Benefits

Socially responsible investing (SRI) as widely practiced suffers from generic strategies that charge high fees and deliver underwhelming results. Institutions and high-net worth investors should not have to settle for substandard forms of SRI. With Aperio, they don’t.

Aperio’s Socially Responsive Indexing strategy resonates with investors because it delivers portfolios that are closely aligned with their ethical and social values without surrendering the benefits of traditional indexing: low cost, transparency and diversification.

But our strategy represents more than just an effective investment choice. It helps strengthen the bond between advisor, client, and family members. Aperio’s detailed evaluation process for identifying SRI preferences promotes a deeper relationship between investor and consultant by clarifying the nuances of how investors think about their values. It also helps families develop personalized visions of SRI and engage in a dialogue about values and investing across intergenerational lines.

Aperio strategy brings more than a decade of innovation and experience in combining the power of indexing with customized values-based investment management. We harness the proven success of passive investing while offering clients the flexibility to financially express their unique set of values. For taxable investors, Aperio can add a tax-loss harvesting overlay  to improve after-tax performance without deviating from the values-based mandate. Aperio can also further target the portfolio exposures based on the investor’s or advisor’s investment viewpoints (see Thematic Beta strategy).

Aperio’s track record with SRI demonstrates that high-net-worth investors, foundations, and other institutional clients can choose a relevant set of socially responsible parameters without sacrificing the returns and low costs of conventional index investing.

“Beyond the appeal of [socially responsible investing], participants rarely evaluate the practical viability. Doing so can perhaps reveal a less alluring picture of weak investment performance and a scarcity of quality investment offerings. Given this landscape, a social index fund is the most appropriate solution.”

- Ennis Knupp, April 2006

One size doesn’t fit all

Why settle for someone else’s values screening? Tell us which values are important to you. Our approach quantitatively evaluates data from SEC filings and organizations such as the Department of Labor and the EPA to determine how companies operate in the marketplace with respect to your values.

Library

• Tracking Error Risk From SRI  – Aperio research highlighting the tracking error impact of common values-based screens on standard indices.