Buying "Clean" (Part 1).

I made another small buy into risk this week - £250 into iShares S&P Gbl Clean Energy. I did deliberate fairly long and fairly hard before doing so as it did feel like a bit of an indulgence. I don't know much about the industry and it is almost as risky as Shin Nippon with a TrustNet score of 176. But I really like the ethos behind the fund.

The S&P Global Clean Energy Index offers exposure to the 30 largest and most liquid listed companies globally that are involved in clean energy related businesses, from both developed markets and emerging markets

The news for clean energy has been an interesting mix recently (both on the ground and in the investment arena ) which means it is difficult to predict how things will go, but the amount I have put in is very small, I have nothing else in the energy/commodity range, it is an ETF so the fees are minimal and I do feel in tune with the product. I shall probably not add to this more than 3 or 4 times a year, possibly in rotation with the Shin Nippon.

So, I think my appetite for a little risk taking should now be satisfied.

I was finally spurred on to let myself have these two small indulgences by a comment I read on the moneysavingexpert forum. It was made in response to someone who, like me, has a decent public sector pension waiting for them at normal retirement age but who was wondering how to manage their investments in order to supplement this. Someone made the suggestion that perhaps they could think of their pension as a whole load of inflation linked gilts and plan the rest of their allocation accordingly. I had a bit of a light bulb moment when I read this because it makes perfect sense and gives me a reason to put my ISA funds into equities without having to worry too much about balancing this with fixed income.

I appreciate that the time-frame is important with all this and that when I am going to need the money I will have to start moving the risky bits into something that is less likely to bomb but, as far as the biggest part of the ISA is concerned, this shouldn't be for around 8 -10 years.

The SIPP that I have just started is a different matter and I intend to take a lot more care with ensuring that this will not be prone to massive jumps and dips as I will definitely need that in 8 years. My FSAVC, which I will need in 5, is invested in a very safe fund with a Trustnet risk rating of 8, so I'm not going to worry about that one especially as I phoned them this week (I am well overdue an annual statement) and it has risen by around £1,300 over and above what I put in this year and so seems to be on track to give me the £22,000 I will need in 5 years time.

So, all-in-all, I'm not feeling too reckless and irresponsible by raising my risk profile and investing in the future of the planet (and that's a whole other post).