This is Jemma. Jemma’s in shock. Jemma has just discovered that her superannuation is invested in some of the companies she criticises on social media. The energy company reluctant to phase out coal. The foreign agriculture company diverting river water for their crops.
Jemma had never considered what her fund invests in. As long as she was getting decent interest, she was happy.
A conversation with friends ignited her interest in investigating what she was supporting with her investments.
Jemma’s not alone in wanting to be sure that her investments are in businesses looking after the environment and people. Ethical investing is on the rise. Last year, The Economist commissioned UBS to research this rise.
Of 450 fund managers surveyed around the world, 75% said that the pandemic has increased interest in ESG assets. A rising number of investors plan to include ESG factors in future investments.
The managers expect the flow of money into ESG assets to increase in the next few years. (It’s growing over 10% p.a. right now.)
The same number of managers said that ESG-focused investments outperformed traditional investments in the previous 3 years.
So, how do you know if your investments are ethical?
You could research what your fund invests in. This isn’t so easy. And it’s time-consuming.
You could ask your wealth manager to check. That’s a bit easier. There are businesses like Refinitiv that provide the finance industry with ESG data and scores for thousands of asset classes.
You could move your investment into an ethical fund. As the UBS research shows, this is increasingly popular.
Or – and this is something that’s surprisingly easy – you can invest directly.
Okay, it wasn’t so easy before we launched the IIF app. Now it’s a series of simple steps.
Download the Invest Inya Farmer app.
Register.
Search current investment offers.
Invest.
Earn interest.
Repeat.
Search, invest, earn interest.
Best of all, perhaps, you can meet the farmers you’re investing in. You can learn about their regenerative farming practices, their backgrounds and their passions for pioneering new crops and for innovation.
You can see exactly where your beehives are located, where your oysters are growing, and where your ginger is planted.
The only way to get closer to your investment is to go onto the farm.
IIF is designed to totally align your investments with your values.
IIF puts a farm in your pocket and ethical investing is in your hands.
Photo by Milan Surbatovic on Unsplash