Vegan Investing - Pension plans, shares, index funds etc

[keith_hendrix]

I'm writing an article on this, in particular on my country's equivalent of the 401 K.

What is your approach?

[keith_hendrix]

As far as I can tell, I can't find any growth fund that doesn't have direct shares in animal agriculture.

Moreover, the cash and bond funds are just indirectly funding animal farming by re-investment.

I realise this is what banks do, but there's no real alternative to banks. There is an alternative to investment plans - just don't invest in animal agriculture!

[brimstoneSalad]

Great thread idea.
This is something I've been thinking about a bit lately.
As we get older and have to put our retirement savings somewhere, where should they go?

There is an alternative to investment plans - just don't invest in animal agriculture!

Yes, but it's a lot of work to create a diversified vegan portfolio. I'd love it if a credible company would do this and provide that option.

[keith_hendrix]

Great thread idea.
This is something I've been thinking about a bit lately.
As we get older and have to put our retirement savings somewhere, where should they go?


Yes, but it's a lot of work to create a diversified vegan portfolio. I'd love it if a credible company would do this and provide that option.

Thanks!

I think as a first step we could choose "nominally vegan" companies - e.g. companies not directly involved in agriculture, but aren't necessarily certified vegan.

E.g. A computer manufacturer mightn't use any animal products, but might have a cafeteria that sells pies to its employees or something.

Along those lines you'd have a lot of options to create a diversified portfolio.

[keith_hendrix]

I've almost finished my article.

It's been interesting reading the thoughts and suggestions of various financial planners from the non-vegan community. Most of them have been really supportive, if somewhat skeptical about the viability of the idea.

[brimstoneSalad]

It sounds great. Please link or post here when you're done, I can't wait to read it.

A computer manufacturer mightn't use any animal products, but might have a cafeteria that sells pies to its employees or something.

I can see that being pretty much unavoidable. Maybe it would be possible to filter out companies and make sure they at least have adequate vegan options (e.g. not just salad)? Doesn't seem like it would be a very difficult commitment to get from a company.

A bigger concern for me would be the companies that GIVE animal products to employees, through free food.

[KaleInvest]

I noticed the same issue when trying to invest my pension savings. I am trying to dolve it myself by launching Kale Invest, a plantbased investment firm open to the public to invest in.

I am trying to take it a strp further and invest in plantbased food chains, faux leather, alternatives to meat and dairy, etc. but I also have some solar energy and clean water stock.

[Margaret Hayek]

I noticed the same issue when trying to invest my pension savings. I am trying to dolve it myself by launching Kale Invest, a plantbased investment firm open to the public to invest in.

I am trying to take it a strp further and invest in plantbased food chains, faux leather, alternatives to meat and dairy, etc. but I also have some solar energy and clean water stock.

That's amazing; I'm so glad you're doing this! I'd be interested in this when you have it up and running


@brimstoneSalad Were we going to have a phil vegan wiki on vegan (and maybe other green) investing? Mod Vegan did some great stuff on it last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sLRHdxgGT8

I think I more recently asked her about trying to invest in firms like Hampton Creek, but apparently they haven't yet gone public.

Here's a link to a facebook page someone shared in the comments on that video: https://www.facebook.com/notes/humane-i ... 232791305/

Here's my exchange with mod vegan from that video:

Me:

I think it would help ENORMOUSLY if we compiled a list of mutual funds that don't include firms that participate in animal agriculture or testing on animals - analogous to the lists e.g. PETA keeps on firms that don't test on animals, vegan wines, etc. I think that most people don't have a ton of time to look into which funds don't contain such firms, so it would really help if someone could do this.

Also, yes, I think this content is great - and I think it would be awesome if you created more of it! I'm invested in broad index funds (with Fidelity) - 1 large cap stock fund, 1 large / medium cap stock fund, and one bond fund.

ModVegan

That's an interesting idea! I do think it's a little hard to weed out the different companies when they often have parent corporations that do engage in unethical practices, but it's worth a try!

HumaneInvesting

I encourage all vegans to ask their FAs to consider funds that are more ethical with respect to animals. Inestment products won't get better(supply) until we raise the bar with our own investment selection(demand). Thank you for this video, Margaret. https://www.facebook.com/notes/humane-i ... 32791305/

[brimstoneSalad]

@brimstoneSalad Were we going to have a phil vegan wiki on vegan (and maybe other green) investing? Mod Vegan did some great stuff on it last year:

That would be great. We'd just need to confirm that whatever services listed there are licensed etc. and not scams (that's a risk online).
If we have any confirmed options, it would be a good option to advertise on the forum banner too... haven't found any advertisers yet, although we're being very picky about it.

[carnap]

At least for retirement accounts in the US, one problem is that the invest options in most 401(k)s and similar vehicles have limited investment options so many people have no choice but to purchase general funds.

But if you can create a brokerage account for your retirement account then you can invest directly into businesses that don't deal with animal agriculture. Also the idea you should avoid government bonds because they may marginally support animal agriculture seems pretty silly, after all, you could say the same thing for taxes. But you could ways directly purchase corporate bonds of businesses that don't deal with animal agriculture but those bonds will be considerably higher risk.

Though personally I don't think investing based on social causes its a particularly good idea. I get the premise behind it but its very likely that you're going to reduce your net-worth by doing it. Alternatively you can just invest traditionally and give some of your gains to charities which is very likely to have a greater impact than where you direct your investments.