New SI Strategies Prioritize Seeking Competitive Long-Term Returns While Meeting Client Demand For the Incorporation Of Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) Principles Into the Investment Decision Making Process
TOWSON, Md., Aug. 27, 2018 — Founders Financial Securities, LLC (“Founders Financial”), a Registered Investment Advisor and independent broker-dealer firm, today announced the launch of its new, internally managed, Sustainable Investing (SI) strategies. These strategies, available to clients at no account minimums, provide its independent financial advisors, who the firm refers to as Member Partners, with access to diversified portfolios of carefully selected funds that incorporate sustainability principles while offering clients the potential for competitive long-term returns.
Bradley Shepherd, President and Chief Executive Officer of Founders Financial, said, “We continually ask Member Partners what they want from us to grow their businesses and help clients achieve their goals, and one of the things we’ve heard consistently is the need for an integrated solution that empowers the construction of portfolios comprised of sustainable investments. These new strategies both underscore our ability to collaborate closely with Member Partners and to deliver relevant offerings to clients, all while applying our own rigorous investment philosophy and process to the evaluation of investments in the space.”
Equity and fixed income funds from leading providers such as Parnassus, Calvert, PAX, TIAA, PIMCO, and Dimensional Fund Advisors have been used to develop the new SI strategies. Common exclusions include companies involved in alcohol, tobacco, weapons, gambling, nuclear power, as well as rogue foreign regimes. Qualitative and quantitative factors are assessed according to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria such as ecology, human rights and transparency. The new SI strategies span the client risk spectrum with aggressive, growth, moderate, balanced, and conservative offerings.
Mr. Shepherd continued, “Advisors and clients alike are realizing that they do not have to sacrifice performance in pursuit of sustainable investments. The number and quality of funds focused on sustainability principles has grown dramatically in recent years as investment companies are waking up to the reality that a growing number of investors want their portfolios to reflect their values. While we do not require the incorporation of sustainability principles into the construction of client portfolios, many Member Partners have expressed that these new strategies will be valuable in serving their clients’ goals and dreams.”
The SI strategies expand upon the firm’s pioneering Second-Party Asset Management
TM platform, Freedom Capital Management Strategies
® (FCMS), built to provide a solution for independent financial advisors who are seeking the scale and efficiency of third-party management with the ownership and access associated with managing portfolios on their own. In developing FCMS, Founders recognized and addressed the shortcomings of both the advisor as portfolio manager and third-party management models. Advisors who handle all portfolio management internally must dedicate enormous amounts of time to research, trading, rebalancing, and other core investment management functions that detract from building client relationships and growing their businesses. However, advisors who rely on third-party management sacrifice control of and a voice in the investment process and also risk reducing their value to clients through the introduction of an outside firm.
Peter Murphy, Chief Investment Officer of Founders Financial and President of FCMS, said, “The Second-Party Asset Management platform we developed through FCMS delivers the scale and efficiency of third-party management while providing Member Partners a voice in the ongoing development of the platform and a story that integrates seamlessly into the value proposition and branding of their enterprises.”
About Founders Financial
Founded in 1994, Founders Financial, Inc. is the parent company of Founders Financial Securities, LLC, a privately-held, full-service registered investment adviser (RIA) and independent broker-dealer firm headquartered in Towson, Maryland. Founders places a foremost value on the impact that each advisor’s voice and character brings to the firm, as reflected in how the firm refers to its affiliated advisors as Member Partners of its community. To support the long-term growth and success of its Member Partners across the country, Founders provides a robust suite of resources, including practice management, asset management, technology and succession planning. For more information, please visit
www.foundersfin.wpengine.com.
