Can you invest for profit and your money to do good? We talk socially responsible investing

Aug 13, 2020, 08:59 AM

Can you make a profit and get your money to do some good? 

The stereotypical image of the stock market and investing isn’t one of caring about the world around you, it’s more characterised by a make money at all costs attitude.

But like many stereotypes that’s not accurate. 

Most personal investors are just ordinary people trying to grow their wealth over the long term – and like the population at large many of them care about the environment, people being treated well and business being done properly.

But while it has never been easier to be a DIY investor, how often do people really think about where their money is going and what it is doing?

Socially responsible investing is a concept that seeks to change that. Trying to get ordinary investors to engage with their investments and use them to improve the world, whether that is at a corporate, social or environmental level.

On this second This is Money investing special podcast, Simon Lambert is joined again by Rob Morgan, Charles Stanley Direct’s pensions and investment analyst, to explore the world of socially responsible investing.

They talk about what it means, where the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) buzzphrase has come from, how things have changed from the early days of ethical investing and what kind of investments people can make to improve the world we live in.