The older people get, the less of their money tends to be in actual stocks,
Eh it’s still a ton. And even then it’s in bonds which a good amount are corporate bonds, and guess what the corporation wants to do.
the shares managed by retirement funds are inevitably non-voting,
Really doesn’t alleviate the pressure of “maximize the shareholder value at all costs”. Fiduciary duty is ingrained, it doesn’t need to be actively decided on by the board.
And you do get rich from stocks, not that you need to because it’s a retirement fund. I think you’re barking up the wrong tree trying to pin this on the fund managers. They personally don’t even care if the stock goes up, because they get a percent fee no matter what.
My point was more that the corporate behavior is geared towards pleasing fund managers rather than retirees or people with retirement accounts.
The fund manager decides where the money goes, so they’re the ones that need to be happy. Yes, legally both the fund manager and the company have a fiduciary duty to the literally millions of people with 401ks that put money into their stock or fund, but in practice it’s fund managers who matter.
If blackrock says that all things being equal, they’re going to preferentially invest in sustainable companies, suddenly companies have an incentive to make themselves sustainable by whatever metric blackrock is using. Likewise when an investment firm doesn’t reduce their stake in an insurance company for harming patient outcomes.
Non-voting means the CEO can be sued by them, but not replaced. It’s a different level of responsibility.
Eh it’s still a ton. And even then it’s in bonds which a good amount are corporate bonds, and guess what the corporation wants to do.
Really doesn’t alleviate the pressure of “maximize the shareholder value at all costs”. Fiduciary duty is ingrained, it doesn’t need to be actively decided on by the board.
And you do get rich from stocks, not that you need to because it’s a retirement fund. I think you’re barking up the wrong tree trying to pin this on the fund managers. They personally don’t even care if the stock goes up, because they get a percent fee no matter what.
My point was more that the corporate behavior is geared towards pleasing fund managers rather than retirees or people with retirement accounts.
The fund manager decides where the money goes, so they’re the ones that need to be happy. Yes, legally both the fund manager and the company have a fiduciary duty to the literally millions of people with 401ks that put money into their stock or fund, but in practice it’s fund managers who matter.
If blackrock says that all things being equal, they’re going to preferentially invest in sustainable companies, suddenly companies have an incentive to make themselves sustainable by whatever metric blackrock is using. Likewise when an investment firm doesn’t reduce their stake in an insurance company for harming patient outcomes.
Non-voting means the CEO can be sued by them, but not replaced. It’s a different level of responsibility.
I still think your barking up the wrong tree. They are one cog in the machine which demand fiduciary duty.