Quick Wealth Network

Would you invest in Social Investing if given a chance? (Answer with why yes or no)?

If you were given the chance to invest in Social Investment would you do it? If not why would you choose another investment over Social investing? Who do you think Social Investing is good for? When should you invest in Social investing?

Public Comments

1. You ask for a YES or NO answer but ask 4 different questions? What do you want?
2. are you talking about socially responsible investments? if so i may or may not. it depends for me more on the financials of the company or investment as far as performance and value than what it touts. because if the company is socially responsible but their financials are horrible (high debt, low ROE, decreasing revenue...). and of course if they are socially responsible and have solid financials then it would be a good investment which i should do! its nice to think though your money is going for a good cause!
3. Bottom line - you should invest to make a profit - period. If you want to take that profit and help some causes, great. You would probably make more of an impact doing that.
4. Investing is using money to make money. Charity is using money to make the world a better place. These things ARE and SHOULD BE separate. If you combine investing and social causes, you get a crappy version of both. Thestreet.com has a few interesting columns by James Altucher about investing in vice and virtue. Guess what? Vice wins every time. Check out The Vice Fund - a mutual fund that invests in Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Gambling. It has out-performed the S&P 500 since inception, which is something socially conscious funds cannot claim to have done. Bottom line: If you want to make money, make money. If you want to give it away, give it away. Don't confuse the two.
5. I am not sure what you mean by social investing. I have been know to make investments in Kiva. Not a large investment, but it does go directly as a loan to people trying to improve their lot in less developed countries. If you do not know what Kiva is. Here is a link. www.kiva.org
6. I know that there are several mutual funds that practice "social investing" by avoiding certain industries such as tobacco, alcohol, military/weapons, gambling, and pornography. While these funds might sound like a good idea, I'm not interested in investing in them for several reasons: 1) These funds tend to be worse performing than more "mainstream" funds. As an investor, my main concern is to earn the best return I can for the amount of risk I'm willing to assume. 2) I'm not sure there's a fund that does "social investing" that truly reflects my views. For example, while I'm adamantly opposed to pornography and would never invest in it, I'm in favor of having a strong national defense and have no problem investing in companies that produce weapons systems. 3) Even if I were in agreement with the overall philosophy of a "social investing" mutual fund, there's a question of how "extreme" the fund may be expected to go. If it was prohibited in investing in alcohol-related stocks, would it be unable to invest in a popular restaurant chain because it served alcohol? What about conglomerates that do the bulk of their work in "acceptable" pursuits but who might have a small subsidiary or division that is involved in something that is deemed as being "questionable?" What about companies who produce "acceptable" goods but who get their main supplies from companies that use unfair labor practices? I guess the question is, if you decide to strive for "social investing," where do you stop? My view on the matter is, if I can invest in something with a clear conscience, I can use any monies from it to donate to causes that I'm passionate about.