Investing for Vegan Values | Brenda Morris

I was already vegetarian when I went to college in New Hampshire and was beyond thrilled to find out on the first day at dinner that my roommate was also a vegetarian! We were instant best friends and told the world (well, the fraternity brothers + everyone else who would listen) that we were soulmates. When she came back from Christmas break and told me she had gone vegan, I told her I did not want to hear anything about it as I was not interested(the thought of giving up pizza and soft serve ice cream was inconceivable). I do not remember what PETA literature she showed me (this was before the internet!) but I know I ended up joining her in going vegan within two weeks.

I initially went vegetarian when I was 16 years old and my sister decided to go veg at the exact same time. My brother told me at one point that he would never be a vegetarian because of people like me. This was like a dagger in my heart at the time, but hearing this caused me to change my ways. He doesn’t even remember saying this now, but I am forever grateful to him for helping me to become a more loving, accepting person. (Well, most of the time!)

I never felt alone since I had my sister join me when I went veg, but I have heard that many felt this way initially. I have also met many who ended up not staying vegan as they didn’t feel they had support. I believe Facebook and Meetup have been wonderful at giving people a sense of community. Some folks go vegan after seeing factory farming videos. In my day, you would had to have visited a farm to see that which people are privy to now on a daily basis.

I decided to merge my personal life with my professional life when I founded my financial planning practice in 2009. For the past nine years, I have encouraged vegans to invest in accordance with their values. The increasing demand for financial products that acknowledge the exploitation of animals has grown at the same time more and more financial institutions were realizing that they could no longer ignore the increasing demand for Sustainable and Responsible Investments (SRI). I have connected with many in the financial industry to help start a VEGAN investing movement so that these SRI funds are also “HUMANE.” One would not think that companies such as McDonald’s, hardly environmental, never mind ethical, would be held in an index that purports to be composed of U.S. companies that have “positive” environmental, social and governance characteristics, but alas, it is.

If every vegan/vegetarian/animal loving person in the country asked their financial advisor to divest from companies that harm animals we could have a movement much like the Fossil Fuel Free movement. Whereas many financial advisors will take any client they can find, I chose early on to work with folks who “get it”. I intentionally chose to work with fellow activists, people who normally do not necessarily always look out for themselves financially. I don’t wish to help meat-eaters make more money so they can buy more steak, that just doesn’t sit well with me.