Doing well while doing good. That’s the goal and the cliché of socially responsible investing. Investing can help you reach major personal goals: retirement, college education for your children, charitable donations. Socially responsible investing allows you to take care of your finances while being true to your values.
It can encourage companies and governments to operate cleanly and ethically, and it can help improve the community where you live. It’s becoming popular because investing is one way to take action to make the world better. Done incorrectly, socially responsible investing is nothing but window dressing. It sometimes emphasizes feeling good over making money or making a difference in the world. That’s unfortunate.
Savvy socially responsible investors, which include major university endowments and pension funds, understand that socially responsible investing isn’t separate from good investing.
You don’t need to compromise your finances or your goals when you invest socially. Socially Responsible Investing for Dummies tells you what you need to know to invest better. I start out with facts on why and how social investing works.
I tell you how to do research so you can determine whether an investment is a good one for you in terms of financial potential and your personal needs. I explain how to use your investment clout to influence a company’s performance for the better.
I cover the different ways that investors define social responsibility to help you clarify your own goals. And I lay out the different types of investments that you can use to put your plan into action.
I also include some information on how to find brokers, financial planners, and mutual fund companies that can help you with your decisions. This book is designed to get you started.
You may want more information on different types of investments and investment techniques, or you may want to research a particular type of social investing in greater depth than I cover here. That’s fine. I have plenty of references in the book to help you figure out where to go next.
