We want to help you manage your money ethically so you can make the financial choices that are important to you. Money impacts on many aspects of life, so whether it’s choosing a bank account, investing or arranging a mortgage, your decisions will probably have an ethical impact. Our job is to help make the right decisions for you both financially and in consideration of your own values.

The good news for you is that you can now find an ethical option for most of your financial needs, whether it’s ethical investment, an ethical bank account, ethical pension, ethical ISA, ethical Child Trust Fund or even an eco-mortgage; there’s an option for you.

At ethicalfutures, we offer a range advice from focussed advice on one issue (e.g. mortgages or pensions) to full financial planning for people who need a full review of their finances. More about this on the ‘How we work’ page.

We advise private clients and also trusts, charities and employers who want advice on employee benefits such as pension schemes.

So what is an ethical investment?

Ethical investment covers a wide range of investment assets from cash in savings accounts to complex investment plans. At ethicalfutures, we also widen the scope to take into account other financial plans such as mortgages, life assurance and bank accounts. Essentially, what we are concerned about is what companies do with your money and how they treat you as customers.

There’s no one definition of an ethical investment but there is a broad consensus amongst money managers about the key criteria to assess. Because approaches vary, we’ll help you decide what sort of arrangements might suit your financial needs and ethical concerns.

Investment approaches

Investment decisions are based on regular, independent research about businesses, their ownership, policies and activities, as well as their financial performance. There are three main approaches used by investment managers when assessing companies for an ethical investment:

1. Just Say No - Negative screening; this means avoiding the businesses that we don't want to have our money. This could include arms manufacturers, tobacco companies and polluters. Involvement in designated business activities will exclude a company from inclusion in an investment fund.

2. Reasons to be cheerful - Positive screening finds good reasons to invest. There are businesses out there that do some good in the world, such creating renewable energy, helping to look after our health, adopting sustainable environmental principles or just being exemplary employers. Companies meeting any of a range of positive criteria might be selected for investment.

3. Engagement - simply talking to business - it’s a simple idea. As an investor, you own a bit of the business - so why not engage with the board of management to lobby for an improvement in standards? Fund managers give regular feedback on what they talk about. And if companies renege, then the fund manager might well dis-invest.

Some companies adopt just one approach whilst others use a combination of all three. When we advise you, we’ll discuss the ethical issues with you and agree on an investment and ethical style that meets your needs.