ESG investing at Merrill Edge as of August 2024
If you're investing for the long-term and can afford to look beyond simple profits and fees, ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) investing is a great way to contribute to a more sustainable future.
Merrill Edge is a great broker for ESG investing, providing a wide range of relevant assets and helpful tools.
I've thoroughly tested Merrill Edge services with our analyst team by opening a real-money account and these are my most important findings:
- ESG investing focuses on companies' environmental and social practices and impact
- Merrill Edge offers many ESG-themed assets to invest in
- Merrill Edge provides great tools to find and learn about ESG investments
|
Overall score
|
4.6 stars |
|---|---|
|
ESG score
|
4.7 stars |
|
ESG research quality
|
Great |
|
ESG ETFs
|
130 |
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ESG funds
|
50 |
|
ESG education quality
|
Mid-range |
Data updated on August 28, 2024
What is ESG investing?
Are you a long-term investor? Then you probably care deeply about what the world will look like in 20 or 30 years. If you want to help bring about a future that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive - and can afford to set aside some or all of your savings for this purpose - we suggest you turn your attention to ESG investing.
What is ESG investing? It is an increasingly popular investment trend that involves taking into account environmental, social and corporate governance factors when deciding what sectors or companies to invest in.
- Environmental criteria include companies' contribution to (or its efforts to prevent) climate change, pollution or biodiversity loss
- Social criteria focus on treating employees, customers and suppliers fairly; involvement in armed conflict or humanitarian crises; or efforts to tackle public health issues such as those related to smoking or alcohol consumption
- Corporate governance criteria involve transparency, protecting shareholders' rights, and leadership quality
The good news is that returns on ESG-focused investments are not necessarily inferior to those on non-ESG investments, although fees may be higher.
If you need more information, read our comprehensive introduction to ESG investing, or check out some helpful ESG investing strategies.
ESG assets at Merrill Edge
You can always make your own judgment whether a specific stock is ESG-compatible, but ESG investing is easiest via special ESG-themed ETFs (exchange-traded funds) or mutual funds. These are often special versions of popular index funds (such as those tracking the S&P 500) that give a larger weight to ESG-friendly stocks within the index or drop companies that engage in environmentally or socially harmful practices.
Here's what Merrill Edge and its closest competitors have to offer when it comes to ESG-themed instruments:
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ESG ETFs
|
130 | 130 | 130 |
|---|---|---|---|
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ESG funds
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50 | 264 | 500 |
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Stock and ETF fee scores
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5.0 stars | 4.1 stars | 5.0 stars |
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Mutual fund fee scores
|
2.6 stars | 0.4 stars | 2.6 stars |
Data updated on August 28, 2024
ESG tools at Merrill Edge
How can you tell if a stock has a good ESG record? Some brokers have great screeners that help you find the best ESG stocks among the thousands of stocks out there. Short of that, a good search function on your broker's trading platform can help you find ESG-themed ETFs or mutual funds. Some brokers also offer educational articles or webinars on ESG investing.
Here's how we rated these tools at Merrill Edge and some of its immediate competitors:
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ESG research quality
|
Great | Great | Mid-range |
|---|---|---|---|
|
ESG education quality
|
Mid-range | Mid-range | Great |
Data updated on August 28, 2024
Best brokers for ESG investing
Do you want to zoom out and pick the best broker for long-term investment based on a full set of criteria including fees, trading platform experience and product selection? Look no further than our list of the best brokers for ESG investing.
Check out this short video for a behind-the-scenes peek into how our experts personally test and evaluate brokers.
Further reading
- Diversifying your investments
- Merrill Edge stock conditions explained
- Stock trading at Merrill Edge: an expert guide and rating
- Merrill Edge penny stocks trading conditions explained
- Merrill Edge bond availability
- ETF trading conditions at Merrill Edge explained
- Merrill Edge fractional shares trading conditions explained
- Are margin interest rates low at Merrill Edge?
- Merrill Edge cash interest rate
- Merrill Edge invest $100,000
- Merrill Edge IPO accessibility
- Merrill Edge Mexican stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge US stock trading details
- Merrill Edge Australian stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Canadian stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Japanese stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge French stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Italian stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Swiss stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Hong Kong stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Dutch stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Spanish stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Singapore stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Swedish stocks trading availability
- Merrill Edge Norwegian stocks trading availability
Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.