Earlier today, Mr. Topf told us that we needed four different stocks:
Stock #1:
Great place to work and value it's employees
Stock #2:
Alternative energy
Stock #3:
Innovative products that make our lives better and does social good
Stock #4:
A company you admire and respect
We divided these stocks in our group so each person is responsible for one stock.
My group had already chosen to do Mutual Funds, which we believed was the safest way to invest. But, we are now changing things up and will focus on stocks and will invest through TD Ameritrade.
I got stock #1: Great place to work and value it's employees.
During our class discussion we noticed that we were focusing too much on the profit. How much money we will make for the end of the two years for our personal benefit in the Innovation Academy. Sometimes, this should be part of the focus when chosing a place to invest your money. However, this shouldn't be the whole focus. Mr. Topf had a point. He told us that, at least for him, he would prefer to lose money from a company that was worth it, that helped others and was ethically reasonable, rather than other companies that just focused on how much money they were earning. He was right.
So, when we were researching stocks to invest on we were searching for socially responsible companies.
My choice for a company which is a great place to work and that values it's employees is, after many choices: Kelloggs.
Other companies I looked at were: Google, Yahoo, Pepsi, and Starbucks.
For chosing the final company I had to research why are they a good place to work at and how do they value their employees. When this was clear for each, I had to look up how they were doing in the stock market. Would it be smart to invest in these companies at this moment?
Luckily, Kelloggs was.
Notes from today
# of shares x price per share
Example:
Yahoo
Number of shares: market capitalization / 33.55
Socially Responsible Investing
Sustainable, socially, conscious, mission, green, ethical.
Triple Bottom Line
Focuses on:
1. People
2. Planet
3. Profit