God Beats the Devil By .58%

I was thumbing through this week's National Review when I encountered an ad for a virtue fund pleading that we "find joy in morally responsible investing." The ad touts that its portfolio doesn't support abortion, pornography, or companies with non-marital partner benefits, a code phrase for homosexual civil rights. It looks like God is with the money managers in this case, although just barely. When you compare the S&P 500 index over the last year, the return is 15.79 percent. The Ava Maria Rising Dividend Fund has a return of 17.89 percent, which is .58 percent better than the Vice Fund with major holdings in tobacco and gambling at 17.31 percent.

God and the devil are both winning strategies, because the strategy has more to do with portfolio concentration than morality.

Read more.

http://www.vicefund.com/fundfacts.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2123644/