Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • COVID-19
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • The Swiss Way
  • Dick Young
  • Debbie Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Dick Young’s Safe America
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • Critical Race Theory
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Work to Make Money/Invest to Save Money

ESG Funds: You Invest, They Win—Here’s Why

November 17, 2020 By E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

By Elnur @ Shutterstock.com

You work too hard to have your savings messed with. You have enough on your plate as it is. Between keeping track of the rules for Roths, IRAs, RMDs, it all adds up. You read about ESG funds that are supposed to be “good” for the environment and wonder, “But, are they good for me?” In my series for you, “You invest, they win,” you wonder.

You may also wonder about my concerns with Vanguard being too big. “How do you know if it’s too big?” you ask. “Well, it might be too big,” I respond, “if your phone rep is greener than a recycling bin and working in a room the size of a football field.” If you’re looking for seasoned guidance by counsel, think about a small private family office, not a 1(800) call center with phones worked by kids fresh out of college.

You know about my concerns with low-cost index funds and ETFs. So-called advisers stuff your portfolio with them. You pay upwards of two percent, and then they try to sell you the latest environmental or ESG fund.

The “low-cost” ETFs and mutual funds get you in the door. Then they force-feed you higher cost “active” management products. The next thing you know, your portfolio is saving the world with ESG. You just wanted to save enough to retire.

It all happens fast. One of the risks of a GOP Senate loss is the unraveling of President Trump’s deregulation program. A GOP Senate can block Democrats from using the Congressional Review Act to overturn rules. The GOP can protect the wall.

“Last month DOL finalized a rule underlining that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (Erisa) requires plan fiduciaries to act ‘solely in the interest’ of plan participants ‘for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits’ and defraying reasonable expenses,” explains the WSJ. “In other words, managers can’t prioritize their own pecuniary or political interest.”

We can thank Labor Secretary Gene Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia for this.

Oftentimes, ESG dreams get put in front of your goals when it belongs in the recycling bin.

Action Line: Is your investment counsel investing in ESG funds for you, or for them? You don’t want to find out you’ve been investing in someone else’s pet project to save the world when all you wanted to do was save enough to retire comfortably.

Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.

Related Posts

  • How to Invest Today
  • Hedge Funds Limping Along
  • This is Why Vanguard is Too Big
  • Invest in Texas
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998.

E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention.

E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris.

Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com
Latest posts by E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy (see all)
  • Your Survival Guy: “Life on Main Street Hasn’t Been This Hard in a While” - May 27, 2022
  • If You Have a Plan, I Believe You’ll Get to Where You Want to Go - May 26, 2022
  • Georgia Proves All Politics Are Local - May 25, 2022

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • My Battle-Hardened Stock Market Strategy for the Worst of Times
  • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • A NEW CONTRACT WITH AMERICA: Rick Scott Finally Gives the GOP Something to Run On
  • Protection While Traveling in France
  • Why Some Kids Won’t Go Back to School, Ever
  • Your Sheriff Can Thwart Federal Gun Control Efforts
  • The Masters of the Universe Align Themselves with CHINA Using YOUR Money?
  • Young’s Retirement Compounders Clearly Dominate!
  • The Common Ground of Democracy is Sinking Beneath Americans’ Feet
  • Warning! Your Survival Guy’s on a Boil Water Advisory

Our Most Popular Posts

  • Jean-Pierre: Economy "Not Something that We Keep an Eye on Every Day"
  • Consequences of Biden Killing the Keystone Pipeline
  • Harvard Professor Calls Homeschooling a "Threat to Society"
  • PRIMARIES: Trump Endorsed Candidates’ HUGE Night
  • PARTY'S OVER JOE: Republicans Crush Democrats in Local Elections
  • Are You Suffering from One of These Nutrient Deficiencies?
  • Our Daily Bread Threatened?
  • President Joe Biden’s Good Question
  • BUY THE DIPS? Can You Catch a Ginsu Knife?
  • What Would We Do without the Experts?

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Your Survival Guy: “Life on Main Street Hasn’t Been This Hard in a While”
  • China Builds an Anti-Quad Coalition
  • If You Have a Plan, I Believe You’ll Get to Where You Want to Go
  • There Are Tech Companies “Still Dreaming of Boundless Growth”
  • Nowadays, Everyone Is Getting Some Dividend Religion
  • How Can the Fed Prevent Stagflation?
  • How to Avoid the Restrictions of a Target Date Fund
  • Now You Can Own Your Vacation and It Doesn’t Have to Be a Time Share
  • Watch Out for Your Worst Enemy
  • Big Banks Adopting Blockchain for Short-Term Trading

KRISTALLNACHT: How Well Intentioned Gun Registries Become Tools of Evil

Your Survival Guy: “Life on Main Street Hasn’t Been This Hard in a While”

Is America About to Lose Its Investments in Colombia?

POWER MOVE? Did Viktor Orban Just Seize Control of Hungary?

Americans Are Abandoning ESPN and Woke Professional Sports Leagues

If You Have a Plan, I Believe You’ll Get to Where You Want to Go

Copyright © 2022 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives