While the vast majority of respondents, 83 percent, indicated that their personal values were at least somewhat important to them when making investment decisions, 64 percent of the respondents did not have a clear understanding of what they were invested in.
When Motif asked if respondents would change their investments if they were not aligned with their personal values, 68 percent said yes. Almost three-fifths of the respondents, 57 percent, answered that they would be angry or extremely angry if they found that their investments were misaligned with their personal values.
“We saw an opportunity to give people more complete transparency and give them the information they need to make sure that what’s in their portfolios is aligned with their values,” Walia says.
Motif Impact’s investment options are fully transparent, similar to impact-oriented ETFs like State Street’s SHE or Etho Capital’s ETHO. However, unlike ETFs, motifs are also completely customizable at the investor or advisor level.
Motif Impact includes three motifs designed via a partnership with MSCI ESG Research: Sustainable Planet, Fair Labor and Good Corporate Behavior, each targeting different areas of the impact investing universe.
“You can then build an asset allocation model to help you reach your goals,” Walia says. “We allow you to fix your values within the account, take out stocks that are inconsistent with those values and replace them with others.”
The new service, launched on Tuesday, is available for a flat subscription price of $9.95 per month. For users already on Motif Blue, the firm’s financially oriented digital advice provider, access to Motif Impact will come with no additional cost. However, if a Motif Impact user’s account underperforms due to its values filter the first month, the company will reimburse them for their fees, says Walia.
Walla says that Motif Impact is aimed towards Motif’s institutional business, Motif Advisor, as well.
“Our advisors can offer this product on their own; this is a complement to their advice,” says Walia. “Some advisors may not be ready for an automated impact investment platform. We notice that they take a long time to make technology decisions, but we didn’t want to wait around. Moving forward, we’re going to take this inspiration on values and create institutional products.”