Disclaimer: Information in this blog is general in nature only. What is right for me, might not be right for you. No individual person’s needs or objectives were taken into account when preparing and communicating this information. Any mention, or opinion, of a company is not a recommendation to buy or sell. You should do your own research or seek personal financial advice before investing to ensure you make decisions that are right for you.
You may know me as the person you speak to when you message SIX about logging in or when you’re trying to work out how to transfer your shares from another app. If you haven’t met me yet, hello! I’m Liv, the Head of Customer Support.
I’ve been working in the ethical finance industry for about 7 years. While I’m pretty familiar with ethical investing, I’ve only really started taking my own investing seriously in the last year or two.
For me that looked a lot like:
- Panicking about my finances;
- Reading a few books and listening to a lot of money podcasts (shout out She’s On the Money and Girls Just Wanna Have Impact Funds), and then;
- Sitting down and coming up with a bit of a plan about how I wanted to invest.
What I came up with was an intention to start small and build out my portfolio over time with semi-regular top ups to my portfolio.
ETFs (of course)
So, where do I invest my money? I’m a stickler for one of the golden rules of investing… ✨diversification ✨ so most of my investing is in ETFs. An ETF (or Exchange Traded Fund) is a great way to invest in lots of different companies, without the hassle of stock picking. My ETF picks are some of the biggest ethical ETFs listed on the ASX:
ETHI Betashares Global Sustainability Leaders
FAIR Betashares Australian Sustainability Leaders
I invest about 50% of my portfolio in these ETFs.
I also recently started investing a smaller amount in Betashares Climate Change Innovation ETF, ERTH, and VanEck’s Global Energy ETF, CLNE.
Companies I like
While I'm definitely not a stock picker, I do invest in some companies that I like, including Brambles (BXB), a supply logistics company pioneering a circular business model through their recycled palettes and approach to sustainability.
What’s next for my investing journey?
I’ve got my eye on Monash IVF Group (MVF), one of the oldest IVF clinics in Australia, who were also responsible for the world’s first IVF pregnancy in 1973. As someone passionate about women’s reproductive rights and fertility options for LGBTQ+ families, this one is definitely at the top of my watchlist!
Shareholder activism
Each year, similar to how I might put money aside to donate to charity, I’ve decided that some of my money will go to shareholder activist campaigns. Unlike a donation, where I will never see the money again (and that’s okay!), I can sell these shares and reuse the funds to support another shareholder campaign in the future.So far, I’ve bought shares in Woolworths (WOW) for the Save the Skate campaign and Nine (NEC) for the anti-gambling ads campaign – both causes I’m pretty passionate about! Here’s me (on the left) outside the Woolies AGM this year where we received a 30% shareholder vote in favour of our resolution.
Ready to start investing like Liv? Sign up or log in to the SIX app.
