>i bet this has been asked before (i remember a round of investment
>questions from joanna), but i cannot find (admittedly from a quick
>search) relevant info... what's the consensus on SRI (socially
>responsible investing)? while many of the funds do not seem to
>invest in the outright bad guys (haliburton, etc) there's nothing
>too radical about their top holdings. many of them, surprisingly,
>are doing quite well.
It's mostly a crock. The stuff that does some real good - community development credit unions, for example - pays very low returns. The big SRI stock funds include about half the S&P 500. They mainly use screens that eliminate "polluters" (as if the rest of the system could exist without oil, vehicles, etc.) tobacco, arms makers. When I looked a few years ago, Wal-Mart was among the top SRI holdings, though that's probably changed recently. Also among them were Microsoft and Intel (as if chipmakers weren't big environmental offenders). I usually say invest conventionally and do right with the rest of your life.
Doug