Choosing a financial advisor is a personal decision. You’re trusting someone to understand your goals, guide important choices, and help you plan for the people and priorities you care about. Alongside experience and services, it’s worth asking: What does this firm stand for, and how does it put those values into practice?
At The Legacy Foundation, our Certified B Corporation status helps answer that question. Legacy has been a Certified B Corp since August 2021, reflecting a commitment to accountability that extends to how we operate as a business.
What is a Certified B Corporation?
Certified B Corporations, often called B Corps, are businesses verified against B Lab’s standards for social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Certification considers how a company operates and the impact of its decisions on people and the planet. For clients who want to ensure that a portion of their investments are committed to companies with sustainable goals, we’re able to address their wishes and have invested in the financial technology that identifies their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) impact.
That perspective expands the definition of business success. Financial performance matters, and so do the ways a company treats people, serves its customers, and takes responsibility for its broader impact. Click here to learn more about B Corp certification.
Why B Corps matter
It’s easy for a business to describe itself as responsible or purpose-driven. Customers deserve a way to look beyond those statements.
B Corp certification provides an established framework for evaluating business practices. It creates expectations for accountability and gives companies a structure for improving over time. B Lab’s standards also evolve to address changing social and environmental challenges. Explore B Lab’s standards.
For people choosing where to spend their money or whom to trust with an important service, that framework provides another useful point of reference. It encourages a question with lasting significance: Does the way this company does business reflect the values it communicates?
What The Legacy Foundation’s certification means for you
For The Legacy Foundation’s clients, B Corp certification adds context to the relationship. It offers an independently assessed view of the business behind your financial plan.
Our public B Corp profile includes assessments of governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. This gives you a way to learn about our business practices beyond the services we describe on our website. See our assessment score.
It also complements our approach to planning. At Legacy, we build financial strategies around each client’s life goals. For clients who want to explore the relationship between their investments and their values, we offer guidance on incorporating environmental, social, and governance considerations into their investment strategy. Our own commitment to responsible business practices brings added meaning to those conversations.
Your priorities remain the starting point. Preparing for retirement, supporting family, contributing to your community, and planning for future generations can carry different weight at different stages of life. A thoughtful advisory relationship makes room for those priorities and helps you consider how they fit together.
Final Thought
B Corp certification is one factor to consider when evaluating a financial advisor. It assesses business practices; it does not guarantee investment returns or a particular financial outcome. Its value lies in the additional accountability and visibility it brings to the firm you choose.
At The Legacy Foundation, we believe the way we build our business should reflect the care we bring to helping you build your future.
Complimentary Portfolio Review
We understand that taking the first step toward financial planning can feel overwhelming. That’s why we offer portfolio reviews to anyone looking for thoughtful financial guidance—something we’ve been helping individuals and families navigate for more than 35 years.
Disclaimer:
Environmental Social Governance (ESG) has certain risks based on the fact that the criteria excludes securities of certain issuers for non-financial reasons and, therefore, investors may forgo some market opportunities and the universe of investments available will be smaller.
These views are those of the author, not of the broker-dealer or its affiliates. This material contains an assessment of the market and economic environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events or a guarantee of future results. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance, or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Information is based on data gathered from what we believe are reliable sources.
Government bonds and Treasury bills are guaranteed by the US government as to the timely payment of principal and interest and, if held to maturity, offer a fixed rate of return and fixed principal value.
Bond yields are subject to change. Certain call or special redemption features may exist which could impact yield.
No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values. There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a comprehensive measure of U.S. economic activity. GDP measures the value of the final goods and services produced in the United States (without double counting the intermediate goods and services used up to produce them). Changes in GDP are the most popular indicator of the nation's overall economic health.