Mother Jones Invites Blue Summit to Educate Readers on SRI

May 6, 2006

a Jolla, CA - Blue Summit Financial Group, a San Diego-based financial services firm specializing in Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), recently hosted a workshop for Mother Jones readers and the general community on Socially Responsible Investment trends.

"We're really focusing efforts this year on educating our clients and the community on forward looking issues," remarked Judith Seid, CFP® and founding partner of Blue Summit Financial Group.

The topic of discussion focused on dispelling the three big myths surrounding Socially Responsible Investing.

Myth #1: "The Performance Myth" - relates to the common misbelief that SRI investments under perform their non-socially screened investment counterparts. "Unfortunately, this has been a long held myth, but thanks to many recent analytical studies and more years of performance tracking, this myth has been completely debunked," states Shane Johnston, Blue Summit financial advisor. Investment performance for the Domini Social Index was shown back to its start in 1990, and the returns have averaged 12.03% vs the S & P 500 of 11.31% through 4/30/2006. This index can be viewed at: www.kld.com/indexes/ds400index/performance.html

Myth #2: "The Fiduciary Responsibility Myth" - is the idea that if a professional money manager is using qualitative criteria to select investments; they may not be managing in the best financial interests of the account. Up until the late 1990's pension fund managers as well as institutional money managers felt restricted in their ability to use social screening as stock selection method. In 1998 the US Dept of Labor's Pension & Welfare Benefit Administration office issued an advisory opinion that fiduciary standards will not be compromised by the use of socially responsible criteria. Even more recently, the United Nations outlined their "Principles for Responsible Investing," which provide a clear framework to address the impact on the environmental, social and governance factors corporations can have on long-term financial performance. "The publication of a common set of principles for responsible investing is an important step forward" states Mr. Johnston.

Myth #3: "Limited Investment Universe" - is the concern that if you exclude corporations that don't fit social and environmental standards, you may not be able to create a well enough diversified portfolio and you could severely limit your potential for investments. According to Ms. Seid, "We have always held the belief about companies that are more responsible in the areas of environment, human rights, community, and corporate governance, etc, will have less risk over time as they will be less susceptible to litigation costs, clean-up costs, high turnover, corporate scandals, and therefore have the best potential for superior financial returns."

The session ended with an update on many of the current shareholder resolutions that social investors are making strides on. For example Coca-Cola is now reviewing the AIDS pandemic and its impact on the company, Tyco International is now reviewing and reducing toxic emissions, Plum Creek Timber is more transparent in its reporting on political donations, and JC Penney has adopted an anti-bias policy on sexual orientation.

Judy & Shane both conveyed that the mission of Blue Summit Financial Group is to accomplish both goals of aligning personal values with disciplined financial planning solutions. "We can use our money to influence corporations to be more responsible, creating value for all stakeholders and creating a better world."

To learn more about other socially responsible investments, please contact Blue Summit Financial Group at info@bluesummitinvest.com or 888-698-4330.