Items Tagged With Mutual Funds

A product of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, Amy Domini grew up with the flower-child ethos of goodwill. Personal ethics were important to her as a stockbroker, prompting her to write "Ethical Investing" in 1984, where she questioned why people would invest in corporations that undermined their individual goals. She soon began to see her investment style as part of a larger movement and herself as a leader within that movement, providing the disjointed socially responsible investing community with a sense of structure and solidarity. Together with her partners Peter Kinder and Steve Lydenberg , she formed the Domini 400 Social Index , comprised of 400 U.S. corporations selected for a range of social and environmental criteria, and the Domini Social Equity Fund , which tracks this index.

"When I started Domini Social Investments, I had no idea of how difficult it would be to operate in the mutual fund industry," Domini says, "This industry is highly regulated and our shareholders deserve nothing less than excellent service." The industry was also largely untapped and the future of socially responsible investing met with skepticism. "I am largely glad that I did not know then what I know now since I might have been afraid to try, and that would have been a terrible mistake."

I started compiling the list from funds that had 9% or higher returns over a 10 year period. I aim for this return myself whenever choosing a fund since the S&P 500 historically returns this amount and my retirement calculations are therefore based on it. Then I expanded my list to funds that returned 7% - 9% since there were so few in the first category. I also added other funds that sounded like they might have potential.

Some friends of The Panelist, a couple, took my suggestion and opened their IRAs.  They checked with their accountant and figured out what plan would be best for them. 

The big guys at Putnam Investments pay fines with the company's money.  The small guy who blew the whistle gets nothing for saving investors millions.