Motif, a next generation digital wealth and trading innovator, today introduced Motif Impact Portfolios, the first fully-automated investing service that aligns investors’ personal values with their financial goals. Starting today, investors can go to motif.com to create their own Impact Portfolios.
Motif Impact offers an unprecedented level of transparency and control in an automated investing account. Each Motif Impact Portfolio blends direct stock ownership with a proprietary investment model built to feature companies that demonstrate leadership in one of three social values: sustainable planet, fair labor, or good corporate behavior. Through a partnership with MSCI ESG Research, the leading provider of ESG data and analytics worldwide, Motif Impact identifies best-in-class companies that meet an investor’s personal as well as financial criteria.
“Our research shows that nearly half of Americans would be angry if they knew their portfolio was not aligned with their values. We created Motif Impact so investors know exactly what companies they own and can build wealth without sacrificing their values,“ said Hardeep Walia, Founder and CEO of Motif. “With Motif Impact we’re leveraging our technology platform and extending our commitment to innovative, accessible and fully-transparent financial products.”
In January 2017, Motif conducted a national survey to better understand the current motivations of individual investors. The study revealed that 64 percent of American investors do not have a clear understanding of their investment holdings, and that 72 percent have no idea whether or not their investments are aligned with their personal values. Further, investors do not know where to start when it comes to integrating their personal values with their financial goals--over half of the respondents noted this as a barrier. Motif Impact gives investors a way to meet their financial goals without compromising their values by knowing exactly what their investments are funding.
Motif Impact builds on the company’s award-winning trading platform centered around motifs—intelligently-weighted groups of stocks based on themes, investing styles or multi-asset models. Unlike mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other pooled investment funds, when you invest in a stock-based motif, you buy and own the underlying shares of each security within it. There are more than 150 professionally built motifs, and more than 250,000 community-created motifs.