1. Ethical investments

2. What is an investment?
An investment is when you put your money into a managed fund where is can gain interest or profit.
Investments can be low risk such as a bank account or savings account or high risk such as buying and selling shares on the stock market.

3. Why should you invest? There are different reasons to invest:
for a future purpose
for children
to make the most of savings
to earn profit
for a secure future.

4. There are different places that people could invest in
Where can you invest?
There are different places that people could invest in
The stock market
Managed funds
Properties at home or abroad
High interest savings accounts
Bank accounts.

5. What are ethical investments?
An ethical investment is when a person chooses to invest in companies that:
operates ethically
provides social benefits
are sensitive to the environment.
This is called being socially conscious.

6. An example An example of an ethical investment is green investing.
This is where a person chooses to invest in a company that has a positive environmental record, or in a company which actively promotes environmental concern.

7. What is ethical investing?
Ethical investments are just like any other type of investment except that the company who invests the money for the customer agree not to use the money to fund certain activities or certain behaviour that are believed to be harmful to the environment, to people or to animals and wildlife.

8. An example
This may mean, for example, that a fund management company will not purchase shares in arms companies or firms that develop harmful pesticides.
Or a bank will not lend money to or facilitate business for companies which have links to pornography, gambling, tobacco or alcohol.

9. Types of ethical investments
The different types of ethical investments available include:
corporate bonds
bank accounts
investment funds
community investors accounts
specialist managed portfolios
charity programmes
fair trade programmes and products.

10. Which companies provide these services?
The following companies are some of the more well known ethical investment companies – there are many others:
Co-operative bank
Legal and General ethical trust
ING direct
Standard Life direct
The Body Shop
The Co-op.