FAQ

• We are a wealth management company which helps you investing with global, environmental and socially responsible equity which in turn decreases your carbon footprint and promotes a more sustainable economy.

• Our goal is to generate a plus for you and the world. Simply ethical investing. Neither sacrificing returns nor compromising on ethics: Responsible Returns.

• The meta-study “The Performance of Socially Responsible Investment” (by Emma Sjöström, Stockholm School of Economics, 2015) shows that of Forty-two studies done in academia, ten studies report that sustainable investments outperform conventional investments, forteen conclude that sustainable and conventional investment products show similar performance. Five studies find that sustainable investments generate inferior performance relative to its conventional peers. Finally, Thirteen studies report mixed results.

To the Study

• You invest with sustainable equity and you thereby become owner of these companies.
• With Personal Value you invest into equity of companies acting environmentally and socially responsible.
• With Start Value you invest into equity funds focussed on sustainable companies.
• With your investment, you are making a statement and helping to promote companies which act responsibly.
• The more investors make such a statement, the more pressure there will be on companies to act in a sustainable manner.
• This can be compared to sustainable energy in Zurich. Over the years a larger number of people have decided to obtain electricity from renewable energy sources resulting in 100% of Zurich’s electricity now being generated from such sources.
• You become a climate and world improver.

• Globally we benefit from 150 analysts at MSCI ESG Research Inc., who analyse and rate companies listed on stock markets.
• With this knowledge we develop a Personal Value portfolio which corresponds to your ethical profile.

• You will regularly receive a report showing your portfolio’s rating in terms of environmental, social and carbon emission issues. There will also be a comparison to a “normal” portfolio without a focus on sustainability.
• Are you curious? Generate your personal Personal Value Profile and we will send you a report corresponding to your profile. This is free of charge and without having to commit to anything. In this report you will see how environmentally and socially friendly your portfolio is and how much you will save on carbon emissions.

• Low costs due to low all-in-fees (including stamp tax, transaction costs, etc.)
• Personal advice to develop the best investment strategy for you
• Full transparency over holdings, purchases, sales and performance
• Constant availability of your investment account with online access
• Swiss “Steuerregister” for your tax declaration
• Full flexibility without a minimum contract period or additional costs when doing any adjustments

• We focus on the essentials: providing a plus for you and the world. We deliberately do without complex processes, representative business premises, status symbols and other things, which not only generate excessive costs but also do not provide any advantages for you or the world.
• We cooperate with an online broker, which has a more cost-efficient infrastructure compared to traditional banks, thereby allowing us to pass on the cost advantage to you with our all-inclusive-fees.
• We work for you and are only paid by you. We do not receive any retrocessions, kickbacks or similar funds from investment fund companies, banks or other third parties, preventing conflicts of interest and hidden costs.
• With Start Value we choose low-fee investment funds without issuing premiums.

• As this is not easily described with only a few words. Please find detaled information on our Investment Process page.
• To the Investment Process

• We select sustainable ETFs for you and purchase them for your portfolio.
• ETFs are cost-efficient investment funds, which are tradable on stock exchanges. With ETFs, there are no issuing premiums, no retrocessions and the annual management fee (costs for the fund management company) is significantly lower than with traditional funds. ETFs aim to reflect the performance of an index. Sustainable ETFs mimic the performance of an index, which takes sustainable criteria into account.

• A factor which you set to “Very Important” (slider to the very right) has double the weight for generation of your personal company ranking than a slider set directly into the middle between “Unimportant” and “Very Important”.
• The sliders are almost infinitely variable, allowing us to capture even little nuances of your ethical values when generating your personal company ranking.

• Based on your requests we can exclude certain companies or industries from your portfolio
• Furthermore, we can exclude equity from specific countries or currency areas
• If you have any other requests or questions please contact us

• Your investment return is materially influenced by the general performance of the equity market. In the short-term equity markets can be very volatile and also negative. Over the long term / over periods of more than 10 years average annual returns of 5-8% were observed on global equity markets. Future returns may deviate from past returns.

• Our wealth management service mainly uses stock market products which are subject to price volatility (price risk).
• There is a risk that some stock market companies go bankrupt and therefore a total-loss on the stock holdings of the respective company will occur. Negative effects on the portfolio as a whole are lowered by the fact that the portfolio is broadly diversified so that a total loss on single stock level has a reduced effect on the overall portfolio.
• There is a currency risk, as investments are made in international stocks which usually leads to a significant portion of the holdings being denominated in other currencies. Diversification into several currency areas lowers this risk to some extent.

• You can become a private client in case you are at least 18 years old and are domiciled in Switzerland.
• Responsible returns is exclusively permitted to offer its wealth management services in Switzerland. For the contract between you and Responsible Returns Swiss law is applicable. A client relationship to US associated people is currently not available.

• • Just follow the three easy steps to become a client.

• • Yes. Please contact us.

• Personal Value: For a fee of 1% p.a. of the average invested assets, we generate and manage an individual portfolio for you which is in line with your ethical values. This fee includes all charges.
• Start Value: We invest in sustainable ETFs for you for a fee of 0.5% p.a. of the average invested assets. Additionally, we pass on the cost of the ETFs of approximately 0.5% p.a.

• Before we begin a wealth management relationship with you as a client, we will check with you whether your financial situation, investment goals, risk taking tolerance and ability is compatible with our products. Only after this check will it be possible to say whether wealth management with Responsible Returns is suitable for your needs.
• As a general indication, our products are more suitable for clients who have a long investment horizon since Responsible Returns products are stock market related and stocks can show high volatility but also have an attractive long-term return potential.

• Your account will be opened at Interactive Brokers in the United Kingdom which is one of the market leaders within the area of online brokers.

• Certainly. You are the owner of the account and you therefore have access to it at all times enabling you to see the position your portfolio holds as well as any transactions we have made on your behalf. We have the power of attorney to invest for you but it remains your account. You can log into your interactive brokers account and have a full overview over all your holdings, transactions and performances at any time.

• No, you have full flexibility and can cancel the contract at any time. There is no notice period and there are no further costs associated with cancellation of the contract.

• Besides the Swiss Franc the following base currencies are also available: AUD, CAD, CNH, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HUF, ILS, JPY, MXN, NOK, NZD, RUB, SEK, SGD or USD.

• In case of questions please send us a message to [email protected] or use our contact form.
• You may also give us a call at 076 42 01 629.

• For every client residing in Switzerland we provide a tax directory (free of charge). Thereby we make filling out your tax declaration easy, minimise queries from the tax authorities and give you all the necessary information for claiming back your taxes. For tax related information please contact all respective entities that will provide you with qualified information.

• You will receive all necessary information in order to declare your invested capital with Responsible Returns to send to your respective tax authority. For tax related information please contact the respective authorities who will provide you with qualified and accurate information.

• You will receive a yearly report which will show you how your portfolio is positioned according to sustainable factors and how sustainable it is compared to a normal portfolio which does not incorporate any sustainability criteria.
• You will also receive a yearly report which will show you the performance and holdings of your portfolio. Furthermore, you will receive all necessary information for your tax declaration. As a Swiss domiciled client, you will also receive a Swiss tax directory (Schweizer Steuerverzeichnis).

• • Yes.

• When you open the account, you share your principal bank’s details with us. As soon as you have shared this information, you can instruct us to transfer funds to your principal bank account.

• Yes, we offer investment savings plans at no extra cost. You can start, stop and adjust your savings plan as you like. Save any amount monthly, quarterly, once a year or whenever you prefer to – it’s entirely up to you.

• Our 1% all-in-fee includes transaction costs, safekeeping charges, stock market fees, stamp duty and wealth management fees.