just a quick post while i'm deliberately being late to class
first-
i got called out in class on wednesday for being a proponent of social investing. my portfolio management prof said that as a hedge fund, you get paid to make money. green investing or socially conscious investing may make you feel good- but it doesn't make enough money.
i've looked at returns for some green hedge funds and they've been relatively successful, even with the way the markets have been as of late. sure, they aren't making as much as some of the high profile funds, but when the dollar amounts get to a certain point i don't think that it makes a huge difference. so basically she said that we should throw out all of our convictions when it comes to investing- simply buy what will have the largest return.
i completely disagree. isn't there a point where the amount of money you're making becomes moot because of the state of the world that you're rich in? i can't imagine being happy with a billion dollars knowing that the companies that are making my returns enormous are also depleting my ozone. or are sustained by unfair trade. dlfkjghlkghs. maybe i'm just too concerned with things other than my own material wealth. according to donnell i definitely am.
anyway- i was pissed. still am. want to have a long conversation with someone about it.
in other news- you should listen to taken by trees ::www.takenbytrees.net::. she sings on young folks with peter bjorn & john. very unique voice, and the last song on the site is perfect.
sorry no linkage- campus computers are the shit. literally.
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2 comments:
only when the last tree has withered, the last fish caught, and the last river poisoned, will you realize that you can't eat indian proverbs. but no, i agree totally, your professor is probably just trying to instill the idea that as an investor its your job to make money at all costs, while you, as someone with a brain and a soul, wants to make money, just not at all costs.
well u know if someone is deciding to invest their money in a hedge fund, ur prof is assuming that they will pick the one with the biggest return, when actually in ur case, u would pick the one that gives u the highest utility (probably some combination of return+environmental impact).
So, from a standpoint of earning returns, green investing may be a bad idea. However, a hedge fund manager could, by green investing, get more money from investors that think there is a moral responsibility to investing. With that extra capital, a 15% return through green investing COULD actually amount to more cash than a 20% return without restriction.
ur professor just isn't a marketing prof :)
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