Private Wealth Management
Consumer Capital
Consumer capital refers to aligning your purchases and lifestyle with brands and businesses that share your impact goals. Where you direct your dollars for your largest or most frequent expenses — home and household expenses, transportation, dining and even apparel — adds up. More mindful and targeted consumer behavior can influence innovation, supply chain management and reporting decisions at major companies, and in turn, enable a more discerning application of investment capital to these companies.
Consider the following questions to identify ways to leverage your consumer capital:
- What are your most significant expenses? How much research do you do before making a purchase or signing a contract with a service provider?
- What features of a product or service are you willing to pay a premium for? Which are you not?
- Who or what is currently influencing your consumer behavior? Family and friends, social media, geography, etc.?
Consumer Capital - In Action
The real estate sector is responsible for about 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Over 10% of these emissions are generated by construction materials such as steel and cement, and the remainder result from powering and operating a building.1 When our clients are looking to make major real estate decisions, we often refer them to RedBook, our preferred partner for luxury property consultations.
The RedBook team specializes in assembling project-delivery teams for new residential builds, renovations and interior design projects. In 2022, RedBook made a commitment to ensure all projects are carbon neutral, at no cost to the client.
The RedBook team created a sophisticated tool to calculate the carbon emissions output of a property project. This carbon calculator uses official U.K. government-recognized Low Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) guidelines to provide robust and credible figures on carbon emissions created by the manufacture, use and transport of materials in building projects.2 Once RedBook calculates the emissions, they pay to offset the impact of their partners (e.g., architects and contractors).
Key Takeaway: Find partners that help you align your spending with your values.
Consumer Capital - In Action
For travelers who want to maximize the impact of their next getaway and connect with like-minded individuals, Indagare offers a membership service for curated trip planning and group excursions.
Indagare believes “how you travel matters.” Trips are built to preserve and sustain the destinations members travel to.
Every Indagare membership and trip supports the Indagare Impact Fund, which is focused on investing in local communities, preserving cultural sites for future generations and protecting critically endangered wildlife and ecosystems. Indagare maintains transparent sustainable hotel criteria to help members choose more conscious itineraries and sources third-party-assured carbon offsets when emissions can’t be immediately reduced.
Key Takeaway: Leisure and impact are not mutually exclusive pursuits.
Last Revised: August 2024
[1] International Energy Agency, 2019 global status report for building and construction, December 2019.
[2] RedBook Agency, February 2022.
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