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Imagine this for a government conundrum: revenues so high it's hard to know how to spend them. No wonder Norway, flush from oil exports, is picky about where it invests its $236 billion government pension fund - the third largest on the planet.

In June it divested about $430 million worth of shares from Wal-Mart Stores (Charts) and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (Charts), after savaging Wal-Mart for "serious and systematic" labor violations in several countries and Freeport for dumping copper tailings in a New Guinea river.

Now officials say their cleanup campaign is just getting started. "We are working on how to act as shareholders in different companies," says Kristin Halvorsen, the leader of Norway's Socialist Left Party, who was appointed Finance Minister last October. "That is quite new for us."

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http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/24/magazines/fortune/NorwaytoWMT.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

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Originally posted by Martha (but not Stewart):
Here's something that an individual can do with an RRSP, bearing in mind that even a bank's "ethical" funds are managed by someone you probably don't know. Instead of buying into mutual funds, invest directly in the stock market by buying stocks. This way, you control what companies you invest in, not some funds manager. And you can invest in a way that reflects your own ethical priorities: you can make a point of investing in companies with lots of women on their boards, or with clearly articulated environmental concerns, or who donate to causes you endorse, etc.: whatever ethical priorities you set. Just a thought.

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That is a great idea. A self-directed online trade at a Canadian discount brokerage costs about $30.

Most ethical funds are not ethical at all and the Labour Sponsored Investment Funds are a vehicle for the fund managers to pocket the tax credit.LSIFs have a notoriously high Management Expense Ratio- the fees charged to manage the Fund.

It is not difficult to manage your own account.From an activist pointof view,as a shareholder,one can influence corporate policy.

It is difficult too because stocks vary in prices from cheap (like $3 a share) to over $100 a share and it can make the mathematics very frustrating if all you want to do is put $5,000 into some savings. Mutual funds let you put in any amount (though some have a minimum) and because they are based on so many companies, the risk is greatly reduced.

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Originally posted by pencil-skirt:
True, but it is notoriously easy to lose your shirt on the stock market! Many of us don't have the confidence to pluck and pull different stocks together.

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