From “The Social Justice Investor: Advance Your Values While Building Wealth, Whether a Few Dollars or Millions” by Andrea Longton, CFA
Social justice investors should be finely attuned to the financial returns of their portfolios. We are regular people with everyday expenses. We require financial earnings to pay for college tuition, down payments on new houses, and retirement plans.
When it comes to financial earnings, the difference between traditional investors and social justice investors is the concept of “enough.”
Whereas traditional investors strive to maximize their financial profit, social justice investors target financial earnings that will sustain our cash needs throughout the course of our lives. In other words, social justice investors seek to generate sufficient cash to cover planned expenses as well as a reasonable financial cushion to cover unexpected life events.
Eschewing profit maximization goes against every fiber of Wall Street culture, whose collective rallying cry is “greed is good.”
But social justice investors realize that Wall Street’s promise of infinite returns is hollow. We have seen that this promise of maximizing profit at all costs means a lot for some and very little for everyone else. We want an economy that works for everyone.
Social justice investors purchase investments that reflect this financially sustainable approach.