ESG, Gold, and Stocks

Investing Against Politics

Update: Nebraska Attorney General has released a report on ESG. https://ago.nebraska.gov/sites/ago.nebraska.gov/files/doc/ESG%20Report%2012-06-2022.pdf

Standard disclaimer: I am not a professional financial expert. These are just my observations. Consult a professional for advice.

You have likely heard an ad or two by now of some financial group selling gold and silver and inviting you to buy some. Well, right now is not the best time. These organizations are selling gold and silver because they will make a hefty profit because they bought the gold and silver years ago when no one was buying. Investing in gold and silver is a good idea. It acts as a hedge against bad economies such as inflation, recession, and depression. This also avoids the politics companies engage in. However, the best time to stock up on it is when the economy is good and no one is talking about it.

This type of bias is everywhere in economics. News reports have a seller’s bias. When the stock market is up, they say this is good news, but this is only true if you are selling stock. When the stock market goes down, this is portrayed as bad, but this would be a good time to buy stock as it is basically on sale. If you learn to read such biases, you will realize, no matter what the economy does, there is always a place to make money.

With inflation being high, some are actually buying I-bonds which adjust for inflation (https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/i-bonds/). This is ideal for small investors and has to be bought directly from the US Treasury which will require you to create an online account. However, if you are not inclined to invest in government, you may prefer bank certificates of deposit (CDs). With the Federal Reserve raising rates, the interest rates on CDs are going up but you might want to shop around for the best offer. These are easy investments you can do with a local bank and you are investing in the local economy.

The real challenge with investing now is the ESG movement which seeks to bend corporations towards “environmental, social, governance” which leads corporations away from their main purpose: to make a profit. From wokism to carbon, corporations are being pushed to bend towards political and social goals.

Fortunately, there are those who want to upright the corporations through proper investments. This is where the new Strive fund comes in (https://strive.com/why-strive/). They take the investments and help inform companies of the importance of staying true to profit motives. They also have carved out some very important funds. For example, there is DRLL which invests in energy industries where excessive climate change policies have harmed the industry. (https://www.strivefunds.com/drll). There is also SHOC which invests in the US semiconductor industry which helps bring home investments from abroad.

Some or many investors probably prefer a Dogs of the Dow strategy of investing in proven dividend companies (https://www.dogsofthedow.com/). Well, Strive has the answer for you in their STXD fund (https://www.strivefunds.com/stxd)! To quote, “STXD offers exposure to U.S. corporations that have a five-year track record of growing dividends while maintaining a dividend growth rate greater than the benchmark through a cost-efficient index product. Through Corporate Governance practices, including voting proxy shares and proactively engaging with management teams and boards, Strive aims to unlock value across all corporations in STXD's portfolio by mandating companies to focus on profits over politics.” Anyways, check it all out. Also, I recommend the Dogs of the Dow newsletter which you can subscribe to from their website.