We'd like to think where and how we spend our money and invest makes a difference.
It could be argued that every dollar spent represents a vote. Don't like that Amazon doesn't pay taxes - quit your Prime. (Yes, you.)
Or is it - for better or worse - a tad more complex?
Let's face it, your lone act of quitting Prime probably won't affect Amazon's internal tax policies an iota. It would likely take a big organized movement to change Amazon's - legal yet unethical - tax evasion situation.
In the investment arena, making an impact is also complex.
There's a lot of hype about impact investing. Does not buying a particular stock really affect a company's behavior? The data is mixed.
ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) index funds top holdings include Toyota, Nestle and HSBC. What even makes these companies especially socially responsible?
Yet in some circumstances we are huge fans of socially responsible and impact investing. Finding the investments that genuinely make the world a better place and have better-than-average return is not easy.
It's just the right thing to do.
Monthly Update, February 2019 The S&P 500 was up 3.21% even as the Dow Jones added 4.03%, the Russell 2000 increased 5.19% and the Nasdaq added 3.60%.
As for US bonds, they lost -11bps.
Globally, the MSCI World Index added 3.07% and the Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index decreased -58bps.
The Euro Stoxx 50 added 4.42% in local-currency (Euro) and 3.80% in USD. Meanwhile, the Topix was up 2.60% in local-currency (Yen) and 28bps in USD.
