Investing for a more sustainable future

Our Socially Responsible Personal Strategy is a way for you to support and invest in companies more proactively managing environmental, social and corporate governance related issues, also known as ESG. Ready to think about investing in a different way? It’s easy to get started.

Why have a socially responsible investment portfolio?

It's a way to more closely align your investments with your personal values.
There is the potential for additional risk management.

What are ESG rankings?

E, S and G represent the three main pillars used to evaluate the “social responsibility” of companies

Environmental

Climate change
Renewable energy
Sustainability

Social

Diversity
Labor relations
Conflict minerals

Governance

Management structures
Board independence
Executive compensation

There is no global standard for evaluating ESG metrics, but some third-party firms have established ranking methodologies. Empower chooses to partner with Sustainalytics, a global leader in ESG research and ratings. To learn more about Sustainalytics’ approach, read our Socially Responsible Investment methodology.

Our Socially Responsible Personal Strategy

We use a combination of exclusive and inclusive filters, primarily in the equity portion of the portfolio, which allow us to avoid controversial categories and simultaneously seek out companies more proactively managing ESG issues. And given our use of individual stocks, it can offer greater tax efficiency and opportunities for customization than off-the-shelf mutual funds and ETFs.

Socially Responsible Personal Strategies include the benefits of our Personal Strategy® approach, including optimal asset class mixes that aim to maximize return and reduce risk, our Smart Weighting™ methodology within U.S. equities, tax management and disciplined rebalancing.

The incorporation of ESG metrics primarily applies to the U.S. and International Equity asset classes within the portfolio.¹

Key portfolio characteristics

U.S. equitites

Best-in-class approach

Average ESG percentile target of 90% among individual U.S. stocks.

Exclusive filters

-Energy sector
-Tobacco
-Adult entertainment
-Gambling
-Small arms

Inclusive filters

Basket of ESG optimized stocks used for exposure to mega-cap, large-cap and mid-cap segments of the U.S. equity market.

Due to more limited scoring data, small-cap stocks are represented by a mix of traditional diversified low-cost ETFs.

Additional benefits

-Optimal asset class mixes
-Smart Weighting methodology within U.S. equities
-Tax management
-Disciplined rebalancing

Our individual U.S. stocks are scored on a variety of ESG issues, including:

Carbon intensity

Environmental policies

GHG reduction programs

Diversity programs

Health and safety management systems

Data privacy and security policies

Bribery and corruption programs

Political involvement policies

Whistleblower programs

*Powered by Sustainalytics, data as of 12/31/2020.

Disclaimer: The details described above are reflective of our offering that incorporates individual U.S. stocks. This offering is reserved for portfolios with at least $250,000 in value. Due to limited scoring data and a lack of low cost/liquid ETFS, all asset categories outside of mega cap, large cap, and mid cap US equities are not ESG-optimized in the Socially Responsible Personal Strategy. We also offer an all-ETF socially responsible strategy, but it comes with its own set of unique characteristics not described on this website. For more details on either offering, please contact an advisor.

1. Due to more limited scoring data, U.S. and International small-cap stocks are represented by a mix of traditional non-ESG optimized low-cost ETFs.

Foreign equities

A set of diversified ESG-optimized ETFs are used for exposure to foreign developed and emerging market stocks. Due to a lack of viable investment options, a traditional (non-ESG) ETF is used for international small-cap equities.

Advisory services are provided for a fee by Empower Advisory Group, LLC (“EAG”). EAG is a registered investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and subsidiary of Empower Annuity Insurance Company of America. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. You may lose money. All visuals are illustrative only. Actors are not EAG clients.