Recycling is a bigger part of our lives than ever these days. There is also a greater focus on environmental issues, such as an increase in the number of people switching to electric vehicles.
While these changes are good for the health of the planet, there’s one potential adjustment that could have even greater benefits – swapping our pension funds to a strategy that avoids investing in companies that harm the environment.
There are suggestions that moving a £100,000 pension fund that holds shares in fossil fuels such as oil and gas companies into those that seek to have a positive impact is as beneficial as taking a handful of cars off the road.
Adding to the attraction is the fact that most funds seeking to do the right thing do so by looking for companies that are ethical and supportive, but also have strong businesses. That’s a change from where we were in the past, when ethical investing was largely about avoiding those that did the most damage, such as oil companies, or had a negative image – gambling or tobacco stocks being good examples. That potentially reduced investment returns.
The growth in popularity of investing in this way has led to an increase in the number of funds available. This means that there are various ways of investing ethically. If you are seeking pensions advice in Shropshire or Chester, but you are unclear on the different types of ethical investing, we would be happy to help you consider your options.
