Episode summary
Women, Next Generation Want Investments to be 'Purpose Driven,' Says Kathleen Paylor
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 7 min · Guests: Kathleen Paylor
Summary
Kathleen Paylor says the wealth transfer now underway is changing what investors want from their money. She argues that women and next-generation inheritors are asking less about maximizing returns alone and more about what their capital is doing for people and the planet, pushing demand toward purpose-driven and intentional investing.
Paylor says impact investing has broadened over the past 10 to 15 years from capital preservation to venture, venture debt, private credit and fixed income. In her view, the most compelling allocations are in real assets and long-term regenerative solutions, such as food systems, regenerative agriculture and social enterprises, because they are less tied to day-to-day public-market volatility and geopolitical headlines.
She also says legacy is being redefined. Rather than treating philanthropy as separate from investing, many women are now thinking holistically about how their money should behave, especially when they gain control of assets through divorce or death. Paylor says advisers who can explain the impact investing landscape are well positioned, because many clients already know they want positive impact but need help figuring out how to get there.
Key takeaways
- Paylor says women and next-gen investors are increasingly asking what their money does for people and planet, not just how much it can earn.
- She says the coming wealth transfer could amount to about 124 trillion over the next 20 or something years, and much of it is shifting to women and next gen.
- Paylor argues investors want less correlation with public markets and more exposure to real assets with long-term value.
- She says impact investing now spans capital preservation, fixed income, venture, venture debt, private credit and venture capital.
- Paylor says advisers who can talk about impact investing are in a strong position because many clients know their goals but need guidance on execution.
Notable quotes
“they are really asking more questions. They are not just asking how much money can I make off of this deal”
“what is this money doing? Where are my where are my resources going and what are the implications of that for people and planet”
“they are increasingly looking for and not just looking for, but expect investments to be purpose driven, intentional, responsive to both social and environmental needs”
“What if my money could speak? What would it say about what kind of person I am”
“I want my money to do good things. I want my money to have a positive impact”
How the episode opens
We think about wealth transfer just broadly and what to do with your money, what someone should do with their inheritance or otherwise. How does the macro for you factor in whether it's the current geopolitical environment, whether it's we're talking air or whether we're talking about private credit concerns and more? Let's just start there on the macro level.
Yeah. Carol, Jim, great to. Great to be here.
You know, I think we've seen, you know, in the in the course of a few days us go from geopolitical shock to global energy supply. Shock. And, you know, as we all know, public markets react when headlines even when those headlines are on stuff.
Substack and other fantasy, as we saw, you know, a couple of weeks ago with Katrina. And one of the things that we're really hearing in the impact investing space, particularly in the deep impact investing space like at RSA, is that investors increasingly want more assets that are less correlated with public markets so that they don't have the kind of vulnerabilities and volatility that we're seeing right now. And and really to be invested in real assets with long term value like food systems, regenerative agriculture, social enterprises that aren't reacting to minute by minute geopolitical headlines, how do those assets manifest in not an asset, I guess an asset classes like are those in the private markets?
Are they in the form of venture capital or venture debt investing? Like like how how do you invest in those assets that you speak of? Yes.
And yes. I mean, it's, you know, impact investing in the past ten, 15 years has grown enormously. So really, investors can invest across the spectrum from capital preservation to deep impact fixed income, which is where our S.F.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- impact investing
- purpose-driven investing
- philanthropy
- esg
- climate and people impact
Companies and tickers mentioned
- RSF Social Finance
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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