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We made our money march

February 16, 2024
Shlomo Bernartzi

Over the past two weeks, we joined with over 50 different organizations and celebrities, and with you, our community, to get everyone the option to stop investing in fossil fuels. We were a part of the Virtual March to Retire Big Oil, and we got the message out in a big way. The march's content has gotten 25M impressions - that means millions of people have now heard about this issue who had never thought about it before. We had articles feature our cause in Fast Company, the SF Chronicle, 401(k) Specialist, Good Good Good, and more. The march reached a wide variety of outlet types, including a publication read by many 401(k) advisors across the US.

Tons of celebrities participated, including Don Cheadle on Instagram, Shepard Fairey on Instagram, Bill de Blasio on Twitter, Michael Ian Black on Twitter, Andy Richter on Twitter and Instagram, Elaine Hendrix on Twitter and Instagram, Bill McKibben on Twitter, Rex Lee on Instagram, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on Instagram and LinkedIn, and more. By sharing our cause with their audiences, they not only spread awareness, but they made it clear that this issue matters - for them, for regular people everywhere, and for the planet.

We reached the tech audience of FastCompany.

401(k) Specialist is a major publication among the 401(k) audience.

Our op-ed in the digital and print editions of the SF Chronicle was seen by millions.

We marched. Now what?

March participants will get a newsletter with dispatches each week for the next few months, helping them get smart on how to invest in a way that’s safe for your wallet and for the planet, and offering coordinated actions we can all take to get our employers and financial institutions to start offering climate-friendly options.

Here’s a preview of what’s to come:

  • Learn how heavily you’re invested in fossil fuels now
  • Retirement investing 101 (how to diversify properly, how to think about risk tolerance, etc.)
  • What are the returns of climate-safe investments?
  • Get your employer to start offering climate-safe options
  • An overview of climate-friendly funds
  • How to respond to push-back
  • An overview of green investment advisors
  • Mapping the 401(k) decision-making system
  • How to exit the 401(k) system entirely

After a few months of a crash-course on getting climate-friendly options in our 401(k)s, organizers will dial back with periodic updates, sharing wins from our community and actions we can all take together to create change.

For now: You can sign up to get the newsletter here.

Learn the stats

Here are some nerdy truths you can share over cocktails (or mocktails) this weekend:

It's hard to believe but 19% of all money invested in fossil fuels comes from retirement plans.
99% of people have no climate-friendly option in their retirement plan. For most people, if you want a 401(k) you have to invest in big oil.
Big oil spends billions trying to convince us this graph isn't true, but the data shows: oil and gas investments are bad for your wallet and for our planet. They have been the worst-performing sector of the US Economy over retirement-time-scale timeframes.
Getting oil & gas out of your 401(k) can have a bigger impact than every other action you can take to reduce your emissions, combined.

Spread the word

Sign up to keep in touch with the Virtual March to Retire Big Oil here: RetireBigOil.org.

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