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Larry fink letter6/22/2023 ![]() A culture of short-term focus in markets and the media - an obsession with second-by-second movements and prices - drives fear and discourages smart investing. And that’s not because they weren’t savvy enough to invest in the “right things” - it’s because they were not invested at all.Īround the world, savers are struggling with low interest rates as well as obstacles to better investing behaviors. But much more importantly: a lot of people didn’t. Reflecting on 2017, it is easy to get wrapped up in the remarkable performance of markets. He taught me that investing isn’t just about tomorrow - it’s about decades of tomorrows. That same $1,000, invested instead in the S&P 500, would be worth about $800,000 today.īy the time I moved to New York to work in finance, I realized how grateful I was to my father - and how lucky I was that he taught me such vital lessons about the importance of investing and about preparing for the future. Like millions of other working Americans, he became an investor. But he knew there was a better way to build for the future. If my father had put $1,000 in a bank account in 1952, the year I was born, it would be worth around $20,000 today. Looking back, the lessons are as powerful as ever. ![]() And with each year, I grew to understand the power of investing in the markets. I continued to work, save and invest all throughout high school, college and grad school. I bought my first stock, DuPont, when I was 13 years old. I started saving at a young age, earning money helping my father out at the shoe store. But without even knowing it, I was quietly absorbing these lessons from my parents on a daily basis. We can be better at allocating capital and resources in ways that recognize the enormous economic potential of including the multiple stakeholders to capture the latent investment opportunity in creating sustainable change at scale.When I was younger, I didn’t get it - or at least I didn’t feel like I did. As we start our recovery from the pandemic, we call upon all investors, businesses, and consumers alike to work together to power the next phase of global economic growth. ![]() So the time for corporate platitudes is behind us – it is the doing that matters now. Businesses are now our most trusted institutions compared to governments, NGOs and the media, per Edelman’s latest Trust Report. To turn plastic waste into a resource, we can only understand the full breadth of the opportunity when we invest for multi-stakeholders: consumers, waste pickers, corporations, the recycling industry, municipal governments, communities, and more.Īnd while we need all of these stakeholders working together, now is the moment for businesses to take the lead. Ocean plastic is a systems problem that demands a comprehensive, systems solution. This is exactly the sort of model that my company has taken on here in South and Southeast Asia to combat ocean plastic and that I have written about previously for this column. The same holds true when seeking better social and governance outcomes, as well. Ultimately, a more inclusive business offers the real possibility of being more productive and more profitable, and here the research is unambiguous: there are enormous financial benefits from financial leadership and innovation decisions that are inclusive of women and minorities - benefits that show up as better performance and financial rewards across investments in all asset classes. We have seen first-hand as investors how financing with an emphasis on the environment and multiple stakeholders can drive superior returns for shareholders and have positive impacts on society. Businesses that benefit from a range of stakeholders and are optimized for positive ESG outcomes in the market, present investment opportunities – not risks. Capital can be used as a tool to benefit workers, consumers, supply chains, the environment and communities (society as a whole), without diminishing returns to long term investors. The good news is that we already know that such an approach works.
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