Investing your money with your values in mind can be an effective strategy. As noted in the Forbes article “Green Investing: Putting Your Money Where Your Values Are Pays Off,” paying attention to how a company is run can be used as an indicator for “upside potential.”
Moreover, if a company is ethical, then you don’t have to worry about damaging lawsuits. Besides the monetary potential, it can also make you feel better about what sort of companies you are supporting. Here are a few ways that you can make your money speak for your values more effectively.
Categorizing by causes you want to support
According to the article “4 Ways Your Money Can Support Your Values,” one of the niftiest investment tools out there is called OpenInvest. It enables you to organize your investments based off of what sort of causes you want to support. You do this by creating an issue folder, such as Reduce Carbon Emissions, which narrows down what companies to support and which ones you should avoid. Moreover, the stocks that are generated for you by OpenInvest “should match returns of the broader market.”
How about your cellphone plan?
That is right, you can now leverage your cell phone usage to promote the causes you care most about. There are now activist cellphone carriers, both for those on the left and right on the political spectrum, that use the money you spend on your cellphone certain causes. If you are more left-leaning in your beliefs, then you should take a look at Credo Mobile what has “donated $83 million to various progressive nonprofit groups since its inception in 1985” according to WiseBread. If you are more right-leaning, then you can consider Patriot Mobile which allows people to choose an organization where a portion of their monthly bill will be donated to.
Debunking myths surrounding socially responsible investment
As described in the above-cited article from Forbes, there are a lot of myths out there regarding socially responsible investment. Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds simply don’t screen out but they also screen in innovative companies. Besides still providing solid investment options, there is also another myth that suggests that these types of investments do not offer great returns. In fact, they have the potential to earn healthy returns, though they may not do this every single year.
Feeling better about where your money is going
With age comes a growing awareness of our values and what we want to stand for. It is very likely that the most meaningful purchases we make over the course of our lives will be directly related to our values. Whether it is supporting a company that aligns with our values or donating money to a charity that aims to tackle a particular cause we care about, knowing that our money is going toward something greater than ourselves feels good. There is no reason why investing can’t be this way too, and it is never too late to start.
