Blog — Sisters for Financial Independence

Mar 9

Mar 9 How To See If Your Investments Are Profiting From Wars

Conscious Consumer, Socially Conscious Series

Who profits from war? In most cases, the majority of us do. Public pension and retirement funds are often invested directly or indirectly in companies that manufacture weapons and provide military contracts. War is a very profitable industry. And profits pad our investments and our future.

If this does not sit well with you, there are a few steps you can take.

Get Educated About Your Investments

The first is to get educated about what your money is invested in. You can use a tool like https://weaponfreefunds.org/ which grades mutual funds and ETFs on their exposure to weapon manufacturers and military contractors.

Here's an example. VTSAX is one of the most popular index funds as it provides instant portfolio diversification with its exposure to ALL of the U.S. stocks. Unfortunately, this means VTSAX invests in companies like Honeywell, Raytheon, Boeing, and others that provide military equipment and/or contracts. It gets a D rating because of its high exposure.

VTSAX gets a D rating on weaponfreefunds.org for its exposure to military contractors and weapons.

Divest and Reinvest

The next step is to divest which is to sell stocks and funds that are not inline with your investment values and re-invest your money into companies that are good for the future.

Divestment is not easy and may not be possible especially if your money is tied to a pension or a large employer-sponsored retirement account.

If you are investing on your own, you can search for weapon-free funds that fit your investment goals.

Make Your Voice Heard

Lastly, if you can't readily make changes to your investments, speak out. Let your financial advisor, employer, pension managers, mutual fund managers, and government officials know that divesting from the war machine is important to you.

WorldBeyondWar.org has additional resources you can review.

AsYouSow.org has other tools to help you find investments that fit your values and your financial goals.

There's no such thing as a perfect investor and a perfect investment and we must be diligent about where our money is going to ensure we have enough for the future and that we have a future to look forward to.