SPOTLIGHT ON

Investing
with Purpose
Rosemary (in blue) pictured with her New York team Females in
Finance, a 2020 Region 3 Top 12 finalist.

The field of impact investing is a high-profile profession these days that combines finance and social
impact. It means that individual investors and others are putting their money toward supporting
companies and funds that address social and/or environmental issues, everything from the climate crisis
and social justice, to investing with a gender lens that helps improve the lives of women. Impact
investing is investing with profits in mind, and also a social purpose in mind; you have two very specific
bottom lines that you hope to achieve. It can include venture capital funds, which are putting their
money behind startups and new companies with new products, new goals and new ways of thinking that
might ultimately help society. This is not to be confused with socially responsible investing, which isn’t
fostering the growth of socially conscious businesses from the ground up, but instead investing your
money in the capital markets (i.e.: stocks and bonds), and screening your investment decisions according
to some principle or value. ESG is a related concept that stands for environmental, social and governance
factors. Investors often evaluate companies on their ESG performance, with the help of ratings companies.

Wharton Global Youth Voices:

EXPLORE AND LEARN MORE
“There is a common misconception that a business that aims for the double
bottom line of impact and financial returns is unlikely to excel in both, but the Check out these links from
Knowledge@Wharton High
facts prove otherwise. Data from the Global Impact Investing Network shows
School to learn more about the
that the majority of the estimated $15 billion impact investment funds have world of impact investing:
performed well relative to traditional funds. In addition, a new study by
• Investing with Purpose
Morgan Stanley finds that social impact funds on average had lower volatility
than comparable non-impact funds… Impact investing is not only beneficial to • Teen-led Businesses Tackle
the Problem of Food Waste
the world, but also to the investor, and that is exactly what I am trying to
• Pursing Careers that
spread in Females in Finance, an organization I founded…we invest at the
Combine Finance with Social
intersection of profit, ethics, and sustainability to not only benefit our client, Good
but also our general community.”
• Socially Responsible
—Rosemary J., Team Females in Finance, 2020 Region 3 Top 12 Finalist Investing Defined

WHARTON GLOBAL YOUTH EXPLORES INVESTING

©2020 The Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania
 WHARTON GLOBAL YOUTH EXPLORES INVESTING

From the Experts:

“My sense is that we’ve always had people in finance with ambitions for social
impact. It has just become more organized recently…We recognize the vital role
that traditional capital markets and private-sector actors can play in tackling the
world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.”
—David Musto, Wharton finance professor and faculty director of the
Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at Wharton

©2020 The Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania