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is there any way to invest ethically as a sole individual? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/33213155

I don't own much: My savings are around 50K$, money that now sits in the bank doing nothing.

I've been reading about what ETFs to invest into, but even those classified as climate friendly and social responsible include firms such as tesla, facebook, coca cola... not even close to being ethical.

Is there something akin to Michael Burry levels of ethical investment?

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[โ€“] 7 points 1 year ago* (4 children)

It bothers me to a minor extent to technically contribute to some of these companies.

Outside of large shareholders like how Musk owns Tesla and sells his stock to fund fascism, buying stock does nothing for companies, ethical or not.

If you buy shares of an ethical green company, none of that money goes to the company. You bought the shares from someone else. It's like buying a used book of Harry Potter. Absolutely no money goes to JK Rowling.

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  • [โ€“] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Absolutely not true, if everyone collectively decided not to buy these companies' stocks anymore the price would drop and they'd get into financing problems.

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  • [โ€“] 0 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Dude, that's not how it works at all!
    Stock price is a popularity contest that has virtually no basis on the finances of a company.

    See Tesla's crazy high price that has no basis on their current or future revenue. But if their stock dropped to 0, they would still be selling cars at a profit and wouldn't go out of business. It wouldn't change anything.

    Companies get money from stock at IPO and when they extremely rarely issue new shares. That's it. After IPO, you buying stock doesn't give any money to the company. You are buying it from someone else.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago

    Executives have compensation tied to stock price. If the stock price goes down because nobody wants to invest in a bad company, those executives have incentive to become change their ways.

    That compensation incentive is also why executives are so short term thinking nowadays.

    The stock market is part popularity contest but it's a lot more complicated than simple statements.

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  • [โ€“] 4 points 1 year ago

    That seems true. I don't normally think that deep about it since my investment strategy is hands off. I'm really just paying Vanguard and Fidelity to buy bits and pieces of their shares.

    I guess I just don't like Elon and his type having anyone's money and I don't like me being able to link myself to them even if it's a few steps removed.

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