How to Learn About Socially Responsible Investing

As a society, we are ever more aware that our natural resources are scarce. Our attitudes have changed and we are more ecologically and socially conscious. This awareness in our daily lives translates to our financial lives through investments in socially responsible companies. Socially responsible investing has become a progressively more popular strategy and does not take any more time to learn than traditional investment strategies.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• A computer with an internet connection
• Time
• Patience

1. Educate yourself. Learn about socially responsible companies and focus on the issues that are of the greatest importance to you.
2. Learn about different investment strategies and how socially responsible investing differs from them.
3. Compare the risk and return of other investment strategies against a socially responsible investment strategy.
4. Research corporations that operate in a socially responsible manner. Also be sure to learn about companies that do not operate in a socially responsible manner for comparison.
5. Conduct more in-depth research of socially responsible companies in which you are most interested.
6. Seek other opinions. There are numerous websites and message boards dedicated to socially responsible investing. This is a way for you to find out what others are saying on the subject.
7. Make a decision. Weigh the options and decide whether this is the best investment strategy for you.

Tips & Warnings

• Learn the basic investment lingo. This will help you process the information more quickly.
• Be specific about your issues. This will help narrow down your amount of research.
• Be specific about the companies you have chosen. There are many socially responsible corporations and being specific will decrease the amount of time spent researching.
• Gather only pertinent information. Too much financial information about a company will become overwhelming.
• Get a second opinion. Corporate websites are one sided. Seek out other unbiased opinions.
• Find evidence of social responsibility. Just because a company claims to be socially responsible does not mean it is.