A list of ways Americans can protect themselves from the financial harm inflicted by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ideology is being provided by a website warning of the little-known dangers of the ESG movement.
“ESG is a highly subjective political score infiltrating all walks of life forcing progressive policies on everyday Americans resulting in higher prices at the pump and at the store,” cautions State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) CEO Derek Kreifels, whose group sponsors the Our Money, Our Values website.
ESG isn’t just inflationary; it also suppresses retirement account growth, because investment managers choose investments based on political goals, rather than exclusively on profitability, OurMoneyOurValues.com explains:
“ESG stands for Environmental, Social, Governance and is used as an investment strategy to ‘encourage’ organizations to ‘act responsibly.’ ESG works by analyzing organizations across three criteria — their environmental footprint, their stance on social issues, and internal corporate governance.
“However, political activists use ESG as a way to drive a progressive agenda and ideological allies in the business community help push this agenda through economic coercion and ignoring democratic processes.”
“There’s nothing wrong with informed investors buying stock in companies that are aligned with their values,” the website says. “The issue with ESG is that the criteria are subjective, and they are defined by largely unknown persons who are not accountable to the public.”
The website provides concrete steps Americans can take to protect themselves from being harmed by ESG.
Become informed, the website advises, identifies “5 Questions To Ask Your Financial Advisor”:
- Have I invested in any funds that voted my shares in favor of racial equity audits?
- Have I invested in any funds that voted my shares in favor of emissions reduction plans or executive compensation tied to environmental and social goals?
- Have I invested in any funds that systematically underweight companies in any of the following sectors: coal, mining, oil and gas exploration, defense, or firearms?
- Do you use ESG factors in your external fund evaluation process, internal operations, or client portfolio optimization strategies?
- If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, can you please inform me of alternative investment options so that I may select funds and portfolios that best align with my own long-term financial interests?
In its “What You Can Do” section, the website has three recommendations:
“Demand the full financial analysis of any investment product including your 401k, pension, or retirement. If an investment advisor recommends an ESG investment over a non-ESG investment, request a full side-by-side analysis of the competing investments.
“Demand full disclosure of the fee structures that an investment advisor gets from an ESG investment versus a non-ESG investment. If the fees are different, the investor should demand a full side-by-side analysis of the competing investment, including the difference in fees.
“Demand investment advisors provide a comprehensive report detailing the metrics used by their advisors to determine if an investment meets ESG standards because ESG is subjective and varies from firm to firm.”
The Our Money, Our Values website notes that it is “sponsored by the State Financial Officers Foundation, whose mission is to drive fiscally sound public policy by partnering with key stakeholders and educating Americans on the role of responsible financial management in a free market economy.”
The PragerU video below explains the “Get Woke, Go Broke” axiom applied to ESG.