Move Money 4 Freedom

I and/or my family have investments in wall street

Step 1

Learn What You Own

On Your Own and/or With a Friend, Family Member, Neighbor, Co-Worker, etc

  1. Confirm what company is managing your investment account(s). 
  2. Log into your investment account(s) and review your account holdings and/or statements.
    1. You will likely see names of mutual funds, index funds, target date funds and/or exchange traded funds (ETFs). 
    2. In some cases, you will see names of individual stocks, bonds and/or cash holdings (money that is not currently invested).
  3. Enter or cross-check the names of the funds, stocks and/or bonds you own into the research tools (see below) that help you to understand where your money is invested.

If you’re having trouble accessing this information on your own or are looking for more support in this process, contact the company who is managing your investment account(s), your plan administrator, and/or a financial professional to support you with this process. 

With Support from a Financial Professional

  1. Contact your advisor to better understand what investments you own. 
  2. In your outreach, make clear that you want to divest your investments from militarism, occupation, state violence and other issues you care deeply about.
    1. For example, make a copy of this sample letter (or use these examples) to communicate that you do not want your investments supporting apartheid and occupation, asking if there are investments in your portfolio that support companies profiting from genocide, and suggest screening out those companies through more aligned funds. 
  3. When you meet with your advisor, come prepared with these questions and suggestions using this resource of talking points.
    1. If they push back, remember that they have an obligation to serve your interests. If your investment goal is to be free of companies profiting off of occupation, it is their responsibility to invest in alignment with that.

Back to Top

Step 2

Decide What to Sell (Divest) and How

Depending on what you choose to invest the funds in, you may need to initiate the divest and invest process simultaneously, so please review Step 3 before completing this process. 

On Your Own and/or With a Friend, Family Member, Neighbor, Co-Worker, etc

  1. Log into your investment account(s) and review the instructions for selling holdings of an individual stock, bond, and/or fund.
  2. Identify which companies and/or funds you will be divesting from using the research tools (see below). 
  3. Decide how much of the investment you will sell (divest). 
  4. Initiate the sales on your online platform and/or with support of the plan administrator, custodian and/or your financial advisor. 
  5. If you’re not yet able to divest your holdings from a particular company or industry, learn about utilizing proxy votes and other tools to leverage your power as a shareholder here. If you’re interested in responding to requests from grassroots organizations looking for proxy votes, please fill out this short form. 

With Support from a Financial Professional

  1. Identify which companies and/or funds you will be divesting from (using the tools listed above). 
  2. Decide how much of the investment you will sell (divest). 
  3. Direct the advisor to initiate the sales of these holdings or to show you how to do so. 
  4. For a longer-term impact on your investments, ask that your Investment Policy Statement be updated to better reflect your values.
    1. For example, suggest language from this resource, with more examples from LIFT Economy’s The Next Egg resource library here.
      1. A commitment to divest from companies that consistently, knowingly, and directly enable or facilitate human rights violations or violations of international law as part of prolonged military occupations, apartheid, and genocide.
    2. They may push back with some of the consequences of these adjustments (such as higher expense ratios of other SRI funds, capital gains, taxes etc). Ultimately, it’s up to you if those are risks/costs you want to take!
  5. If you’re not yet able to divest your holdings from a particular company or industry, ask your advisor about utilizing proxy votes and other tools to leverage your power as a shareholder. Learn more here. If you’re interested in responding to requests from grassroots organizations looking for proxy votes, please fill out this short form. 
  6. Follow up with your advisor to ensure they are accountable towards what you both agreed upon in terms of divestment. 
  7. If you’re unsatisfied with their support or ability to follow through on the divestment, you may consider working with a more values-aligned advisor (or starting to manage some of your own assets yourself). Learn more about values-aligned advisors and financial professionals here and from LIFT Economy’s The Next Egg resource library here.

Help us track (and celebrate!) how much money has been divested from violence by filing out this quick form below:

SHARE YOUR ACTIONS!

Back to Top

Step 3

Decide Where to Move Your Money (Invest) and How

  1. Learn about and consider your options, along with the risks and implications for different options for the funds you’ve divested.
    • Keep the funds in a cash account through your current investment provider or move the funds to another financial institution
    • Move the funds to a more values-aligned fund or investment option
    • Donate stock to a social justice organization
    • Invest the funds outside of wall street for deeper community impact
  2. Ask your advisor about the options listed below and if they’re not equipped to support you, consider meeting with a more values-aligned advisor. For a list of values-aligned advisors and financial professionals, check out this list  here and this one from LIFT Economy’s The Next Egg resource library here. 
Moving Money Options
  1. Keep the funds in a cash account through your current investment provider or move the funds to another financial institution.
    • Depending on the type of the account and the tax implications, you can use these funds to fund a specific financial goal. 
    • You can also look into moving the funds into a more values-aligned financial institution such as a local credit union. Learn more about where financial institutions, such as banks, funds are invested in here. 
  2. Move the funds to a more values-aligned fund or investment option.
    1. Use the research tools to identify companies and/or funds that are less harmful and meet the requirements of screening out the worst actors in fueling occupation, militarism, prisons, climate change, and other issues. 
    2. You may also come across options for socially responsible investments, but it’s important to look at these offerings closely to see what companies the funds are actually invested in since it’s a broad and unspecific category at this point of the industry’s development. 
    3. Consider certificates of deposit or bonds, which are issued by companies, municipalities, states, and sovereign governments to finance projects and operations and often provide more stability and uniformity than a specific stock or fund. 
  3. Donate stock and/or cash to a social justice organization, which leads to more $$ going to the nonprofit because investors don’t pay capital gains taxes and neither do the organizations.
    1. For example, organizations such as In Our Name Campaign can redistribute stock donations to Rawa Fund, Grassroots International, and Purposeful, organizations that are supporting Palestinian communities most impacted by occupation and apartheid. 
  4. Invest the funds outside of wall street for deeper community impact.
    1. Consider moving a percentage or a significant percent of your portfolio off of wall street and into more impact-driven options.
      1. Check out Resource Generation’s Transformative Investment Principles for more guidance on what this looks like in practice. Please note that these are written for an audience of young people with access to wealth and/or class privilege, but still offer relevant concepts for people of different class backgrounds. 
    2. Community Development Financial Institutions provide resources to small businesses, nonprofits, affordable housing projects and more to BIPOC and working class communities nationally. 
    3. Community controlled loan funds provide resources to cooperatives, worker owned businesses, community land trusts that ensure permanently affordable housing and other projects committed to social and environmental justice. 
    4. For other options that support community well being, learn about examples at Transformative 25 and many more here and here.  
    5. For retirement specific options, learn from examples such as Just Futures, Green Retirement and The Next Egg.

Help us track (and celebrate!) how much money has been divested from violence by filing out this quick form below:

SHARE YOUR ACTIONS!

Back to Top

Research Tools

  1. Investigate: Investigate is a uniquely comprehensive online database of 300+ reports on corporate involvement in state violence, using American Friends Service Committee’s in-house human rights rating system and investment screening recommendations and tools. Investigate is used by grassroots groups, students, unions, funders, investors, institutions, and journalists.
  2. Invest Your Values: Invest Your Values is a free online tool, managed by As You Sow, that analyzes the climate and social impacts of thousands of U.S. mutual funds, ETFs, and 401k plans. Invest Your Values includes data from Weapons Free Funds, Fossil Free Funds and Prison Free Funds. 
  3. Who Profits: Who Profits Research Center is an independent research center dedicated to exposing the commercial involvement of Israeli and international corporations in the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land and population.
  4. BDS Movement: The BDS movement uses the historically successful method of targeted boycotts, inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the US Civil Rights movement, the Indian anti-colonial struggle, among others worldwide. This list is used to identify key corporate divestment targets.

Back to Top