valuing the values
we need to be valuing
today
evergreen recognizes that finance sits at the core of what values any economy is built to value.
the currently dominant and default form of finance as securities trading is built to value growth as the point of intersection between enterprise and social benefit
evergreen is built to value cash flows as the point of intersection
in valuing cash flows, evergreen values growth and also values staying strong and making prosperous adaptations to life’s constant changes
these are the values of exemplary superfiduciary stewardship of society’s shared savings set aside for the future through retirement, education and philanthropy
a new form of finance
for a new form of financier
evergreen core.org is advocating a vastly expanded use of the proven, reliable skills for building amazing cash flow financial models (perfected in real estate and widely used in energy, but not yet applied more generally to finance other kinds of enterprise and technology – why not?) that will empower pensions and other superfiduciaries in their pursuit of exemplary superfiduciary stewardship of the social benefit superfunds we, as a society, entrust to their good judgement, negotiating agreements on cash flow sharing with enterprise, directly, that also inject good financial and social stewardship values into their investments
generating adequate cash flows, constantly, to keep the actuarial risk pools properly full and flowing, indefinitely
evolving the next new form of capitalism, by design
giving enterprise the choice to enter the securities trading system, or not
creating a new role for the university as provider of fiduciary spaces
giving change advocacy Finance as a new Theory of Change
the prosperity we make through the designs we choose
Individuals
Institutions
Inside the Wall Street system.
Superfiduciaries
Outside the Wall Street system.
a new class of financial decision-makers
making financial decisions within
their own
uniquely fit-for-purpose
decision-making frameworks
Today, pensions are generally classified as Institutional Investors.
They (and we) are taught to believe
that they have a fiduciary duty
to do the best they can
trading securities within the Wall Street system
of speculation on growth in future valuation.
Forty years ago, they (and we) were taught to believe
that trading in securities violated their fiduciary duty.
It was against the law.
Why did it change?
What have we learned?
Deploying pension money
– and other social benefit super funds –
into the economy as equity for enterprise is
good for our superfunds,
good for enterprise,
good for the economy, and
good for society.
2.
Doing so through the Wall Street system is not.
we apply simple set theory to recognize that pensions,
along with university endowments and endowed foundations,
are really a subset of Institutional Investor,
a special class of financial actor
that we might call “superfiduciaries”?
Applying Set Theory to See the Subsets
Within the Set of Institutional Investors
Plain, old ordinary fiduciaries act for specific individuals under private or family trusts.
Superfiduciaries, like pension funds, act for entire populations of people, under charters of public trust.
Investment Managers are professionals, who trade on their professional expertise, professionally, under contracts for professional services.
aha!
Pensions and other superfiduciaries are not themselves Wall Street professionals,
even though today they are the largest consumers of the professional services of Wall Street professionals.
But if pensions are not just Wall Street traders, what are they?
And what can and should they be doing?
This is the starting point.
simplifying finance
A journey of inquiry that leads through a series of “aha!” moments to a new way of seeing Finance not as monolithic, mysterious and magical, but as a whole made up of parts, each with its own subparts, that is clear and simple IF we keep all the different parts and subparts each in their own proper place.
It leads to evergreen.
Pensions are superfiduciaries. As investors they are large, purposeful and perpetual. They have unique needs and unique capabilities.
The uniqueness of pensions is creating the need and the opportunity to adaptively evolve a new profession of experts in building amazing financial models for investing in enterprise cash flows, directly, to generate adequate fiduciary cash flows, indefinitely. Let’s call this Fiduciary Finance.
Driving a paradigm shift through bold, innovative and practical action to finance the evolution of effective adaptations to the great existential crises of our times, beginning with climate change, showing how pensions and other superfiduciaries can finance the new economy we need, and that we cannot get from the Wall Street system.
Also creating a need that is also an opportunity for the university to adaptively evolve into a provider of fiduciary spaces for superfiduciary collaboration, connection, and best practices.