ETHICAL INVESTING: How to Build a Successful Portfolio. . . and Feel Good About It

by Amy L. & Peter D. Kinder Domini ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 6, 1984

More a breezy compendium of investment advice, strewn with lists of good/bad companies, than a solid approach to ethical investing. The guidelines appear chiefly in the first and last chapters, where the authors explain the three methods of ethical investing: avoiding investments that will support ""unethical"" activities;supporting companies that uphold your beliefs; and using your shareholder status to raise issues on company policy and business activity. ""Ethical,"" the authors recognize, is subject to individual interpretation; and they provide a matrix to help investors decide what issues or activities to support or avoid (with the reminder that some businesses may present conflicting goals). The balance of the book is a whirlwind guide to financial planning that starts off with the rudiments (the difference between equity and debt), touches all the usual bases (IRAs, tax shelters, insurance, tax planning), and returns home to focus on everyday money management. Ethical concerns resurface erratically: the money-management section appropriately discusses choosing banks by their loan policies and community ties, and gives sensible examples; the good/bad tables, on the other hand, appear higgledy-piggledy throughout. (On two facing pages are ""Selected Corporate Contributors in Favor of California's 1982 Gun Control Referendum,"" ""NAACP Fair Share List,"" and ""Some Asbestos Defendants."" ""The Ten Best Places for Blacks to Work"" is on p. 29, ""The Top 25 Black-Owned Businesses"" on p. 48.) A number of these lists, moreover--e.g., ""The Top Ten Sponsors of Profanity on TV""--are suspect themselves. Apart from the standard topics (which are better covered elsewhere): unselective information, not organized for practical use.

Pub Date: Dec. 6, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Addison-Wesley

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION