There was a lot of media coverage recently that the financial holdings of Presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani (R) and John Edwards (D) who have spoken out about genocide in Darfur, included investments in companies that do business in Sudan. But let’s cut these guys some slack. These investments were in companies that were part of mutual fund holdings about which they were unaware. Information on what securities mutual funds hold are difficult to obtain, let alone information on the companies themselves.
But not for large institutional investors who can have their nvestments in individual securities screened – sometimes for an additional management fee, e.g., .25%. So what can the average 401(k) investor do. One option is to check out the screening tool offered by the Sudan Divestment Task Force. But note the caveat that this screening tool uses historical mutual fund data which is at a minimum 3 months in arrears.
