GreenWell’s Nikki Turosky Smith fosters sustainable profits
Nikki Turosky Smith already flies. Now she has launched, as well.
Smith is licensed commercially to teach and to fly most propeller aircraft, including the multiengine variety. This spring, the Danbury resident taxied a new business into position and June 1 launched GreenWell Financial, a benefits or “B” corporation, targeting what she termed sustainable, responsible and impact-mindful investment strategies.
Besides the social and environmental benefits, Smith, the mother of three small children and wife to jazz trumpeter and vocalist Jumaane Smith, is also mindful of the bottom line. She said investment advisers can charge 3 percent to 3.5 percent to manage an account, but she is doing it for 1 percent.
The budding strategy has already landed her “a few clients” eager to sign on.
“Most people don”™t know how much they pay their financial adviser,” Smith said. “And they almost never know how much they are paying for products. I have one client who told me she had no idea how much she was paying. I looked into it and she was paying 3.5 percent. And that”™s normal ”” 3 percent and 3.5 percent. In my opinion, that”™s not sustainable or responsible. My fee is 1 percent for the cost of the product and for me.
“For those who have less than $250,000 with me, I charge $99 per month, which is less than most people pay for their cellphones. I want to dispel the myth only wealthy people can afford to work with an adviser. I think that it should be a service everyone can afford and benefit from.”
- Nikki Turosky Smith
Smith said there is a trend in investment to care about what one”™s money is promoting. But those beliefs are broad and may encompass investments in the likes of renewable energy, environmental and socially responsible governance and/or companies that treat their employees and suppliers well. Smith said the B-corp distinction reassures investors that socially and environmentally conscious behaviors are woven into the company structure, even if the company is sold. As an example, she cited Ben & Jerry”™s Ice Cream as a B-corp.
“We”™re not out to judge what”™s good or bad,” she said. “We”™re here to make people aware what they have in their portfolio and be aware of its impact. Just like we”™re becoming more mindful of what we”™re putting in our bodies ”” we should be just as mindful what we”™re putting into our investment portfolios.”
Smith said typical companies on the do-not-invest list include makers of guns and tobacco. To a lesser degree, pharmaceuticals, too, can be unpopular. She said the web has made clients and potential clients savvy to corporate practices.
“These active investors are forcing companies to be more transparent. Whatever it is a company might be doing, they”™re going to Facebook it and tweet it and the word spreads really quickly,” she said. “It makes my job easier.”
Smith studied history at Western Connecticut State University and remains mindful of the past”™s lessons.
“Hindsight is always 20/20,” she said. “As a student of history, you see so many instances where people chase the wrong side of history. I believe the lesson history is teaching us now is to provide better energy and more sustainable solutions to our challenges.”
Smith said socially responsible investing ”” called SRI ”” now has the attention of large investment managers, including for pension funds, university endowments and foundations.
“Today”™s consumers are typically turned off by irresponsible and distasteful ways of treating employees and the environment and prefer to support companies making efforts to be good corporate citizens,” Smith said. “The growth of socially responsible investing in recent years strongly suggests the movement is becoming mainstream. More and more investors believe returns from SRI strategies are comparable to those of more conventional investments.”
GreenWell Financial is required to prepare an annual benefit report detailing its activities and progress in creating a general public benefit, which will also include an assessment of its overall social and environmental performance. These annual reports must be posted to the GreenWellFinancial.com website no later than 120 days after the end of each of the company”™s fiscal years.
Smith worked for 10 years for a boutique advisory firm, but with her children came a new direction.
“There”™s a saying,” she said. “You can build your own dream or you can have somebody hire you to build theirs.”
In five years, when baby Owen, who slept through most of a recent visit, is in kindergarten, Smith said, “I want to have a nice practice of 100 clients, people that really care about our society and want to make a difference.
“Everyone has their own idea of what social responsibility or sustainability means to them,” she said. “It”™s fun and meaningful for me to help them create portfolios that reflect their values.”