Socially Responsible Investing

[abluelady]

Does anyone have any experience with companies that do socially responsible investing? And if so, could I have your thoughts. Thank you.

[silverlib]

1. Mother Jone's

The magazine has ads for mutual funds that are supposedly socially responsible.

Be sure and check them out through a brokerage site first, as I actually invested in Parnassus Equity Fund through an ad and I do not find it THAT socially responsible. That was my fault though - I'm sure some of the ads in this magazine are more socially responsible than PRBLX.

Hopefully, you will get more informed responses than mine. I just can't stand it when posts just sit here too long. (must be a control issue - I'm working on it).

[abluelady]

2. Thanks

I have requested a prospectus from Domini Social Investments and PaxWorld. I hope to get a true picture that way.

[silverlib]

3. Please let me know...

As you can tell, I'm trying to do this, too.

Thanks!

[MsTryska]

4. may I suggest a site for doing your research on these funds?

www.morningstar.com



they've got soem really great info for researching funds against each other.


I have to say for myself, i haven't been too impressed with the socially conscious funds that i've researched. I prefer to invest in socially responsible companies individually, and then invest funds that focus on specific sectors, or use specific investing styles.

[abluelady]

5. Thanks

Will check out that site. I do have an IRA that needs to be put somewhere at this time, though.

[Sgent]

6. Pax World

is a fairly good mutual fund IMHO. I owned it based on its returns and safety profile for 6 months before I realized it was a socially consious fund.

One issue to watch out for is a lot of socially concious funds are heavy in technology.

[Stockholm]

7. Self-deleted double post n/t

[Stockholm]

8. Some International links to SRI Associations

I took the list from www.swesif.se, the Swedish SRI Association. One I am particularly impressed of, is the UK Association who do really good work - good luck.

ASIA
ASrIA
www.asria.org

AUSTRALIA
The Ethical Investment Association
www.eia.org.au

EUROPE
The European Sustainable and Responsible Investment Forum
www.eurosif.org

FRANCE
Forum pour l'Investissement Responsable
French SIF - Social Investment Forum
www.frenchsif.org

ITALY
Forum per la Finanza Sostenibile
Italian Forum for Sustainable Finance
www.finanzasostenibile.it

NETHERLANDS
Vereniging van Beleggers voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling
(VBDO)
Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development
www.vbdo.nl

UNITED KINGDOM
UK Social Investment Forum
www.uksif.org

GERMANIC SPEAKING COUNTRIES
Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Switzerland
Forum Nachhaltige Geldanlagen
German Sustainable Investment Forum
www.forum-ng.de

NORTH AMERICA
CANADA
The Social Investment Organization
www.socialinvestment.ca

USA
USA Investment Forum
www.socialinvest.org

[midnight armadillo]

9. I am looking at the same thing!

It's part of an effort to improve my cruddy 401k performance...if it doesn't get better returns, at least I'll sleep a little better at night ;-)

I found: www.socialfunds.com
It lists a whole bunch, including their performance:
http://www.socialfunds.com/funds/chart.cgi