The Hip Investor: Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World

by R. Paul Herman

A new breed of investing that combines making more money and making a differenceFirst there were the "Profiteers," investors who sought to make money regardless of the cost to society. Then came the "Do-Gooders," investors who avoided "bad" companies and supported "good" ones, based on philosophy over financials. Now this book introduces a brand new breed of The HIP Investor.Written for those who want to profit handsomely while also building a better world, it will help you discover companies that are boosting the bottom line by solving key human needs through innovative products and services-benefiting customers, engaging employees, and delivering sustainable, profitable growth for their investors. That's the Human Impact + Profit, or HIP, approach.In The HIP Investor, R. Paul Herman-creator of the HIP methodology-introduces a revolutionary system that allows investors to profit and make a positive impact. It values measurable results over policies and philosophies, and shows how higher-performing companies can deliver both human impact and profit for shareholders. This bookProvides a compelling, easy to use "investor tool-kit" so you can quickly "HIP" your portfolio Reveals the three questions you should ask when looking for a company to invest in Illustrates how world problems can be solved for profit by companies and investors making informed decisions You can make money while making a difference, and The HIP Investor is here to show you how.

Genres: Economics

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 9, 2010

Reviews

[Samantha Peart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't what I was anticipating

[Steven P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book advocates a new style of investing, called "HIP" (Human Impact + Profit) that is similar to "double bottom line" investing. The author's thesis is that by taking into account these other factors (like health, wealth, trust, environment) the investor will make *more* money than those that use purely financial metrics.

He describes in more detail what he means by each of the five non-financial dimensions, and shows how there are quantitative metrics that can be combined with each. By then weighting all of the stocks in the S&P 100 by their performance on these metrics, he says, investors will outperform the index, because these attributes are leading indicators of good managements, stewardship, and corporate citizenship that provide benefits in taxes, acquiring customers, cutting costs, etc.

There are a number of head-to-head comparisons to see which of two similar companies are more HIP. This part bugged me a bit because it seemed a bit arbitrary (the scores on the metrics) as well as the metrics that were chosen. His point is that the framework is flexible, though, so you should employ the metrics and weightings that are most important to you.

The more interesting part to me was when he left the realm of pure stock analysis and talked about how your entire portfolio could be evaluated on the HIP scale: your bank, the money you loan in bonds, the real estate you hold.

The HIP 100 recently crossed its 3-year anniversary. Although it outperformed the S&P 100 on which it is based for the first two years, it fell short during the third, erasing all its marginal gains. Although the accompanying text touted the fact that you were able to invest in these "do-good" companies with little-to-no reduction in your return, the underperformance did undercut his thesis somewhat. It left me speculating that this is just another "monkey throwing darts" and sometimes does better than the index, sometimes worse.

[Ankit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book !!!!!!!!
I recommend this to fans of either of those books or to anyone who wants to read a classic.
First there were the "Profiteers," investors who sought to make money regardless of the cost to society. Then came the "Do-Gooders," investors who avoided "bad" companies and supported "good" ones, based on philosophy over financials.

[Mills College Library]

332.6 H5517 2010