Financial Services Career with a Passion for Permaculture

I came to the financial services industry in 2011 as a way out of a soul-sucking union job with the federal government.  As the son of a Saskatchewan farmer with a work ethic, it wasn't a good environment for me.

My wife is the primary breadwinner here, so in spite of the environment I was in, so I didn't go into the industry with a goal of building a big book of business nor building a big business to earn a lot.  One of the main things to me was to do things differently so that I could actually help people make progress toward achieving their goals.  If we put products in place and I got paid, so much the better.  

One of the things I've valued is the idea that if someone provides something of value (whether a good or a service), they deserve to earn something for that.  The greater the value, it seems reasonable that one should earn more.

I came to permaculture more recently and it resonated with me.  One thing that really connected for me is the concept of 8 forms of currency.  This allowed me to see a new form of balance in life.  It also got me thinking about the 8 forms similar to a wheel - the closer to round it gets ("measuring" each form of capital like a spoke on a wheel), the smoother the ride will be.  If I'm low in one form, I feel unbalanced and the ride is less comfortable, so it's a reminder to look for ways I may be able to complement where I am on my journey with what is missing to achieve a better balance.  It isn't just about the size of the wheel, but about how round it is.

This has been reinforced by a couple speakers I've heard as a result of being involved with a social enterprise locally.  The first is with a construction firm that (initially) specialized in "green" retrofits of buildings, but they did it while endeavouring to hire and give work experience to some in the community who have difficulty finding work (ex-convicts is one example that sticks).  While making a building more resilient and more energy-efficient, the business was employing and giving good work experience to some who needed it, which helped to also build social and community capital.  The second speaker is with a group that works with troubled youth.  They take a holistic approach to supporting the whole person including spiritual supports.  The parallels between these incredible community organizations and how we think as permaculture practitioners really struck me as powerful.

When I work with clients, I strive to take a similar approach - it's about supporting their goals and working with them to help them achieve them.  That said, financial capital is just one aspect.  From observation, some of the happiest people I've encountered have been among the poorest, but had a level of understanding or acceptance about where they're at and understand that more money or more stuff won't solve their problems.

One thing I've watched closely is the realm of SRI / PRI / ESG investments.  As a concept, I really like it, but what I look deeper, I struggle with it a bit.  For one, I've become convinced that the intense focus on atmospheric carbon neglects the impact of land use.  I've come to believe that we can make significant strides once we recognize globally that we've broken a variety of cycles - hydrological, nitrogen and others as well as carbon.  If all we look at is resolving one of those (assuming it is the correct problem to solve in the first place), then perhaps we will simply wind up with an unbalanced wheel as above.  Anyway, I struggle with some of the things like precision agriculture, which is staying in the industrial ag paradigm and just cuts energy a bit or decreases chemical application but may continue to degrade the soil.

I definitely seem to be engaging in some unfocused rambling here.  I think part of what I'm getting at is that it's a struggle to do the right thing if you aren't convinced that what the world is telling you is the right thing is right.  I may simply be too contrarian to think I can do what everyone else does and expect to get different results than everyone else.

Any of the forms of capital is nice to have in abundance, but if one has just one of the 8, I don't think life will feel right, and I certainly wouldn't be fulfilled.  The western world seems to be so focused on financial capital without addressing the other types of capital we need as well.

Derek, I'm so happy to see this post and learn that you are a financial advisor. My own journey into the nexus of permaculture & personal finance evolved from my desire to do even more to align my money with my values after I discovered permaculture about 12 years ago.

I had money in this SRI/ESG funds you mentioned, but that still kept my money supporting sugary beverages in single use plastics, big pharma, financial institutions with predatory lending practices, and so much more bad stuff. Over the past 8 years I've moved most of my money off Wall Street and into investments in my local economy as well as the solidarity and regenerative economies.

A big part of my new wealth building plan also consists of those 8 forms of capital you referenced, which we wrote about in our book Growing FREE as well. I find that this more holistic wealth portfolio really resonates with people when I talk about building true wealth on our climate challenged planet.

Even though you live in Canada, you may be interested in checking out the Rad Planners, a loosely formed and growing group of financial advisors and money coaches (including me), who “aim to shift the financial services industry towards a mentality of abundance and cooperative economics, cultivate wealth redistribution in the spirit of repair/return, and inspire
divestment/reinvestment by wielding and remolding the tools of financial planning, peer-to-peer support, and collaborative action.” You can read their complete overview document herewebpage.

A number of these rad planners are familiar with permaculture. In fact, I'll likely be making a presentation to this group about permaculture wealth building (and you can be sure I'll be highlighting those 8 forms of capital) at some point next year. While most of us are based in the US, I believe there are a few who live and work in Canada as well. Feel free to complete this contact formwebpage if you want to learn more. And please feel free to list my name as the person who referred you.

Thanks Laura.  I will check out the group.  

I definitely agree that, particularly if we don't pay attention, we wind up supporting things we question.  We pulled money out of a favourite dividend fund when Philip Morris and British American Tobacco both showed up in the top 10 holdings.  My wife is in health care, so she was pretty upset when I told her about that.  We have given up some return and stability in favour of our values.  Working from within though, every time I get an opportunity with my wholesaler for the firm or actually with the portfolio managers and analysts, I nag them about it and let them know there is money that will go back into the fund once they eliminate the tobacco.  I've been assured they are working on it - I believe one of the stocks has been divested but the other sits just outside the top 10 holdings.

I guess that's one of the challenges - as the "little guy" it is hard to make a difference in the world of finance.  I find it interesting how decisions get made - one view of what is "green" is not the be all and end all.  I live in a jurisdiction where over 99.5% of our electricity is generated by hydroelectric dams and wind (hydro being the lion's share), but in the name of "reducing carbon" we are pushed into LED light bulbs.  In a cold location such as ours, where most heating is done with natural gas furnaces, actually having light bulbs that generate some "waste" heat could actually reduce our heat load, therefore natural gas use, therefore carbon footprint.  As an aside, I really enjoyed Paul Wheaton's podcast on carbon footprint as he makes similar points as this.  As you said, the ESG/PRI funds support things that don't make sense to me, neither from an environmental perspective nor from the idea of a business model I want to support.  I'm not quite ready to give up on the entire system yet though.  Unfortunately, while investing in individual stocks can be an option, it can also reduce our potential returns.  

Thanks for chiming in...I have some homework now in reaching out to the Rad Planners and ensuring I obtain a copy of Growing FREE.