Disinvestment

You’ve got a couple choices. Dis-investment. Dat-investment. But disinvestment refers to the process of a...kind of whiney financial boycott. It’s a common thing among university students, who are high on intellectual horsepower, and low on self-awareness.

Like the little rich kid who complains to Daddy about the underpaid workers in his shirt factory...as the kid drives that shiny new convertible BMW with the souped-up stereo set. Students often protest universities investing in things like tobacco, oil, types of tech companies…and that's really kind of funny and sad. Because, you know…students—late teenagers…really have tons of professional investment experiences, and have seen lots of market cycles. They really know what they’re doing when it comes to the stock market.

So yeah...that's the funny part. And the sad part is that, for better or worse, over time, those industries they want to boycott have traditionally been really good industries—i.e. good investment returns. So when they push the university to sell its 0.0001% of the company, they then lose those good investment gains.

And that endowment money is often earmarked for scholarships. So…who does it hurt? Well, students 5...10...20 years later, who actually need the scholarship money...and then don’t get it.

But at least the boycott really affected how Chevron drilled for oil, right?