As we know, where our money is invested it’s having an impact – either benefiting or harming people and the planet. If we’re fortunate enough to have a retirement plan, we also know it can be hard to know all the companies we “own” by investing in them and what their social and environmental impacts are.
Green America is pleased to partner with As You Sow to help you find out what you own in your retirement plan – and how to be an advocate for better investment options from your employer.
If you are employed at one of these large US companies:
You can get information on your employer’s 401(k) plan by simply selecting the company where you work.
You’ll find out the extent to which you are invested in fossil fuels, deforestation, weapons, for-profit prisons, and more.
Chances are you won’t like what you see – what then?
You can be a force for change!
These 5 Steps to a Sustainable Retirement Plan outline the steps for knowing what you own, working with the person in charge of selecting your investment plan options, and tips for reaching out to co-workers to build support for sustainable investment options.
If your employer is not one of these large US companies:
You can still find out how individual mutual funds in your retirement plan rate on key issues.
1. Identify the funds you own by logging in to your retirement plan portal.
2. Look up each fund for its investment rating on fossil fuels, gender equality, guns, military weapons, deforestation, prisons, and tobacco.
3. To find a fund’s rating across all seven of these issues, visit this website and scroll down to Search Mutual Funds & ETFs by Name or Ticker and type in the fund’s name for a full report.
More corporate employers will be added to this list over time by As You Sow – you can sign-up for updates.
Thank you for taking stock – and then changing your stocks as needed so that your investments match your values.
Let’s make our money work for the kind of world we really want – where all people have enough, where all communities are healthy and safe, and where the abundance of the Earth is preserved for all the generations to come.
