Welcome to Green Edge
Conventional investment strategies are not clean. We can do better.
Your hard-earned dollars are invested into business activities that are detrimental to our shared environment. Green Edge will take you on a journey to clean up our investment portfolios and put our money to work in a way that brings positive impacts.
What's wrong with traditional investment approaches? They invest in companies that contribute to the carbon emissions problem, such as oil and gas drilling or deforestation. This puts your money into the hands of companies that aren't taking action to ensure a safe and healthy future for our environment. We have the power to invest in companies that deliver solutions.
"Doing well by doing good" is a quote credited to the great Benjamin Franklin. At Green Edge, we believe that we don't have to sacrifice financial returns to have a positive impact on environmental metrics.
Subscribe to the Green Edge Portfolios newsletter as we build our clean investment framework. Each month, we will compare performance of the green portfolios against industry benchmarks.
This newsletter will document the journey for creating a framework to clean up our investment portfolios. Allocating your investment dollars away from carbon emitters helps to reduce CO2 emissions. Investing in companies that lead by example or directly impact climate in a positive way helps to reduce CO2 emissions. These actions are as good as or better than screwing in energy-efficient lighting in your home or adding insulation.
Green Edge's framework allocates resources across three main categories of companies. The first category is the "Lead by Example" group, comprising large market cap companies that have policies and the actions to back them up for their own companies' impact on the environment. The second is the "Deployment at Scale" group, comprising mid- to large-cap companies that are making a real impact in reducing carbon emissions for others through their products and/or services. The last major group is the "Innovators with Traction" group, comprising companies that are bringing innovation to the climate tech sector.
In the end, investment portfolios are created to beat, or at least meet, the stock market index performance over the long term (i.e. S&P 500). What's better than beating the index? Beating the index and feeling really good about the companies you are supporting with your investment dollars. This is our objective.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. As you explore the ideas set forth in the newsletter, please comment and participate. Together, we can make a difference and create a more sustainable future for all.
This newsletter publishes once or twice per month. First, at the beginning of the month it provides the monthly update on portfolio performance of the previous month. In some months, there will be a mid-month edition where we will seek a deeper insight on a special topic.
Never miss an update as every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox (average <2 editions per month, so won’t jam your in-box).
Dan Tarrence, creator of the Green Edge portfolios newsletter
As a kid when stocks traded in eighths (1/8 of a dollar), I would track the stock prices of IBM, GE, and many more on a sheet of paper and compared returns over time. Later (much later) after earning a bachelor’s degree in finance, drove to Phoenix from Green Bay where I found a job as a commodities broker. Although I held that job for less than a year, investing and technical analysis was injected into my blood.
In the five years lived in Arizona, I learned financial analysis, earned an MBA, and returned to Wisconsin to begin career in energy efficiency. Joined a founder four years later to build a company from scratch to a national leader with offices in 30+ states and over 1,400 employees. COVID provided the path to retirement in summer of 2020 and started investing in clean energy companies and writing about it. This newsletter was born in Fall of 2020.
What’s keeping me busy since retiring in 2020:
Four grandchildren that provide awesome entertainment.
Created clean energy SPAC portfolio which started my journey as a newsletter writer → 30 straight months of production and still going.
Started Angel investing. First through a crowdfunding platform, then Angel List, and now with Milwaukee Venture Partners (MVP). Over 20 small investments into start-ups and three more normal Angel-sized commitments.
Invested as a LP (limited partner) in a VC fund focusing on start-ups in the social and sustainable technology sectors.
The newsletter went through a facelift in April 2023 to become Green Edge portfolios where we are creating a community to experience “greening our investment portfolios” journey together. Join Us!
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
