Shareholder Activism in Current Economic Times

Posted by davilalu on October 15, 2008 | 3 Comments

Dear friends,
 
It has been a long time! Lately I have been doing a lot of work on moving assets to socially responsible investments and practices. I think this is a timely issue given the current uncertainty in the financial markets. University and foundation endowment managers have especially moved to strategies such as proxy voting, shareholder activism, and mission and program-related investments. There has been a significant movement to “green” mutual funds and pensions. The climate crisis has definitely played a role in all of this, but great investment opportunities in green tech industries also encouraged investors to put money in these sectors.
Lately, I have been looking for ways to become a more active shareholder, thus getting more involved with my investment portfolio. One of the things I did was to move certain funds to a retail brokerage account. I decided to use Scottrade.com as my broker, and thus far things have been going great. They even offer a referral program for new customers (you get 7 free trades – worth $7 each). My referral code is: VTXS2895. I encourage you think about getting into the market, and start advocating for strong regulation within corporations (especially banks) to avoid future meltdowns. If you do, don’t forget to use the code!!
Cheers,
Luis

Posted in corporate social responsibility |

3 responses to “Shareholder Activism in Current Economic Times”

  1. Ron Robins says:

    I like your thoughts concerning socially responsible investing.
    I believe that when we invest in a company, or many companies in the case of a mutual fund, we share in the responsibility for the activities of those companies as well as participate in the outcomes of their corporate activities. So, anyone valuing their personal or spiritual growth has to take these things into account when investing.
    Also, if everyone invests according to their personal values, then, since so many of our core values are alike — and are supportive of higher ideals — that in the long run, only companies employing these higher values will truly prosper. And there is real evidence of this now.
    I advocate, write and teach on the subject of personal values based investing — and have a website that has unique information which might interest you. It includes the latest global socially responsible investing news and research. My site is at http://www.investingforthesoul.com
    Best wishes, Ron Robins

  2. Luis says:

    Thank you for your comments Ron! I’ll check out your website.
    Best regards,
    Luis

  3. Amber says:

    Luis,
    Welcome to Scottrade! I invite you to join Scottrade’s Online Community (http://community.scottrade.com). The Community is designed for Scottrade customers to share ideas strategies, tips, spreadsheets and more. There are also blogs written by Scottrade platform managers and experts about features and updates. If you have any questions, feel free to call us at 1-800-619-SAVE (7283) and you will be routed to your local branch office.
    Regards,
    Amber
    Scottrade Public Relations

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