When it comes to sustainable investing, it can be hard to find it in your area. Many investing options in Chicago claim to be sustainable but do not define what this means for the average investor. This can make it difficult to know what options are the best and the most sustainable. That’s why partnering with EGEA SRI will help you to find the best sustainable investment options. We do the research and have the licensed staff to help you know what sustainable investing options will truly fit with what sustainability means to you.
Define Sustainability for Yourself
Sustainable investing can vary for each individual person. When looking at sustainable investment options, there are a number of options to look at. It can be difficult sometimes to align your values with the values of the companies you are looking to invest in. Do you care specifically about the environment, and making the world run on green energy? Your investments should support companies that will help you make money, but also will specifically help the environment or the cause of green energy. If you care deeply about women-owned businesses, your investments should help women-owned companies to succeed. Sustainability can depend on your definition, so defining your own interests and what you feel would be most important to support is the key to getting started.
Chartered SRI Counselors
At EGEA SRI, we set you up with one of our Chartered SRI Counselors™ to help you find sustainable investing in Chicago or whichever city you may be in. This can help you determine what parts of sustainability matter most to you. If you don’t have anything specific that you want to support, but still want to invest sustainably, you can do that as well. Choosing a company or index that corresponds with your risk tolerance but also aligns with your beliefs and values can make a positive social impact to our world when it comes to your Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, and Investment account.
Sustainable Investing in Chicago
Sustainable investing can be beneficial to your portfolio and local communities. If you care about Chicago specifically, you can make a difference close to home. Finding companies to invest in that are locally owned is a great way to help Chicago investing become more sustainable. Local investing is a great way to help grow businesses that you actually interact with as well. If you want to make positive social change in Chicago, investing in places you care about is the first step.
ESG Analysis
When trying to decide what you should invest in, it is good to know what a company’s ESG analysis might be. This means their environmental, social, and governance analysis. These three things together can help investors see what the companies care most about and what kind of social impact they have.
Environmental Analysis
An environmental analysis looks at a company’s contributions to things like climate change, pollution, waste, and damage to wildlife. Sustainable investing in Chicago could look at what a local company does with their waste products, and if they are damaging the area or contributing to local pollution with their production. If they import part or all of their products, do they use companies that avoid pollution and damaging the environment? If they purchase straws from a company that is known for polluting the environment, but they only cost one cent less than a more environmentally conscious option, they might not truly care about their environmental footprint.
Social Analysis
This part of an ESG analysis looks at a company’s impact on things like human rights, their political stance (if any), and their treatment of their employees and workers. In terms of local Chicago investments, perhaps they purchase fabric or raw materials from a company that uses sweatshops in another country to produce cheaper products. This is a violation of human rights, even if they aren’t directly participating in the sweatshop or injuring their own employees. However, there may not be many options for some smaller companies, so take that into consideration when looking at local investments.
Governance Analysis
Governance is a very important part of ESG analysis. This analyzes the way the company governs itself and its employees, and if they are ethical. Do they provide good benefits for their employees and pay them fairly? If they do not, why? In local companies, like in Chicago, investing in a company that pays the CEO millions each year but the workers make minimum wage, maybe isn’t the best option for you. It is also important to see if the company is diverse, if there are minorities and women being hired, and if their board makes ethical choices. These are often a bit more visible choices for an investor, but these things can also change. You may want to choose companies that have a long history of making good ethical decisions over ones that just recently started caring about these things.
Your Investments
Knowing what your investments support is essential. You can truly make a difference in the world through what you choose to invest in, and choosing sustainable investing in Chicago is a great place to begin. Contact us today to get started.
Disclosure:
A Roth IRA offers tax deferral on any earnings in the account. Qualified withdrawals of earnings from the account are tax-free. Withdrawals of earnings prior to age 59 ½ or prior to the account being opened for 5 years, whichever is later, may result in a 10% IRS penalty tax. Limitations and restrictions may apply.
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) / Environmental Social Governance (ESG) investing has certain risks based on the fact that the criteria exclude securities of certain issuers for non-financial reasons and, therefore, investors may forgo some market opportunities and the universe of investments available will be smaller.
This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal or investment advice. If you are seeking investment advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your own separate from this educational material.
