There are two different types of World funds. The first type is purchased through the company PAX, and these funds focus on socially responsible companies. The other type of World fund is purchased through a company called The World Funds. These funds are basically specialty mutual funds for people who are looking for a particular type of investment. For example, you can find mutual funds that are based entirely around the life sciences, or around a particular part of the world.
You might find yourself worried about whether or not the companies you invest in are responsible regarding the environment. If you’re worried about this, then you should look into World funds. These funds are designed so that the mutual fund will only purchase stocks and bonds from companies that are also rated well regarding the environment, treatment of employees, and other similar values.
Another facet of World funds is that most of the companies involved either create or sell products that have been determined to improve quality of life. This does not mean that every company that the world fund buys from will necessarily be perfect regarding your standards, however, chances are good that these companies will be better than most of the others you will find by shopping regular mutual funds.
World fund managers go a little bit beyond just choosing the right companies to invest in. The company that offers World funds, PAX, also lobbies to make sure that companies know there is a huge shareholder interest in being more socially and environmentally responsible.
PAX World funds has also joined a climate protection group that is dedicated to reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses that are given off each year. Therefore, if climate change is an important issue to you, you should definitely look into purchasing World funds as opposed to other mutual funds.
If you are looking for a specific type of mutual fund, then you should probably look at The World Funds, instead. While these funds are not guaranteed to be socially responsible, there are many specialty types of mutual funds that you can look into. Between these two World fund families, you should be able to find a mutual fund that meets your needs.