It takes more than money to build the right future

What do you think of when picturing an ideal future for your children? As parents, we tend to wish for happiness, good health, successful careers and ultimately, financial security. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that but these goals are highly dependent on an even bigger concept - a future worth getting excited about at all. 

If you’re fans of Sir David Attenborough like the Nosso team are, you probably watched his most recent Netflix documentary, A Life on our Planet,  and thought a bit more about the devastating impact on the environment and what the future holds for our world. 

Although the prognostic looked bleak, we were offered some solutions that could tip the scales and prevent terrible things from happening that would definitely impact the quality of life in the near future, like protecting our oceans, using more sustainable energy and relying less on meat for nutrition.  

We decided there’s more to do than nodding in agreement and spreading the word in this post. At Nosso, we’re going further into planning a great future by only offering sustainable investments. On top of that, we offer you the chance to direct up to 10% of your investment in to themes that impact the world positively. 

What is sustainable investing?

Sustainable investing aims to combine the best approaches from traditional investing with non-financial factors (e.g. environmental, social and corporate governance) to generate better long term outcomes for the investment and the planet alike (like investing in new water distribution and treatment technology).

Our thematic investments go even further and give you the opportunity to select specific themes that you want to support. With the help of our community we’ve selected three themes that you’ll be able to invest in through Nosso (we’ll look to add more in the future):

1. Clean Energy
2. Global Water
3. Healthcare Innovation 
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What makes these themes worth investing in? 

Although there are many themes which we found interesting and worth our time and money, we’re going to start with these three because we strongly believe they cover the basic needs for any sustainable future. 

Climate change is showing strong signs that it’s imperative that we move away from energy produced from fossil fuels and increase the production of clean energy using sustainable resources like water, wind and sunlight through technologies that are no longer tied to high costs. 

Another resource affected by climate change is water and it is vital to support global access to it. There continues to be a rising demand for this basic resource, influenced by factors such as growing population and a continuous shift towards urbanisation.

If we learnt anything in 2020 it’s probably the fact that we cannot take our health for granted. It’s pretty obvious that healthcare innovation, research and development will receive some major focus in the foreseeable future ranging from developing, testing and manufacturing new drugs and equipment to lobbying for regulation changes and faster approval processes.

We didn’t come up with these themes and the investments within them. Our portfolios are created and operated by BlackRock, one of the biggest investment  managers in the world who believe there are some promising indicators that these themes may outperform in the long-term. But as with all investments, our thematic investments can go down in value as well as up.

How do I choose a theme?

First and foremost, you should believe in it. If you care about sustainability you probably already try to be as green as possible in your day to day by doing small things like turning lights off when you don’t really need them on, turning the taps off to prevent water waste and so on. Perhaps you avoid using your own car for non-essential trips or switched to electric. Or maybe you’re just thinking about making all these changes but aren’t there yet. 

The important thing is that you already know a change is needed and have the willingness to embark upon it. Investing in a theme that resonates with you will likely give you a burst of personal satisfaction, along with any potential returns (although investments can go down as well as up).  

If you feel strongly about all three themes, that’s ok too. With Nosso you can blend all three themes into one portfolio giving you access to all the areas you feel strongly about.

Over the next few months we'll be showcasing these 3 themes on our social channels, giving you more information on why they matter. Make sure to follow us to learn more about them and what you can do to play your part! 

What next for Nosso’s thematic investments?

These three themes are just the start. From robotics to forestry, we appreciate that there are plenty other areas that require our attention and matter to you. Over time we will look to give you more choice as to what areas you can support with your investments.

We also want to give you control as to how much to put in those investments. On day one, you will only be able to put 10% into thematic investments but over time we’ll give you the flexibility to change that figure to something more comfortable (we’re firm believers in the importance of a diversified portfolio so there will always be a maximum % you can put into thematic investments). 

Disclaimer:

All writers' opinions are their own and should not be read as personal financial advice.  Individual investors should make their own decisions or seek independent advice. As with any investment, your capital is at risk and may be going up as well as down which means you may be left with less than your initial investment.

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