Do you want to know how to find a Chicago sustainable investing group? For many investors, where and how their money is invested matters just as much as how much they earn from their investments. They want to invest in groups that share the same values.
As the earth’s temperature and sea levels rise, the Earth’s longevity is jeopardized. Social justice issues abound, making life difficult for people just trying to make a living. It makes sense that you would want to do something to support counteracting these issues for a more sustainable world. In this article, you will learn about sustainable investing companies. You will learn how to find a Chicago sustainable investing group and how to choose the sustainable investing firm that is right for you.
Sustainable Investing Companies
Before you learn how to find a Chicago sustainable investing firm, you need to understand what investment firms are. Investing firms hold and manage capital for a variety of clients, both individuals and business entities. Sustainable investing companies are simply investment companies that focus on helping their clients manage investments into a socially responsible portfolio in their Roth IRAs, Traditional IRAs, and Investment accounts.
How to Sustainably Invest
When deciding where to invest your money, sustainable investing takes more into account than the bottom line. Learning how to find a Chicago Sustainable investing group begins by learning about the aspects of sustainable investing. Those who use sustainable investment companies look into the prospective investment’s contribution to society. For example, someone interested in sustainable investing might choose to invest in a company that pays their workers a living wage and offers proper working conditions over a company that might make more money but also has been proven to cause severe ecological damage. A sustainable investor looks at businesses as a whole rather than just at their profits.
Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG)
Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) insights can help you make informed, sustainable investing decisions. You should keep these in mind as you learn how to find a sustainable investing group.
Environmental refers to a company’s impact on the environment. This includes things like climate change, deforestation, endangered wildlife, natural resource protection, and more. Perhaps a company takes special care to reduce its emissions or pays a bit more to use sustainable energy. This company would be a sustainable investment. On the other hand, perhaps a company chooses to use a dwindling resource when they have other options or contribute to deforestation, or produces significant emissions with no sign of trying to reduce their environmental impact. This is a company that would not be a sustainable option.
Social refers to a company’s impact on various social issues. This includes things like child labor, gender equality, racial equality, fair pay, safe working conditions, and more. A business that takes care of its employees with more than fair pay and an emphasis on safety conditions would be a sustainable investment. A company that is known to discriminate against women and minorities, and use suppliers that use child labor would not be a sustainable investment.
Governance refers to how a company’s management works to drive positive change. Is their board of directors diverse both racially and gender-wise? How transparent are they? A company’s actions are more important than its words. A company may say they are environmentally friendly when in reality they are overstating its contribution and green-washing.
ESG can help guide you to the right investment opportunities. You can decide what is important to you within each of these insight categories and use that to choose your investments. There are two tactics you can use to narrow down your choices. You can either exclude investment opportunities based on the criteria you chose earlier or pick the investment opportunity that hits the most criteria.
If you want to create social change or combat climate change and other ecological issues while also earning a return on your investment, sustainable investing companies can help. Now that you know what sustainable investing companies are and what sustainable investing is, you are probably wondering how to find a Chicago sustainable investing group.
Chicago Sustainable Investing
In Chicago, there are many investing firms to choose from, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. When you are ready to learn how to find a Chicago sustainable investing group, be sure to screen potential groups. If you want to find the best Chicago sustainable investing group for you, there are some things to look out for.
Identify Your Investing Goals
What do you want to get out of your investing journey? Is your goal to only make money or do you also want to support companies that do good for the world? Considering your reading this article, chances are you care that your investments support companies doing good things for the world.
Research
Take some time to research multiple Chicago sustainable investing groups. Use search engines, talk to friends and family, and look through reviews. Find as much information as you can to compare different investing groups against each other. The more information you have, the more certain you can be that you can make the correct decision.
Ask Questions
When you find an investment company you would like to work with, prepare some questions. Ask about their experience. Ask what licenses they hold and if they are registered with the SEC or FINRA. Ask questions about how they will handle your portfolio and how much it will cost you. If you have any concerns, be sure to address them. The way the potential investment firm answers your questions will let you know if you want to work with them.
SRI in Chicago
SRI, or socially responsible investing, in Chicago does not need to be hard. Learning how to find a Chicago sustainable investing group is easy when you have a group like EGÉA SRI.
EGÉA SRI can help you understand sustainable investing and put you on the right track.
Our Chartered SRI Counselors™ can help you make a difference with your investment portfolio.
We create and manage sustainable investment portfolios. We can help you maximize your 401k, help with wealth planning, charitable giving, trust, and estate services, and much more. We understand the importance of investing in entities whose actions match your values. Profit and sustainability can go hand in hand when you invest with EGÉA SRI.
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 excludes 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.
