Moral dilemma

[scrumpox]

How many of us are supporting Big Tobacco through our pensions? Err, I'm having to stick my hand up here ...
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ns-invested-in-tobacco-bat?CMP=share_btn_link

 

[davroz]

Looking at the view to response ratio it would seem to be a problem that sits in the "too hard to solve" camp.

Sadly due to time, size, government assistance, and a broadly addicted global population, big tobacco have their tentacles everywhere

You could look at re-structuring into ethical investments but 1) its a bugger to do and 2) generally you have to accept a lesser return.

Sometimes it's best to embrace cognitive dissonance as it's what keeps you sane

You are however chipping away at big tobaccos power base by advocacy and by not using their products

 

[kermitthefog]

That's one thing about working for a charity that all of our pension fund is ethically invested.......the downside is that I am going to die in abject poverty of either starvation or hypothermia.

 

[Rob]

Many Pension Schemes are based around Big Tobacco and Big Pharma. We certainly didn't ask for that, it was all there, hidden away within the Portfolio. Personally, we take the view that we may just as well keep things as they are? We suffered a horrendous hit on our personal investments in "The Crash", seeing our income reduced to basically zip. All we did was live in abject poverty and every tiny dividend was just reinvested, we did that until 2010, by which time the personal portfolios had recovered enough to offer us a much reduced (by 50%) income. Thankfully, we managed to sell our house in Norfolk, literally on the crest of the wave in 2005 and purchased this place, leaving a decent amount of excess in the Savings Account. If we hadn't had the good fortune to get shot of the Norfolk Money Pit when we did, we would be Bankrupt, simple as that. The Recession and the subsequent Low Interest Rates has made things very, very dicey but we have just about survived in tact, despite The DWP's evil attempts to stop all Disability Benefits etc.

Tricky times.