WHAT IS ETHICAL INVESTING? Use Your Values to Make Financial Decisions
Do you want to start investing but are wary of funding large corporations with questionable ethics? Ethical investing is when people make investment decisions that align with their morals. When investing ethically, you support sustainable companies committed to widespread positive social change. Of course, “ethical” is subjective and means various things to different people. Ethical investors often research companies before investing to discover how the business impacts the world around them. These can concern human rights, environmental sustainability, and more. What is the difference between ethical and ESG investing?
However, ethical investing follows a more comprehensive approach and considers ethical matters that may not be discovered when assessing a company’s ESG standards. Some ethical concerns may include:
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Fossil fuel usage
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Human rights
Weapons production
Child labor violations
It’s entirely up to the investor to decide which causes they want to invest in or eliminate from their investment portfolio through the companies they research and choose. Do ethical investments have high returns? While not all investments can guarantee a high return, one 2019 study by Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing found the return on investments focused on ethical choices was not noticeably different from traditional investments. It doesn’t hurt to care! Ethical investors actively work to support moral values in businesses and encourage sustainable practices. As more and more investors choose to support these companies, other businesses are pressured to clean up their acts and work harder to make a difference. Our ethical values, applied to investment choices, can make a huge impact! No one needs to throw away their values to start investing.
Ethical investing is similar to ESG investing, which evaluates a company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. The difference? Ethical investing takes it a few steps further. For example, ESG investing looks at issues that can include: • Climate change • Waste management • Gender and racial discrimination • Employee safety • Accounting practices
‘When Machines Become Customers’ Gives a Glimpse Into the Near Future
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, and it’s not going away any time soon. And while no one can stop how soon it will enter the customer market, you can prepare for it. In the new book “When Machines Become Customers” by Mark Raskino and Don Scheibenreif, the inevitability of AI shoppers becomes apparent, but what does this actually look like? Raskino and Scheibenreif describe AI-enabled customers as technology that shops for us and will overtake the decision-making process when purchasing products or services. In this surprising book, the writers describe three phases regarding the evolution of machine customers. Currently, we’re at “base zero,” where tech can inform us when an inventory of a specific product is low. We can see early-AI customers in companies like Amazon, where Alexa can purchase an item or its Dash Smart Shelf can sense when an item needs to be replenished and reorders for you. So, what are phases one, two, and three? Phase one involves machines being able to purchase items for a customer, but only from a single manufacturer or product type. Some examples are printers that reorder ink when it senses levels are low or coffee machines that purchase more pods when stock runs out.
increased, and it will be able to shop for various products from a range of companies. Suddenly the work of choosing what products to buy is being moved from the customer to the machine. Machines will decide what items to purchase based on factual information alone, such as best value and healthier ingredients.
Finally, phase three involves the machine customer becoming
completely autonomous. The AI customer can predict the need for an item, replenish with the best product available, and complete the purchase with zero human interference. This new feature can benefit small-business owners by taking over the time-consuming task of calculating inventory, identifying customer preferences, and purchasing stock. While this may seem like a distant reality, it’s closer than you think. This shift in customer demographics requires an all-new approach to marketing and operations that you should be ready to tackle. Read more about how your business can better prepare for machine customers in this outstanding book.
Phase two expands when smart assistants become widespread and can make knowledgeable purchasing decisions. The machine’s intelligence has
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