Markets in a Minute

Chart: Is ESG Investing in Decline?

Published

3 months ago

January 31, 2024

Dorothy Neufeld

This graphic shows flows of ESG investments in the U.S.

Is ESG Investing in Decline?

These days, ESG investments have lost their luster given high interest rates, political backlash, and greenwashing scrutiny.

In 2021 during the pandemic boom, U.S. sustainable funds hit a record $358 billion in assets, up from $95 billion in 2017. But since then, investor interest has waned as higher borrowing costs impact capital-intensive clean tech stocks.

This graphic shows the drop in sustainable fund flows—often considered an indicator of investor sentiment—based on data from Morningstar.

Slowing Demand

In 2023, investor appetite cooled for sustainable investments, as fund flows notched their worst year on record.

Overall, flows sank $13 billion as fund performance lagged behind conventional funds. Adding to this, concerns surrounding the murkiness of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings were put under the spotlight.

As ESG pushback intensified in U.S. politics, at least 165 anti-ESG bills were introduced in 2023. Politicians have claimed that ESG criteria negatively impacts financial returns, but evidence behind that is mixed.

While sustainable funds underperformed traditional funds in 2023, a separate study showed that ESG portfolios had as much as 6% excess returns annually compared to benchmark indexes between 2014 and 2020.

ESG Investments: A Closer Look

One key aspect of ESG funds is whether they hold investments that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Globally, 542 funds with $125 billion in assets are associated with at least one of these objectives. The table below shows the top five SDGs, by ETF assets under management (AUM).

SDG	Goal	Number of ETFs	AUM
SDG 13	Climate Action	275	$65.4B
SDG 7	Affordable and Clean Energy	80	$15.3B
SDG 9	Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure	49	$13.4B
SDG 6	Clean Water and Sanitation	16	$9.1B
SDG 11	Sustainable Cities and Communities	34	$5.5B

Source: Trackinsight. As of January 7, 2024.

We can see that Climate Action is the highest overall, with companies held in these ETFs making commitments to lower emissions and advance sustainability.

For instance, Home Depot has cut electricity use by over 50% since 2010 in U.S. stores, and aims to use renewables for all of its electricity by 2030. In addition, Microsoft has committed to this goal through a number of initiatives, including providing access to clean water to over one million people across Indonesia, Brazil, India, and Mexico in 2023.

While investor interest has slowed, 35% of advisors said they used ESG funds last year, based on a Journal of Financial Planning survey. As the industry matures, it remains to be seen if ESG investments will see a resurgence, especially if interest rates fall in the coming years.

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Markets in a Minute

The Top 5 Reasons Clients Fire a Financial Advisor

Firing an advisor is often driven by more than cost and performance factors. Here are the top reasons clients ‘break up’ with their advisors.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 15, 2024

Dorothy Neufeld

This circle graphic shows the top reasons for firing a financial advisor.

The Top 5 Reasons Clients Fire a Financial Advisor

What drives investors to fire a financial advisor?

From saving for a down payment to planning for retirement, clients turn to advisors to guide them through life’s complex financial decisions. However, many of the key reasons for firing a financial advisor stem from emotional factors, and go beyond purely financial motivations.

We partnered with Morningstar to show the top reasons clients fire an advisor to provide insight on what’s driving investor behavior.

What Drives Firing Decisions?

Here are the top reasons clients terminated their advisor, based on a survey of 184 respondents:

Reason for Firing	% of Respondents Citing This Reason	Type of Motivation
Quality of financial advice and services	32%	Emotion-based reason
Quality of relationship	21%	Emotion-based reason
Cost of services	17%	Financial-based reason
Return performance	11%	Financial-based reason
Comfort handling financial issues on their own	10%	Emotion-based reason

Numbers may not total 100 due to rounding. Respondents could select more than one answer.

While firing an advisor is rare, many of the primary drivers behind firing decisions are also emotionally driven.

Often, advisors were fired due to the quality of the relationship. In many cases, this was due to an advisor not dedicating enough time to fully grasp their personal financial goals. Additionally, wealthier, and more financially literate clients are more likely to fire their advisors—highlighting the importance of understanding the client.

Key Takeaways

Given these driving factors, here are five ways that advisors can build a lasting relationship through recognizing their clients’ emotional needs:

Understand your clients’ deeper goals
Reach out proactively
Act as a financial coach
Keep clients updated
Conduct goal-setting exercises on a regular basis

By communicating their value and setting expectations early, advisors can help prevent setbacks in their practice by adeptly recognizing the emotional motivators of their clients.

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Markets in a Minute

The Top 5 Reasons Clients Hire a Financial Advisor

Here are the most common drivers for hiring a financial advisor, revealing that investor motivations go beyond just financial factors.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 15, 2024

Dorothy Neufeld

This circle graphic shows the top reasons for hiring a financial advisor.

The Top 5 Reasons Clients Hire a Financial Advisor

What drives investors to hire a financial advisor?

From saving for a down payment to planning for retirement, clients turn to advisors to guide them through life’s complex financial decisions. However, many of the key reasons for hiring a financial advisor stem from emotional factors, and go beyond purely financial motivations.

We partnered with Morningstar to show the top reasons clients hire a financial advisor to provide insight on what’s driving investor behavior.

What Drives Hiring Decisions?

Here are the most common reasons for hiring an advisor, based on a survey of 312 respondents.

Reason for Hiring	% of Respondents Citing This Reason	Type of Motivation
Specific goals or needs	32%	Financial-based reason
Discomfort handling finances	32%	Emotion-based reason
Behavioral coaching	17%	Emotion-based reason
Recommended by family or friends	12%	Emotion-based reason
Quality of relationship	10%	Emotion-based reason

Numbers may not total 100 due to rounding. Respondents could select more than one answer.

While financial factors played an important role in hiring decisions, emotional reasons made up the largest share of total responses.

This illustrates that clients place a high degree of importance on reaching specific goals or needs, and how an advisor communicates with them. Furthermore, clients seek out advisors for behavioral coaching to help them make informed decisions while staying the course.

Key Takeaways

With this in mind, here are five ways advisors can provide value to their clients and grow their practice:

Address clients’ emotional needs early on
Demonstrate how you can offer support
Use ordinary language
Provide education to help clients stay on track
Acknowledge that these are issues we all face

By addressing emotional factors, advisors can more effectively help clients’ navigate intricate financial decisions and avoid common behavioral mistakes.

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