Investing • Page 70

One possibility for you is to look into ESG funds offered from companies like Vanguard and BlackRock. They list their funds' top holdings and exposure to different industries on their websites so that you don't invest in anything you don't want to. That's a good place to get started. Open an account type that's appropriate for you at a real brokerage (like Schwab) and make contributions. You can find helpful information on what type of account to open pretty easily online or if you talk to a rep at a brokerage.

 

My top choice is always going to be investing on your own, but it can be kinda overwhelming at first. When I started investing, I had 2 accounts: Schwab to test the waters with picking my own stocks, and Betterment for automated investing. With Betterment, you just put in however much money you want and they pick the stocks for you, according to the portfolio or goal you have. All their different portfolio options are here, and they have socially responsible options too.

FWIW, I still use both accounts.

 

What are the best ones in terms of fees? The state offers us a 403B through Voya but another teacher told me they just opened their own through Vanguard because it was cheaper fees

 

I have 125,000 shares of my employer's stock; cannot sell as there is no market for it atm.

However for tax purposes, best to hold for 5 years in my case, to qualify for QSBS tax deduction.

 

"luck" is not the word I use; I invest because it's the responsible thing for me to do to ensure financial stability for myself, my spouse, and my family in the long term. To that end, I only invest in index funds, referring to an investment policy statement I made at 27 when I had only tens of dollars to invest at the time. I stick to that statement, rebalancing among asset classes (categories of geographic and company size breakdowns of stock funds) according to my statement, which uses data since the 1920s to project risk/reward long-term expectations for growth.

Regarding what to invest in—at least surrounding what companies, and the ethics thereof—I also do not discriminate. After all, the goal of this money is to provide a ballast against inflation, and to generate livable income in retirement. The way I think of it, if I attempt to moralize and pick and choose companies vs buying ALL the companies, I then put myself in a position of outsized risk, all for the sake of virtue signaling. That risk is personally not worth it to me. No judgement for those who have the stomach to individually pick stocks or funds that avoid market segments; I just find that too risky.

Instead, I view it like this; I am growing my net worth in part with amoral companies, yes‚but if I was not, someone else would be as well. What matters is how I use that money later on; donating to anti-gun initiatives, or supporting local schools, replacing legacy gas vehicles with electric ones for my family—etc. So by putting my money towards good causes, I ensure that the profits of such evil corporations do not "die"/get spent in vain.

Perhaps that's the copium, but it's where I've landed.

 

I managed to sell mine through a platform called Hiive

 

fair enough - I appreciate the response and the details!