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I checked a book out from the library a few weeks ago called “Green Investing” by Jack Uldrich. When checking out this book I was hoping to find some ideas on companies that were in the business of producing environmentally friendly products and services. This book was full of good information on that subject.

The book was divided into nine different chapters. Each chapter discussed different companies within a certain part of the “green industries.” To better make my point, the following is a list of chapters in the book:

1. Green Investing: A Long-Term Trend
2. Due Diligence: Do Your Homework
3. The Big Dogs: The Fortune 500 Companies
4. Biofuels: Fuel of the Future?
5. Solar: Heating up or Flaming Out?
6. Wind Power: The Sky is the Limit
7. “Alternative” Alternative Energies: Geothermal, Fuel Cells, Wave Power, & Clean Coal
8. The Cleanest form of Energy: Energy Conservation
9. Tracking Cleantech and Building Your Own Cleantech Mutual Fund.

In each of the main chapters, Uldrich gives an extensive list of the companies that are poised to excel in this field. He gives the trading symbol and market (if applicable) for each company. He also gives a website as well. Each company also receives a short description, reasons to be bullish, reasons to be bearish, what to watch for, and a conclusion.

It is nice that Uldrich has done all the hard work for you. He has weeded out the bad companies so that you can focus more of your time on the good ones. This book was published in 2008, so it is very up to date.

One thing that I did not like about the book was that there were a decent amount of companies that were either private companies, or could only be traded in foreign markets. To me, it would be hard to invest in either a private company or one that only traded on a foreign market. I guess if you have the money to invest you can probably find a way though.

In conclusion, I think this book is an excellent primer to the world of green investing. Uldrich has done most of the hard work for you. Now, the investor only needs to find a company that they like and decide if it is worth investing in.

Personal Finance, Reviews, Stocks green investing, investing, Stocks, trading

The past few years there has been a lot of attention on the news about different ways to go green and make a difference in the environment. Even with all this focus on creating a greener way of life, large energy companies like ExxonMobil continue to make record profits. Something does not seem quite right here. As an environmentally conscious investor, one may focus the dilemma of choosing between a profitable company like ExxonMobil that will surely make them money, or searching high and low for some obscure environmentally friendly company. Once you do find that company, chances are they won’t even be profitable.

Portfolio 21 has taken the guesswork out of this for you. This investment company is based out of Portland, Oregon, which is the greenest city in the United States according to Popular Science Magazine. Simply put, Portfolio 21 only invests in companies that meet its stringent standards for being or working to become green companies.

The official strategy from their website reads, “Portfolio 21 invests in companies designing ecologically superior products, using renewable energy, and developing efficient production methods. Portfolio 21 companies seek to prosper in the 21st Century by recognizing environmental sustainability as a fundamental human challenge and a tremendous business opportunity.”

Besides looking for companies with strong balance sheets and income statements, Portfolio 21 also requires that companies have “ecologically superior product lines, . . . evolving product lines, investments in renewable energy, innovative transportation and distribution strategies, and efficient use of resources with respect to meeting human needs.” If a company starts to shy away from its green operations, Portfolio 21 will take action through what they call “Shareholder Activism.” Through this, they essentially file a complaint with the company to try to get them to return to their green ways. If this does not work, they will divest their funds. “If a company no longer meets our selection criteria, we divest. By divesting these companies we hope to send a clear signal to management regarding the importance of maintaining a focus on sustainable business strategies and improving performance in these areas on an ongoing basis.”

In the past year, Portfolio has rejected some very notable companies as investment opportunities based on their lack of greenness. Some companies of note are:

• UPS
• News Corp
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Yahoo!
• Bank of America
• Texas Instruments
• Corning

As of 3/31/2008, the companies Top 5 holdings are

• Novartis (3.1%)
• Novo Nordisk (2.7%)
• Nokia (2.4%)
• Staples (2.3%)
• IBM (2%)

Some other noteworthy companies were Google, Siemens, Canon, HSBC Holdings, Intel, Nike, HP, Briston-Meyers Squibb, Dell, & Whole Foods.

The fund is currently trading at $34.34 under the symbol PORTX. If you invest directly through the company, the minimum investment is $5,000, or $1,000 if you choose to set up a retirement account. It is also offered through many brokers as well where the minimum may vary. As of 12/31/2008, the fund managed $266M allocated over 115 different positions. Its’ annual return has been 17.39% over the past 5 years. Another thing that I like about the fund is that the managers of it have been managing it since its’ inception.

If green investing is something that you would like to start doing, but lack the time or research capabilities to do it, a fund like this may be appropriate for you. As always, make sure to look over the entire funds past performance and investment objectives and always remember that past performance is never an indicator of future returns.

Financial Institutions, Personal Finance green fund, green investing, mutual fund, portfolio 21, portland