Sustainable Investing at LPL

More than ever, people care about how and where their money is invested. Sustainable investing is an investment strategy that puts funds where they can make a positive change – be it socially, environmentally, or in support of positive corporate governance. Sustainable investing has positively changed the investment industry by challenging and then adapting traditional approaches of the investment decision-making process.

The growth in sustainable investing has been remarkable. According to a 2020 report from the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing — assets under management in the U.S. that used sustainable investing strategies increased from $12 trillion at the start of 2018 to $17.1 trillion in 2020, a 42% increase. This meant that of all U.S. assets under professional management, nearly $1 of every $3 was invested using sustainable investing strategies.

of all respondents— and 86% of millennials— were interested in sustainable investing.

were interested in sustainable investments that can be customized to meet their interests and goals.

believed that companies with leading sustainability practices may be better long term investments.

A force for a change

At LPL, we embrace sustainable investing as a vehicle for creating more value for our advisors and their clients. We believe it is our responsibility to incorporate an assessment of material environmental and social issues, as well as the quality of governance practices, into our investment research and analysis. We have specialists in our Research Department driving our sustainable investing approach by:

Focusing on identifying prudent sustainability practices
Implementing sustainable investment strategies
Developing a sustainable investment practice at LPL that leads toward a broader impact on stakeholders like suppliers, customers, employees, communities and stockholders

Defining sustainable investing

We define sustainable investing as, “an approach that incorporates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues when building an investment portfolio, while encouraging companies to improve their ESG risk-management practices.” In practice, sustainable investing takes a broader approach to evaluating risk and does so over a long-term horizon by evaluating a company’s ESG risks, in addition to traditional financial risks.

For investors

Our investors are increasingly interested in understanding how and where their money is invested. They recognize that it is possible to build wealth responsibly without sacrificing investment principles.

For advisors

To support our advisors so they can help their clients, we offer them a wide range of sustainable investment options, including centrally managed portfolios, mutual funds, separate accounts, and exchange traded products (ETP).