I was horrified by the contents of one of my Finnish mutual funds when I looked into it after years of disinterest. I’m especially disgusted by UnitedHealth Group Inc - the health insurance company whose mass murderer CEO got shot recently, sparking nationwide cheers.
As a passive investor, you’ll forget your money into the wrong hands when the bank won’t remind you of developments in the political situation.
Ålandsbanken promises:
“socially sustainable”
You may assume your bank is civilised, but you should have a closer look. I’m a customer of S-bank in Finland. In this case, the fund ended up under a different Finnish bank twice due to buyouts, and the management of the fund ended up in a Canadian bank branch in the UK.
My other bank didn’t recommend selling my Russian investment when Putin’s reign had started going overdue after his full term as a president. Luckily I was awake and sold everything.
Investments drift out of balance over time. Within mutual funds, there are limits, but the funds grow at different rates. You should re-balance your diversification once in a while to avoid excessive country risk.
I don’t know if fund managers are bribed to distort the balance within the fund’s limits for the benefit of a third party.
My fund is managed by that guy. I sold everything.
If you’re not putting your money into index funds you’re just fooling yourselves. You shouldn’t be paying any form of investor to pretend they can see into the future.
This also means you will be investing heavily in the US. But don’t make the mistake of believing your invested money makes any difference in the world when it comes to ethical responsibility. A company isn’t affected by whether a fund invests or does not invest in them.
Socially responsible funds are just for show because financial institutions have realised it’s something people will pay for. If you truly want to make the world a better place you reduce your monthly saving amount and donate the money to charities instead.