Research by Chase de Vere Medical, the Independent Financial Advisers, has shown that doctors are twice as likely to invest ethically as their non-medical counterparts.

Ethical investing, with the rise of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), sustainable investing and impact investing is becoming more popular. However, the latest figures from the Investment Association show that ethical funds still only account for 1.4% of total funds under management.

Chase de Vere Medical’s analysis, based on investments into 1,508 client portfolios since June 2018, found that 19.5% of doctors chose to invest in ethical portfolios compared with just 9.7% of non-medical professionals.

Andrea Sproates, Head of Chase de Vere Medical, says:

“We have provided financial advice services to medical professionals for 13 years and have advised over 12,000 doctors. During that time it has been clear that many doctors have been keen to invest ethically.

“This is because, in our experience, most doctors have a strong social conscience and have seen at first-hand the damage that can be caused by tobacco, alcohol and other ‘harmful’ sectors which are excluded in ethical funds.

“There is a view that ethical investing is favoured by millennials and will become more popular as they get older and acquire more wealth. What our research shows is that, with doctors more than twice as likely to invest ethically, there is already a strong demand for investments that can produce solid returns and are less harmful to our wider society.”