The saver's power: What your money can really change

You have savings. You are told they can change the world. And you are also told they weigh nothing.

Both are a bit true. Let's look at what you can do, and what each move really shifts.

First power: the vote. A share is a piece of the company. And often, a vote at the general meeting.

Shareholders approve the accounts there, elect directors, and sometimes vote on executive pay.

You can vote remotely, by post or online, without going. And yet most small shareholders never vote.

A single vote does not change a result. But votes add up, and visible opposition forces a response.

If you go through a fund, the manager votes for you. Its voting policy is usually published. You can read it.

Second power: divesting. Selling shares in a company whose business you disapprove of.

But on the market, you always sell to someone. For the example, you sell five thousand euros of shares.

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A buyer pays you five thousand euros. The company receives nothing and loses nothing. Its shares have just changed hands.

Here is the twist: your sale alone deprives the company of no euro. It mostly changes what you own.

The effect exists when many sell at once. The share falls, and raising new money costs more.

And by selling, you lose your vote. Stay to vote, or leave to stop funding: it is a real choice.

Third power: changing bank. Your deposits are part of the resources it uses to fund its loans.

Leaving moves that resource to another bank. For one account, it is tiny. For thousands, it shows.

Before moving, look at what the new bank publishes about its financing. A promise is only worth something if it can be checked.

Fourth tool: measuring. You can estimate a portfolio's carbon footprint, in proportion to what you hold.

Say ten thousand euros in a company worth twenty billion that emits two million tonnes a year.

You own five ten-millionths of it. Your share of emissions: one tonne a year.

These measures rest on estimates. Two data providers can give different numbers.

And indirect emissions, those of customers and suppliers, are often poorly counted. The number is an order of magnitude.

Vote, sell, change bank, measure. No move is enough alone. Each shifts something specific.

The saver's real power is knowing what their money does. The rest is decided with full knowledge.