What is it?
Socially responsible investing or sustainable and responsible investing
(SRI) involves investing in companies that take into consideration environmental,
social and corporate governance criteria such as environmental controls,
community development, workplace diversification, labor relations and human. Industries involved in
SRI include hospitals, public and private sectors, nonprofit organizations and
religious institutions. Many
companies use SRI to promote stronger social responsibility, create jobs and
produce products that will help the environment. Industries involved in SRI
include hospitals, public and private sectors, nonprofit organizations and
religious institutions.
SRI Companies
Several companies’ use SRI investing strategies - the most popular
company is Calvert. Other companies include GoodFunds, Krull and Company, Green
Century and Domini. Some companies require a minimum investment of $250,000
while others offer customized portfolios on a retainer basis.
Tax Benefits
There are SRI
funds with tax benefits and some without. I recommend investing in funds that
offer tax benefits. Check with your financial advisor for specific details.
Pros and Cons
SRI funds are
often perceived to be riskier because a higher percentage of shares are held in
small and medium sized companies which tend to be more volatile. Typical disadvantages include lack of
diversification and poor performance. However, SRI investment strategies are competitive with
non-SRI strategies and can still allow investors to meet their financial
goals. SRI investing spans a wide and growing range of products and asset
classes, embracing not only public equity investments (stocks), but also cash,
fixed income and alternative investments, such as private equity, venture
capital and real estate.
The evidence is clear that sustainable and responsible investors do not
have to pay more to align their investments with their values, or to avoid
companies with poor environmental, social or governance practices.
Investors may not
be allowed to pull out money at will and may be required to keep the money in
for a certain period of time. Investors may
also have limited control over how their money is used. Some SRI funds charge higher
fees such as an annual expense ratio and upfront sales charge, however some do
not.
Here are 9 tips to
help you decide on SRI investing.
- Decide where you want to invest, how you will invest, when you need the money, what you need the money for and how long you want to invest.
- Identify your top socially responsible views and invest in companies that support them.
3. Diversify investments
and ensure you are comfortable with the allocations.
- Allocate a small portion of investments to clean technology.
- Put pressure Congress to generate socially responsible policies.
- Define your risk tolerance, investment goals and objectives.
- Decide how you will implement your investment strategies: direct investments, petitions and dialog, awareness, screenings, activism or other factors.
- Increase demands on companies to be socially responsible through shareholder resolutions and meetings.
- Ask fund managers whether or not they expect performance to be similar to standard benchmarks or considerably different.
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