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I sometimes toy with the idea of investing only in vice companies. Creating my own personal index and allocating across it. Sectors I'd include: Oil, gas, coal

I sometimes toy with the idea of investing only in vice companies. Creating my own personal index and allocating across it. Sectors I'd include: Oil, gas, coal, tobacco, pharmaceuticals (but only makers of opiates), payday loans, gambling, etc. It's a bit sociopathic, sure. But if enough people sleep on these tickers, I might as well get 'em cheap and earn those dividends.

PaywallBuster 4y ago
Might consider too, but at a first view, looks like subpar performance (and Casino stocks might go down further due to recession) https://www.etf.com/VICE https://www.etf.com/VICE ESG Orphans https://etfdb.com/etf/ORFN/ https://etfdb.com/etf/ORFN/
- function_seven 4y ago
  Thanks. I'm constantly surprised how unoriginal my ideas are :)
  - x-complexity 4y ago
    Given that there's about to be 8 billion people in the near future, & the fact that multiple ideas can belong under the same general idea, it'll be inevitable that multiple people will come up with their own variations on a given idea that's new to them. TL;DR: You're one of today's lucky 10,000 -> https://www.xkcd.com/1053/ https://www.xkcd.com/1053/
FabHK 4y ago
The article alludes to that: > The industry’s second problem is that it is not being straight about incentives. It claims that good behaviour is more lucrative for firms and investors. In fact, if you can stand the stigma, it is often very profitable for a business to externalise costs, such as pollution, onto society rather than bear them directly. As a result the link between virtue and financial outperformance is suspect.
- spoonjim 4y ago
  Another one of these is "diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams." Sure, maybe this is true in some abstract way, but given the race and gender makeup of the early founding teams at Silicon Valley's most storied successes, it's clear that a diverse team is at a bare minimum, wholly unnecessary to achieve even the highest levels of success.
dhke33ird 4y ago
When you find yourself saying "a bit sociopathic, sure", please take a step back, and think about what you really want to acheieve in your short time on earth. Wouldn't you like be able to say you spent your life trying to make the world a little less shitty? Or are those dividends really that important to you? I say this because, you say youre just toying with the idea. So something is holding you back. I think you know it's not something worth doing, and I think you're right. Not saying we can ever be 100% free of moral impurity in our investment decisions. After all, there are unsavory things about most big companies. But it's another thing to go out of your way to support things repulsive to your own values. I hope you don't go that way. The little money youd make from it isn't worth the guilt you'd feel.

PaywallBuster 4y ago

Might consider too, but at a first view, looks like subpar performance (and Casino stocks might go down further due to recession) https://www.etf.com/VICE https://www.etf.com/VICE ESG Orphans https://etfdb.com/etf/ORFN/ https://etfdb.com/etf/ORFN/

function_seven 4y ago
Thanks. I'm constantly surprised how unoriginal my ideas are :)
- x-complexity 4y ago
  Given that there's about to be 8 billion people in the near future, & the fact that multiple ideas can belong under the same general idea, it'll be inevitable that multiple people will come up with their own variations on a given idea that's new to them. TL;DR: You're one of today's lucky 10,000 -> https://www.xkcd.com/1053/ https://www.xkcd.com/1053/

FabHK 4y ago

The article alludes to that: > The industry’s second problem is that it is not being straight about incentives. It claims that good behaviour is more lucrative for firms and investors. In fact, if you can stand the stigma, it is often very profitable for a business to externalise costs, such as pollution, onto society rather than bear them directly. As a result the link between virtue and financial outperformance is suspect.

spoonjim 4y ago
Another one of these is "diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams." Sure, maybe this is true in some abstract way, but given the race and gender makeup of the early founding teams at Silicon Valley's most storied successes, it's clear that a diverse team is at a bare minimum, wholly unnecessary to achieve even the highest levels of success.

dhke33ird 4y ago

When you find yourself saying "a bit sociopathic, sure", please take a step back, and think about what you really want to acheieve in your short time on earth. Wouldn't you like be able to say you spent your life trying to make the world a little less shitty? Or are those dividends really that important to you? I say this because, you say youre just toying with the idea. So something is holding you back. I think you know it's not something worth doing, and I think you're right. Not saying we can ever be 100% free of moral impurity in our investment decisions. After all, there are unsavory things about most big companies. But it's another thing to go out of your way to support things repulsive to your own values. I hope you don't go that way. The little money youd make from it isn't worth the guilt you'd feel.