Socially responsible investing gets a Trump bump
A 49-year-old lawyer, she was turned off when then-candidate Trump insinuated the judge overseeing a lawsuit against
"It really flicked a switch that I need to be more involved and do more to get our country back on track," Casey said. "To me, that meant paying attention to where I put my money."
Using cash that was sitting in the bank, and shifting some funds in her Individual Retirement Account, Casey reconfigured her portfolio so that she now has about a third of her investments in socially responsible funds, up from zero before Trump was elected. Those investments include a fund that holds stocks in companies where women are well represented on the board and in executive offices.
Others have made a similar move, defying predictions that a
The industry was already enjoying accelerating growth before Trump, and investment companies were rushing to open new funds that consider "environmental, social and governance" issues to tap into the demand. The term has become so widespread that many funds simply put "ESG" in their names for shorthand.
After Trump's election, though, the expectation was that a Republican-led
Instead, dollars continued to flow into socially responsible investments, and the industry launched 39 mutual funds and ETFs last year, a record, said Hale. "More and more products are out there now, and everything is poised to see ongoing growth," he said.
Because much of the industry is so young, many funds have limited track records for measuring performance. One stereotype says that socially responsible investors need to sacrifice returns, but studies by Morningstar,
Researchers say that stocks of companies that score well on gender diversity have historically generated slightly better returns, for example. And companies with strong environmental, social and corporate-governance policies can have fewer incidents that can lead to sharp drops in stock price, such as an environmental disaster or business-practice scandal.
"I do think we're at a moment where the whole notion of the corporation is changing," said
Companies are increasingly taking their customers, employees and communities into consideration when making their decisions, not just their shareholders and the next quarter's results. And
The CEO of
That's what
Lincer would have preferred to move 100 percent, but her husband, an environmental scientist, wanted to keep some money with their longtime financial adviser, who had them in traditional investments and had delivered solid returns.
Now that she's a year into her foray in socially responsible investing, does she feel like it's had any effect?
"I would say yes," she said. "Of course, I'm still plagued by the really negative things that are happening, but this is one thing I feel like I have control over, and that buys some peace of mind. And I'm walking the walk: I'm doing what I can to help."
NET REPAIR AND FOOT ROPE CONSTRUCTION FOR NOAA ALASKA FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER RACE DIVISION
UPDATE: H.R.4885 – To require the Federal Insurance Office of the Department of the Treasury to conduct a study to identify disparities between communities in auto insurance costs and payout amounts based on the predominant racial makeup of such communities, and for other purposes.
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