A new frontier of socially conscious investments are emerging with a focus on issues that are most important to you, such as supporting our military veterans.
On the upcoming webcast, How U.S. Veterans Make Companies Stronger, Richard Cea, Head of InsightShares, Chris Hale, Chairman of Viqtory, and Chris Phillips, Assistand VP of Diversity for PNC Bank, will consider what it means for a company to support veterans, why businesses may be stronger for having access to a valuable talent pool that veterans represent and a way for financial advisors to benefit from this socially conscious investment opportunity.
Specifically, UBS recently launched the InsightShares Patriotic Employers ETF (NYSEArca: HONR) to target companies that support U.S. veterans.
The new Patriotic Employers ETF tries to reflect the performance of the Military Veterans Index, which is comprised of large- and mid-capitalization U.S. stocks of companies with policies and practices determined to be Military Friendly, according to a prospectus sheet.
A Standard to Measure Patriotic Employers
Military Friendly refers to a standard created by Victory Media to measure a company’s commitment, effort, and success in creating sustainable and meaningful employment opportunities for military vets. The screen is based on the company’s practices with respect to providing career opportunities to military employees; culture and commitment towards military employees; hiring and onboarding military employees; military employee policies and compliance with policies; military employee support and retention; and identifying and recruiting military employees.
A company will need to meet at least three criteria to be included for consideration. Criteria include: New hire retention rate for veterans is greater than 50%; New hire retention for veterans is higher than for non-military employees; New hire retention rate for guard and reserve employees is greater than 50%; Military employee turnover is lower than for non-military employees; Military employee turnover is less than 20%; Promotions and advancements of military employees is higher than for non-military employees; The percentage of military applicants hired is higher than that for non-military applicants; and Compliance with legal protections afforded military veterans meet or exceed those requirements under law applicable to military veterans.
Furthermore, UBS promised that a portion of revenues generated from the ETF will be donated to vet-related charities through the UBS Optimus Foundation.
Sector weights include industrials 20.2%, financials 19.9%, information technology 12.4%, health care 10.5%, consumer discretionary 9.6%, utilities 9.0%, consumer staples 5.8%, real estate 5.0%, telecom services 3.8%, energy 2.0% and materials 1.9%.
Top holdings include Lockheed martin 1.0%, Intel 1.0%, Xcel Energy 1.0%, Northrop Grumman Corporation 1.0% and SBA Communications Corp 1.0%.
Financial advisors who are interested in learning more about this socially responsible investment opportunity can register for the Thursday, May 24 webcast here.