact.
There is little doubt in my mind that the plethora of recent studies on millennials, and particularly the way they intend to invest their money, will continue to multiply, for underpinning nearly every report is one essential, ubiquitous fact: millennials will inherit over $30 trillion from the baby boomers in North America alone. This is the largest transfer of wealth the world has seen to date, and it could present an enormous opportunity for the financial services industry. If only advisors knew what these selfish, self-less millennials wanted to do with their assets...?
Millennials: Changing The Investment Conversation
By Justin Conway, Calvert Foundation
Amidst all the talk about the trillions of dollars in wealth transfer and flood of stats coming-out about millennials, I thought I'd spend some time talking about what I see millennial investors doing as it relates to investing. I do so from my role at Calvert Foundation, working with investors, their financial advisors, their brokerage firms, and the entrepreneurs and organizations creating local solutions in their communities.
Where's the Community Accountability in Impact Investing
By Morgan Simon, Pi Investments and Transform Finance
The concept of impact investment that has the explicit purpose of supporting economic and community development is receiving a growing amount of attention from an increasingly diverse set of financial players. This emerging trend is one of the most exciting, and potentially problematic, trends I've seen over the last decade.
Nexus: Millennials on a Mission
By Brian Weinberg, Nexus
Let me beginning by answering the question, What is Nexus? At its core, Nexus is a movement. Practically speaking, it is a leading convener of young wealth holders and social entrepreneurs on topics related to philanthropy, impact investing and global problem solving. The network boasts over 2,000 members from 70 countries all dedicated to a better world.
Pride: Identity and Investing
By Julius Tapper, TD Bank Group
Having been called on as a millennial to share my story for this article, I'm a little less suspicious of the label, and a little more interested in exploring what it means to me and what it might mean for the investment community. All of this talk of identity may seem a little sentimental for an investment publication, but I argue that identity will be a critical consideration for the investment community going forward.
Image courtesy of Green Money
