As you described, there are basically two strategies you can follow: find indexes that fit your preferences or invest in the preferred companies directly. Unfortunately, if you have less than 100k...
As you described, there are basically two strategies you can follow: find indexes that fit your preferences or invest in the preferred companies directly. Unfortunately, if you have less than 100k investment, your options are very limited, so in that case, I would pick ETFs, which are following ESG indexes and accepting compromise. Above that, there are robo advisors which focussed on ESG investing and some of the offer ”custom index” solutions which can help you to manage a large number of direct stock in investments for a reasonable cost, but it is more of the 500k+ game. Be aware that the cost of ESG investment can be much higher than broad index funds (e.g., 50 bps v 7bps)
If you are willing to make even more compromise, you can find indexes that are not excluding specific industries or companies but underwriting them based on certain ESG scores. These products tend to have better cost/performance characteristics.
My work ethical investing group excludes weapons & nuclear power, while allowing oil and gas so long as they commit to clean energy eventually. It's really disappointing. I suppose everyone's got...
My work ethical investing group excludes weapons & nuclear power, while allowing oil and gas so long as they commit to clean energy eventually. It's really disappointing. I suppose everyone's got their own opinions on ethics.
I've done extensive work with a small group of accredited investors who're interested in making more of an impact with their money, so I can give a brief overview here, but also feel free to ask...
I've done extensive work with a small group of accredited investors who're interested in making more of an impact with their money, so I can give a brief overview here, but also feel free to ask additional questions if I don't touch on everything you want to know.
Figure out what you need for your retirement. Leave that money in the ethical index funds. The primary goal is to not compromise your personal security, and if you invest everything you've got into any of my later suggestions you could be left in a bad place if things go wrong. Then look at what's left over.
With the rest of the money, determine what your personal priorities are. You should be investing in line with those priorities, because these investments will be some combination of providing high risk or a poor cash return investment. The client with whom I worked most closely decided that the thing she cared about most was local farming and agriculture investment, and so she made sure to be investing in a narrow range of businesses that she was passionate about. This made it much more palatable when the investments didn't pay off or, when they did, only provided 2-4% return per year.
Find an investment. There will always be organizations out there that need money and aren't going to find a bank willing to take a risk on them. If you can find a local investor group with a matching interest, it becomes a lot easier because then businesses will come offer opportunities to the group. Otherwise, if you start asking around I'm sure you'll find people who would be able to do good with even 5-10k extra.
This is just the tiniest little overview, and it's only one option, but if you have more questions feel free to ask.
A couple of years back I got an account at Trine (a Gothenburg, Sweden based startup) that was doing investments in solar and similar projects with a microloan like setup. Seemed like a nice idea...
A couple of years back I got an account at Trine (a Gothenburg, Sweden based startup) that was doing investments in solar and similar projects with a microloan like setup. Seemed like a nice idea at least!
You probably don't have the time or desire to do this, but another option would be to become an activist investor. Invest in the companies doing things you don't like and then use your vote to get...
You probably don't have the time or desire to do this, but another option would be to become an activist investor. Invest in the companies doing things you don't like and then use your vote to get them to change. You'd have to enlist lots of others to do the same (or convince others who are already invested in them). It's not the most realistic option, but I thought I'd put it out there as another possible strategy.
As you described, there are basically two strategies you can follow: find indexes that fit your preferences or invest in the preferred companies directly. Unfortunately, if you have less than 100k investment, your options are very limited, so in that case, I would pick ETFs, which are following ESG indexes and accepting compromise. Above that, there are robo advisors which focussed on ESG investing and some of the offer ”custom index” solutions which can help you to manage a large number of direct stock in investments for a reasonable cost, but it is more of the 500k+ game. Be aware that the cost of ESG investment can be much higher than broad index funds (e.g., 50 bps v 7bps)
If you are willing to make even more compromise, you can find indexes that are not excluding specific industries or companies but underwriting them based on certain ESG scores. These products tend to have better cost/performance characteristics.
Most of the MSCI ESG Integration indexes are reweighting ones. Eg. MSCI ESG Universal Index
My work ethical investing group excludes weapons & nuclear power, while allowing oil and gas so long as they commit to clean energy eventually. It's really disappointing. I suppose everyone's got their own opinions on ethics.
I've done extensive work with a small group of accredited investors who're interested in making more of an impact with their money, so I can give a brief overview here, but also feel free to ask additional questions if I don't touch on everything you want to know.
This is just the tiniest little overview, and it's only one option, but if you have more questions feel free to ask.
A couple of years back I got an account at Trine (a Gothenburg, Sweden based startup) that was doing investments in solar and similar projects with a microloan like setup. Seemed like a nice idea at least!
You probably don't have the time or desire to do this, but another option would be to become an activist investor. Invest in the companies doing things you don't like and then use your vote to get them to change. You'd have to enlist lots of others to do the same (or convince others who are already invested in them). It's not the most realistic option, but I thought I'd put it out there as another possible strategy.