Over half of Brits (54%) said they wouldn’t feel guilty if they found out any of their investments were supporting Russian companies and/or companies operating in Russia according to a new report by Finder, a personal finance comparison website.
This includes 59% of the population who wouldn’t feel bad about investing in a Russian-owned company. More broadly, over a fifth of Brits (22%) said they wouldn’t feel guilty about investing in any sector at all.
This includes 88% who wouldn’t feel guilty about investing in oil companies, 86% for meat farming, while around three out of four Brits (74%) wouldn’t feel guilty about investing in tobacco companies and 68% wouldn’t feel guilty about investing in weapons manufacturers.
Even though the UK has relatively high awareness and support for the COVID vaccine programme, 7% of respondents still said they would feel guilty about investing in a vaccine company – the equivalent of 3.6 million people.
Talking the talk…
Despite the majority of Brits (78%) saying they would feel guilty about owning investments in certain areas, when pressed on whether this would actually lead them to selling these investments, only two in five (40%) said they would do so.
This also includes around three in 10 (31%) of those who say they would sell guilty investments but don’t currently know how to do this. An additional 18% said they wouldn’t sell guilty investments due to not knowing how to do this, while three in 10 (30%) said they are ‘unsure’ if they would sell anything.
“There is a clear disconnect between the public’s sentiment and their actions,” said Zoe Stabler, an investment specialist with Finder. “Many seem to have guilt about the idea of owning certain investments but aren’t prepared to actually sell, or they don’t know how to sell and some don’t have plans to learn, either. This inertia isn’t helped by many funds and pensions, in particular, not providing a clear breakdown of exactly what stocks, sectors or countries are included in their plans.”
A generational divide
There appears to be an age divide in terms of attitudes to investing in Russian based or owned companies. Gen Z are the least guilty about investing in Russia, with around three in four (74%) saying they wouldn’t feel in the wrong if they did so. This is significantly more than baby boomers, with 47% of their cohort saying they wouldn’t feel guilt, while half (50%) of the silent generation wouldn’t feel bad.
Gen Z and millennials are also the generations least likely to feel guilt at investing in certain industries. Only around one in six (16%) Gen Zs would feel bad about doing so and almost one in five (19%) millennials would.
In contrast, three in 10 (30%) of the silent generation say they would feel guilty as would a similar amount of baby boomers (28%).
“There are some investors who are voting with their feet,” said Stabler. “Our report last year found that 28% of investors and potential investors would choose ethical investments even if they didn’t perform as well as other investments.”
