when digging deeper into the topic of personal finance, there invariably comes the time when idealists get confronted with their values.
that time is when traditional advice to diversify and thereby mitigate risk (or in other words : invest in as many companies as possible) clashes with the adage of ‘put your money where your values are’.
until recently, that meant choosing between protecting your personal space (aka your financial future and that of your loved ones) and your public space (aka the society and the planet you live in and on).
not anymore!
alice ross illustrates in ‘investing to save the planet’ that it is not only possible to bridge this divide, but she also shows how to do it.
this book doesn’t provide enough information on its own for you to get started as an investor. it is, however, invaluable once you’ve covered this basic information (fi from other books on my reading lists) but aren’t quite sure just yet on how to align investing with who you are.
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other than the fact that i loved this book simply for existing and bringing together two topics that are dear to me, its overall message in my opinion was twofold:
- even with more options, sustainable investing still isn’t a black and white situation. there are many choices to make, none are perfect and all require a moral compass to navigate the gray areas of nuance until you find what is right for you.
- when you live on planet earth and have a life expectancy of more than 10 years, there is no way around this. this is THE major challenge of our time and our generation. ok, make that quite a few generations!