There’s investing, then there’s investing with environmental, social factors in mind

I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I care about where my money goes when I decide to invest it somewhere.

There are a lot of us out there who want to be as moral and responsible as possible with our cash and give back to the community if we can.

Thankfully, we have innovators such as Prophecy Impact Investments President Greg Wait, whom I had on “It’s Business Time” a few weeks ago.

After doing research into responsible investing a few years ago, Wait took the steps to make Prophecy Impact Investments into the online investment advisory service for the masses that it is today. Its portfolios are fully funded with investment vehicles that take into account environmental, social, and corporate governance criteria.

In plain English, that means companies that you’re investing in are the ones doing the heavy lifting on those sorts of policies and reaping the financial benefits.Money managers investing in a stock become shareholders and then have a seat at the table to have discussions on environmental, social and governance practices.

Just having a voice in the company can help make a huge difference in the world.

Prophecy Impact Investments is unique in the way it combines two factors of the industry.

First of all, responsible investing has grown to a huge extent in the United States, making up almost 20 percent of professionally managed money represented.

Second, the company tosses the idea of robo-advisers — computer programs that drive you to an appropriate investment strategy based on some questions and algorithms — and instead uses real people to manage investment portfolios.

If you care about investing your money in funds that are making a social and environmental impact, check out responsible investing as an option.

If you missed Greg’s interview, you can listen to it here. 

Mike (Winey of Mike & Winey) is the host of “It’s Business Time” with Mike Weinstein, heard on Saturdays from 2-3 p.m. on KTAR News 92.3 FM. You can follow Mike on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.