Comments on: What Is Socially Responsible Investing and How to Start

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 13:42:54 +0000

In reply to Ann. Hey Ann! Yes, I've heard a bunch of ESG funds are actually outperforming total market funds. And it'd be great if this continues and proves the point even further. Nice work with ESGV!

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 04:47:56 +0000

I’d argue that the world needs to, and is transitioning, to more sustainable/environmentally-friendly practices. Maybe some people would say that this is wishful thinking, but the way I see it, companies that dig in their heels and don’t make the effort in this direction will not perform well long term. From what I hear, more and more economists are agreeing that addressing the climate emergency is going to be more economical, anyway, so focusing on companies that are orienting themselves may actually be more profitable!

That said, I agree wholeheartedly that no index fund can ever align perfectly with our values – (and I don’t consider Amazon to be a particularly ethical company) – but the way I see it, it is still a step in the right direction. Plus, I can only hope that as interest and investment in these types of funds grow, so will the options, so maybe in a few years we can have better choices. :)

FWIW, I’m certainly no expert, but I’ve started investing primarily in ESGV – with it’s 0.12% MER, it seems like an easy choice.

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 13:24:52 +0000

In reply to David @ Filled With Money. I truly hope this is encouraging all companies to be more responsible, ethical, green, etc. Feels good to have some influence as a shareholder.

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 13:22:53 +0000

In reply to Adam. That's an awesome way to do it Adam. Once you've hit your "enough" point (or will in the future), it becomes less about ROI and more important to do what matters to you. Thanks for what you do!

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 11:57:47 +0000

I’ve been keeping an eye on the ESG funds for the last half dozen years or so but kept faithfully putting our IRA into VTSAX the whole time. Then we realized that if we maintained our current savings rate, our tax-advantaged funds would be too big by age 59.5 when we could finally access them without jumping through hoops.

So in February we throttled our workplace contributions back just to get employer match and started putting a much bigger chunk into an after-tax brokerage account. ESGV was the vehicle through which I convinced my wife to do this — it’s a good compromise for us between growing our money contributing slightly less to the shadier aspects of the ravenous capitalist profit-at-all-costs machine.

By: David @ Filled With Money

David @ Filled With Money — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 00:58:56 +0000

What’s interesting is that people are actually starting to put money where there mouth is and actually following through with socially responsible investing. I think more money mangers are looking for this element as a part of their investment thesis and actually pulling out of companies if they don’t do anything related to it.

Great overview!