Some investing styles, such as value investing, have proven themselves useful over the course of many decades. By contrast, investing fads are short-lived. They look promising in a particular market context but fade away as the world changes. Examples of such fads include day trading, house flipping, and, in our view, Bitcoin and liquid alternative…
The Arrival of COVID-19 We hope that you, your family, and loved ones are holding up and doing well in these unprecedented times. There is no need to explain in detail what happened to the markets during the first quarter; we are all too familiar with the declines. That said, it was the worst quarter…
Benefits Magazine. February 2020 Greg Wait of Riverwater authored an article for the February 2020 edition of Benefits Magazine that looks into the limited availability of SRI Investments in 401(k) plans and offers solutions to plan sponsors wanting to respond to the increasing demand for SRI investment from participants. Read more
STRAIGHT A’S & SUSTAINABILITY When you bring straight A’s home from school you don’t have much explaining to do. That was 2019 for financial markets. Most major indices were up more than 20% and bonds rallied in concert with stocks. The decade exited with a bang as the S&P 500 closed with a plus 13%…
WINDSHIELDS, BUMPS IN THE ROAD & THE RIGHT TO WATER We were happy to announce the acquisition of Falcons Rock last month and are thrilled to add Greg Wait and Liz Kiefer to the Riverwater team. Riverwater and Falcons Rock share similar philosophies around responsible investing and we believe the combined entities are both stronger…
Record Highs and a Record Win Equity markets notched another fine quarter to close out the first half of the year with gains across the board. The first six months of the year marks the strongest stock market since 1997. There are many reasons markets are hitting all-time highs: employment is strong, the economy just…
Fossil Fuels: Should ESG Investors Seek Divestment or Engagement? Engage vs. divest? The question of whether fossil fuel divestment or engagement encourages energy companies (e.g. Chevron and Exxon Mobil) to move their business models away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner energy is one that is top of mind to many responsible investors. At Riverwater…
Nice Market Lyft! From a performance standpoint, the first quarter of 2019 was essentially the inverse of the previous quarter; in Q4 2018 it was hard to find a winner whereas this quarter it was hard to find a loser. The market experienced the best first quarter in over 20 years, a sharp 180 from…
Coined in 2005 in a landmark study entitled “Who Cares Wins,” which made the case that embedding environmental, social, and governance factors in capital markets makes good business sense and leads to better outcomes for society, ‘ESG’ is getting a lot of attention. Individuals, particularly young ones, are liking what they hear. Companies are paying…
The Santa Claus Rout The market’s year end was both interesting and historically quite rare. Going back to 1950, December has been historically the best performing month, with an average monthly return of 1.53% compared to a 0.50% return for the other 11. The Santa Claus Rally failed to materialize in 2018 with broad markets…
