Investing with a conscience
So I saw The Corporation, I saw Inconvenient Truth, and I know about how Halliburton is this really evil company and so is Merck. It’s enough to make you swear off investing forever, and in fact one woman in my (former) investment club did just that.
“It’s all dirty!” she cried, “I’m outta here!” I empathize.
There’s little old me with my middle-class income on the one hand. There’s great big corporations we love to hate on the other. And somehow I need to bridge the two if I hope to retire in a manner to which my dachshunds are accustomed.
I believe there is a way we can stop holding our noses as we embark on the journey of reconciling our personal values with our wealth-building goals via corporations.
1. Consider this: Just like the in the mix of humans, there are in fact some lousy corporations, but also some pretty wonderful corporations (I have a crush on Apple for example), and just like humans, even the good ones may have asymmetries, areas where they screw up until someone calls them on it (like Apple who got their knuckles rapped about labour practices in their Chinese ipod factories). Let’s allow for that – a measure of imperfection that we can live with.
2. Let’s subscribe to the philosophy of changing from the inside rather than critiquing from the outside. I’m not suggesting we take on the truly dreadful companies, of course. But if there’s a company that’s doing well, perhaps with an area or two that could use improvement, let’s support what they’re doing right, and use our shareholders’ votes to move it further in a good direction.
3. Let’s avail ourselves of the life-giving investment options available to us right now, for instance:
A. Looking for something ultra secure? Citizens Bank of Canada offers Shared World term deposits with terrific rates, and every penny of your principle goes towards micro-credit lending (providing financing to small, family businesses in developing countries.)
B. More interested in mutual funds? Many firms now offer funds that include only companies which put corporate social responsibility on the table with profitability. Some are quite diversified, others are quite focused, for example, Criterion’s brand new “Global Clean Energy” fund. Check out www.socialinvestment.ca to start exploring the possibilities.
C. Are you a do-it-yourself-er like me? As of this spring, there is a new ETF via IShares that tracks the Janzti Social Index fund, which in turn consists of 60 canadian stocks meeting Michael Jantzi’s social, environmental and governance standards. The symbol is XEN, it has an MER of 0.5% and as of today’s date is selling in the low $20’s.
Each of these is an easy starting place. Whether we prefer to leave our wealth in the hands of a Financial Planner, or prefer a more direct approach, one of the joys of living in 2007 are the many doors open to us. Thanks to pioneers like Jantzi and others, we have options. Let’s take them.
