The course Towards Aware and No-Harm Investing is for people who care and are actively engaged in making the world a better place but whose financial resources might not be fully aligned with their personal values and what they care deeply about.
The course is designed to help individual investors and family foundations gain an understanding of the importance and urgency of moving towards aware and no-harm investing, and provides the tools and options to do so.
Towards Aware and No-Harm Investing is offered in May 2021 through 5 live and interactive 90-minute ZOOM sessions, some reading material and assignments.
This course will help you connect the dots – you will:
- Understand the role our investments play in creating some of the largest societal challenges we collectively face and why we need to change our financial system
- Understand the money creation process, the banking sector’s incentives and activities, the role and actions of the central bank and how they affect investing
- Reevaluate traditional expectations of markets returns in a view of current reality
- Understand the role finance has played in shaping the geopolitics of the last five centuries worldwide
- Realize the importance of the non-financial impact of all our investments so you can make more holistic decisions about your investments
As a result you will be able to:
- Integrate non-financial considerations and personal values into the personal portfolio management process
- Determine prudent portfolio allocation to regenerative investing
- Learn about a number of no-harm, impact and regenerative investment options
- Develop your Personal Investment Compass (PIC) and build your regenerative investing portfolio by the end of the course
- Connect with a group of like-minded individuals moving their money in a more healthy direction for society and the world at large.
I took Marco’s course Towards Aware and No-Harm Investing with my father — me, a social justice and financial activist, him a Harvard MBA. Marco’s teaching style was accessible for both of us, and allowed me and my dad to come together around topics that might have been harder to make palatable on my own! It led to rich conversations about risk and returns, social impact and how to discern between gifts and investments. I’d recommend this for other families looking to meet in the middle on how their values shape their investment decisions.
Morgan Curtis Social Justice Giving Coach, morganhcurtis.com
COURSE STRUCTURE
Session #1 May 3, 2021 – live ZOOM presentation 2:00pm PT (5:00pm ET)
Awakening to the Problems of Conventional Finance
In this first session I will introduce the concept of the Great Turning and share my personal journey from global finance to no-harm investing which began when the destruction of a forest awoke me to the problems of conventional finance. We will look at an important 15-year study by the UN called “Natural Capital at Risk” showing how we have been using natural capital to subsidize our global economic activity and financial returns. We will then explore the themes and ethos of Slow Money which urges us to “bring money down to Earth” and invest with the ultimate goal of restoring soil fertility. We will then look at the psychology of investing and suggest options for building a portfolio inspired by biophilia and empathy instead of greed and fear.
Session #2 May 10, 2021 – live ZOOM presentation 2:00pm PT (5:00pm ET)
Understanding Ecological Limits, Money Creation and the Federal Reserve
In the second session we will expand on the intuition gained in the first session and look specifically at the carbon math and its implications for the market valuation of oil companies. We will also look at the concept of financial intensity and realize the disconnect between the amount of investment capital around the world and the finite limits of our biosphere. We will discover the unlikely origin of investment capital by understanding the basics of the money and banking system, and the impact of money creation on the business cycle and asset bubbles. We will look at the heroic liquidity maneuvers of the Federal Reserve since 2008 and the resulting manipulation of financial markets. As we recognize the virtual and constructed nature of money and investment capital we will realize the importance of moving beyond the narrow lens of conventional finance and considering the true impact of our investments.
Session #3 May 17, 2021 – live ZOOM presentation 2:00pm PT (5:00pm ET)
Challenging Capital Markets Expectations – A Holistic Approach to Portfolio Management
The third session will explain key concepts of portfolio management like risk, return, and liquidity and introduce a holistic approach that integrates an understanding of both financial and non-financial aspects of risks and returns. You will be able to assess your own liquidity needs and your ability to bear risk which will determine your prudent allocation to the regenerative investing component of your portfolio. I will then challenge some of the assumptions made by financial professionals especially in relation to capital market expectations and show that past returns of major asset classes (types of investments like stocks and bonds) are a poor basis for predicting returns in the next 10 to 15 years.
Session #4 May 24, 2021 – live ZOOM presentation 2:00pm PT (5:00pm ET)
Implementing Aware and No-Harm Investing
In the fourth session I will introduce the concept of a Personal Investment Compass and provide various examples. You will create your own PIC and use it to guide the future transformation of your portfolio. I will introduce a new classification of investments based on the awareness dimension – unaware (most likely extractive), aware, no-harm, positive (impact) and restorative (regenerative). I will share how I transformed my portfolio into a 100% aware and no-harm portfolio, half of which is in impact and regenerative investments.
Session #5 June 1, 2020 – live ZOOM presentation 2:00pm PT (5:00pm ET)
Regenerative Investing and the True Path to Financial Freedom
In the fifth session I will introduce the concept of regenerative investing at the intersection of philanthropy and investing. I will then share with you the surprising path to true financial freedom. You will be introduced to a number of impact and regenerative investments. You will build your (small) regenerative investing portfolio and relate it to your Personal Investment Compass. You will have an opportunity to connect with your course mates and take the next concrete step towards an investment portfolio that supports life and societal and environmental health.
Sign up now! Select TANHI course and use discount code TANHI20 to save $100. Code expires April 18th!