Tag: portfolio review

Investing Through the Inferno

A midyear check-in light on the data, some charts and how it all feels.

There’s no way we’re already halfway through 2025—you’ll just have to bear with me as I run it back to April. You remember her, right? A time before it was 90 degrees everyday, before I thought I would burst into flames right on the concrete.

April was the beginning of my tour, Nick Cave in Boston, St. Vincent in New Haven, pour me another tequila soda. Then May in Texas for one suffocating minute, then the madhouse, then the grave. Just kidding—June was another story, but we did it to death, avoided the rain and the heat almost took us out completely. The Kills killed it three times until we prayed for mercy from the sun. No longer our god, we watched it sink behind the stage while the heat tore through Queens of the Stone Age’s set. We don’t even have to talk about how much my credit card statement was after all that, you get the idea!

Net worth & portfolio in the green

April was also when the tariffs brought everyone to me, asking what they should do with their investments. I told my friends, “Don’t look at your accounts,” and then opened every single one of mine to calculate my net worth as of the end of March. My strategy won’t be stopped by the nonsense! At the end of June, my Charles Schwab brokerage account is not only back to where it was before the announcement, but it has now surpassed that amount. I said, “Everything will be fine in, like, two months,” and thankfully, the numbers didn’t make a fool of me like they usually do!

Despite the ongoing destruction of the Earth and the people who live here, my net worth is increasing and my portfolio is profitable. I haven’t been checking my investments as often because I know it doesn’t matter what they look like now. All that matters is I’m keeping my money in the market so it will continue making me more money.

My portfolio of sustainable exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is performing well. When I checked their grades on As You Sow as of the end of June, almost all the ETFs had A’s and B’s. The Amplify Etho Climate Leadership U.S. ETF’s (ETHO) gender equality grade improved from F to B, removing it from the probation it was placed on after my last review. My Schwab U.S. REIT ETF (SCHH) maintains its gender equality grade of C—come on real estate sector, let’s get that up! One of my latest additions, the Stance Sustainable Beta ETF (CHGX), is now on probation with a gender equality grade of F. If the grade doesn’t improve by my next review in six months, the ETF will be removed from my portfolio. Since no changes are needed, my portfolio will remain untouched until then.

Finance charts? Sure, why not?

I have some new resources to share with you all, in the form of charts! I promise I’ll keep it light, but if you’re looking for a free website to track your investments and their performance, FinanceCharts.com is a helpful place for beginners to start. Here’s the Schwab U.S. REIT ETF’s price over the last year. I can see exactly when the beginning of April sent the holding downward, and I can see its steady climb back up to around where it was in March. I can also see that the ETF has some more recovery ahead if it wants to get up to its last high price from September 2024. The charts are interactive and you can select the time period you want to analyze. I don’t usually do much price analysis with my individual investments, but if I ever need more insight, FinanceCharts.com is waiting.

A line graph showing the price movement of the Schwab U.S. REIT ETF (SCHH) over one year, with data points indicating an upward trend and various fluctuations.

Source: FinanceCharts.com.

A few months ago, I read the book “Stikky Stock Charts” by Laurence Holt. For full disclosure, I was sent this book for free so I would review it. You can read my full review on Goodreads, but I found “Stikky Stock Charts” a helpful introduction to using charts. I was able to understand the purpose of them with very simple descriptions of different chart trends. The book itself is quite image-heavy, with a chart on almost every page. It covers significant historical events, like the meme-stock craze, and how certain stocks reacted at the time. This grounds investing in the real world, where it belongs. “Stikky Stock Charts” will be another resource to consult when I’m looking at a potential ETF for my portfolio.

Putting my investments on snooze

AAII taught me well, I can sleep at night. I don’t think about my money much anymore. Of course, I want to save more of it, but I also have to stay realistic. Everything keeps getting more expensive. My life is expanding, allowing more experiences in. This is the life I’ve been working toward, and I get to see the dividends—both literal and figurative—that are being paid out.

Here’s to your portfolio going up in the second half of 2025. I won’t wait this long to check in with you again, but I will wait for the temperature to fall a bit!

Learn more about my investing strategy:
New Year, New Investments, Same Strategy
PRISM Step 4: Selecting and Managing Your Investments
Midyear Portfolio Review and Finding an ESG Benchmark

Sign up below to be notified by email when I post something new! If you do not have a WordPress account, you will need to create one.

Investing in Sustainable Gender Equality in 2025

A new year, another portfolio rule and two new sustainable funds.

Welcome to 2025! Fun fact, 2025 is considered a “square” year since it is the square of 45 (45 × 45). I bet you never thought you’d get a math-related fact from me, let alone a fun one!

I saw a lot more green last year since my portfolio generally did well in 2024, but that was mostly due to only rarely checking my balance. The less I looked at my portfolio, the better it performed. After election results were announced, I peeked at my Charles Schwab brokerage account and saw I was profiting from the outcome. This unfortunate aspect of investing is always in the back of my mind as I reinforce why I maintain a sustainable approach instead of giving more money to large, harmful corporations.

As of December 27, 2024, only one of my holdings is in the red over the long term: the VanEck Biotech ETF (BBH), down 2.6% since being added to my portfolio in early 2023. My best performer is the Tortoise Global Water ESG ETF (TBLU), up 17.6%. This fund used to be the Ecofin Global Water ESG ETF (EBLU), but has since changed its name and ticker symbol. It was one of the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) I bought back in March 2022 when I started this sustainable portfolio, making it my oldest current holding. Here’s a closer look at what it invests in:

Source: Tortoise Capital.

Unfortunately, the platform I use to grade my holdings on sustainability, As You Sow, gives Tortoise Global Water a D for fossil fuels and gender equality, disqualifying it from my portfolio. At least I’ll be selling this one on a gain!

The rest of my ETFs still have mostly A’s and B’s. The Schwab U.S. REIT ETF (SCHH) has a gender equality grade of C, which still qualifies for my portfolio. My latest addition, the Amplify Etho Climate Leadership U.S. ETF (ETHO), has performed well but grades D for gender equality. If this doesn’t improve by midyear, it will be my next deletion.

To avoid too much turnover, I’m adding a rule to my investing strategy. Since gender equality is the most difficult grade for sustainable funds to earn, instead of removing a holding when only its gender equality grade slips to D, there will now be a formal probationary period of six months for this grade to improve (accounting for the time between my reviews). The rest of the grades—fossil fuels, deforestation, civilian firearms, military weapons, the prison industrial complex and tobacco—should remain at A or B, with a drop to C qualifying them for deletion.

During my last portfolio review, I determined that I wanted to add another holding to the mix to bring my portfolio back to six ETFs for diversification purposes. On my search for a new ETF or two for my portfolio, I went with my tried and true process. I began on As You Sow, filtering first by a gender equality grade of C or higher, then adding grades of B or higher for the rest of the criteria.

A few funds focused on weight loss drugs caught my eye, specifically the Amplify Weight Loss Drug & Treatment ETF (THNR) and the Roundhill GLP-1 & Weight Loss ETF (OZEM). I know these drugs are poppin’ off, and I’m glad those who have struggled to lose weight finally have something that works. But I’m still not clear on their sustainability for the long term. I’m not a huge fan of pharmaceutical companies either, or the advantages they take with people’s lives. Both ETFs were recently incepted in May 2024, so they don’t have much performance data to analyze. They might be better candidates in the future!

Anine's sustainable portfolio changes: one deletion and two additions

Instead, I stumbled on two other ETFs that fit my strategy: the Vert Global Sustainable Real Estate ETF (VGSR) and the AXS Change Finance ESG ETF (CHGX). Vert Global Sustainable Real Estate has an expense ratio of 0.45%, below my threshold of 0.60%. Though it has an expense ratio grade of C compared to its peers, I have noticed this with many of my past holdings. Ultimately, the expense ratio itself is more important. Sustainable funds are going to cost a little more than their peers, that’s part of the deal! AXS Change Finance also has a grade of C for a slightly higher expense ratio of 0.49%. Vert Global Sustainable Real Estate has favorable recent and long-term performance, while AXS Change Finance’s performance grades aren’t as hot compared to its large blend category.

On the sustainability side, Vert Global Sustainable Real Estate has all A grades on As You Sow save for its gender equality grade of B—I’ll take it! AXS Change Finance has a mix of A’s and B’s, with a C for gender equality. I’ll be keeping an eye on that one, but I’m thrilled that I was able to find these funds for my portfolio. The process has become less grueling over the years, partly because I have figured out what to look for, but also due to sustainability becoming more embedded in the finance industry.

Next time, I plan to update you on my retirement accounts (yes, plural!) and net worth. More good news to come!

Wishing you all a prosperous 2025!

Explore this topic:
A Look at Top Gender Equality Funds
I read this so you don’t have to! Financial Feminist by Tori Dunlap
A (Very) Brief History of Women in Finance

Sign up below to be notified by email when I post something new! If you do not have a WordPress account, you will need to create one.

Midyear Portfolio Review: Rebalancing for Sustainability

When my midyear portfolio review came around, I knew I would be selling one of my holdings: the Global X Wind Energy ETF (WNDY). It’s my worst performer, and when I checked its sustainability grades on As You Sow as of July 1, 2024, the fossil fuels grade had slipped to C—time to kick this exchange-traded fund (ETF) to anywhere but my portfolio!

Since I’m removing a holding, I thought it best to find a replacement. I want to be able to maintain investments in at least five ETFs in my Charles Schwab brokerage account for diversification purposes. On the flip side, I have to keep in mind the limit on the benefits of diversifying my investments. Going way back to the first book I read about investing, fittingly titled “Investing 101,” author Michele Cagan, CPA, says that “it’s usually not advisable to have more than six or seven mutual funds at a given time, or you can start to counterbalance your efforts to construct a strong portfolio.”

I started my search for a new sustainable ETF where I left off—with the VanEck Environmental Services ETF (EVX). Last I checked, this ETF fit my strategy on As You Sow with all A’s except for a fossil fuels grade of B and a gender equality grade of C. It also had an attractive expense ratio at 0.55%. To my dismay, the gender equality grade fell to D, disqualifying it from my strategy. This solidifies why I review my portfolio twice per year. An ETF might be attractive one month and then quickly lose its sustainable standing the next. Performing a monthly or quarterly review would produce too much turnover for what I can afford with the size of my portfolio (around $6,000) and the time I want to commit to investing.

Instead of planning my attack via the fossil fuels grade, I chose a different approach. Since it’s difficult for funds to grade well on gender equality, I filtered based on high gender equality grades of A or B. The first few contenders I found were quite colorful, with gender equality as their only A grade.

The Impact Shares NAACP Minority Empowerment ETF (NACP) certainly has a goal in mind: gender equality in addition to racial equality, investing in large- and mid-cap companies “with strong racial and ethnic diversity policies in place, empowering employees irrespective of their race or nationality.” As vital as this focus is to improving the world we live in, there is less attention to environmental issues, with a fossil fuels grade of F. It has been hard to find funds that can do it all, but I know they exist!

Further down the list, I stumbled on the IQ Healthy Hearts ETF (HART), which has grades of A for fossil fuels, gender equality, military weapons and tobacco, and grades of B for deforestation, civilian firearms and the prison industrial complex. Its purpose is a bit more focused: It’s “designed to deliver exposure to global companies that help people prevent cardiovascular disease.” Somehow, it manages to have attractive sustainability grades while also improving people’s lives.

Gritting my teeth, I checked AAII.com to see what the expense ratio was: a cool 0.45% with an expense ratio grade of B. This fits my strategy, and it will save me some money! The ETF hasn’t been around long, but it has grades of A or B for three-year, one-year and year-to-date returns.

Now that I have my portfolio actions, I just need the money to make it all happen. I liquidated the SmartyPig high-yield savings account goal I set up for investment funds. Unfortunately, I didn’t reach my goal of $2,000, but we’re going with what we have—which is just over half of that. With the proceeds from selling Global X Wind Energy, I should also be able to add some shares evenly across the rest of my holdings to ensure the cash in my portfolio gets put to work.

Now that I’ve been able to successfully find a fund that fits my strategy, I have a bit more hope for the future of sustainable investing. Because of this, I expect to add another holding to the mix to bring my portfolio up to six ETFs at my next portfolio review. Stay tuned to see how it all goes!

Sign up below to be notified by email when I post something new! If you do not have a WordPress account, you will need to create one.

Adding a New Climate Leader and Evaluating My Net Worth

Happy new year, it’s time to check in on my portfolio! At the middle of 2023, my portfolio consisted of five index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that fit my sustainable investing strategy. It has been pretty difficult to find investments for this approach, so I have had to learn as I go, stretching some of my rules to fit what is available to invest in. The financial industry is still catching up to the environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement, so some patience is required!

The two troublemakers I decided to keep in my portfolio last year have continued to be unimpressive: the Global X CleanTech ETF (CTEC) and the Global X Wind Energy ETF (WNDY). They have average As You Sow grades of B, but Global X CleanTech still has a gender equality grade of F and Global X Wind Energy’s fossil fuels grade remains at C—both grounds for deletion in my strategy. Though their expense ratios are favorable at 0.50%, they are the two worst performers in my portfolio, down 30.8% and 23.6% since addition.

When I searched for possible replacements for these two ETFs, I struggled to find even one that qualified. I began my quest on As You Sow, but the highest-graded ETFs on fossil fuels were severely lacking in all other areas: deforestation, gender equality, civilian firearms and military weapons, prison industrial complex and tobacco. So many had grades of D or F—a far cry from sustainable. I also used AAII’s ETF screener to see if I was missing anything, but the ETFs I found with low expense ratios had abysmal As You Sow grades.

Finally, I stumbled on the Etho Climate Leadership U.S. ETF (ETHO). It has an average As You Sow grade of B, with a gender equality grade of C. It has an expense ratio of 0.45%, which is below my 0.60% threshold. However, it has an expense ratio grade of C compared to its category. I’m trying to invest in ETFs with expense ratio grades of A or B, but I’m choosing to make an exception in this case. Ultimately, this expense ratio is lower than that of my two deletion candidates, meaning it will cost me less to hold it. Etho Climate Leadership also has decent five-year performance but significantly underperformed the market last year along with most stocks and ETFs.

Since I could only find one ETF to add to my portfolio, only one ETF will be deleted. The worst of the two, Global X CleanTech, has got to go! That gender equality grade of F has been dragging it down for too long, and it’s not even helping my portfolio’s performance—what’s the point?

Though I said in my blog post about reprioritizing my goals that I would invest another $2,000 in my Charles Schwab brokerage account if I made changes to my portfolio, I discovered that I should have enough between the proceeds from removing Global X CleanTech and the cash balance in my portfolio to invest an amount in Etho Climate Leadership that is equal to my other holdings. I’m choosing not to add more money this time because I’m also funding some other short-term goals. However, at my midyear portfolio review, I will invest more money into each position regardless of whether changes are made since I’ve been so consistent with my saving.

Speaking of saving, when I was evaluating my portfolio, I also calculated my net worth. I have been tracking my net worth on a quarterly basis consistently since October 2022. Since then, my net worth has increased by a cumulative 45.6%! I have added around $10,000 to my net worth, and I’m excited to see how the next year goes. Time to get even more competitive with myself!

Given all this traction I’ve made on my overall finances, I wanted to see how my net worth stacked up. According to The Hill, as of November 2023, the median net worth for those under age 35 is $39,000, while the average is $183,500. My net worth is below the median for my age range but not by so much that I couldn’t surpass it before turning 35. This gives me some idea of a goal to set for my rate of saving and increasing my net worth going forward.

Wishing you all a prosperous 2024!

Sign up below to be notified by email when I post something new! If you do not have a WordPress account, you will need to create one.

Midyear Portfolio Review and Finding an ESG Benchmark

We made it to the second half of the year already, which means it’s time for a midyear portfolio review! Let’s analyze my seven exchange-traded fund (ETF) holdings and determine if any of them will get the guillotine.

My review process involves looking at my portfolio holdings’ performance, expense ratios (how much investing in the ETF will cost me per year) and their As You Sow grades on fossil fuels, deforestation, gender equality, sales of guns and military weapons, the prison industrial complex and tobacco. I have potentially four holdings that could be deleted, but will I be replacing all of them?

All of my holdings are looking good on expense ratios and their grades; they’re all below 0.60% and have grades of A or B. However, three of my ETFs are having “Gender Trouble” (Judith Butler, 1990) with gender equality grades of F. One ETF’s fossil fuels grade slipped to C. These grade changes are all grounds for deletion in my investing strategy. When evaluating my ETFs on their performance, the four with unsatisfactory As You Sow grades were also the worst performers since being added to my portfolio:

I had a lot of trouble finding replacements for these ETFs that fit my stringent criteria for addition. Possibilities included the Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF (FTEC), with a prison industrial complex grade of C dragging it down, and the Nuveen Winslow Large-Cap Growth ESG ETF (NWLG), with all A’s and B’s on As You Sow but an expense ratio of 0.64% (grade of D).

Many of AAII’s model portfolios have a rule that if there are no suitable replacements for a stock, the stock should remain in the portfolio until one with better prospects is found. I’ve been thinking about implementing a similar rule for my own portfolio, but with a twist. Since I don’t have a certain number of ETFs that I am required to hold in my portfolio, I could delete an ETF without replacing it. My only rule is that I shouldn’t hold more than seven ETFs at once (for diversification purposes), but what if I held five instead?

Based on their poor performance and gender equality grades of F, I will be removing the Global X Hydrogen ETF (HYDR) and the Global X Solar ETF (RAYS) from my portfolio. I won’t be replacing them with anything new at this time, but hopefully when my next portfolio review rolls around at year-end, I can find something worthy. The other two underperformers with grade slippage will be reevaluated at my next portfolio review as well. Maybe they can get those grades up before then!

With my midyear lump-sum investment of $2,000 added to my brokerage account, I will buy more shares of my current holdings and make sure the money is as evenly distributed as possible among the ETFs.

Using AAII’s My Portfolio tool, I checked how my portfolio would be diversified after removing these two ETFs. I found that my allocations to domestic and foreign stock moved closer to the recommendation from the AAII Aggressive Allocation Model:

Recently, AAII’s lead editor of the Stock Superstars Report (SSR) Matt Markowski wrote about the benchmark used for the SSR portfolio. Choosing a benchmark for my own portfolio has been on my mind for a while. According to the article, “A portfolio benchmark allows individual investors to gauge the relative performance of their portfolios.” Especially in the current investment environment with a lot of red, I thought it would be important to see how my portfolio is doing compared to the majority of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments.

Most of the ESG indexes I initially found had companies in their top 10 holdings that I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole (Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Microsoft). Many of the indexes I found had more of a domestic focus, but since I have a sizable allocation to foreign stock, I knew my benchmark index would need a global view. Finally, I stumbled on Morningstar’s Global Markets Sustainability index. Morningstar’s transparency made it easy to see exactly what the index holds and how it’s constructed:

Year to date through June 30, 2023, the Morningstar Global Sustainability index is up 14.3%. My own portfolio’s performance isn’t in positive territory, but it’s good to know that it’s possible to outperform while sustainably investing.

PRISM Step 4: Selecting and Managing Your Investments

Read the rest of my blog posts in this series here to learn more about how to use the AAII PRISM Wealth-Building Process!

PRISM is a five-step method for aligning my investment decisions with my goals, created by AAII Journal editor Charles Rotblut. The fourth step of PRISM focuses on how to find specific investments that fit my investing strategy.

Charles emphasizes the need for creating buy and sell rules for my investments. There are lessons containing helpful guidelines for buying and selling stocks, bonds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Thankfully, I have already been going about this process outside of PRISM, so I have a portfolio and some loose rules in place for the ETFs I own.

Using the list of Buy and Sell Rules for Mutual Funds and ETFs provided in the fourth step of PRISM, I solidified my portfolio rules.

The first question that caught my eye is related to the ETF’s investment approach. Since my investing strategy is to find sustainable ETFs that aren’t destroying the earth, this is an important consideration for my portfolio.

When I first invested in March 2022, I made notes of the ETFs’ current As You Sow grades in AAII’s My Portfolio tool so I knew why they were attractive investments at the time. As You Sow’s screener grades funds based on their investments in stocks of companies that are profiting from the fossil fuel industry, deforestation, gender inequality, sales of guns and military weapons, the prison industrial complex and tobacco.

During my first portfolio review at the start of 2023, I came up with some rules for my ETFs’ As You Sow grades: In order to add an ETF to my portfolio, it must have mostly grades of A and B—with the exception of gender equality, which can have a grade of C. I made this distinction after much in-depth research about sustainable investing and determined that gender equality is the most common holdout on these kinds of investments. The corresponding sell rule to this is if any of the ETF’s As You Sow grades worsens to C and/or the gender equality grade falls to D then the ETF’s sustainable objective is no longer valid for my portfolio strategy and it should be kicked to the curb.

The next guideline is regarding expense ratios. An expense ratio is the cost investors pay for a fund’s portfolio management. Since I am mostly investing in index ETFs, the expense ratios on my investments should be relatively low.

In my first portfolio review, I determined that I did not want to invest in an ETF with an expense ratio of 0.60% or higher. I also noted that I was looking for expense ratio grades of C or better, but I am now rethinking this rule. If my buy rule is for an ETF with an expense ratio below 0.60% and corresponding grade of A or B, the equivalent sell rule is if that expense ratio increases above 0.60% or its grade falls to C.

Below are my very official buy and sell rules:

As I continue my investing discoveries, I will add to this list and share it with you all. Follow along with me as I venture through the PRISM Wealth-Building Process and solidify my financial plan for the future!

New Year, New Investments, Same Strategy

It’s time for some more investing! I accumulated another lump sum of $2,000 to add to my Schwab brokerage account, but I’m not sure how to distribute it. I know I want to add some new investments, but should I sell some too?

During the first time I invested back in March 2021, I chose seven index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that fit my personal environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. I started with AAII’s ETF Screener and filtered for socially responsible ETFs with low and below-average expense ratios in their category. From there, I added my investing ideas to AAII’s My Portfolio tracking tool and ran them through As You Sow’s screener, which grades funds based on their investments in stocks of companies that are profiting from the fossil fuel industry, deforestation, gender inequality, sales of guns and military weapons, the prison industrial complex and tobacco.

Unfortunately, the market took quite the fall last year, putting some of my klutziest moments to shame. Most of my initial investments have lost value since purchase, but I know that it’s not the end of the world. AAII taught me that bull markets last longer than bear markets, and by that logic there is hope!

This time, I started my search for new investments with a specific category in mind: vegan food. I found some vegan socially responsible ETFs through AAII’s ETF Screener but most of them had sky-high expense ratios. For instance, the VegTech Plant-Based Innovation & Climate ETF (EATV) has an expense ratio of 0.75%, giving it a category expense ratio grade of F. On As You Sow, it gets almost all A’s, with a B for gender equality. I’m looking for ETFs with expense ratios below 0.60%, but also with category grades of C or better. One vegan ETF that came close was the U.S. Vegan Climate ETF (VEGN)—it has a 0.60% expense ratio, putting it just above my limit, but it also has C grades for gender equality and the prison industrial complex on As You Sow, making it a less sustainable investment.

I decided to switch gears and use As You Sow’s screener to find sustainable investments at the source. I set the filters for grades of B or better for all categories except gender equality, since this is a common one that companies miss. I chose to go for C grades or better for gender equality since it’s something I’m willing to accept as long the grade doesn’t get worse.

This gave me a few more ideas to add to my index ETF list in the AAII My Portfolio tool: VanEck BioTech ETF (BBH), ClearBridge All Cap Growth ESG ETF (CACG), IQ Cleaner Transport ETF (CLNR), Global X Green Building ETF (GRNR), VanEck Morningstar ESG Moat ETF (MOTE) and Schwab U.S. REIT ETF (SCHH).

I recalled reading way back in Michele Cagan’s “Investing 101” that I shouldn’t have more than six or seven ETFs in my portfolio, because at that point there is likely to be some duplication that doesn’t do my portfolio any good. Since I currently hold seven ETFs, I will have to make a sell decision in order to add any new ones to my portfolio.

To determine if I even have something to sell based on my investing strategy, I evaluated my current investments on how their As You Sow grades fared over the last 10 months. When I first invested in the seven ETFs, I made notes of their current As You Sow grades in the My Portfolio tool so I knew what made them attractive when I bought them. With this analysis, I found that two ETFs were potentially on the chopping block: Defiance Next Gen H2 ETF (HDRO) and Fidelity Clean Energy ETF (FRNW). When I bought it, Defiance Next Gen H2 didn’t have a meaningful gender equality grade, but it has since changed to F, and its fossil fuels grade fell from C to D. Fidelity Clean Energy’s fossil fuels grade fell from B to C and its gender equality grade remains at D. I’m mainly basing my analysis on the fossil fuels grades falling, since these grades are more important to my strategy and gender equality will likely be the biggest uphill battle of sustainable investing.

So, I have my crops to harvest, but what will I be replacing them with? From the list of index ETFs I found this time around, VanEck BioTech graded best with all A’s on As You Sow, and CleanBridge All Cap Growth ESG and IQ Cleaner Transport received all A’s and B’s. Schwab U.S. REIT is also a contender with just a grade of C for gender equality dragging it down. If I choose to remove the two ETFs that no longer fit my investing strategy, I will likely add two new ETFs to fill their spots. This means I have to narrow down my list of potential ETFs. But how?

It’s time to take a look at sector diversification. Right now, I have a lot of industrials exposure with a few Global X ETFs, so I don’t want to add any more investments in that category. This means IQ Cleaner Transport is off the table. From here, I chose the two ETFs with the lowest expense ratios and expense ratio grades of A: VanEck BioTech with a 0.35% expense ratio and Schwab U.S. REIT with 0.07%! These will add exposure to the health and real estate sectors and further diversify my portfolio.

Though I now have some sell rules in place for my investments, I don’t have a schedule for evaluating them. I’m currently operating on a roughly annual basis, but with the ESG investing landscape in flux, it might make more sense to review my portfolio midyear as well.

I’ll keep you updated on how my investments fare in 2023!