On stocks, can we simply (and politely) agree:

[Robb]

...Owning shares of an evil corporation does not necessarily make one evil?

I mean, say I owned a bunch of Halliburton (cough).... I own it because it's making me a ton of bucks in dividends or whatever.

But what if I'm in the stock market just to make money to open orphanages, or fund cancer research? Sure I could invest in ethically responsible companies, but in the current climate those companies might not have the ROI I need to feed the hungry.

Ha-HA...

(ducks)

[leftyandproud]

1. just make your money

take advantage of the capitalizt system..

while it exists ;)

[Yupster]

2. I hope you don't own Haliburton for the dividend

It's currently paying a dividend of a whopping 2.06 % per year.

Ticker Symbol HAL
NYSE

[LondonReign2]

4. HAL aside...

2.06% dividend isn't all that bad when you compare itto what you would earn in cash/money market. And with Shrub's favorable tax treatment of dividends, the difference is magnified for moderate to high earners.

So, yeah, there are higher divendend stocks, and this completely ignores the capital gain/loss potential, but that isn't a horrible rate compared to cash.

[Cocoa]

3. it doesn't make you evil

but if one is profiting from ownership of Halliburton, it should give one something to think hard about.