vice investing

n.

An investment strategy that targets companies selling products related to human vices, such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and weapons.

— vice investment n.

— vice investor n.

Example Citations:

Ms. Waxler says her basket of vice stocks outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index by 42 per cent for the five years to Dec. 31.

Not only is vice investing more fun, she argues, it's financially sound: The sin stocks have little correlation to the overall market, and the more the economy tanks, the more people need their alcohol, tobacco and pornography.

— Carolyn Leitch, "Tired of ethical investing? Profit from vice instead," The Globe and Mail, March 20, 2004

The idea of vice investing has also created a buzz in the literary world. St. Martin's Press is due to release a new book on the subject by Dan Ahrens, manager of the VICE Fund. 'Investing in Vice: The Recession Proof Portfolio of Booze, Bets, Bombs, and Butts,' should be in bookstores nationwide in January 2004.

— "Sin Stocks Pay Off!," Business Wire, October 7, 2003

Earliest Citation:

As our vice index shows, investors' weaknesses can actually help them win in the investment game. Our five chosen "vice" stocks have all outperformed the FTSE All-Share.

— Vlada Tkach, "Vice Investing," Investor's Chronicle, November 16, 2001

Notes:

This phrase, from the Gordon Gekko "greed is good" school of investing, has been in the news of late thanks to the recent publication of two vice investing books: Stocking Up on Sin by Caroline Waxler (John Wiley; February, 2004) and Investing in Vice by Dan Ahrens (St. Martin's; February, 2004). As the second example citation points out, Ahrens is the manager of the Vice Fund, a mutual fund started in August, 2002 that, according to its prospectus, looks for "companies that derive a significant portion of their revenues from products often considered socially irresponsible."

This is also called vice-based investing (2002), sinful investing (2003), and unethical investing (2002), the latter being the proper linguistic and financial opposite of ethical investing (1980).

Related Words:

bads

greenwash

herd investment

investorism

Category:

Stock Market and Investing