KimElliott.net

Like many young writers, I don’t have that much spare money. Well, not the pot-loads needed to get into investment funds. After a recent commission to write an editorial on ethical funds for a trade publication, I’ve got very interested in this subject even if I’m too poor to actually take part in the real thing.

For those who don’t have their noses in the financial papers, the basic issue is whether a company or individual should invest their money in an organisation where they are practically guaranteed* a good return but may have to turn a blind eye to what their money is being used for, or the alternative, which is to invest in an organisation that only uses that money for ‘ethical’ activities, but won’t bring as much dosh back in.

While researching this article, I discovered two things, firstly off the record most people who invest think that ethical funds aren’t worth the screen they’re displayed on and secondly, even if you want to, it’s almost impossible to keep your nose entirely clean.

Let’s say you’re interested in investing and you want to put your money in an organisation that doesn’t do anything too bad, like kill babies, fuel wars or run a sweatshop or two somewhere. Sounds pretty simple, right? Wrong. Even if your chosen organisation doesn’t directly get their hands dirty, there’s a pretty good chance that their sister company does. It would seem that investing is not for the faint of heart, soy bean cooking, Guardian reading kind of guy or girl. Not if you want to make money.

So what to do? If you don’t invest in Organisation X, someone else will. They’ll still have money floating around to let them continue whatever business it is you don’t agree with. So maybe you should take a slice of the pie? After all you don’t have to actually look at whatever bad thing it is they are paying for, do you?

This is exactly what one major charity is doing. They have openly said that they will invest wherever there is a fast buck to be made and then pile the money back into the good they do. Almost makes it sounds like they’re trying to restore peace to the world, doesn’t it?

Don’t be fooled so easily. We’re not talking about Robin Hood style tactics here, they are screwing people A to get money to people B. Whether people B are their own kids or starving AIDS orphans, that doesn’t even things out in my book.

What other options are there? Ignore the whole industry and not get involved? Only invest in the purest of the pure for a low return? I don’t know. Really I don’t.

All I can tell you is that I believe case by case, you have a choice. Like any financial decision, you can control where your money goes when it leaves your wallet.

If you’re interested in seeing the article, drop me a mail and I’ll send you the editorial, it’ll be published next month.

*nothing is guaranteed when it comes to investing.