Investing Ethically

Investing Ethically

There are tons of people/companies out there that do invest in various (other) companies, funds, equities, stocks and whatever else there is. Then there are also a few people who are bothered by the fact, that they don't really know what kinda destruction, exploitation and torture they might be supporting when doing any kind of investment.

Yes, there are such people indeed. And it is good that there are such people.

That's why I dedicate this entry to those and will list a few links that promote ethical investments in the hope to make life a bit easier for those that care.

I feel that too many people let themself be blinded by the promises of high returns and don't (want to) know what curelty and suffering they are actually supporting. So those who do care, listen up and spread the word!

First of all some general links on how to invest ethically:

• EthicalInvesting.Com (a guide giving tips on how to avoid unethical investments and including a comprehensive list of opportunities in the Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, UK and USA)
  
   The same site has an extensive list on how to avoid supporting Monsanto when investing, since apparently they are one of the worst coporate criminals. For details click here.)


• Oxford University Student Union (Information on how to invest ethically; especially for people that which to encourage their college to invest its money ethically.)


• AdviceOnline.Co.UK (a short intro on what ethical investments are; it's a financial advicer based in the UK)


• Ethical Investment Research Service ("The EIRS provides the independent research into corporate behaviour needed by ethical investors to enable them to make informed and responsible investment decisions." Also based in the UK.)


• Ethical Trading Initiative (a good source for anything on ethical trading, incl. a definition; yep, yep... also based in the UK)

Now some links for specific geographical areas:

• Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia
  
  (a site packed with interesting infos, although I am not sure how independent they actually are)


• SmartInvestor.Com.Sg (an interesting article on Islamic Banks - to further you read on, the more interesting it gets; should be particularly interesting for readers from Asia, since there are not many alternatives to your average Citibank policies)


• The Co-operative Bank (looks like a good concept to me, a bank with morals; for those of you in the UK)


• The Social Investment Forum ("a national nonprofit membership organization promoting the concept, practice and growth of socially responsible investing" for those in the U.S. of A.)


• SocialFunds.Com (another site informing you on opportunities of social funds in the U.S. of A.)


• EthicalInvestor.Com.Au (a pretty good guide for those of you in Australia thinking of investing in shares)


• UniFemSingapore.Org.Sg (the only ethical fund I was able to find for my readers from Singapore; a collaboration of the UNIFEM S'pore (United Nations Development Fund) and UOB (United Overseas Bank) resulting in the United Global UNIFEM Singapore Fund)


• ETHIBEL.Org (European Quality Label for Socially Responsible Investment Funds)


• Gemeinschaftsbank.De (of course there's also something for my German friends here; diese Bank handelt nur unter moralischen Grundprinzipien - sie besteht außerdem aus einer Ökobank und bietet u.a. eigene Umwelt-, Gesellschafts- und Gesundheitsfonds an; eine echt gute Alternative zur Deutschen Bank & Co.)

I don't want to be misunderstood here. I am not endorsing the investment in shares, funds or anything alike. I also don't want to promote the focus on money and profit. I simply want to encourage those who think of investing and buying shares to do so in a socially responsible manner. Corporations and manufacturers don't care about ethics, so it is up to the consumers to care.

If you have any useful additional links to recommend, then please go ahead.

~peace~

tags: investment  investing ethically  

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit