At the end of July, the US federal government passed bills in the House of Representatives that would provide legal protections to investment managers who sell holdings in companies involved in key sectors of Iran’s or Sudan’s economy.

Several weeks ago, Florida became the first US state to pass a law requiring their state pensions funds to divest from companies operating in Iran’s oil and mining sectors. Other states including Michigan, Texas, and Illinois are seeking to pass similar legislation.

This comes on the heels of a very successful Sudan divestment movement that started in Illinois and has since been implemented in various forms in over a dozen states.

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I had great fun teasing Peter Kinder today about a typo in an article published by Forbes. The piece mentions that KLD’s Domini 400 Index has averaged an annual return of 12.7% since its inception back in 1009. I asked Peter if William the Conqueror was an original investor.

Kidding aside, the Forbes piece is interesting as it mentions that while interest in hedge fund investing by wealthy individuals has dropped 10% over the past year, SRI assets acquired by the same group have tripled since 2005.

I never thought I would see the day when Forbes would downplay hedge funds to boost “SRI and ethical investing”.

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