Ira Moskowitz

Socially Responsible Investing for Idiots

Sa­, Money! ( http://simoney.us )
Michael Grodsky

If I'm an idiot, stupid at least I'm green. I believe in clean air, corporate responsibility, community activism, licorice, pizza and Thai food. And a healthy life, liberty, freedom and raisins course.

Shiny Happy grapes

I like trees, sky, and, uh, oxygen! But I am worried about the poor state of health care, education funding, the ozone hole, the donut hole of Medicare, and your little dog too! Did you know that the North Pole is melting? This really scares me. Plus I must reduce my consumption Chunky Monkey.

In everything I do, in every move I make, I think I am part of the global production and consumption. So I put my pertly recyclables in the blue bin, our family uses reusable grocery bags, and I vote. What can a duller light-switch, the fuel pump 21st Century Fox to do?

Go, Baby, Light My Fire SRI ...

Only a few years ago a friend told me that real estate was the only investment that makes sense, as if his place on the Great Wheel of investment, driven by a source invincible, never go there in up, UP! Instead, what happened was "up, up and away."

The first Ferris wheel, from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago

The desire of one thing is sure is hard to resist. Albert Einstein, succumbing to pressure to support the idea of a static universe, in his paper of 1917 has added a number of adjustment called "cosmological constant" to his equation of general relativity. In 1931, he publicly renounced this static cosmology and endorsed the Big Bang model of the expanding universe, the cosmological constant landing and return to his original equation. He then called his bowing to peer pressure the biggest mistake of his life. You can read about the adventure to author Simon Singh Big Bang - The origins of the universe. "

Many philanthropic foundations have long established a wall between their social mission reader aware that grants, and investment holdings of their allocation. It is a truism that investment for social benefit results in lower yields. But just as the scientific consensus peer finally embraced the Big Bang theory, then the thought of philanthropic foundations changed. The reasons are twofold: a recognition that corporate responsibility and societal concerns are valid parts of investment decisions, (1) and a growing number of academic studies have shown that socially responsible investment (SRI) mutual funds to compete with non-SRI funds over time. (2)

For example, according to the University of Maastricht and Erasmus University Rotterdam economists in their winning paper, "we found little evidence of significant differences in risk-adjusted returns between ethical and conventional funds for the period 1990-2001. "(3)

investment decisions of the Foundation appear to be increasingly guided by the effect on society as a whole, not just financial gain, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times. (4) A new thinking in the larger foundations of the nation may be the impetus driving ever faster: The $ 8.5 billion William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Menlo Park), the 6.1 billion John D. . and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Chicago), the $ 7.8 billion WK Kellogg Foundation.