What investors are getting wrong about impact and ESG investing

Luke Oliver, managing director of climate investing and head of strategy at KraneShares, said advisers should focus on investing in companies that create positive impacts on the environment through their products and services while also delivering alpha returns rather than companies that receive negative ratings. high ESG.

“ESG (vs. focusing on impact investing) was missing the 'Why?'” he said. “Why did you cut these company names (from your bids)?” 'Oh, because they were getting bad ESG ratings. Nobody wants that. The real opportunities are where there are financial opportunities that drive capital.”

As an example, Linda Assante, partner with Uplifting Capital, cited affordable housing, as there is a huge need for it in the US, government incentives to invest in it, and a large supply/demand imbalance that drastically reduces risk.

Keep your AI promises

Myles Blechner, managing director at ACA Group, said he has seen two regulatory actions against advisers around AI so far.

They were not based on the advisors' use of AI, but on misleading advertising promoting their use of AI in investment strategies. If you're promising to use more sophisticated AI to pick stocks, you better be able to back it up, he said.

Dual equity mutual fund/ETFs are coming

Aisha Hunt, principal of Kelley, Hunt & Charles, reiterated her belief that in the next year or two the SEC will provide relief for asset managers to offer dual equity mutual funds / ETFs.

There really isn't a reason why multi-billion dollar managers wouldn't want to use such hybrid funds. People tend to think that getting relief takes a long time, but in this case, it could come as late as next year, Hunt said.

RIA must prepare for a the new world of hybrid funds, with new discoveries, she said.

Expect inflation surprises

Jim Masturzo, CIO, multi-asset strategies at Research Affliates said he expected inflation surprises during his visionary keynote at “Immovable Forces: Inflation, Growth and Valuations”

“One of our theses is the volatility of inflation,” he said. “We talk about multi-peak inflation. Inflation is going up and down faster than it has in the last decade.”

Jim Masturzo, CIO, multi-asset strategy at Research Affiliates

College athletes and online brokerages?

Ryan McCormack, senior factor and chief equity strategist at Invesco, spoke with Shannon Rosic, director of content and solutions at WealthStack, and Jay Williams, co-founder and chairman of Improbably Media and former NBA star, about the reaction that he receives when he presents the financial education course for college athletes.

“It's shocking how many hands go up during the Q&A. And they're complicated questions,” he said. “The questions kids ask are: Who should I trust? How do I say no to a family member? Which online brokerage should I use?”