Impact Investing: If You Don't Know, Now You Know | Flat World Partners

Impact Investing: If You Don’t Know, Now You Know

By: admin | 22 Feb 2016

FORWARD:

2015 was a turbulent year that mixed U.S. and global political turmoil with economic volatility and 2016 is likely

to see more of the same. Last year, over a million refugees flowed into Europe and terrorist attacks were at

record highs. (Deaths from terrorism increased 80% in 2014 to the highest level ever; global economic cost of

terrorism reached all-time high at $52.9 Billion.) As for the Global Economy in 2015, Brazil took a tumble with

market destabilization, China’s currency took a sharp devaluation and oil prices plummeted, which caused the

Russian Ruble to decline to its weakest level in over a decade. Meanwhile, the dollar strengthened (appreciating

almost 12% in 2015) and the U.S. economy added more jobs month on month, giving the Fed clearance to start

raising rates for the first time in over a decade. These trends don’t look like they’re going away any time soon.

So why does impact investing make sense from a tactical portfolio perspective? Let’s get into a little Keynesian

theory here and take a look at some Macro movements that tie to our impact themes, all backed up by some fun

stats (queue the fist pump emoji…)