The HIP Investor Book

The HIP Investor:
Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World
by R. Paul Herman

Published by John Wiley & Sons (April 2010)

Capitalism used to be easy. Discover, acquire, and defend a unique resource. Pay people the least you can get away with. Off-load as many liabilities and risks to government as possible. And, of course, collect the profits in as short a time as possible. These captains of industry used to be called robber barons. Today, they are simply called Capitalists.

The super-majority, about 7 in 8 dollars, of assets managed focus on a purely capitalist approach, which typically prioritizes short-term financial gain. However, this traditional approach has accelerated the number and intensity of societal problems.

To counter that, investors have allocated about 1 in 8 dollars managed to “socially responsible” investing — typically excluding “bad” companies from their portfolios. This has relieved some consciences, but in many cases the majority of these funds have failed to beat the typical benchmark. (Most mutual funds of the capitalist approach don’t beat their benchmark either.)

Now, there is a new investment approach – one that seeks bigger profits that capitalists pursue while building a better world that do-gooders desire. The goal is to generate human impact and profit, or “HIP,” simultaneously.