Emily Temple began writing her debut novel, The Lightness, with a desire to capture a particular placeKarm Chling: Shambhala Meditation Center in Barnet, Vermont. Raised as a Buddhist, Temple used to visit the center with her family every summer. It was my favorite place in the world, she told Observer. It felt magical. Yet writing about such a setting naturally led her to consider both the upsides and problems of Buddhism itself, and as her story sprouted from that initial inspiration, she found the location lending a more sinister tone (sorry, Karm Chling, she joked). On page 1, the writer sets her readers up for intrigue, death, and different versions of the same dark events. A suicide, they said. Nothing to suggest otherwise. If not a suicide, perhaps an accident. The steep cliff, the shifting rocks, Temple writes. But who died, and why? Temple guides her readers on a wildly suspenseful tour to finally answer these questions.

Who better to bring such serious drama to a tranquil place than four teenage girls? Temple creates a spirited young crew whose mystical and carnal desires generate haunting conflicts. Yet her narrator, Olivia, tells the story retrospectively, from a grown-ups point of view. As she obsessively pieces together the events of one summer, the book considers how we mythologize our youths. I wanted to make space for the way we process and reorganize our memories, and learn things about them as we get older, said Temple.

SEE ALSO:Naoise Dolans Debut, Exciting Times Ponders What We Learn From Language and Young Love

As the novel opens, 16-year-old Olivia arrives at a Buddhist center, which is hosting a summer program for troubled girls. Her beloved father, a devout Buddhist, has recently disappeared after his own visit to the center. While Olivia doesnt literally find him here, she discovers (hi, Freud) someone that reminds her of him: a sexy gardener with a top knot. Temple perfectly captures Olivias youthful lust and shyness as the character sees him for the first time: He stood and wiped the sweat away from his face, leaving a few traces of dirt in his beard, Olivia says. His shirt was open a little. His throat shone like a birds. I turned my face up to the sky to avoid staring. Was it bluer this far up, or was I imagining it? Thanks to a lucky chore designation, Olivia spends her summer helping Luke in the centers gardenthat most allegorical site of knowledge and threat.

Back in the bunks, Olivia swiftly makes three new friends (though rivals or co-conspirators might really be more appropriate here). Two, the tomboyish Janet and the lovely, willowy Laurel, sneak out of their bedroom every night. Olivia joins their nocturnal escapades to find Serena, a mysterious girl who stays in a tent and seems exempt from all camp rules. Serena has become preoccupied with ASMR, and the girls regularly attempt to tap into The Feeling, which Olivia describes as the shiver you get when someone massages your scalp with too light a touch and youre both enjoying it and desperately reaching out with your very skin and hair for more. Orgasmic, indeed! Yet what Serena really wants is to learn how to levitate, and for Luke to teach them. What could possibly go wrong?

In creating her coven of four, Temple said she started from archetypes, considering how we expect girls to be in pop culture, the roles that are available to them and that we give to them. Growing up, she felt that her choices were limited to being a Janet or a Laurel; she could either be rebellious or pleasing. Serena and Olivia, on the other hand, she considers hybrid characters with more power or flexibility. Through rich and surprising turns too good to spoil here, Janet becomes the most complex character by the end of the book. Thankfully, Temple relies on good plotting and character development, rather than any kind of pedantry, to rupture age-old stereotypes.

Creating four main characters also allowed Temple room to play. She shared that as she was writing, she experimented with different configurations and numbers of girls. One is the outsider. Thats the stance of the storyteller, she said. Two is too few. Thats just a best friendship youre intruding on. Three allows more of a dynamic: a ringleader and two secondary people to vie for space and status. Janet and Laurel were initially fused into a single character, whom Temple ultimately split to create a more electric group.

Temple herself is obsessed with stories of teenage girls. She told me her favorite movie is Heathers, and references to Buffy the Vampire Slayer speckle her novel. The intensity of emotion is fun to write about, Temple said. These characters have ridiculous, outsize ideas. Like: Were going to levitate. Only teenagers would decide, this is what were doing with our summer.

While it was a challenge for Temple to modulate how much her young characters would recognize or understand about their situations, she said the larger issue was external: She feared the industry would see that she was writing about teenage girls and assume her work was simply fluffy or best suited to a YA audience. Not that theres anything wrong with YA or fluffy books if theyre meant to be, but its the assumption that everyone brings when you say its a book about teenage girls. They think its for children, Temple said.

In contrast to the younger characters naivety and impulsivity, Olivia as an adult is scholarly and reflective. Instead of simply focusing on her own memories and any objects that could hold keys to her past, she fixates on psychology, religion, and language itself. Temple said she play-acted Olivia, doing all the research that her own character details. In fragments that break up the primary narrative, Olivia analyzes the term come to harm, summarizes the stories of St. Teresa of vila and the Buddha, investigates claims of levitation, and examines the rate of suicides for dentists.

Altogether, these diverse interjections reveal the older Olivias desperate desire to reclaim the past and preserve youth itself. Through her efforts, readers may recognize lost pieces of themselves in these characters turbulent, circumscribed lives. While Temples winning foursome must ultimately abandon their attempts at magic, the older Olivia clearly hasnt given up on transcendence. Her obsessive investigations and storytelling adopt an urgent, incantatory quality. Through her own aesthetic powers, Temple transports her reader, who cant help but be totally enchanted.

See original here:
Emily Temples The Lightness Spins a Mystery Around Troubled Teen Girls at Summer Camp - Observer

To say the world today is interconnected is a clich.

Never before have so many people been linked by their activities and consequences. But knowing how to think and act as a citizen of this small world is no easy matter.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and Americans worry about their health, loved ones and jobs it can be difficult to grasp that the crisis began after the coronavirus spread from animal to human on the other side of the planet.

Indian thinkers have been reflecting on interconnectedness for more than two millennia. I study Indian philosophy, and I believe this diverse tradition offers rich and timely insights about how people might better understand global interconnectedness today and act more wisely.

The Guide to the Awakened Way of Life by Shantideva, an eighth-century Buddhist monk, explores the arduous path from ignorance and suffering to spiritual liberation. For Shantideva and his fellow Mahayana Buddhists the predominant branch of Buddhism in north and central Asia this involves cultivating a wise understanding of the interdependence of things and a compassionate concern for all sentient beings.

The Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita, written between 400 B.C. and 200 A.D., is a classic of world literature. Through the story of the great warrior Arjuna and his friend and spiritual advisor Krishna, the text explores how ones actions in the world can become a path to spiritual freedom.

These texts, which depict the struggle to find freedom in the world, still resonate today.

In both texts, wisdom requires changing ones perception of the world and ones place in it. One must come to see the world as an interwoven tapestry of cause and effect, and see oneself as part of that tapestry and capable of spiritual freedom within it.

Buddhist thinkers like Shantideva learned to analyze complex things and recognize the network of causes and conditions that give rise to them. As he puts it: Everything is dependent on something else. Even that thing upon which each is dependent is not independent. The deepest form of wisdom is seeing that all phenomena are empty of any fixed, independent existence. The central message of the Guide is that the awakened life unites the wisdom of interdependence with active compassion for all those who suffer.

In the Bhagavad Gita, the natural world is understood to be a dynamic, evolving tapestry. Our human bodies, minds and actions are inextricable from the larger patterns of cause and effect in nature. Yet the most interesting theme of interconnectedness in the text is not causal but social and moral.

The text opens at the start of a battle between clans for the fate of a kingdom. Describing the scene to his blind king, the seer Sanjaya refers to the battlefield as a field of dharma, the spiritual and moral order that upholds the world. That is, a site of impending conflict, death and chaos is also one of relationship, duty and moral choice.

This is a central message of the Bhagavad Gita. The human world is inextricable from nature. But as a human world it is upheld by our relationships and responsibilities to one another.

The wise person must see his or her own roles as parent, child, worker, citizen in light of this field of relationships. Amid war, or the uncertainty and suffering of a pandemic, the central question is: What can I do to uphold right relationships with others?

Despite their views on the interconnectedness of the world, classical Indian thinkers were not starry-eyed romantics. They recognized that pain and loss are inescapable. They saw that human selfishness and ignorance are deeply woven in the fabric of life.

Shantideva describes the human situation like this: Hoping to escape suffering, it is to suffering that they run. In the desire for happiness, out of delusion, they cut down their own happiness, like an enemy.

For Indian philosophers, one must see the world clearly in order to act wisely in it. What, then, is the wise response to an interconnected world that inevitably includes the good and bad even pandemics?

For Shantideva, the awakened life is one of altruistic concern for all sentient beings. Spiritual freedom is waking up from the delusion of being a separate self in conflict with the world. Instead, the wise person realizes that all those happy in the world are so because of their desire for the happiness of others.

Ones own happiness arises from compassion for others. In an interconnected world, Shantideva asks: In the same way that hands and other limbs are loved because they form part of the body, why are embodied creatures not likewise loved because they form part of the universe?

In the Bhagavad Gita, the key to inner freedom in an uncertain and conflicted world is to change ones focus when acting. Krishna advises Arjuna:

It is in action alone that you have a claim, never at any time to the fruits of such action. Never let the fruits of action be your motive; never let your attachment be to inaction.

Action in the world is unavoidable. So rather than obsessing about the fruits of action for oneself, such as praise or blame, one should focus on the moral quality of the action.

The Bhagavad Gita highlights three aspects of action one should focus on. Is the action right? Does it serve the welfare of the world? Is it motivated by love? Krishnas message to Arjuna is that, even in battle, wise action consists in giving up selfishness and doing ones duty out of a sense of love and commitment to the common good.

In both texts, the world is understood as an interconnected web of cause and effect, happiness and suffering, life and death. In such a world, acting from ignorance or selfishness leads to suffering for oneself and others. Acting from wisdom and a love for the common good can lead to sense of inner freedom, even in difficult circumstances.

In our interconnected world, everyday actions can have far-reaching consequences. Moreover, as the Bhagavad Gita and the Guide remind us, we are deeply interwoven with one another and the natural world.

Wise freedom is to be found in the midst of this interconnectedness, by the grocery worker keeping people fed, the organizer serving his community, or the doctor treating her patients. Classical texts cannot teach us virology or epidemiology, but they can help us to see our deep interdependence and how to act more wisely and compassionately in light of it.

[Youre smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversations authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]

Read more:
Indian philosophy helps us see clearly, act wisely in an interconnected world - The Conversation US

SALT LAKE CITY In April, a Virginia pastor died from the coronavirus after telling his congregation to ignore physical distancing rules. Even after the story made national news, some religious leaders continued to defy public health orders and hold services, including a Louisiana pastor who told his church members, God gave you an immune system to kill that virus.

The next month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the virus can spread easily at large religious gatherings, citing a case where two people with COVID-19 infected 35 others in March at church events in Arkansas.

Stories like these show the potential danger of holding large meetings while the coronavirus continues to claim U.S. lives and could cast religious leaders who insist on public worship in a negative light. But Harold G. Koenig, professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center, has some positive news for people of faith. He argues that religiousness may actually reduce a persons risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19.

According to Koenig, people who participate in organized religion or have their own spiritual practices are less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors like smoking and drinking and more likely to have good habits like eating well and exercising. Not only can religious and spiritual involvement impact peoples physical health via their lifestyle choices, but it can also have a significant effect on their emotional well-being, said Koenig. All these factors combined can give a persons immune system a leg-up in fighting off viruses of any kind, he said.

Theres no question religion has an impact on both susceptibility to viral infections and recovery from it once youre infected, said Koenig, who was raised Catholic and now practices in a Protestant church. This just makes sense when you think about it.

However, Nicole Fisher, president of Health & Human Rights Strategies, a health care and human rights-focused advising firm in Washington, D.C., warns that religion and spirituality are not protective measures against COVID-19 on their own.

Viruses dont have any respect for religion, race, gender, politics or anything else. They look for a suitable host, and that can be anyone not taking proper precautions, said Fisher, who is spiritual but does not associate with a particular religion.

Still, there are clear links between beliefs, emotions and the body, Fisher said.

Prayer alone cannot cure you, Fisher said. But, with medical attention appropriate for how bad your illness is, prayer, meditation and faith can certainly bring a person peace of mind which can undoubtedly improve mental and emotional health, which is oftentimes linked to physical health.

More than a hundred studies have found that religious people are less likely to smoke, a habit which has a large impact on coronavirus outcomes.

According to Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine and director of the University of California, San Franciscos Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, research shows smoking nearly doubles a persons risk of COVID-19 disease progression, which could involve the need for critical care or death.

Glantz explained that the respiratory system has a very strong natural immune function, starting with microscopic hairs called cilia in the nose that trap viruses, bacteria and toxins. Deeper inside the lungs, cells called macrophages gobble up those things that can harm the body.

Smoking disables a lot of that immune function and makes you more susceptible to getting infected. Then if you get infected, the infections are worse, said Glantz, who added that vaping has a lot of the same effects as smoking.

According to Koenig, most research involving religion and health looks at Christianity, which promotes healthy behaviors by teaching that the body is a temple. But there are a number of studies that also examine Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, which all espouse similar beliefs about the sanctity of the body. Vegetarianism and yoga practices associated with Hinduism and mindfulness and breathing practices associated with Buddhism can also have direct health benefits, Koenig said.

A 2017 study by researchers from the Emory Rollins School of Public Health categorized subjects as Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, other religion or no religion. The study demonstrated a link between regular attendance at religious services with improved health and lowered mortality. They found that people who attended services frequently had a 40% lower hazard of mortality compared with those who never attended. Even those who attended services less frequently had a greater protection against mortality than those who didnt attend at all, but there were no differences by religious affiliation.

Stress increases susceptibility to viral infections, said Koenig, but individual spiritual practices and the support networks that come with organized religion can promote emotional well-being.

A big part of going to church is the social support in the community that one receives, said Carolyn Aldwin, director of the Center for Healthy Aging Research at Oregon State University. Social integration has a big effect on health outcomes.

Aldwin was raised Catholic and now attends an Episcopal church. To protect against the coronavirus, religious communities can support people who are older or immunocompromised by calling and checking in on them, or providing services like grocery shopping so they can avoid going out, Aldwin said.

The benefits of emotional self-regulation are also significant, said Aldwin, who has studied the effects of religion and spirituality on people with congestive heart failure.

When you have something like congestive heart failure, which is very hard to regulate and difficult to live with, being calmer and happier, and maybe feeling supported may allow you to experience less distress and even live longer, Aldwin said.

According to Koenig, positive emotions have the opposite effect on the immune system that negative emotions and stress have.

If you have meaning and purpose, if you have joy and satisfaction with life, if you experience a sense of peace, all of that has a positive impact on the immune system in the exact opposite way seen with chronic stress, anxiety and depression, Koenig said.

Cardiologist Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, medical director of the Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute, has set out to test the health impacts of one particular spiritual practice: prayer.

Lakkireddys COVID prayer study is set up as a double-blind randomized control trial, where coronavirus patients who voluntarily enroll on the website will be assigned into either a control group, or a group that will be prayed for by various volunteer religious groups representing the Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist traditions. Lakkireddy and his colleagues plan to measure whether this remote intercessory prayer affects coronavirus outcomes like mortality, number of days in the ICU and days on a ventilator.

Lakkireddy was born into Hinduism and went to a Catholic school, but doesnt consider himself to belong to one religion in particular. He said the study required hardly any funding from the institute because he and others have all volunteered their time.

I was always intrigued by this idea of a supernatural divine power that can impact what we do as human beings on this earth, said Lakkireddy. As scientific and critical as I want to be in my thinking, the question about this divine force interested me.

But Aldwin is skeptical that any one aspect of spirituality, like prayer will prove to have a large impact on health with the coronavirus.

People who are sincerely religious have multiple things going for them, its the community which provides support, almost like a social safety net. Theres the better health behaviors, the calmness and acceptance in the face of adversity, said Aldwin. Its the whole package.

While some religious practices and belief systems may be correlated with healthy behaviors, the benefits could be instantly negated if people of faith are gathering to worship in large groups without the proper precautions, like social distancing and wearing masks. Multiple coronavirus outbreaks have been traced to religious groups, like Orthodox Jewish communities in New York or the Shincheonji religion in South Korea.

Religiousness, spirituality or faith, as in all facets of life and current health challenges, can be part of the problem or part of the solution, said Jeff Levin, University Professor of epidemiology and population health and director of the program on religion and population health at Baylor University. Where there are messages coming from the pulpit, or coming from religious leaders, telling people to ignore public health messages, I just think its incredibly foolish.

With coronavirus fatalities decreasing by the week across the country, U.S. churches are beginning to open back up. But most are trying to discourage the hugging and hand-shaking that typically accompanies fellowshipping. Some are implementing rules regarding how close people can sit in the pews, or eliminating the tradition of singing hymns because exhaling air with increased force can spread the virus farther.

Levin, who is Jewish, said he thinks these precautions are reasonable and wise.

Churches and pastors and religious organizations shouldnt be a source of anxiety for people, or discouragement, they should be supporting people and letting people know we will get through this, just a little longer, said Levin. We dont want to undo the good that weve done. There is still so much we dont know about the virus, and we are still learning that things could go south at any moment. Its not time for a victory lap at all.

Visit link:
COVID-19 and the link between religious practices and personal health - Deseret News

Japanese art and rinpa: Buddhism, Maple trees, and a lovely stone lantern

Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

The delightful school of rinpa (rimpa) art covers a notable art form that hails from Japan. Rinpa spans many centuries and in modern times this art form continues to represent Japanese high culture. Therefore, international and internal exhibitions continue to inspire.

Nichiren Buddhism played an instrumental role in rinpa art. This applies to wealthy Nichiren Buddhist merchants from Kyoto, who financed the artistic endeavors of Honami Ketsu (1558-1637). Hence, Ketsu and Tawaraya Statsu became the founding fathers of rinpa art.

One can imagine how wealthy Buddhist merchants found inner peace in art, calligraphy, ceramics, lacquerware, literature, Japanese gardens, the tea ceremony, and other areas related to Japanese high culture. Indeed, the architecture of Kyoto and famous Buddhist temples meant a form of heaven on earth fused with continuity.

In the book by Momo Miyazaki, titled Elegance in Japanese Art, it is stated, Sakai Hitsu (1761-1829) took the Rinpa style that was developed in Kyoto and expanded it in Edo (modern day Tokyo), while combining it with a fresh painting style to match Edo tastes. For this reason, Hitsu is considered the founder of Edo Rinpa.

The spiritual footprints of Buddhism can be felt when viewing based on serenity. Equally, the imagination can feel the richness of Japanese high culture and continuity where the ego is negated. Therefore, this delightful art form still astonishes today just like yesterday!

PLEASE DONATE TO HELP MODERN TOKYO TIMES

Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group

DONATIONS to SUPPORT MODERN TOKYO TIMES please pay PayPal and DONATE to sawakoart@gmail.com

http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times International News and Japan News

http://sawakoart.com Sawako Utsumi personal website and Modern Tokyo Times artist

https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News Tokyo News and International News

PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER

https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times

PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/moderntokyotimes

Please follow and like us:

Go here to see the original:
Japanese art and rinpa: Buddhism, Maple trees, and a lovely stone lantern - Modern Tokyo Times

Australias Eurovision 2021 representative Montaigne is set to collaborate with the Art Gallery of New South Wales as part of the Gallerys #TogetherInArt project jointly celebrating Make Music Day 2020 on June 21.

Montaigne will perform stripped down versions of her songs in front of an art piece called Cosmos - a life of fire by Lindy Lee where it will be broadcast on Facebook Live. The event is described by the Gallery an exploration of the unique power of art and music to bring people together as we look to the future in a post-pandemic world.

The bronze sculpture was created in 2014 and is describe by the Art Gallery with the following:

Lindy Lees flung bronze wall pieces stem from her deep exploration of Chan, or Zen, Buddhism. When Lee ladies pools of molten bronze onto foundry floor, she is employing forces and energies that recall beliefs about the origins of the universe that are central to Buddhism. Lees spiritual belief is that the organic bronze shapes are formed not by chance, but from the interconnection of all conditions that exist in the universe at that moment to embody its energy and totality. Lee and Gulumbu Yunupiu, whose works are adjacent, have spoken together about their cultures shared understanding of deep time and cosmos.

You can read more about the artwork here.

Make Music Day was launched in 1982 in France as the Fte de la Musique, the event is now held on the same day in more than 1000 cities in 120 countries and celebrates the joy of music-making and the ability of music to bring people together.

The performance is free to watch online and the link will be published via the Art Gallery of NSW Facebook page at 7:25pm five minutes before the broadcast. at 7:30pm (AEST) June 21.

You can find a link to the Facebook event here.

See the article here:
Montaigne to perform at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for Make Music Day - Aussievision

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has been a gem over the years. The company has a seemingly unstoppable ability to dominate every facet of the entertainment industry. Walt Disney would probably be astounded at the technological leaps that have provided Disney with new areas of growth these days. Even in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down its theme parks and shuttered movie theaters, Disney stock carries appeal. Now swinging big in the streaming industry, Disney is pressing into the newest area of consumer entertainment.

So if you had been able to invest in this timeless enterprise back when Disney took it public, just how much would you have today? The answer is pretty staggering.

Image source: Getty Images.

Disney's IPO pricing for the original OTC stock was $5 per share back in 1946. Investing $5,000 would have netted you 1,000 shares of the company. The important thing to take into account here is that the stock has split multiple times through its existence. With seven splits in total from that initial offering, an initial purchase of 1,000 shares would have become 768,000 shares today.

Going off of a June 11 price of $116.59 per share, that initial $5,000 investment is now worth a whopping $89,541,120. That's a 17,907% return.

Keep in mind, however, that this was based on Disney's original OTC stock. Its IPO for the NYSE occurred on Nov. 12, 1957, with an initial price of $13.88. That IPO was led by Goldman Sachs.

It was far more likely that the average person invested in this offering. A $5,000 investment at $13.88 a share would have gotten you 360 shares. Factoring in all the stock splits would have turned those 360 shares into 141,312 today. At a price of $116.59 per share, the $5,000 investment in the IPO would be worth $16,475,566 today.

Since that debut in 1957, Disney has been one of the best investments around. Over the last 20 years, the stock has gained 203.9%. That outpaces the S&P 500 by roughly 119.3%.

These days, we're watching the major entertainment names like Disney try their hands at producing increasingly popular streaming content. Disney's acquisitions of Twenty-First Century Fox, along with Hulu, have positioned it to be very competitive in that market. With Disney+ bringing in more than 50 million subscribers in just the first five months, streaming has also been a key lever for Disney at a time when its traditional businesses, such as theme parks, have been severely threatened by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Even after a rally, the stock is down around 20% for the year. Theme parks are scheduled to cautiously reopen in July, but investors are going to be watching closely for signs of a second wave of COVID-19 before Disney can really find its footing. Any setbacks in the reopening of the economy could create a big headache for the physical side of the company's business. Unemployment will play a factor here as well, as the propensity for people to spend on things like theme park visits will likely be low when people aren't working.

With Disney, it pays to look at the big picture through time. Yes, 2020 is not a year for the record books -- at least not in a good way. For the next decade, though, Disney still seems well-positioned. Online content is going to be the battleground in the entertainment industry; there's no getting around that. Disney has prepared itself well through acquiring strong assets and building out its own Disney+ service. Once theme park gates reopen and the company can get back to the box office, the puzzle should all fit together nicely for this blue-chip stock.

Continue reading here:
If You Had Invested $5,000 in Disney's IPO, This Is How Much Money You'd Have Now - Motley Fool

A windfarm at sunset. Research suggests sustainable funds are longer-lasting than their peers. Photograph: Tim Phillips Photos/Getty Images

Environmentalists cheered by huge improvements in air quality during the lockdown and the collapse in coal power generation have another reason to celebrate. Even the stock market has gone in their favour.

A detailed number-crunching of environmentally sustainable funds has revealed that they have outperformed traditional funds across the board beating them during the pandemic as well as during the 10 years up to and including the coronavirus sell-off.

The data, from the global research agency Morningstar, comes amid growing evidence that environmentally focused investing once pigeonholed by City traditionalists as only for a vegan/hippy minority is becoming mainstream. This week, Vanguard, one of the worlds biggest fund managers, launched two ethical index funds aimed at UK investors, while Aviva, Britains biggest insurer, unveiled a climate transition fund.

Morningstar examined 745 sustainable funds and compared them against 4,150 traditional funds, and found they matched or beat returns in all categories whether bonds or shares, UK or abroad.

The outperformance continued during the coronavirus crisis

Average returns and success rates for sustainable funds suggest that there is no performance trade-off associated with sustainable funds. In fact, a majority of sustainable funds have outperformed their traditional peers over multiple time horizons, it says.

Over 10 years, the average annual return for a sustainable fund invested in large global companies has been 6.9% a year, while a traditionally invested fund has made 6.3% a year.

The outperformance continued during the coronavirus crisis. In all but one category considered in the study, sustainable funds outperformed, with average excess returns in Q12020 ranging between 0.09% and 1.83% across categories, Morningstar says.

One reason may be that many US tech stocks, popular among environmental investors, have soared during the crisis, while shares in oil, gas and coal companies have plummeted. The Nasdaq index of US tech stocks has recovered completely from the coronavirus crisis, reaching new highs this week, while the oil giant ExxonMobil is trading at $53 compared with $70 before the lockdown.

The Morningstar researchers noted that sustainable funds are longer-lasting than their peers. One of the tricks of the asset management industry is that funds that do badly are quietly removed usually by merging them with another, better-performing fund. This has the effect of flattering the overall performance figures, suggesting that investors are doing better over the longer term than they really are. Morningstar found that three-quarters of sustainable funds lasted 10 years or more, compared with less than half of traditional funds.

Campaigners welcomed the confirmation that sustainable funds are better. Michael Kind of ShareAction a charity and company that promotes responsible investment says:Its very positive, but also not surprising, to see that funds with robust environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies are overall better performers financially. We hear from savers very often that one of the biggest barriers to action is that there is a perception that you will lose out financially if you switch to investing responsibly.

But is this enough? No we would expect more ambitious and authentic ESG funds to deliver better outcomes for stakeholders and the environment but not inevitably to deliver investors more money every time.

Research what funds your pension/Isa/investment provider offers you.

Look into the holdings and stewardship/investment policies of your funds, or those you are considering putting money in. These policies show how your asset manager will invest your money and try to influence companies on your behalf. You can either do this on your own or ask your investment (or pension) provider/employer/financial adviser for this information.

It is important to see how your investment provider votes at the worlds largest companies AGMs. Are they voting for climate action and supporting human rights?

ShareAction recently produced an independentglobal rankingof the most responsible asset managers across many topics. Use it to make an informed decision when selecting a manager.

Use resources from organisations such as Climetrics, Boring Money and Good With Money.

Read the original here:
Ethical investments are outperforming traditional funds - The Guardian

U.S. stockshave recovered robustly following March's virus-induced sell-off, prompting many to returnto the markets to make gains and recoup losses.

The S&P 500 erased its 2020 losses and the Nasdaq Composite reached a new record Monday, even as officials declared that the U.S.entered a recession in February.

That might suggest the region's return as an investing hot spot. But, as the dollarcontinues to tumble amid ongoing central bank stimulus, investors may be wise to look to other markets for wealth-building opportunities.

Asiacould offer one highlight, according to advisors CNBC Make It spoke to.

There is a good chance that Asian currencies are going to outperform the U.S. dollar.

Freddy Lim

co-founder and chief investment officer, StashAway

That presents an opportunity for investment in the region particularly for Asian investors who would otherwise be hit by foreign exchange losses when investing in U.S. dollar-denominated stocks, according to Freddy Lim, co-founder and chief investment officer of StashAway.

"There is a good chance that Asian currencies are going to outperform the U.S. dollar over the next 18-24 months," said Lim of the Singapore-based digital wealth manager. "This also means that Asian-based assets could start looking interesting in local currency terms."

Looking at Asia's major markets, Singapore's Straits Times Indexappears attractive, offering access to "steady, high quality names with a long track record of navigating past epidemics," said Lim.

Other industrialized Asian markets, such as South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as China, also look to be relative "winners" compared with their less developed regional counterparts,according to HSBC Singapore's head of wealth & international, Ian Yim.

Focused young man working with a laptop in the bedroom at home.

Oscar Wong

"In addition to being attractively valued, they have lower exposure to commodities and oil, and have proven themselves to be better equipped to cope with the Covid-19 crisis," said Yim, highlighting the various factors at play in the market.

More specifically, industries with strong fundamentals that have been accelerated by the virus, such as e-commerce, the internet, and China's new economy, are likely to do well, agreed Yim and Lim.

"E-commerce-enabled companies have proven to have robust business models and can potentially reap the benefits of changing consumption behavior in future," said Yim.

Outside of the stock market, other investments in Asia show promise, notedSamuel Rhee, chairman and chief investment officer of Singapore-based digital advisory Endowus.

Asian fixed-income bonds, in particular, have fared well under governments fiscal response to the virus, and provide some all-important investment diversification, he said.

Time in the market is more important than trying to time the market.

Samuel Rhee

chairman and chief investment officer, Endowus

"For bonds, regionally, we see value in Asia, where yields have increased," HSBC's Yim agreed.

Real estate, or real estate investment trusts (REITs), on the other hand, could present some "vulnerabilities," given the virus' impact on the sector, said Rhee.

Before taking advantage of any investment opportunity, it's important to come up with a strategy. Outlining your financial goals and how much you can afford to invest is a great place to start.

StashAway's Lim recommended systematically investing a fixed sum each month. According to StashAway'sInsights 2020, "systematic investors," who invest continuously through a downturn, perform better than those who withdraw during a correction.

There are plenty of digital wealth managers now available to help you do that; automatically investing in passively-managed index fundsor exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track specific regions or sectors. Not only does that take the hassle out of monitoring the markets too closely, it also allows you stay invested for the long term, said Endowus' Rhee.

"Time in the market is more important than trying to time the market," said Rhee. "(That) has been proven to be a futile effort as the recent rapid fall and the equally rapid rebound has proven again."

Don't miss:Tech, health care and energy: Investing experts share where they're placing their bets

Like this story?Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube!

Read more:
As markets recover, here's how to make the most of your money in Asia - CNBC

Fear has once again returned to the financial markets.

An alarmingly high number of new COVID-19 cases across the U.S. and many other countries is forcing investors to once again consider the potentially devastating health and economic impact of the deadly disease.

And yet, even in the middle of a global pandemic, there are ways to protect and grow your wealth. Here are five outstanding companies that can help you do so -- and that you can safely invest in today.

Here's where to invest your money now. Image source: Getty Images.

While many businesses will suffer during the COVID-19 crisis, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) stands to benefit from a coronavirus-driven acceleration in the growth of e-commerce. The online retail juggernaut served as a lifeline for millions of people while they sheltered in place during the early stages of the pandemic. Many people shopped on Amazon.com for the first time during this period, and now that they've seen firsthand the savings and convenience online shopping can provide, they're likely to remain loyal customers even as stay-at-home orders end.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is one of the companies working to create a potentially life-saving vaccine for COVID-19. The healthcare titan has partnered with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to accelerate the development of its vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Just days ago, J&J announced that it would begin clinical trials in the second half of July, about two months sooner than expected. J&J has committed to spending more than $1 billion to fund these efforts, and it's already ramping up its manufacturing capabilities, in order to be able to make over 1 billion doses, should its vaccine prove safe and effective.

The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating for a huge swath of the traditional retail industry. Thousands of brick-and-mortar stores were forced to close due to stay-at-home orders, and, sadly, many will never reopen. Entrepreneurs are adapting to this new post-pandemic reality by embracing e-commerce, and Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) is giving them the tools they need to be successful. Shopify serves as an online retail operating system for businesses of all sizes, with tools that allow merchants to build online stores, manage inventory, process payments, ship products, and even apply for loans. Shopify has become an invaluable partner for more than 1 million businesses, and it's likely to play a key role in an eventual economic recovery.

The coronavirus pandemic has placed cleaning and sanitizing efforts in the spotlight, and companies like Clorox (NYSE:CLX) provide consumers with the products that make them feel safe. Clorox produces several of the items on the Environmental Protection Agency's list of disinfectant products that are effective against the novel coronavirus. Moreover, buying shares of Clorox could help you profit from the surging demand for bleach, hand sanitizers, and disinfectant wipes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a financial powerhouse. With more than $90 billion in net cash on its fortress-like balance sheet and over $65 billion in annual operating profits, the technology titan can withstand a stock market crash better than perhaps any other business. In fact, a lower stock price could work in investors' favor, as Apple would be able to repurchase its shares at even more attractive prices -- and remaining shareholders would be entitled to an even greater share of its enormous profits. Better still, those profits are set to increase, fueled by projected growth in Apple's booming services and wearables businesses, as well as a likely 5G-driven iPhone refresh cycle in the coming years.

Read more from the original source:
Stock Market Crash: Where to Invest Your Money Now - The Motley Fool

The stock market has been in manic-depressive mode as of late, surging early in June on the euphoria of the country's economic reopening, as well as a surprise jobs gain in the June 5 labor report. However, the market gave almost all of those gains back late last week, after some gloomy commentary from Federal Reserve officials, who now plan to keep interest rates at zero until at least 2022.

What does all of the volatility mean? That you can pick up shares of great companies to buy and hold for the long term. And while stocks relating to the reopening economy have shown a big rally lately, I think it may be time to refocus on stronger technology-related companies that help power the new, more digitized economy. And with lower interest rates here until at least 2022, these companies, which can grow even in a depressed economy, should fetch a premium down the road.

In that light, here are three rock-solid companies that play into these long-term trends. Got an extra $5,000? Then you should think about scooping up shares of these three top companies today.

Image source: Getty Images.

With businesses reeling from COVID-19 and many companies allowing work-from-home for the foreseeable future, securing enterprise communications among a distributed workforce is more important than ever. Thus, cybersecurity solutions are at a premium as never before.

Not only is the cybersecurity sector poised for long-term growth, but CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) also appears to have a novel solution poised to take market share within the industry. CrowdStrike combines its software-based Falcon agents, which can be deployed to any "end point" in an enterprise's IT stack over the cloud, with a centralized artificial intelligence-based Threat Graph that uses all agent data to continuously improve algorithms for the entire customer base. Thus, the more customers CrowdStrike gets, the better its threat detection algorithms, which helps attract more customers, and on and on.

As proof of CrowdStrike's effectiveness, look no further than its blockbuster recent results, reported on June 2. Total revenue was up a whopping 85%, with core subscription revenue up 89%. Annual recurring revenue was up 88%, and the company's subscription customer count more than doubled, up 105%.

Also unusual for a cloud-based software-as-a-service company, CrowdStrike is generating some serious cash flow, although GAAP net profits are still negative. Operating loss improved from $25.8 million in the year-ago quarter to $22.6 million in the first quarter, but operating cash flow surged to $98.6 million from just $1.6 million a year ago, and free cash flow increased to $87 million, up from a free cash flow loss of $16.1 million a year ago.

Even if COVID-19 cases surge in a second wave and the economy stagnates, enterprises are still going to need cutting-edge solutions to secure their infrastructure and avoid the costly breaches we've seen over the past few years. In addition, CrowdStrike's growth and margin expansion are some of the best you'll find in the entire market, making the stock a buy even after a strong recent run.

Another company poised to grow no matter what the economy is doing is European semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML Holdings (NASDAQ:ASML). Unlike many other companies in the semiconductor and memory space, ASML has seen its stock rocket higher, to even exceed where it was to start the year.

That's because ASML has a differentiated offering, having cracked the code on Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography technology. EUV is a mission-critical technology needed to produce more advanced semiconductor chips and DRAM memory at scale over the next decade, and ASML has a monopoly on it.

While the chip sector, and therefore semicap equipment companies, have traditionally been cyclical, and thus wouldn't be a great place to invest in a recession, things may be different this time around. Leading-edge semiconductors are crucial to making the digital economy run, powering cloud computing, artificial intelligence, 5G communications, and the Internet of Things. While ASML's first quarter revenue was affected by COVID-19, that was entirely due to supply issues, not demand. Management noted on the earnings release, "The demand outlook is currently unchanged and we have not encountered any push-outs or cancellations this year."

Furthermore, leading-edge semiconductors are now seen as a strategically important to both companies and countries alike. In fact, the U.S. Congress just announced a bipartisan bill to subsidize the semiconductor industry to the tune of $22.8 billion, as it aims to build semiconductor manufacturing capacity within the United States.

The building of additional, and perhaps redundant, semiconductor manufacturing plants in the U.S. would only mean additional demand for companies like ASML, and maybe especially ASML, since EUV is so crucial to the production of leading-edge semiconductors. So despite its strong run, ASML still looks like a strong pick to play these future technologies today.

If we're all stuck at home, streaming shows on our phones, ordering items on e-commerce websites, and accessing our work on cloud data centers, what do all of those things need? Servers, and lots of them. Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) makes servers for enterprise, cloud, and consumer customers all across the world. In contrast to the more standardized server offerings from Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) or HP Enterprise (NYSE:HPE), Super Micro makes more customized server solutions for specific end-use cases.

As servers become more important for different types of workloads, among artificial intelligence applications, 5G base stations, on-premises or cloud data centers and more, Super Micro could benefit. Also important, Super Micro actually does a fair amount of manufacturing in the U.S., which is somewhat rare, along with significant operations in Taiwan. Finally, as ESG concerns take hold of the corporate world, Super Micro's emphasis on environmentally friendly "green" computing should also resonate with customers going forward as well.

Of these three stocks, Super micro is the value stock of the bunch. Currently, it only trades at 16.5 times earnings, but that's even overrating the company's multiple. Super Micro has $301 million in cash versus just $33 million in debt, yielding $268 million in net cash, or 18.4% of Super Micro's market cap. In addition, Super Micro is still undertaking some extra costs related to remediating an accounting snafu from a few years ago, which has since been remedied. Should those costs fall off going forward and the company begins returning that excess cash to shareholders, and Super Micro is actually trading at something more like a low-teens multiple.

With COVID-19 still out there accelerating all of these digital trends, investors should look to buy stocks of companies that play to the digital future on these big market pullbacks. As such, CrowdStrike, ASML, and Super Micro Computer all look like solid additions to your portfolio today.

View original post here:
Where to Invest $5,000 Right Now - Motley Fool