The only thing I disagree with him is about investing in individual businesses instead of index funds.
I will not invest in any individual business that prioritizes anything but the business, it's direct customers, and it's employees at large. If they accept the public's money as publicly traded stock in the company, their responsibility is to follow the rules we set as a society and make profit for their investors. The money is not for them to play with to change the world. It is not for them to to play politics, bribe lawmakers, and influence elections. It is not to make golden parachutes for their management so they come out rich even if they run the company into the ground.
I am not against changing the world. I am not against playing politics and influencing elections. I am not against compensating employees. I am against doing it with investor money without the consent of the investors.
Buying into an index fund isolates you from the risk of badly managed companies. You are just providing an investment to the companies that will abide by the rules and make sound business decisions. If they screw up and are dropped from the fund, so be it. It is on them. Another one can take their place.
As a society, it is for us to decide under what rules these companies operate. Especially using public investor's money. It is not for the companies to set the rules. For example. If we, as a society, say that it is illegal to use child labor, any company that uses child labor should have it's management criminally prosecuted. If they subvert the law by moving the work overseas and using child labor there, the management in this country that is involved with the decision should be criminally prosecuted and the company barred from operating in this country. We don't have any say in the laws of other countries. We do have a say in who operates in this country.
Maybe this is off on a tangent. Maybe I am not being totally consistent. I accept that.
The only thing I disagree with him is about investing in individual businesses instead of index funds.
I will not invest in any individual business that prioritizes anything but the business, it's direct customers, and it's employees at large. If they accept the public's money as publicly traded stock in the company, their responsibility is to follow the rules we set as a society and make profit for their investors. The money is not for them to play with to change the world. It is not for them to to play politics, bribe lawmakers, and influence elections. It is not to make golden parachutes for their management so they come out rich even if they run the company into the ground.
I am not against changing the world. I am not against playing politics and influencing elections. I am not against compensating employees. I am against doing it with investor money without the consent of the investors.
Buying into an index fund isolates you from the risk of badly managed companies. You are just providing an investment to the companies that will abide by the rules and make sound business decisions. If they screw up and are dropped from the fund, so be it. It is on them. Another one can take their place.
As a society, it is for us to decide under what rules these companies operate. Especially using public investor's money. It is not for the companies to set the rules. For example. If we, as a society, say that it is illegal to use child labor, any company that uses child labor should have it's management criminally prosecuted. If they subvert the law by moving the work overseas and using child labor there, the management in this country that is involved with the decision should be criminally prosecuted and the company barred from operating in this country. We don't have any say in the laws of other countries. We do have a say in who operates in this country.
Maybe this is off on a tangent. Maybe I am not being totally consistent. I accept that.