Good Money Week

By Shelly Durrant

Saturday saw the start of Good Money Week (24^th – 30^th October), an initiative that aims to raise awareness of sustainable, responsible and ethical finance to help people make good money choices.

With the global pandemic this year, it has certainly made people stop – albeit slightly by force – to look at what really matters to them. For some people it was a chance to look at their finances with a view to how they can make them work better, while for others it was more about the social aspect and the improvements they could do to help make the world a better one.

This year, the ‘week’ will be looking at how our money can support green and fair recovery after the pandemic. Ensuring we build back better in a way that works for people, the planet, and our health and wealth.

We are living in times of extreme weather, food and water shortages and a rapidly growing population to name a few. The choices that we make in our daily lives, impact the surrounding world from the energy supplier we use through to the water droughts caused by climate change.

Shockingly, over half (54%) of the UK public is unaware that sustainable and ethical financial products exist. Forgive the cliché, but clearly more needs to be done to raise awareness of how investing your money wisely into sustainable products can do long-term good for the world.

Once seen as a craze for the millennial generation, responsible investing has shot up the agenda for the baby boomers, a sign that they are focused on not only preserving their wealth to pass on to younger generations, but also in part to leave behind a healthier and greener planet.

A campaign such as Good Money Week aims to educate consumers on how they can do things differently and better than the generations before them. There are many of us fortunate enough to be able to put aside money to save and invest, and how we do that has an impact on the world. Just like using cardboard straws rather than plastic; or using our own recycled coffee cups when we visit Pret, you have sustainable and ethical money choices available to you to ensure the world we are living in is a good one.

Over the course of the week, there are several events taking place from ‘clean, green and kind money for beginners’ to ‘the role of retail investors in helping the UK to build back better’. There are also useful guides on the Good Money Week website ‘women’s guide to investing’ through to ‘public attitudes to good money report 2019’.

If you do one thing this week, make it a sustainable one and do something good for not only yourself but our beautiful planet.