(Prosperity - Brian S Glaser)
After searching high and low for a good financial planner and advisor, I found the perfect one on the pillow next to mine. My wife Eileen, a textile designer by day, uses her own quick wits to handle all fiscal matters big and small for our household. Pillow Talk is a close look at marriage, finance and communication.
Eileen and I don't argue all that often, which is kind of remarkable. But what's even more remarkable, I think, is that we pretty much never fight about money. As a couple - whether dating, engaged or married, we were and are regularly on the same page when it comes to money matters. As a matter of fact, in 1998 two researches at the University of Denver found that at every stage of marriage, people fought about money more than any other concern - more than about careers, in-laws, chores, communication, or children. Our lack of fiscal discord makes for a generally peaceful existence, just one of the many reasons I married Eileen.
Imagine my surprise when I found us, me and Eileen, in a heated argument at the weekend brunch table. Fighting about money.
What brought on the hostilities? A small thing (though ask Archduke Ferdinand if small things can lead to big guns being drawn). I'd asked if we were investing our money ethically, wondering if we had Big Oil, Big Tobacco or any other Big Bad Bears in our portfolio.
"You're being preachy and naive," she snapped. "Your 401(k) probably invests in all sorts of unsavory things." Eileen pointed out that even if you avoid the Big Bads fairly carefully, it would take more investigation than a Law & Order marathon to figure out if any of the companies you invested in did any sort of business with unsavory regimes or shady partners. "And anyway," she added, "funds that make money usually do so because they invest in some of the Big Bads."
Once the tempers died down, we were able to look at the ethical angle a little more rationally. While scrubbing our entire portfolio until it was pure as the driven snow seemed like an unlikely proposition, we did agree on a couple of things:
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We wouldn't directly/knowingly buy stock in any companies that we weren't comfortable with. This comfort level will be different for everyone, and lots of industries can cut more than one way (e.g., Major pharmaceutical companies do, in fact, make life-saving drugs, but you might not like how they price or market them).
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We would set aside some (but not all, or even most) of our money for ethical investing. For Eileen, this meant going back to her trusty ETFs. There are several so-called Ethical ETFs on the market (here's Eileen's favrotie source for info of ETF's - http://etf.stock-encyclopedia.com/category/ethical-etfs.html), and you can find out about them by asking an investment specialist at banks and brokerage houses.
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We (ok, Eileen) would start keeping tabs on the general performance of ethical investing instruments. Thus far, these sorts of funds have seen slow-to-moderate growth (especially when compared with Big Bad-heavy funds), but that just might mean that they have excellent growth opportunity. After all, someone's probably gonna figure out a stellar alternative to oil-based gasoline someday, and the people who are invested in that company stand to do pretty well.
It's no fun to fight with my wife, but at least this one was productive. There is no easy solution to striking the perfect balance of your moral standards and fiscal goals - even as our article on Socially Responsible Investing shows, ethical and green funds end up looking, occasionally, for those companies which do the least amount of damage, "best in class" as it were, rather than the most good - but there is something to be said for at least giving it a shot. If we divert just a small percentage of our investing budget to companies that have strong(er) ethical backbones, there's a good shot that we can end up doing good and doing well.
