I recently took a step to put my money where my mouth is.
The idea of bringing money (investments) back to the local community has appealed to me for a while. Being able to know the people who are using my money and having a first-hand understanding of what it is that they are doing with it is appealing. As is the idea that my money is actually going toward something that will take root where I live, rather than in some unknown and unknowable place because that's where the fund advisers decided to invest. No, the idea of direct investment had appeal. But I hadn't done anything to really act on the concept til recently.
Perhaps to chagrin of my financial adviser, I "liberated" a portion (perhaps the first of many...) of my funds from traditional investment vehicles and they now sit ready to invest in local enterprises. But how do I find out about and choose the investments?
That's still a bit of a challenge, but it's getting easier all the time. Currently I check in on a website called LocalStake.com where there are all manner of local investment opportunities. Many related to local food and beverages. And they are true investments not donations. For the moment, "local" is a bit of a stretch but at least the options are in the midwest rather than somewhere on the other side of the globe. And over time as more people know about the site and more businesses are funded, my hope is that more will appear as opportunities.
Will I make a fortune doing this? I doubt it. I don't even think that's the question that needs to be asked. The question that needs to be asked is: what does it take to reclaim control of what I eat and drink? To know how it was made, what's in it and what's behind it? If I can know these things and get good products from the companies I'm funding, along with a fair return (financial and social), then these are sound investments and ones I'll be committed to for the long haul.
