Wednesday, July 2, 2008

SRI's -- What The...???

Socially Responsible Investments. This is what I'm currently trying to puzzle my way through. It's about time we started saving for retirement, but I don't want to just randomly get some mutual fund that will give me a great return while funding the companies and practices that I'm currently trying to phase out of my life.

So I tried to do a little research today into funds that I could invest in. I thought it would be simple.

What was I thinking?

First of all, I have no idea how to read one of those investment charts that supposedly tell all about the funds' yearly returns. Is a minus sign before a decimal-point number good or bad? Is that the percentage of return earned or lost or something else entirely?

Honestly, I'm not even sure what other questions I need to ask. I can tell this is going to be one of those things that I plod my way through slowly, procrastinating and dreading each new step.

In short, I'm thrilled.

But it has to be done. We have to retire eventually, unless the world ends between now and age sixty-five. But I'm going to be optimistic and assume it won't. So that means I'm stuck delving into the scintillating world of percentages and ethics in big, money-making machines called investment companies.

Sigh.

I'll let you know how it goes. (Unless, of course, somebody out there reading this has already figured this all out. In that case: HELP!)

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