Frivolity of fidelity, mindless or mindful – which will it be?
I am faced this morning with stark choice. Do I cycle on the north side of the river to join responsible asset owners and Adrienne Lawlor working out how to do their bit to save the planet.
Or do I stay on the south side and join Holly McKay and the Boring Money team, working out how to extract maximum rents from the wealth of Britain’s middle classes?
My heart is with Adrienne , my head with Holly. Commerce is about wealth transfer and I’m keen to see how the likes of this lot make so much money. There must be value there somewhere.
I’m pleased that a refund policy is available – but I am reporting on the event so it will only be time spent that I can claim back and I’m sure I will have a good time.
The other side of the river
Those prepared to brave Extinction Rebellion in Westminster can make their way to Church House and listen to the great and the good opine on the great social , environmental and governance challenges we face. They will be sponsored by another bunch of financial worthies
I haven’t deliberately faded the logos, that’s just the way they appear on Adrienne’s website.
This conference seems to be about a bunch who’ve made it – proving they’ve still got some sense of decency.
Fortunately I have my super-decent COO – Rahul – ready to do some research with the worthies and swap conference with me as we try to make sense of the competing claims for moral and commercial hegemony from these different crowds and sponsors.
Bridging two worlds
I am minded to spend my day whizzing over Lambeth Bridge, waving from my Santander bike at Extinction Rebellion as I try to make up my mind whether money does any good or is just as boring as Holly claims it is.
And somewhere in between these two extremes – I have to speak to my co-workers in WeWork Fore St about the importance to their budding businesses of complying with auto-enrolment and getting value for money from the pension contributions they are making to their staff.
Quite what the average WeWork co-worker would make of either conference, I don’t know. I suspect they would have more in common with the protestors on Lambeth Bridge than either the retail or institutional money men and women.
Pensions lunch and learn?
There is a fine line between legitimate, preferably non disruptive protest to raise awareness and illegitimate, illegal disruption which not only can be counterproductive but also fails to recognise why we have laws.
One of the primary reasons I believe is to reduce the likelihood of confrontation and as illegal disruption increases so does the risk of illegal responses and whilst two wrongs don’t make a right, it needs to be recognised when considering what action Police need to take and when.
I walk to work, ride a bike, drive the right vehicle for the right purpose (Diesel for long distance as it was bought before the issues were brought to light and electric not hybrid for school and local runs necessitating a car. I would prefer hydrogen vehicles, but they are not there yet and there needs to be a balance between the different methods as 100% electric vehicles and no fossil fuels at the moment will not work either). I don’t want my life disrupted illegally by those who may just be shouting loudly to get attention, especially if it is counterproductive to what I am actively trying to promote in a positive way as an adviser who specialises in ESG investment and has done since 1998.
As a result of my efforts since 1998, over 90% of my clients have changed from non ESG based funds to ones which have an ESG overlay. In part that has been because of making them aware THEY have a choice and it is not for us as advisers to gloss over that choice and secondly because we have been able to demonstrate that the fund managers who apply ESG principles DO perform against their peer groups so you are not cutting off your nose to spite your face by having principles.
Without a rule based system we have anarchy and that same lack of FOLLOWING a rule based system is how nucleur disasters like Chernobyl and Fukashima occur and why whilst the science says NUCLEUR, I believe the weak link is HUMAN as demonstrated by misguided protesters who don’t even ralise what a fire house does and think they can cope with what Firefighters train for because they know better.
Rant over.