Q&A with new Sharesight partner Balance Impact

We are pleased to announce a new Sharesight Professional partner: Balance Impact. We asked CEO and founder Emily Martin to tell us about Balance Impact and how they’re using Sharesight to monitor the performance of their ethical investment portfolios.

Tell us a little about you and why you established Balance Impact?

I’ve been working in financial markets for 15 years and specialise in responsible investing. I’ve worked as an investment manager in New York, London and Sydney for Merrill Lynch, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Westpac Bank.

After returning to Sydney from working in funds management in New York two years ago I wanted to invest in the things I cared about but couldn’t find the right product. So, I decided to build it myself and make ethical investing accessible to everyone in Australia.

Tell us about Balance Impact.

Balance Impact is Australia’s first 100% online ethical investment service. Our socially-responsible diversified investment portfolios are smart, easy to establish and affordable.

We offer five model investment portfolios, all of which include only ethical investments. Our team actively seeks out investments in industries like renewable energy, healthcare and education and screens out industries like fossil-fuels, gambling and tobacco.

Balance Impact allows anyone to super-size their positive impact in the world -- and as we offer simple fixed-fee pricing, investors can keep more of their hard-earned money.

Tell us a bit more about your investment committee and advisory board.

I’m fortunate to have gathered an amazing investment committee, with over 100 years of financial market experience between them. They each have a keen interest in responsible investing and bring a variety of skill sets to our investment selection, from bonds and fixed interest, to equities and social impact.

Our advisory board is made of respected industry professionals and offer our team strategic advice on technology, financial services and green business. I’ve found this think tank of expertise an invaluable sounding board while we’ve been in beta and will continue to draw on their knowledge as we grow the service.

Why did you choose to partner with Sharesight?

We want our clients’ experience of online ethical investing to be top notch. For us, that includes anytime online portfolio access and for that data to be presented in a really straightforward way. When we looked for partners, Sharesight offered that combination of powerful reporting with a clean user interface.

How does Balance Impact use Sharesight?

We use Sharesight to monitor the performance of each of our five model investment portfolios, and our clients use it to access their portfolio information at any time.

How do people get started with Balance impact?

We’ve made the process very easy. Sign up at balanceimpact.com.au and answer a few simple questions to receive a complimentary diversified ethical investment portfolio recommendation. If the client is happy with the portfolio choice, there’s just one online form to fill in to set-up their account, transfer the funds and they are ready to go.

Do you have anything else you’d like to share?

As we’re all seeing in the news recently, our financial system has a way to go with transparency. We’re changing all of that and our goal is to make responsible investing easier and more transparent for every Australian. As just one small example, Balance Impact clients receive annual reports on both the financial and social returns of their ethical investments so they can see exactly how their money is doing good in the world.

If you’re interested in responsible investing and want more information, we’d love to hear from you at balanceimpact.com.au.

FURTHER READING

• Why the right partners matter
• Q&A with Sharesight co-founder and CTO Scott Ryburn
• Sharesight in numbers