Socially conscious investing
 

Just wonder if anyone had done this and/or had looked into doing it.

I've researched some basic mutual funds -- Fidelity and some that advertise as "socially conscious" -- and it seems that the Fidelity funds are heavy in oil companies and the socially conscious heavy in clean fuel technology. Are there other options besides mutual funds?

I plan on buying a small stake (3-5K) in the next few months, and am just weighing my options.

Would prefer not to support oil companies by buying their stock, but can see the flip side of that. So this is not a debate about the merits of investing in "bad" companies.

Anyway, dumb noob question but I was just curious if anyone else had looked into this.

Thanks!

Re: Socially conscious investing
 

JD,

I believe the word is conscientious. Perhaps this will aid in your basic google searches.

J

Re: Socially conscious investing
 

Try the powershares PUW and PBW ETF's.

Re: Socially conscious investing
 

[ QUOTE ]
Just wonder if anyone had done this and/or had looked into doing it.

I've researched some basic mutual funds -- Fidelity and some that advertise as "socially conscious" -- and it seems that the Fidelity funds are heavy in oil companies and the socially conscious heavy in clean fuel technology. Are there other options besides mutual funds?

I plan on buying a small stake (3-5K) in the next few months, and am just weighing my options.

Would prefer not to support oil companies by buying their stock, but can see the flip side of that. So this is not a debate about the merits of investing in "bad" companies.

Anyway, dumb noob question but I was just curious if anyone else had looked into this.

Thanks!

[/ QUOTE ]

i remember that there is (or will be) a "green" index of companies that meet some standard for helping the environment.

sorry i don't remember the name. hope it helps your search.

Barron

Re: Socially conscious investing
 

I don't think any large corporation can be socially conscientious. They all just have varying degrees of social irresponsibility.

I think it would be very difficult to be competitive in business with a goal of also avoiding any negative community impact.

Re: Socially conscious investing
 

I agree that corporations need to act in their own self interest to turn a profit. But I believe some companies take stronger strides towards acting ethically then others. ie) Google's slogan of "Don't be evil". Now Google still does things that some find unethical , but they make the effort.

MoneySense.ca had this article defending making choices purley based on the numbers and not the ethics. I disagree with the authors points, but I can understand his argument.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/my_m...05_084914_6144

Re: Socially conscious investing
 

I think the buzzword is socially responsible investing. This niche gets a fair amount of coverage in the media, so it shouldn't be too hard to conduct more research.

Re: Socially conscious investing
 

Thanks for all the responses. I'll check it out further, just wondered if anyone had any first hand experience with it.