#esg

Get Funky - ESG

1991

Lean, sharp, and addictive

I love this track’s hypnotic bassline, crisp percussion, and that groove — simple yet completely spellbinding.

ESG- Come Away With ESG (Dance-Punk, Funk Rock, Post-Punk) Released: September 23, 1983 [99 Records] Producer(s): Ed Bahlman

I'm doing decently in terms of having a retirement fund, emergency fund, etc - I've reached a comfortable place financially and going steady where I am now would be fine.

The thing is, I picked the default best option for my age bracket when I set up my 401k and I'm almost certain my money is being invested in weapons and fossil fuels, which is not cool. Do you know how I would green/deweaponize my portfolio? Is there an easier way than hand picking my investments? because I do not have that in me

Unfortunately, handpicking your investments is the best way to make sure that your portfolio completely aligns with your values.

There are things called ESG funds (that stands for environmental, social, and corporate governance) that supposedly rate companies for their ethics so you can opt in and trust them to only invest your money in companies with high ESG ratings. However, recent reporting has shown that ESG investing is, uh... pretty much a lie. For example, ExxonMobil is included in some ESG funds. And I don't know about you, but if I wanted my investments to help the environment, I wouldn't be investing in a fossil fuels company. So we don't recommend ESG funds. We view them the same way we do rainbow-washing or green-washing in the corporate world.

All that said: we have always recommended investing in index funds. They include everything, the entire stock market, no matter how good or bad a company is. For while there is value in divesting from unethical companies, when it comes to your personal investments we don't think the juice is worth the squeeze. This is controversial, I know, but we explained it on a podcast episode:

Season 4, Episode 1: “Index Funds Include Unethical Companies. Can I Still Invest in Them, or Does That Make Me a Monster?” 

Again, we respect anyone who chooses to fully divest from companies that don't match their ethical standards. But if that's your goal, you can't trust anyone else to choose those investments for you—you've got to do it all by hand.