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Ethical Investments - The New Investment Option by Danca Risamio http://www.ruinvestment.com A college course little over a decade ago may well have skipped the idea of ethical investment. However, some thinkers now feel that the concept is going to be very influential in 21st century investment. Ethics is one of the big questions that has taxed philosophers since the beginning of time. It is about the choices we make and how we choose to live, and the issue is far from settled. As far as ethical investment is concerned, it is enough to say people have different ethical codes. Ethical investment has come about because non-experts have begun to better understand investing. Up until recently almost all investors gave over their money to professional investors and asked them to make their money as profitable as possible. Once they had invested the money, most investors were only concerned about the returns. The money entered a sort of no mans land where it could not be touched and few worried about the type of industries or companies they were investing in. But this can lead to many difficulties. Take the example of the Church of England. For years it had handed over the decisions about where to place the money. The expert investors had the duty to give the Church the best possible return on their money. However this led to the absurd situation that a Christian organization was investing large sums of money in things like land mine production at the same time as publicly condemning them. The Synod of the Church now takes an active interest in their investments! The same problem occurs on a personal basis. Imagine a person who is strongly anti smoking, who goes round nagging his friends and relatives to quit... Should he care that his investment portfolio is profiting from the activities of these very same companies? Many people are beginning to think it does matter, and starting to ask what exactly their money is financing. One result is that people are taking more interest in the exact nature of their investments. Another result is the rise of companies that will invest money ethically. Now, given that it is not clear cut what each person considers ethical, each investor needs to take some decisions. For instance, do you want to invest in companies that make and sell weapons? Some would say they do not mind investing in these things, since it is the job of society to regulate the use and abuse of firearms. Others would rather avoid these companies - but might be surprised how much this limits their choices! What about companies that use dollar-a-day child labor in the far east? Is this an unforgivable exploitation, or is it capitalism at work? Do the jobs give the poor in a poor country a chance, or do they deny kids the opportunity to go to school? Does moving US production abroad deny Americans jobs or does it make products more competitive and improve the balance of trade? Ethical issues are seldom straightforward, but a lot of us feel they are worth the struggle. On a one by one basis each of us might not hold much influence, but a number of similar decisions begins to make a difference. A company that find a lot of small investment is withdrawn is receiving a warning that their behavior is out of step with societal ethics. It is up to them wether they change. |