When it comes to money, everyone has the same set of questions: How do I earn it, how do I save it and how do I invest it? While the questions remain the same, every individual approaches these tasks based on his or her specific experience and world view. The millennial generation—millennials for short, also called “Generation Y”—encompass the age bracket of children born between 1978 and 2000. How will this new generation tackle these age old challenges?

One factor is education. After compiling data and surveying millennials to track their attitudes and aspirations, the Pew Research Center notes this will be the most educated generation in American history. Despite coming of age in a challenging economic climate, millenials have an attitude Pew describes as “confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change.”¹

The definition of success is also evolving. Institutional Investor recently reported on a study that asked both millennials and current business leaders about the meaning of success and the purpose of business. The findings, commissioned by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, were revealing: 92 percent of millennials said that business success should be based on more than just profit, compared with 71 percent of business leaders. Millennials also more often defined the purpose of business as “innovation” and “societal development,” while “profit” and “value” were the top answers of their older counterparts. Millenials, further, were more optimistic than the business leaders about the potential of business to solve societal problems.²

Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that younger people with money to invest are interested in finding opportunities that combine financial returns and social responsibility. This approach, called impact investing, encompasses a wide variety of strategies and causes. Morgan Stanley, for example, implements its impact strategies across a few broad categories:

• Values Alignment. Here, we look at an individual’s interests and screen out investments that do not apply. For example, we might point a buyer to a mutual fund that excludes tobacco or firearms companies.

• Environment, Social and Governance Integration. Before investing, this strategy asks values-oriented questions, such as: Is pollution prevention a priority? Is the company focused on ensuring the health and safety of its workers? Are the interests of shareowners and management aligned?

• Sector Exposure. These strategies allow investors to focus on specific themes and sectors targeting environmental or social changes. An example would be an exchange traded fund composed solely of clean-energy stocks.

The framework is so flexible that, even if your financial plan got started back in the last millennium, impact investing can easily be incorporated into your portfolio. Depending on your specific objectives, you can pursue any of the above approaches through public equity and debt, or choose from among private opportunities that provide capital directly to enterprises working to effect specific social or environmental changes. More than ever, investment choices that reflect your values and earn returns are right at your fingertips.

¹“Millennials – A Portrait of Generation Next,” Pew Research Center, February 2010; ²“Millennials Keen on Impact Investing,” Institutional Investor, Sept. 13, 201Mary M. Deatherage is a Wealth Advisor with the Wealth Management division of Morgan Stanley in Little Falls, NJ. The views expressed herein are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Member SIPC, www.sipc.org. Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor(s) engage Worth to feature this profile. Mary M. Deatherage may only transact business in states where she is registered or excluded or exempted from registration www.morganstanleyfa.com/mary_deatherage. Transacting business, follow-up and individualized responses involving either effecting or attempting to effect transactions in securities, or the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation, will not be made to persons in states where Mary M. Deatherage is not registered or excluded or exempt from registration. The strategies and/or investments referenced may not be suitable for all investors.