Out of disgust for companies that wield their considerable power irresponsibly, some environmentally- and socially-conscious investors avoid the stock market entirely.  As I explain in a previous article, this strategy is a poor one as you really can't afford to avoid market risk entirely.

Investing for the ethically-inclined (X1)

What's an ethically-concerned investor to do?  You could certainly perform your own due diligence on each company you would like to invest in and then purchase individual stocks, but this is hardly feasible for someone working a full-time job.  The process is extremely work-intensive, may incur significant transaction fees, will suffer increased volatility, and is very likely to fail to beat the market's overall returns.  Fortunately, there is another option: social index mutual funds.