Get out the (proxy) vote!
With the 2016 elections still months away, the wall-to-wall media coverage may leave you itching to cast your vote early. Consider putting that energy to good use by making your voice heard on corporate issues. Today, corporations make most decisions of consequence in our society. As the owner or shareholder of a stock or shares of a mutual fund, you are part owner of a corporation. That means you have both rights and responsibilities. You have the right to sit with management, be an insider, and work for change through constructive activism. Part of that activism means understanding how your mutual fund company votes on matters pertaining to the individual companies they invest in. During corporate America’s “proxy season,” which is between April 15 and June 30 each year, most of America’s largest publicly traded corporations hold their annual meetings to vote on company business as well as various proposals introduced by shareholders, which appear on proxy ballots. Resolutions are voted on during a company’s annual meeting and often deal with issues of importance to values-conscious investors–like human rights issues. And it’s not necessary to be present to vote. Mutual fund companies vote proxy ballots in absentia on behalf of their investors.