Published February, 2022.

It could well be your university or your pension fund.

The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, just transferred from one place to another. The same seems to apply to the energy industry itself. …

Published March, 2022.

When the pandemic hit in 2020 and shut down schools, Samantha Goodman decided there was no way to work and care for her son, now 6. So for two years she gave up on having a job or saving for retirement.

Now the Chicago mother is among a wave …

Published January, 2022.

When stocks tumble, there are simple steps you can to take to come out ahead before they bounce back.

Market declines like those of the past few weeks can be scary, painful events. But they also present opportunities for tax-loss harvesting …

Published December, 2021

Here are some things financial advisers suggest avoiding in 2022

By Veronica Dagher, Dec. 28, 2021 11:34 am ET

When it comes to your money, sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do.

Financial to-do lists abound at this time of year, …

Published November, 2021

With open enrollment for workplace benefits in full swing for many clients, some financial advisors are encouraging the use of health savings accounts, or HSAs, as part of an overall financial plan.

HSAs were created in 2003, but they …

Published August, 2021

Information gathered from the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)

Droughts greatly affect energy systems. as water and energy are very dependent on one another. All energy systems, including electricity, need water in their …

Published October, 2021

You may be reluctant to do it now because of the tax hit upfront. But that may be short-term thinking.

Most people for whom Roth IRA conversions make sense typically should start making them as early as their 40s and 50s.

Reader Question: My …

A stunningly beautiful film narrated by Frances McDormand, REBELS WITH A CAUSE spotlights a battle over land that changed the American landscape forever.

“We drew up a petition which said only this: Dear Mr President, only you can preserve this magnificent …

Published September, 2021

Few 401(k) plans have an ESG investing option. We asked advocates on each side to make their best case for why that should—or shouldn’t—change.

Just 2.6% of 401(k) plans had an ESG option as of the 2019 plan year, according to the Plan …

Published September, 2021

Some 40 million Americans have put at least part of their retirement money in these funds. And yet many investors are still in the dark about them.

Some 40 million Americans have put at least part of their retirement money in these funds. …

Published July, 2021

The term “responsible investor” has a dual meaning. It means a person who invests their money in companies and organizations that have “do good” practices and have a decent or high ESG score. An investor that utilizes the Socially Responsible …

Published July, 2021

More than 2 billion of tons of food goes uneaten around the world, almost double than previously thought, according to a new report.

By Agnieszka de Sousa, Published July 20, 2021

According to research done by the World Wildfire Fund, …

Published June, 2021

A win for the ESG movement as two directors, who are displeased with the company’s polices on the climate, were elected by shareholders at Exxon Mobil. The environmental “wokeness” that large corporations display are more often than not viewed …

Published May, 2021

People know that fossil fuels are hurtful to the environment, but do they know that single-use plastics, the most common type of plastic to be thrown away, are made almost exclusively from them? More often than not, these plastics end their …

Published April, 2021

Ask Encore: Answering a reader’s question on navigating rules for required minimum distributions

Saving for retirement can be daunting for many, especially since most Americans struggle to navigate the uncertainty of being on track. In fact, …

Published May, 2021

How can you make sure your retirement nest egg is green? Not easily.

Far stricter laws govern American pension fund administrators than laws for retail investing. Last November, the Department of Labor issued a notice that further constricts …

Published March, 2021

EVs produce fewer emissions overall than their gas-powered counterparts, but there are caveats

Carmakers, including General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG, are retooling their companies to make electric vehicles on the premise that their …

Published March, 2021

Shares are very expensive, but so are bonds. Even at current prices, the economist Robert J. Shiller says, it is reasonable to keep some wealth in stocks.

The stock market is already quite expensive. That is evident when you compare current …

Published January, 2021

Bill Gates: Here’s a Formula That Explains Where We Need to Invest in Climate Innovation

I came to focus on climate change indirectly—through the problem of energy poverty. In the early 2000s, I learned that about a billion people didn’t …

Published December, 2020

You’ve likely heard of “voting with your dollars,” or using your money to make purchases at businesses you believe in. But choosing your local bookstore over Amazon isn’t the only way you can make an impact. There are strategies, such as …

Published October, 2020

This month, UBS made a groundbreaking move, announcing that it would recommend sustainable investing over traditional investing to clients around the world. The big Swiss bank would even recommend it to retirement plan clients—a move that …

Published September, 2020

With the Federal Reserve keeping rates low, home buyers are benefiting. But savers? Their average interest rate is just 0.05 percent.

Historically low interest rates are a boon for home buyers.

But for savers? Not so much.

Low rates for …

Published September 2020

Some women who have let their husbands deal with fiscal matters now recognize that they can no longer bury their heads in the sand.

Before the coronavirus, Tara Beier and her husband, Dennis, rarely discussed money. They kept separate bank …

Published August, 2020

Here are some steps you can take to analyze your exposure to gun manufacturers.

In the aftermath of the Parkland mass shooting last year, many investors expressed concern about owning gun manufacturers in their mutual fund holdings, which led …

Published July, 2020

By Betsy Simmons Hannibal, Attorney on nolo.com

A revocable living trust is a popular estate planning tool that you can use to determine who will get your property when you die. Most living trusts are “revocable” because you can change them as …

Published July, 2020

By Paul Sullivan

Different strategies for socially responsible investing are working toward a similar goal: to pressure companies and municipalities to operate more equitably.

Socially responsible investing has been putting billions of dollars …

Posted June, 2020

A ONE-OF-A-KIND CONTINUING STUDY SHOWS THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE LIVING ON THE EDGE

Millions of Americans were struggling financially, even before the Covid-19 crisis. The U.S. Financial Health Pulse shows that only 29 percent of Americans were …

Published June, 2020

This is an excerpt from the Pivot podcast, where Kara Swisher and NYU Prof. Scott Galloway interviewed Suze Orman and discussed the personal financial crisis looming for many Americans, the future of the U.S. Economy and why there is no reason …

Published May, 2020

By Al Root

In an ideal world, all stocks go up together and everyone is happy. The current Covid-19 environment, however, is far from ideal. Market breadth is lousy. Investors need to think about the implications of “narrow breadth” and what it …

Published May, 2020

• MSCI Limited makes public ESG metrics for all of its EU regulated equity and blended indexes.

• MSCI ESG Research LLC makes public ESG metrics for 36,000 mutual funds
and ETFs

NEW YORK, May 20, 2020 – MSCI today announced that it has made public …

Published April, 2020

By Gunjan Banerji

Growth investing hasn’t cooled even as big price swings have rattled U.S. stock markets

Investing in companies promising high growth in the future has become a profitable way to play rising and falling markets alike.

Investors …

Published March, 2020

By Kristin Broughton

Investors are asking more questions about employee benefits, supply-chain management and other environmental, social and governance priorities, analysts say.

—————–

The recent volatility in financial markets due to the …

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Published March, 2020

By Bourree Lam,

Action could have effects on rates for mortgages, credit cards, student loans

On Sunday, the Federal Reserve cut its short-term benchmark rate by 1 percentage point to near zero ahead of its scheduled March meeting to fight the …

Published March, 2020

By Gunjan Banerji

The market is dominated by computer-driven investors that rely on signals such as volatility and momentum

Traders like Michael Pomada help explain why the stock market is going through its most turbulent period in recent …

Published March, 2020

By Dieter Holger And Sabela Ojea

Despite feeling strongly about the environment and other causes, most millennials have never heard of, or don’t fully understand, ESG investing

Millennials may be more passionate about environmental and …

Published February, 2020

By Leslie P. Norton

America’s corporations are getting more sustainable, and investors are benefiting, along with the planet and the rest of its inhabitants. The third annual Barron’s ranking of America’s Most Sustainable Companies also …

In a new survey, executives and investment professionals largely agree that environmental, social, and governance programs create short- and long-term value—though perceptions of how have changed over the past decade.

Pressure on companies to pay attention to …

Published February, 2020

So you want your investment holdings to reflect your values and you’re confused by all the so-called E.S.G. funds. Here’s how to start.

When the Justice Department announced this week that it was charging several members of the Chinese Army …

Published February, 2020

a total of 154 companies have signed the American Business Act on Climate Pledge to demonstrate their support for action on climate change and the conclusion of a climate change agreement in Paris that takes a strong step forward toward a …

Published January, 2020

The climate conversation is getting louder. With kids taking center stage with a climate strike, standing up against inaction of the adults, how can we engage in this global conversation?

Women are in a unique position to be a force for …

Published January, 2020

By Mathieu Benhamou

Nine of the biggest ESG mutual funds in the U.S. outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index last year, and seven of them beat their market benchmarks over the past five years.

The $878 million Ave Maria Growth Fund was …

Published January, 2020

By Ariella Simke

Overwhelming research shows that cutting back on red meat and increasing our intake of high-quality seafood is beneficial to our health. Fish is high in Omega-3 fatty acids which are essential fats, meaning the body cannot …

Published January, 2020

By Dan Weil

While many retirees have considered purchasing a vacation home to escape cold winters, to rent out for income, or simply have a gathering place for far-flung family members, there are a number of financial matters to consider …

Published January, 2020

By Ron Lieber

Your colleagues choose the investments. Be polite. Respect their duty to act in your best interest. Bring friends. And keep trying.

If you want to make a big difference in the world using your hard-earned money, you don’t have …

Published December, 2019

By Ben Eisen

Many U.S. homeowners who need cash are taking it out of their properties. The trade-off: higher interest rates.

Over the past two years, a big chunk of homeowners took on higher interest rates when they refinanced to tap their …

Published December, 2019

By Anne Tergesen

Groups representing municipal employees and teachers are often paid to endorse investment products

The pitch from the president of the Indian River County teachers union couldn’t have been clearer.

Liz Cannon, who heads the …

Published December, 2019

By Khadeeja Safdar

Dumpster divers say it’s easy to list discarded toys, electronics and books on the retailer’s platform. So we decided to try.

Just about anyone can open a store on Amazon.com and sell just about anything. Just ask the …

Published December, 2019

By Shawn Langlois

Clearly, the country’s in the midst of a savings crisis as families struggle to cover rising home costs, hefty student-loan debt and everything in between. And it seems it’s only getting worse, unless you’re at the top of …

Published November, 2019

By Tara Siegel Bernard

A price war has driven the cost of some stock trades to zero. But brokerages have to make money somehow, and here are some of the ways.

Investing is cheaper than ever. Trading is free, some index funds may as well be, …

Published November, 2019

By Felice Maranz

– All-male teams run 409 out of 528 large-cap mutual funds
– Women get similar returns compared to their male peers

Portfolio management remains largely a band of brothers, new research by Goldman Sachs finds.

An analysis of …

Published October, 2019

BY CHERYL KATZ

Plastics travel on ocean currents and through the air to the far north and accumulate—sometimes inside the animals that live there.

GREENLAND SEA, ABOARD THE KRONPRINS HAAKONOn an ice floe in the Greenland Sea, high above the …

Published October, 2019

Transportation is the largest source of planet-warming greenhouse gases in the United States today and the bulk of those emissions come from driving in our cities and suburbs.

Even as the United States has reduced carbon dioxide emissions …

Published September, 2019

By David McCabe

WASHINGTON — Amazon committed on Thursday to meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement 10 years ahead of schedule and be carbon neutral by 2040, in the company’s most ambitious push yet to combat climate change.

Jeff …

Published September, 2019

By JUSTIN GILLIS

We know. Global warming is daunting. So here’s a place to start: 17 often-asked questions with some straightforward answers.

See the interactive illustration here

Published September, 2019

By Katie Reilly

‘I Work 3 Jobs And Donate Blood Plasma to Pay the Bills.’ This Is What It’s Like to Be a Teacher in America

Hope Brown can make $60 donating plasma from her blood cells twice in one week, and a little more if she sells some …

Published September, 2019

By Leslie P. Norton

As Hurricane Florence made landfall and followed a path projected to move across the Carolinas on Friday, advocates of sustainable investing sought to draw renewed attention to climate change and the benefits of …

Published August, 2019

By ROBINSON MEYER

A few years ago, Mark Carney, a former Goldman Sachs director who now leads the Bank of England, sounded a warning. Global warming, he said, could send the world economy spiraling into another 2008-like crisis. He called …

Published September, 2019

By Samantha Yadron

Plummeting populations in a huge Alaska wildlife refuge might be caused by climate change and plastics.

Clam Lagoon, a body of water on the northernmost peninsula of Adak Island, Alaska, was meant to be a wildlife …

Published August, 2019

By Marshall Geck in Washington DC, Manager, Climate Action 100+, the PRI

There is no shortage of headlines about how the preferences of millennials are altering the global economy in everything from big department stores to avocado toast. …

Published August, 2019

By Somini Sengupta and Weiyi Cai

BANGALORE, India — Countries that are home to one-fourth of Earth’s population face an increasingly urgent risk: The prospect of running out of water.

From India to Iran to Botswana, 17 countries around the …

Published July, 2019

By Mark Hulbert

Perhaps the most important key to the long-term success of your stock market strategy is whether you will stick with it through a bear market. That’s because you can have the theoretically best strategy on the planet and still …

Published July, 2019

A single clothes wash can release up to 700,000 microplastic fibres, many of which end up in the ocean. Now some pioneering fashion brands are putting the materials they use under the microscope. Half of all clothes are thrown away within the …

Published July, 2019

By Al Root

The S&P 500 rose more than 17% in the first half of 2019. That’s not just a good first-half return, it’s a great annual return. The average annual return for the S&P 500 for the last 87 years, excluding dividends, is about 8%.

Going …

Published June, 2019

By Vanessa Dezem

There are greener ways to make it⁠, but customers are slow to embrace the change.

The most astonishing thing about cement is how much air pollution it produces.

Manufacturing the stone-like building material is responsible for …

Published May, 2019

By Janet Adamy

American millennials are approaching middle age in worse financial shape than every living generation ahead of them, lagging behind baby boomers and Generation X despite a decade of economic growth and falling unemployment. New …

Published April, 2019

By Julia Moskin, Brad Plumer, Rebecca Lieberman and Eden Weingart

Does what I eat have an effect on climate change?

Yes. The world’s food system is responsible for about one-quarter of the planet-warming greenhouse gases that humans generate …

Published April, 2019

On Earth Day, we reminded ourselves the natural beauty of Earth through the lens of the new Netflix’s documentary Our Planet.

The project, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, took four years to complete, with more than 600 crew members filming …

Published April, 2019

By Jack Hough

The U.S. stock market is approaching an all-time high. Relative to earnings, it is pricier than average. And in the next few weeks, we’ll learn whether first-quarter earnings have merely stalled versus a year ago, or gone into …

Published April, 2019

BY STEPHEN LEAHY

New science says land conservation must double by 2030 to prevent dangerous warming and unravelling of ecosystems.

WORLD LEADERS MUST increase their commitments to conserving land and water, and quickly, if a stable climate …

Published Aril, 2019

By Reshma Kapadia

The average couple needs $285,000 to fund health-care retirement costs—and that is before factoring in long-term care, dental or the premiums paid for Medicare for higher-income couples. For some perspective, the average …

Published March, 2019

By Leon LaBrecque

There’s a lot of chatter about the inversion of the yield curve and how it’s an indicator of an impending recession. To better understand, let’s take a look at both the history, and the current situation.

Remember that a …

Published March, 2019

By Reshma Kapadia

Anyone who has ever spent a frustrating few hours clothes shopping knows that one size doesn’t fit all. When it comes to retirement, many women, in particular, need a custom fit.

Women have long been at a disadvantage in …

Published February, 2019

By Michael Holder

The retirement savings of hundreds of thousands of workers could be “highly exposed” to climate-related risks, with some of the United Kingdom’s biggest company pension schemes sticking with investment strategies that …

Published January, 2019

Antonio Zappulla, CEO Designate, Thomson Reuters Foundation

We live in turbulent times. Poverty, inequality, youth unemployment and climate change are among the challenges we are facing.

In business, CEOs have gone from being symbols of …

Published January, 2019

Portfolios that integrate environmental, social and governance factors are likely to perform as well or better than non-ESG investments, say 90% of institutional investors.

The third global survey of 542 assets owners and investment …

What is a 529 plan?

A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan designed to encourage saving for future education costs. 529 plans, legally known as “qualified tuition plans,” are sponsored by states, state agencies, or educational institutions and are authorized …

Published January 14, 2019

Julie Cattiau, Google AI Product Manager

Like us, whales sing. But unlike us, their songs can travel hundreds of miles underwater. Those songs potentially help them find a partner, communicate and migrate around the world. But what if we …

The Great Recession of 2007-2009 and the bear market that attended it caused great damage to most parts of the U.S. and world economy, and to pension funds, defined contribution plans, endowments and foundations.

While a number of economic commentators warned that …

In the midst of awful news on migrant children as young as 3 year-old being separated from their parents and caged in facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border, our hearts ache.

What separation from parents does to children: ‘The effect is catastrophic’ – Washington …

Published December, 2018

By Mark Hulbert

The last couple of weeks of the year are when stock investors would be wise to consider strategies for reducing the tax bill that would otherwise be due on any capital gains realized since Jan. 1.

The most obvious is to …

Published November, 2018

By Lauren E. Oakes

A new book reports from the frontlines of a world in transition, and explores our ability to cope.

The species is Callitropsis nootkatensis. Some people call it the Alaska cedar. Others call it the yellow cypress, or the …

Published November, 2018

By Sarah Gibbens

Shoppers will spend more in the post-Thanksgiving rush than any other time of the year.

Late November is the season of stuffing: we stuff our turkeys with breading, our bellies with turkey, and our homes with holiday gifts. …

Published October, 2018

Because of over-fishing and pollution, wild oyster reefs have been declared ‘the most severely impacted marine habitat on Earth’ and no longer play a role in their ecosystems. Scientists, government officials, artists and high school …

Published October, 2018

Four Twenty Seven & GeoPhy Release First Global Dataset on Real Estate Investment Trusts’ Exposure to Climate Change

Four Twenty Seven applied its scoring model of asset-level climate risk exposure to GeoPhy’s database of listed real estate …

Published September, 2018

Excerpts below; read the article here

Methodology of the Major Index Funds

Buying an index fund is in a way outsourcing your thinking to someone else. In the case of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, it is the editorial board of The Wall …

Published September, 2018

Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, Forbes Contributor

40 states do not have enough money to pay all of their bills, according to quantitative analysis in Financial State of the States, the ninth annual report published this evening by Truth in …

Published September 2018

By Abha Bhattarai

Levi Strauss CEO takes a side on gun control: ‘It’s inevitable that we’re going to alienate some consumers’

Levi Strauss & Co. is taking a stand against gun violence, an unexpectedly political move from the all-American …

Published August, 2018

Help Future Generations Build Wealth Tax-Free

Most new investors know that a Roth IRA can be one of the greatest tools in your investing arsenal. By contributing after-tax dollars to it, you are allowed to grow the money tax-free. There are …

Published July, 2018

By Consumer Reports

According to an AARP survey, 2 out of 5 Americans over the age of 45 don’t have a will.

If you’re an expecting or brand-new parent and don’t have a will, it’s crucial to make one. That’s because just like life and disability …

Published July, 2018

By Sarah Gibbens

How Do Plastic Straw Bans Work?

The movement to ban plastic straws is growing, but phasing them out can be more complicated than it seems.

Though just a small fraction of all plastic pollution, straws have become a symbol of …

Published June, 2018

By Erin Arvedlund,

At Vanguard, which popularized the S&P 500 index funds, workers will no longer be able to choose that option in their 401(k) retirement plan.

The S&P 500 index fund, one of the low-cost examples of passive investing that put …

Published June, 2018

By Hiroko Tabuch

In cities and counties across the country, the Koch brothers are fueling a fight against public transit, an offshoot of their longstanding national crusade for lower taxes and smaller government.

In places like …

Published June, 2018

By Laura Parker, National Geographic

In 2015 the United Nations Environment Programme wrote off Biodegradable plastics as an unrealistic solution that will neither reduce the amount of plastic flowing into the oceans nor prevent potential …

Published May, 2018

By Livia Albeck-Ripka

6 Things You’re Recycling Wrong

Can you recycle coffee cups or greasy pizza boxes? If you’re tossing things in the recycling bin out of sheer hope, you might be an “aspirational recycler.”

We have all done it: a greasy …

Investors Should Be More Embarrassed Than Gun Makers

Instead of asking companies to stop producing firearms, just avoid the shares.

By Matt Levine, Bloomberg, May 10, 2018

What should you do, as a shareholder, if you think guns are bad? Well, you could buy shares …

Published May, 2018

There are two frequently asked questions about 401(k) plans:

1. Should I invest in the 401(k) plan that is offered by my employer?

Yes, you should maximize your contribution if you are able, unless you have better investment options elsewhere.

He…

Published April, 2018

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), also known as sustainable, socially conscious, “green,” or ethical investing, is an investment strategy that often uses positive or negative screening to decided whether to include or exclude investments …

Published March, 2018

By Matt Levine

Gun Company Shareholders Really Don’t Like Guns

A strange thing that has happened in modern American financial capitalism is that most gun companies are owned mostly by people who do not like guns. That is: The gun …

Published February, 2018

By Landon Thomas Jr. and Stephen Grocer from New York Times

You probably are a gun owner.

You might not actually possess a gun. But if you have a pension or a 401(k) or an investment in index funds, there’s a good chance that, directly or …

Published February, 2018

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Report Card for America’s Infrastructure depicts the condition and performance of American infrastructure in the familiar form of a school report card—assigning letter grades based …