Questions to Ask About Your Investments

Examine your present savings and investment accounts to find out what your money is currently supporting.

1.  Question the policies of your current financial providers.

They make use of any money in your account, investing it to earn interest while you are not using it.

2.  Ask your bank and other financial service providers about their codes of business ethics and policies on environmental and social issues, and how they apply these when investing your money.

3.  You can also ask about their corporate governance - the standards of business conduct that apply to the board of directors which oversees the company's business.

4.  Ask whether investments are screened for their ethical, social or environmental impacts. It is worth remembering that these impacts may be positive as well as negative.

5.  If you hold company shares directly, you can ask these questions of the company and find out if they produce an environmental or social report.

6.  If you are a member of a pension scheme, ask for a copy of the Statement of Investment Principles relating to your fund. If this does not take environmental or social considerations into account, ask them why.