A new report shows that 401(k) Savings Plans of 12 high-profile US tech sector leaders may have been $5.13 billion richer had it divested from the energy sector ten years ago.
The white paper by Michael Zonta, PhD candidate in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, analyzed the difference of total returns between 2014 and 2023 in the US tech sector and found that annual performance would have yielded a greater return for 401(k) members on an absolute and risk-adjusted basis under the energy sector divestment strategy, even during the pandemic. The average difference between the total returns over the 10-year sample period was approximately nine per cent or 0.86% per year.
Michael will be presenting the findings of this work at the upcoming webinar: Invest Your Values, on May 15 at The True Cost of Fossil Fuels in Tech 401(k)s Webinar.
The paper, The Impact of Energy Sector Investments on the Financial Value of Tech 401(k) Funds was funded by the SunRise Project with support from AsYouSow.org.