The last meeting of Northern Ireland Branch members for 2013 took place in November, with guest speaker Gavin Francis of Worthstone. Gavin covered Social Impact Investing, reports branch chairman Robert Stephenson CFP^CM.
Social Impact investing is new to most of us and it was obvious that Gavin is very committed to this type of investment. He explained during his presentation what Social Impact Investing is - investing in companies which benefit society and the environment - and what it is not, using many examples to illustrate this.
There were many
 questions and lots
 of discussion on the
 concept of this type 
of investment, the
 attraction it has for
 clients and how it
 fits into Financial 
Planning.
Gavin 
made the interesting observation that it is the IFP community that, on many occasions, leads the way on new ideas like this.
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As many clients' views change on issues such as investing after so many scandals over the past few years, as Financial Planners and Paraplanners we need to be aware of new developments like this, particularly when a client expresses an interest in such an area. It was very interesting meeting with plenty of food for thought.