Dosh... Where's yours goin'...?

  As of 2007 the top ten ethical funds with a clear green and conscience driven agenda recorded in the United Kingdom are as follows - in the order of the best selling:

  1 Jupitor Ecology Fund

  2 F&C Stewardship Fund

  3 Aegon Ethical Equity Fund

  4 Aberdeen Ethical World Fund

  5 Aegon Ethical Corporate Bond Fund (...ooer two entries in the top ten)

  6 Standard Life Investments UK Etiical Fund

  7 F&C Stewardship Growth Fund (a second entry for F&C)

  8 Jupiter Environmental Income Fund (another from jupiter also..?)

  9 Old Mutual Ethical Fund

  10 Norwich Sustainable Future Corporate Bond Fund

  If you are by any chance a Vegan then the most suitable funds for you would be found at Rathbone Greenbank. If you do have any kind of pension or investment fund ask for the funds SRI policy (which is now law in the UK with other nations soon to follow) and make sure your not unknowingly funding the worlds problems.

  Here's an alternative (though very real) senario....

  You're sitting down to watch tv one day with your family or friends when up pops another one of those news reports on genocidal regimes slaughtering women and children with all too graphic pictures of starving refugees and children dying in makeshift hospital beds from malaria and cholera-or perhaps all missing their limbs from stepping on land mines or playing with grenades and cluster bombs....

  Now unless the frequency of such reports has either made you indifferent or you're a psycopath, you'll quite rightly feel disgusted and outraged, pick up the phone and give an urgently needed donation to the relevant emergency aid agency on the ground and hope that somehow your input can be used to make a real differance to the situation. How would you then feel if someone told you that it was your own money that paid for and financed the genocide in the first place?

  Or..if you consider yourself to be a man or woman of faith, vaguely religeous or even 'righteous' try this one... You've just done your 'three score and ten', your at the 'pearly gates', you've kept your head down, been a model citizen, were kind to your neighbours, worked hard, read your Sunday papers, invested in your childrens future -and other prudent bunking funds or shares,paid your taxes, obeyed the laws of your land and even gave to charity a few times etc..etc...in all, you think you've done OK and you're just waiting for the 'big cheese' to give you a big pat on the back and the 'all inclusive' eternal holiday voucher. But instead of the big hand shake you get the cold stare from eyes that have spent the last sixty years sobbing their heart out - instead of a 'well done ' you get a 'what have you done!' and a graphic rerun of all the natural habitats, millions of years in the making, that your blinkered lifestyle led to being destroyed and bulldozed in minutes, with endless close -ups of the distress caused by the genocides, wars,murders,armed robberies,drug dens,oppression and addiction you funded mixed with and all those pleading faces you didn't help. Somehow the five dollars, pounds or euros you gave to oxfam once doesn't quite seem to swing the argument your way, and ... once he gives you the 'whatever you did or didn't do to or for the least of these you did or didn't do to or for me' routine, it's leaving it a little late to realise the gravity that the actions- or inactions- that just one life can have on the welfare of the rest of the world....

  So whats all this got to do with the average Joe and his money you might well ask? Well if anyone has ever considered investing -even the tiniest sum - in any kind of banking fund, trust, share, pension (private or company) or an insurance policy then it could quite well have everything to do with it. The entire world of high street,national and international banking, insurance stocks, shares and pensions is founded on making and creating even more money ( as is the case with all buisnesses) - but people (especialy investment bankers) build all these funds by investing in projects which will safely gaurantee worthwhile profitable returns. And what are the main industries which all mainstream bankers have for generations considered the most profitable and consistently dipped their hands into...?

  Alcohol, weapons (from convential to nuclear), drugs and tobacco.

  So anyone who has ever had a bank account, insurance policy, pension, or investment fund will have to come to terms with the likleyhood that some, if not all of their investment has been used at some point to fund and profit from these industries.You may well be highly pro active in funding organisations that go to great legnths to heal the worlds ills - but how do you know wether or not your other hand is not actualy causing them?

  Well we can't fully or accurately comment on the intimate dealings of every high street bank or insurance provider-but it is now possible to find out which companies (especialy UK companies-with many lists now available for US,Canada,Australia,New Zealand and Japan) reliant on investment banking do so with a moral and 'ethical' standard (UK laws brought into effect for the turn of the millenium now require companies to declare their interests and 'ethical' status with similar laws now being requested by campaigners worldwide)

The last twenty years has seen a steady growth in the number of companies who will only invest in stocks or industries that are sustainable,ecologicaly 'green', and don't equip arms dealerships, psychotic military despots (or even democraticaly elected ones)with the means to kill or maim the children of their freinds or enemies. Yet for years so called 'green' investors had been seen as poor profit (or even certain loss) by the banking communities and were often laughed at- but recent years and events which include global warming,terrorism and a growing social awareness of world issues in 'western' and 'eastern nations'- have seen these industries start to out perform their main non green and moralless profiteering rivals. Long term informed campaigning by churches,synogogs,mosques,green and human rights charitees and inspirational public speakers such as Sir Bob Geldof have led to a significant change in the way many 'city' traders think on how to invest their money.Nowadays 'ethical' investing is not only a form of much needed common sense, but it also tends to pay out - big time.

  The best place to find these ecologicaly sound and humanitarian financial programs (- even a Vegan fund) is with the Ethical Investment Research Services or EIRIS, an independant UK charity based organisation and one of the pioneering forces behind conscience driven investing. So, if you've just finished a ' tour of duty' or you're about to leave the armed forces of your respective nation , graturity pay in hand, and you want to be sure your dosh isn't funding the blokes who were shooting you or those greedy tycoons whose factories resembled concentration death camps, then you can. Today when it comes to personal finance and clean, conscience free investing EIRIS has given people back the opportunity to put back their money exactly where their mouth is.

copyright 2007 The Ryan O'Riain 22

...Okay, maybe a few points in the main section were a little strong.. But if you've been suddenly shocked to find where your hard earned dosh has been ending up or know a place that can honestly tell you exactly where it does... so long as you don't start swearing at us you can have your own say on our new forum page or perhaps you could sponsor one of the child survivors of those recent genocides and famines by donating to World Vision.

  World Vision is an international charity commited to giving a childhood back to the children of impoverished nations by providing health care, clean water and teachers ,doctors nurses, training and education aimed at giving the poor and their children what they realy want ...An opportunity to provide for themselves without living off handouts.....

  Unlike many other charities, with World Vision you can actualy get to decide where and to which project your money will go. You can also buy arts and crafts that will give their creators a fairer wage.

  EIRIS has also now opened a new website aimed at helping small and major charitees in making the right decisions when it comes investing and creating their own SRI policy.

The new site is also a very handy tool for charities, investment bankers and members of the public to tell the difference between those who seem have a top notch investment policy - yet do nothing and those who are actualy practicing what their policies preach. The new site geared for giving expert help for charities is available via the link below...