Beyond Wall Street: Transforming the Way We Use Capital

By Don Shaffer

I’ve been talking to a lot of people lately about RSF Social Finance’s decision to walk off Wall Street, and urging others to consider doing the same. The obvious question that comes up is, OK, but where do you go? What are the investment and banking options beyond the Wall Street-centric institutions? Can you really get off that grid?

It’s not easy–we are painfully aware of that–and we can’t give specific investment advice because we are not financial advisors. But yes, you can unplug. We’ve nearly completed that process by cobbling together a collection of excellent, best-available options. For us, the process took longer than we would have liked, but new investment options are emerging all the time, and I think walking off Wall Street is getting easier fairly rapidly.

What that means to you or your organization depends on your goals. Our goal is to transform the way the world works with money, so we approached unplugging with a related set of questions: How can we move from a financial system that’s complex, opaque and anonymous to one that’s direct, transparent and personal? What underlies modern portfolio theory, and are there other ways to structure investment portfolios that are more appropriate for the 21st century? What does it mean for investors if economic growth is much slower in the years and decades to come than it’s been since World War II?

You may share some of those questions (I’d love to hear your answers), and you will certainly have others. There are plenty of paths to pursue for people and organizations who want to use finance and business as a way to drive meaningful, positive change in the world, and who are willing to roll up their sleeves to support new ideas.

What’s next

Continue reading on the The Huffington Post.