|
|
Untitled
|
|
|
| |
Not your father's broker
Amy Domini brings socially responsible investing into the bull ring – and beats the market.
by Meg Sullivan
|
| |
 Amy Domini is no stranger to the high stakes of high finance. She worked as a stockbroker for more than ten years because she "loved the game." Currently, as a private trustee/portfolio manager at a Boston investment firm and founder and president of the Domini Social Equity Fund, she's still embroiled in the daily ups and downs of managing money. But Domini has a unique twist all her own: she is one of the leading authorities in the burgeoning field of socially responsible investing (SRI).
The no-load Domini Social Equity Fund, which tracks the Domini 400 Social Index (the Domini 400 is widely accepted as the benchmark for social investments and tracks the stock performance of 400 pre-selected socially responsible companies), grew from Domini's disillusionment with the financial services industry. When Domini was working as a broker, she found practically no resources for investors who wanted to monitor the business dealings of the companies of which they owned shares. As a child of the '60s –- her mother made her canvass in the rain for Eugene McCarthy during the 1968 presidential election -– this troubled her greatly. So, along with her partners in the firm of Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini & Co., which she co-founded, she created the Domini 400, and began providing corporate accountability research to investment professionals and individual investors.
The Domini 400 avoids companies trafficking in alcohol, tobacco, gambling, weapons, and nuclear power, and celebrates companies with progressive records on the environment, diversity, product safety, human rights, and other categories. But Domini insists that there is no such thing as a "good" company or a "bad" company: "I'm not in the business of saying this is a great company, this is not a great company. I don't want to be the seal of approval for companies." She believes that misses the point of SRI, which is all about creating a dialogue in which a corporation's actions can be openly debated. She also dismisses criticisms that SRI can't make as much money as "regular" investing because it restricts people's investment options. Everyone's making money in this bull market, but, Domini says, "We're making more." In fact, the Domini 400 has beaten the S&P 500 index for the past five years.
Two reasons she's so passionate about her mission to create corporate accountability are Jotham and John Kinder, her teenage sons, who live with her in Cambridge, MA (one of the most liberal burgs in the country). Another is that she believes everyone has a lot to lose if corporations continue to rule the world without being held accountable. "I feel the planet is at stake. I have such a strong feeling that if I fail, the stakes are way beyond my personal livelihood."
Not your average advice from your average fund manager. But Amy Domini isn't an average fund manager, and, once you meet her, she just might become yours.
Next page | "I loved the game."
|
|
|
|
|
Meet socially responsible money manager, Amy Domini in this video clip!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amy Domini
.',335,395);)
