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It continues to divide investors today, with the rise of so-called ethical investment funds, which aim to make money without causing social or environmental harm.

Ethical funds typically shun businesses that fall short of their moral criteria, such as environmentally damaging oil and mining firms, weapons manufacturers, tobacco companies and those involved in animal testing.

Some actively seek out businesses that aim to do good, such as renewable energy firms.

Socially Responsible Investing, as it is also known, has struggled to convince investors, who assume they pay a price in the shape of fund underperformance.

However, new figures suggest ethical funds have done far better than sceptics believe.

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CLEAN AND MEAN

The average ethical fund has returned 16.81 per cent over the last year, slightly ahead of the 15.20 per cent average return for non-ethical funds, according to new figures from MoneyFacts.co.uk.

Top was the EdenTree Amity European Fund, up 33.4 per cent, while Unicorn UK Ethical Income and Standard Life Investments UK Ethical also returned more than 30 per cent.

Ethical funds also outperformed over three years, but really excelled over five years, returning 76.1 per cent against just 64.1 per cent for non-ethical rivals.

EdenTree Amity European, Liontrust Sustainable Future Absolute Growth and Henderson Global Care Growth would have more than doubled your money over that period.

Richard Eagling, head of pensions and investments at MoneyFacts, says the traditional view that ethical investing requires a financial sacrifice now looks outdated: Ethical funds have more than held their own recently, performance-wise.

He suggests that sustainable practices and good governance may give companies a competitive advantage.

MORAL MAZE

Investors must approach these figures with caution, says Jason Hollands, managing director of wealth advisers Tilney Investment Services: Over time, ethical funds can lurch significantly between outperformance or underperformance.

One reason performance looks so good right now is that the oil and gas sector, which many ethical funds shun on environmental grounds, has endured a rocky few years.

Over 10 years non-ethical funds came out on top. He adds: If oil and gas recover ethical funds could find themselves back in the relative doldrums.

Hollands says ethically-minded investors must understand that performance can deviate significantly from the wider stock market, but adds this will not worry those who put morality before money: Tobacco companies can offer great returns, but that will not sway somebody who does not want to invest their cash in cigarettes.

He tips Kames Ethical Equity, Standard Life UK Ethical and F&C Responsible Global Equity.

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1. Don't put all your eggs in one basket: Protect portfolios from unforeseen events by making sure investments are not focused in just one or two areas.

THINK SMALL

Another problem is that ethical funds tend to focus on just a handful of sectors that meet their criteria.

MoneyToTheMasses.com founder Damien Fahy says: This leaves you exposed to a relatively small investment universe, notably technology and financial stocks.

Ethical funds are heavily weighted towards smaller firms rather than those with a dirty global footprint. F

und managers also have different views of what makes an ethical company, and this may not match your own.

Investing ethically is a minefield. I have seen funds invest in oil stocks that have engaged in Arctic drilling or banks accused of rate rigging and money-laundering, says Fahy.

His preferred ethical funds are Liontrust Sustainable Future UK Growth, EdenTree Amity European and Royal London Sustainable World Trust.

Eagling says investors are likely to remain sceptical despite recent successes: More than 30 years after the first ethical fund was launched the sector accounts for just 1.2 per cent of investment under management.

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THINK SMALL

Another problem is that ethical funds tend to focus on just a handful of sectors that meet their criteria.

MoneyToTheMasses.com founder Damien Fahy says: This leaves you exposed to a relatively small investment universe, notably technology and financial stocks.

Ethical funds are heavily weighted towards smaller firms rather than those with a dirty global footprint.

Fund managers also have different views of what makes an ethical company, and this may not match your own.

Investing ethically is a minefield. I have seen funds invest in oil stocks that have engaged in Arctic drilling or banks accused of rate rigging and money-laundering, says Fahy.

His preferred ethical funds are Liontrust Sustainable Future UK Growth, EdenTree Amity European and Royal London Sustainable World Trust.

Eagling says investors are likely to remain sceptical despite recent successes: More than 30 years after the first ethical fund was launched the sector accounts for just 1.2 per cent of investment under management.

Original post:
Ethical investment funds: Five-minute guide to moral money management - Express.co.uk

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Tracey McCormack - Founder & President

Tracey McCormack is a media and sales industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in traditional and modern media platforms. Her demonstrated expertise spans many facets of the industry including sales strategy, modern selling techniques, omni-channel marketing, cross-platform video, and social selling to name a few.

Traceys diverse media and sales background includes agency, station, and network experience across radio, local TV, national cable, cross-platform sales, Hispanic media, start-up networks, sales management, and executive leadership. She has a proven record of driving sales growth in previous positions held at at Harrington, Righter and Parsons, KNBC 4 Los Angeles, and the Univision owned and operated flagship station KMEX. As VP of Sales, Tracey played a pivotal role in launching the national cable channel Si TV (now known as FM) and then went on to serve as SVP of Licensing at Youtoo Technologies, owned in part by Mark Burnett. Tracey is certified by the IAB in Digital Media Sales.

Her commitment to the future of the media industry is exemplified by her more than 20 years as an adjunct professor at UCLA Extension. Following her recognition by the university with the Distinguished Instructor Award, UCLA Extension announced the formation of the Tracey McCormack Scholarship Fund as an endowment to provide scholarships to students interested in the areas of media and marketing. In Fall 2016, Tracey expanded her reach in educating the next generation of media sales leaders with new courses offered at the NYU School of Professional Studies.

For her work in media and dedication to training todays media professionals, Tracey has been recognized and honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Ad Relief; one of the industrys most highly esteemed charity organizations.

Tracey's Areas of Expertise:

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McCormack Media Services | Modern Media Training

Sales Training World presents a new online sales guide featuring human behaviors and how salespeople can better understand the buyer to boost business success and improve relationships

Austin, TX (PRWEB) August 25, 2017

Attracting more businesses to one's products or services is actually simpler than it appears. It doesn't require hypnotizing or manipulating the sales targets into buying. All one has to do is give them what they want. With the right corporate sales training, one will be increasing sales in no time - all while maintaining a good business-to-business relationship.

The real key to improving corporate sales is, quite simply, an understanding of the human behavior. Fundamentally, all human beings have the same mental triggers that usually drive their actions. To fully understand and influence potential clients, one needs to know what those mental triggers are and how to effectively utilize them in a corporate sales message.

In this new online guide, sales expert Ryan Dohrn of Sales Training World outlines four typical psychological behaviors that may block one from closing an otherwise successful corporate sales deal, and explains how to alter sales tactics to appeal to humans' natural instincts, beliefs and desires.

In this piece, available online now, Dohrn covers the following behaviors:

He then explains how to understand and appeal to these behaviors to improve sales and business-to-business relationships.

In order to make it huge in corporate sales, one needs to have asales process and stick to it. Carefully analyzing the human behavior enables one to create a repeatable process can help one learn and grow with each client they come across. Thats the key to sales success.

This piece is published on salestrainingworld.com. Click here to read and learn more now!

About Ryan Dohrn:

Ryan Dohrn is an award winning corporate sales coach and offers corporate sales training to thousands of corporate sales executives each year. He is also an international motivational speaker and the author of the best-selling sales book, Selling Backwards. He has performed sales coaching for companies in 17 unique industry sectors, from media to tech to aviation, and is the owner and Publisher of SalesTrainingWorld.com an online portal for sales training success.

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Four Behaviors Stopping You From Being a Corporate Sales Closer ... - PR Web (press release)

A junkie can be defined as anyone suffering from an addiction. Ill be the first to admit, I exchanged one addiction for another. My drug addiction nearly cost me my life, but my addiction to knowledge -- which is power -- helped me save my life.

I was 25 years old when I went to drug rehab and finally made a commitment to have success as a salesman. I knewto become successful in sales I needed knowledge, so I invested $3,000 in a sales training program that gave me the knowledge I needed to start making more sales and 10X my annual income.

Related:8 Success Habits Learned Building a 7-Figure Business by Age 17

Selling is hard if you havent made a commitment to it, but the truth is anything is hard without a commitment. It doesnt matter what industry you are in, if you arent committed to it, you will suffer. Being committed means you write down your goals and train daily to be better at whatever you do.

Anytime I am having trouble getting what I want in my life, in my career, in money or in my relationships, I askWhat is it that I do notknow?It doesnt matter if its more quality time with my kids, more income, more freedom, security, confidence or whatever it is I want, the first thing I look for is to become clear about my desire and then look for what I don't know.

Don't give up on what you want, get the knowledge that you are missing.Make this your steadfastformula!If you really want something, butyou aren't getting it, then just know withtotal confidencethat it is merely something you do not know. Determinewhat that is and get the knowledge. This has worked for memany times in my life to get me what I want. If you don't commit to this formula you actually start creating dumb reasons for giving up on the things you deserve.

Related: No Matter How Much Experience You Have, There's Always Something New to Learn

When you knowsomething

1. You canpredictoutcomes successfully.

2. You willacquiretrue confidence.

3. Others willagreewith you because they see you are knowledgeable.

Add knowledge to desire,like you would wood to a fire,and sooner or lateryou will achieve your dreams. But know this: There is a shortage of people who fully understand how to sell others on their dreams. You need to sell others on your dream to help make it a reality.

Do you know how to sell? Come to 10XGrowthCon 2018 and let me help you double your sales, and even 10X your sales.

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To Succeed You Must Become a Knowledge Junkie - Entrepreneur

To realize the full potential of sales skills and talents begins with the mindset of each salesperson. Self-improvement experts, motivational speakers even those in executive leadership and management roles sing the virtues of a positive mindset.

Years ago one of my coaches, David Herdlinger, constructed a great and simple visual. He drew a quadrant and left top corner he wrote the word "Knowledge." In the top right corner of the quadrant he wrote the word "Attitude." The lower left corner had the word "Skill" and to its immediate right was the word "Habit." Herdlinger named this simple quadrant the "KASH Box."

Then he asked this question about failure in business, sales and even personal lives: Is failure the result of a lack of Knowledge or Skills or poor Attitudes and Habits?

How much training and development be it for sales, customer service, leadership or management is about acquiring new knowledge and skills? Yet if failure is due to poor attitudes and habits, why isn't there equal if not greater emphasis on developing great attitudes and habits? Aren't these attitudes and habits the foundation for success?

Mindset is the desire or lack of desire to put into action one's skills and talents. For some this mindset may be called "grit" for others we hear the phrase "positive mental attitude." Whatever we call mindset, the end result is the same that being forward progress even under adverse situations.

Many people have the necessary skills and talents to be successful. However sales and business success still eludes them. My husband, who is now a retired entrepreneur, captured the essence of the KASH Box mindset with this statement:

"It is not a question of do I know it, but rather of one 'Do I want to do it?" He then went on and said, "If I want to do it, I will acquire the necessary knowledge and skills."

So the question returns to you. Do you want "to do it" to:

Increase sales?

Increase commissions?

Increase repeat business (customer loyalty)?

(Fill in the blank)?

P.S. There are now four months remaining in 2017. If you are not satisfied with your business or sales results, maybe it is time to do a self-check in about your own mindset.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith is an author, speaker and executive coach. Her weekly column explores issues that impact the bottom line of firms with fewer than 100 employees. She can be reached at 219-508-2859.

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Column: Mindset embraces sales skills and talents - Chicago Tribune

The daily practice of meditation has been shown to have a multitude of benefits, but for some people, the idea of setting aside some mindful time can present challenges. For many, just keeping up with a meditation practice is difficult, but some find reasons to not even give meditation a try.

n I don't have time. The most common reason people find it hard to meditate is lack of time. Sure, the longer we meditate, the more we notice the benefits of mindfulness, but even short meditations count. Shoot for 10 minutes, but even just taking a minute to focus on our breath can be very beneficial. Over time, you may find yourself naturally increasing the length of your meditation.

n I can't stop my mind. The most common misconception about meditation is that you have to stop your thoughts. Not true. We can't stop our thoughts, but we can watch them. Over time, we can switch our awareness away from thoughts, toward other sensations happening in the body. If we get pulled back to our thoughts, that is OK. Just notice it and bring your awareness back to the breath or other object of meditation.

n I am not Buddhist. The first thing that usually comes to mind when we think about meditation is a robed monk in a temple, but anyone of any faith can meditate. Sure, it can seem like a religious experience from the outside, but meditation is really just a brain-training exercise. Many religions have their own versions of meditative practices like Christian contemplation and Jewish Hisbonenus.

n I can't sit like that. No need to sit a certain way. Grab a chair or sit on the couch. The main reason for sitting in lotus position is to not fall asleep, so sit any way that you want as long as it doesn't make you feel sleepy. If you do get sleepy, try practicing standing or walking meditation to wake you up.

A daily meditation practice can be a great way to reduce stress, promote focus and experience many other benefits, so don't let these excuses talk you out of giving it a try.

Travis Lemon is a certified herbalist at Healthy Life Market natural health and wellness industry for more than 12 years. He can be contacted at travislemonmh@gmail.com .

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Travis Lemon: Common meditation excuses and how to work through them - Huntington Herald Dispatch

Just 11 minutes of mindfulness training may help heavy drinkers cut back on alcohol, according to new research in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology. People in the study who listened to short audio recordings drank about three fewer beers than usual over the following week, while those in a control group didn't change their drinking habits.

The practice of mindfulness involves focusing on whats happening in the present moment. Unlike other strategies sometimes used to combat unhealthy behaviors or addictionswhich often strive to reduce cravings or teach people to ignore themmindfulness encourages practitioners to acknowledge such cravings and respond with intention.

The downside is that mindfulness-based treatments usually involve many hours of training over several sessions and arent readily available to everyone who might benefit from them. Researchers at University College London wanted to see how a very brief interventionjust one informal session lasting a few minutesmight benefit people at risk for problems with alcohol.

They recruited 68 adults who admitted to drinking heavily, but not to the point of having an alcohol-use disorder. Half of them listened to an 11-minute audio recording that taught basic mindfulness strategies, like thinking consciously about ones feelings and bodily sensations. The recordings told them that by acknowledging these sensationslike cravings, for instancethey could tolerate them as temporary events, without needing to act on them.

The other half participated in relaxation training specifically designed to reduce cravings. After the session, both groups were encouraged to continue practicing the techniques throughout the week.

The study was double-blinded, which means that people did not know which intervention they were receiving. The word mindfulness wasnt used in any recruitment or experimental materials, so peoples assumptions about the technique would not influence their results.

MORE: How Meditation Helps You Handle Stress Better

Because the two training sessions were so similar and so brief, the researchers expected to see only a subtle change in drinking reduction and only small differences between the groups.

But the results surprised them. During the following week, the mindfulness group drank 9.3 fewer units of alcohol (equal to about three pints of beer) than they had the week before the study. There was no significant change among people who were taught to relax.

Lead author Sunjeev Kamboj, a reader and deputy director in UCLs Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, says that practicing mindfulness can make a person more aware of their tendency to respond reflexively to urges. By being more aware of their cravings, we think the study participants were able to bring intention back into the equation, instead of automatically reaching for the drink when they feel a craving," he says.

MORE: Can You Lose Weight On The Mindfulness Diet?

Kamboj and his coauthors hope that heavy drinkersa group at risk for alcohol addiction and abuse, as well as other unpleasant side effects and chronic health issuescan use mindfulness to reduce their consumption levels before they develop serious problems. They are also exploring whether mindfulness can help people who have other types of substance-use problems. Its yet not clear whether people have to really want to cut back on drinking or other unhealthy behaviors in order to benefit, he adds.

He also believes that mindfulness can be effective even when practiced informally without committing a lot of time, effort or money. There are many self-help books, CDs, websites and apps that dont involve formal face-to-face mindfulness training, he says, which our results suggest might be helpful for hazardousbut probably not for more severely affecteddrinkers.

Read more from the original source:

How a Short Meditation Can Help People Drink Less - TIME

By Nick Romeo By Nick Romeo August 25

Nick Romeo is a critic and journalist based in Palo Alto, Calif.

Nick Romeois a critic and journalist based in Palo Alto, Calif.

Robert Wrights Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment promises to show not just that meditation helps people live happier lives but that it promotes a vision of the world that is fundamentally true. He believes that the truth of Buddhism will set you free and that this freedom will let you perceive the truth.

Wright has written lucid popular books on evolutionary psychology and the history of religion, so he is well-poised to consider Buddhism from a scientific perspective. And while he does not make a fully convincing case for some of his more grandiose claims about truth and freedom, his argument contains many interesting and illuminating points. Most serious meditators and Buddhists probably dont feel an urgent need for scientific validation of their practices: The benefits they experience are their own justification. But for casual meditators and scientific skeptics of religion, a clear explanation of the evolutionary reasons our brains might benefit from meditation could inspire a more serious engagement with the practice.

Wrights basic argument goes something like this: Natural selection has made humans anxious and delusional creatures prone to overestimate the pleasure we will derive from things like sex and food and status. Were also given to petty tribalism and over-hasty judgments of others, and we chronically exaggerate our own importance and efficacy. This bundle of unfortunate traits made our ancestors more likely to transmit their genes, but unfortunately suffering and survival are perfectly compatible. As long as we remain locked in the delusions that natural selection engineered, suffering will define the human experience. We will continue to chase fleeting pleasures that leave us unsatisfied, follow the unwise promptings of surging emotions, demonize strangers without cause and pillage the environment to gratify our appetites.

[Review: The Evolution of God by Robert Wright]

In case the human plight does not seem sufficiently dire, Wright even compares our predicament to the state of enslaved delusion dramatized in the movie The Matrix, with natural selection playing the role of robotic overlords. The best form of resistance is not dodging bullets and engaging in balletic aerial fistfights, but sitting on a cushion each day and concentrating on the rise and fall of your breath. In a sentence that shows just how thoroughly secularized and mainstream meditation has become, Wright claims: If you want to escape from the Matrix, Buddhist practice and philosophy offer powerful hope.

And what exactly can we hope for? Wright devotes a decent share of the book to chronicling his own experience with meditation. After cultivating the practice for more than a decade and doing multiple intensive meditation retreats, he reports some modest but meaningful transformations. Lower-back pain bothers him less than before, he feels less intense animosity toward a despised former colleague, and he is not annoyed by the humming of a refrigerator or the whining of a buzzsaw.

Perhaps his most striking evidence of altered perception is his experience of an acutely painful toothache. He knew that drinking a glass of water caused extreme pain in the tooth, and he was curious to see if meditation could shift his perspective on the sensation. After meditating for half an hour, he took an enormous sip of water and swished it around the tooth. The result was dramatic and strange, he reports. I felt a throbbing so powerful that I got absorbed in its waves, but the throbbing didnt consistently feel bad; it was right on the cusp between bitter and sweet and just teetered between the two. At times it was even awesome in the old-fashioned sense of actually inspiring awe breathtaking in its power and, you might even say, its grandeur and its beauty.

Seeing grandeur and beauty in the throb of an aching tooth is no small achievement, and Wrights enthusiasm for meditation is understandable. But his claims that meditation can help avert global catastrophes stemming from ethnic, religious, national and ideological conflict are less persuasive. I think the salvation of the world can be secured via the cultivation of calm, clear minds and the wisdom they allow, he writes. But the spontaneous adoption of meditation by hundreds of millions of people is vanishingly improbable. A vision of future salvation that depends on the wholesale transformation of human nature is a delusion, and one from which meditation has not rescued Wright.

Some of his claims about the truth of Buddhism are also debatable. One of his major points is that despite the human proclivity to notice essential qualities in people and things, essences are in fact merely useful figments of the mind, convenient heuristics that are often disastrously wrong. While its safe to say that seeing essence-of-jerk in someone who cuts you off in traffic is probably a delusion, this does not justify a wholesale condemnation of the intellectual act of seeking essences. Great swaths of scientific inquiry and daily life would be impossible without positing essences, and there are good philosophical reasons to believe that some of these perceived essences actually correspond to the nature of things. The very title of Wrights book asserting the truth of Buddhism also presupposes the existence of essential natures.

[Mindfulness would be good for you. If it werent all just hype.]

Perhaps the most basic problem with his argument is what it lacks: a vision of how to live a good and meaningful life. Quieting the raging clamor of perception, sensation and emotion may be a necessary condition for living a good life, but is it also sufficient? In short, once weve achieved some degree of tranquility through meditation or otherwise, how are we to live?

By neglecting this question, Wright fails to consider the seductions of a dangerously permissive relativism and narcissism. Would it be possible to spend a lifetime mindfully enjoying pornography and violent video games? What about a life spent in the mindful pursuit of wealth and status? What are the ethics of retreating to a state of unruffled tranquility as the public sphere implodes and the environment is ravaged? Wright alludes to the moral teachings of Buddhism, but he does not show how these precepts resolve the sorts of ethical and social questions that confront humans as political animals endowed with reason. For this terrain, philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle are much better guides.

That meditation is a useful and powerful technique for alleviating human suffering is clear. But to what ultimate end is it such an effective means? Seekers after truth will need to keep searching.

why buddHism is true

The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

By Robert Wright

Simon & Schuster. 336 pp. $27

Read more:

Meditation can make us happy, but can it also make us good? - The ... - Washington Post

So many people want to meditate but they either dont know where to start or cant find the time. Fitting meditation into your life doesnt need to be complicated or elaborate. Start small and be realistic about what will work for you. Here are five tips to get you started.

Find a spot where you can sit comfortably with plenty of back support. Ideally you want to sit with a straight back when you meditate. This allows you to breathe deeply and lets your breath easily fill your lungs while you inhale and exhale. Since your meditation might last five to 15 minutes (or longer) you definitely want to be comfortable. There are no shoulds when it comes to where or how you sit. If sitting cross-legged on the floor isnt physically comfortable use a chair or sit on the couch. Just be comfortable.

Choose a space in your home where you can focus or block out any distractions. Most people dont live in complete quiet which means they wont meditate in complete quiet either. Thats okay. Ambient noise is to be expected whether its birds chirping, the sound of traffic or a television on in another room. As long as you can let the sounds around you fade into the background while you focus on your breath, youre good to go.

Sometimes a bit of ritual can help establish the habit or practice of meditation. This can be as simple as lighting a candle before you start meditating and blowing it out when youre done. Anything that signals to your body and mind that its time to meditate works. It can be anything from lighting incense to softly playing meditative musicwhatever works for you. Create a ritual action before and after you meditate to formally signal to yourself that its time to focus on your breath.

If youre just starting out use a guided meditation. You can find free ones online or in apps like Calm, Insight Timer or Buddhify. Pick a meditation ahead of time so that when youre ready to meditate the decision is already made.

It can be fun and motivating to know that people around the world are meditating with you. Many meditation apps show the location and number of people across the globe simultaneously meditating. There are also a lot of different meditation groups available to join via apps or meditation centers in your area.

Meditating for even five minutes can help you feel calmer and more focused. The most important thing you can do when it comes to meditation is to get started and stick with it.

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5 Things To Know Before You Try Meditation - HuffPost

GoldLinkVEVO via YouTube

GoldLink is a lover, not a fighterbut dont test him. The DMV rapper dropped the music video for his latest single Meditation this week (Aug. 21) and proved he wasnt afraid to throw down for a girl if need be. The visual centers around a smoke-filled party where GoldLink locks eyes with a beauty across the dance floor. The only problem is, this baddie is whisked away by another guy before the rapper can shoot his shot. GoldLink and the girl later meet up outside the party for a tender moment alone, but things get crazy when the rhymer gets challenged to a fight over her. Jazmine Sullivan handles the soulful hook and theres even a cameo from Ray J in the nearly five-minute clip.

Puttin all my pride and my girls to the side/Cause I still see ya, I still see ya/Smokin all my weed, bend the corners in the streets/I can still see ya, I still see ya, rhymes Link in the first verse.

The KAYTRANADA-produced track is off Links latest project At What Cost, which dropped back in March. The 14-track project, which also features guest appearances from Wale, Steve Lacy and Mya, serves as a love letter to the rappers hometown of D.C. GoldLinks lead single off the album, Crew featuring Brent Faiyaz and Shy Glizzy was certified gold in sales earlier this month and is currently at No. 25 on Billboards R&B and Hip-Hop charts.

Check out the video for Meditation below.

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GoldLink Fights for Love in His New 'Meditation' Video - XXL - XXLMAG.COM