by Andreas Hohenadl, Euro on Sunday
Dhe beginning of a new year is traditionally the time for good resolutions. 2022 is no exception. As the statistics portal Statista recently determined in a survey, 37 percent of the people surveyed in Germany have New Year’s resolutions – that’s eight percentage points more than in the previous year. At the top of the list are exercising more, eating healthier and losing weight. About a quarter of those who have made a goal for this year want to quit smoking.
Financial provision is also on the to-do list of many Germans. According to a survey by the fund company Union Investment, most Germans (74 percent) trust real estate as a suitable form of investment. The second place is followed by the company pension. Investment funds moved up to third place this year, ahead of gold for the first time. 46 percent see them as the best way to save. Mutual funds are particularly popular with younger people. Among 20 to 29 year olds, as many as 60 percent consider this form of investment to be particularly attractive.
So why not combine fund saving and good intentions this year? The combination is interesting and promises above-average returns. After all, it is not only one who often tends towards laziness and bad behavior patterns, many people in the world do so. Instead of healthy eating, there is fast food, instead of a lap of running, a bag of chips on the couch. The consequences are well known: lack of exercise and obesity are the causes of many diseases and burden society with enormous costs.
In Germany, for example, around two thirds of men and half of women are overweight. According to figures from the Robert Koch Institute, a quarter of adults are obese or very overweight, i.e. have a body mass index (BMI) of over 30. According to figures from the OECD, 42 percent of the population in the USA are already obese. According to a survey from 2018, healthcare costs there have risen to around 17 percent. 50 years ago the value was still six percent.
Prevention becomes more important
According to experts, the best approach to getting the escalating costs under control is preventive health care. This includes better nutrition on the one hand and increased physical activity on the other. More and more people are recognizing the positive effects of a healthier lifestyle. At the same time, there is a growing willingness to spend more money on healthier food and health care. If this trend was already clearly noticeable before Corona, the pandemic has fueled it again.
Companies that are active in this area benefit from this. “Given the variety of products and services available to help maintain a healthy lifestyle, we see nutrition, physical activity, beauty, mental support and health care as promising areas for investment,” says a report by Swiss bank Julius Br. Healthy, sporty, sustainable, these are the key terms of the “healthy lifestyle”.
Fund providers are also increasingly focusing on this topic. Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS jumped on the bandwagon just a few months ago. With the DWS Invest ESG Healthy Living fund (ISIN: LU 237 912 128 3), investors can invest widely in companies that drive medical progress and offer products for a healthier life.
A portfolio from the Dutch company NN Investment Partners has been on the market with this focus for a number of years. With the NN Health & Well-being fund, fund manager Huub van der Riet and his team are focusing on companies that achieve positive social and ecological effects in addition to financial returns. In addition, they must be related to health and well-being. The top positions in the portfolio include, for example, the sustainable salmon producer Bakkafrost from the Frer Islands.
Vegan nutrition is trendy
The ETF Rize Sustainable Future of Food is thematically narrower. With it, investors can benefit from the trend towards innovative food and agricultural solutions. The index fund was launched in August 2020. It focuses on companies that are accelerating the transition to sustainable food production and consumption.
One of the top positions at the moment is the US company Tattooed Chef, which focuses on plant-based food, i.e. vegan food. Experts predict double-digit growth rates for this market in the coming years, because many countries are promoting the consumption of meat alternatives. Many food trends are still in their infancy. And further developments, for example in the vertical cultivation of vegetables in buildings close to the city, or leaps in technology, for example in in-vitro meat, offer considerable potential.
Maybe your 2022 resolution isn’t more fitness and healthier eating, but simply less stress. Many contemporaries also translate this as: treat yourself to something more often. The right investment vehicle for this is the Invesco Global Consumer Trends fund. With the portfolio, Ido Cohen and Juan Hartsfield make targeted investments in companies that benefit from changing leisure and consumer behavior.
The portfolio position Farfetch is representative of this trend. Founded by Portuguese Jos Neves, the e-commerce company sells designer fashion from boutiques around the world. For many of our contemporaries, not only fitness and health but also nice clothes count for well-being.
INVESTOR INFO
The fund from the Dutch provider NN Investment Partners (formerly ING Investment Management) is classified as a financial product with a sustainable investment objective. It is designed to make a positive contribution to one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The fund managers seek the most attractive companies in the areas of healthy consumption, mental and physical fitness, disease prevention and treatment, and quality of life services.
The exchange-listed index fund offers investors a cost-effective opportunity to invest in sustainable food production and the increasing demand for healthy food. The ETF holds between 40 and 50 stocks from innovative food companies, packaging manufacturers, enzyme manufacturers and agricultural companies. The shares are weighted according to liquidity and their “Sustainable Food Score”. The composition is checked every six months.
With this portfolio, fund managers Ido Cohen and Juan Hartsfield are on the hunt for consumer trends worldwide. Important topics for them are e-commerce as well as video and computer games. Even before the pandemic, digitization was changing our everyday lives and leisure activities. After strong price gains following the Corona crash, 2021 was less spectacular for the fund. In the long term, however, the profit drivers in the portfolio remain intact.
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Image sources: Ditty_about_Summer / Shutterstock.com, iStockphoto
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