Joel Solomen
Interdependent Investments (personal investment company)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
President and co-Founder, Renewal Partners Company
www.RenewalPartners.com, www.Renewal2.ca
My Commitment
I commit to investing 95% of my portfolio for positive impact by the year, 2013.
At Interdependent Investments, my holding company for personal investing, we have invested 75% for positive impact. I have been at 75% for 25 years; I will be able to gradually move towards 100%. The shortfall has to do with my business activities in Nashville, Tennessee where there is no financial institution like Vancity Community Credit Union of Vancouver (for my checking and bank accounts, and Line of Credit) and for mortgages, several of which I have in Nashville, Tennessee. I also have a significant family property bought by them many years ago that has been on the market for some time. When it sells, I will be up to about 95% invested for positive impact.
Why 95% by 2013?
My money is my vote for the world I believe in, for my values, and for future generations. I consider it the responsibility of current generations, who have benefited from exuberant capitalism, to ensure that the wealth we own must continually cause less damage and be directed towards positive solutions.
How are we investing for positive impact?
I look for banking institutions that I consider to have good values and positive community impact. I steer clear of large-cap publicly traded investments, and when I face circumstances where those asset classes are part of the picture, I look for advanced socially responsible (SRI) screens. Generally, my goal is to be in tangible assets like local real estate, small companies, my own homes, and placed at institutions like Renewal2 Fund, Renewal Partners, RSF Social Finance, Vancity Community Credit Union, and Calvert. That gives me enough diversification, long term, short term, and liquidity, along with my compensation earnings, to take care of my family’s needs.
Choosing my daily work is equally important in its values alignment. As a Partner and President of Renewal Partners Company, we both invested debt and equity in early stage triple bottom line companies, while also keeping our underlying portfolio in SRI screened stocks and bonds. Thus Renewal Partners is virtually 100% positive impact. My career is dedicated to expanding the amount of capital that is redirected into the solutions economy – to create generative long-term impact in society.
