Investing your money can be a scary and confusing process.    Where should you invest? What type of investments should you make? How can you be sure that your investments don’t contribute to unethical practices?   Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are growing in popularity due to their ease of trading while maintaining diversification benefits. And more ETFs are starting to focus on social good along with financial returns.    A new ETF, VEGN, aspires to tackle the concerns of vegans, animal rights activists, and environmentalists by steering clear of investing in companies that participate in animal abuse, destruction of the environment, and climate change.   Today’s guest, Claire Smith, is part of the team that launched VEGN.   She talks with Dotsie and Alexandra about how she’s using her financial and investment experience to grow the first vegan index on the market.   They discuss what an ETF is, how VEGN differs from the S&P 500, and how you can invest responsibly.     Tune in to hear how Claire is putting her money where her mouth is and how she’s making trading more ethical.   What we discuss in this episode:   - Five easy steps to switch to a plant-based diet   - Claire discusses what the US Vegan Climate ETF is all about   - How well do responsible portfolios perform?   - How the screening process works and what they do with the information   - The development of the index through a quantitative analysis   - What was Claire’s inspiration in creating the company?   - Check out the advisor site at www.beyondinvesting.com and learn more about VEGN at www.veganetf.com.   - To support our mission to educate, inspire, and embolden the world to lean into eating plants instead of baby cow growth food, donate today to spread the word.   Connect with Switch4Good   - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ2toqAmlQpwR1HDF_KKfGg   - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Switch4Good/   - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/switch4good/   - Twitter: https://twitter.com/SwitchForGood   - Website: switch4good.org