Cautious Measures, Unsweetened

Lisa Bergmann, a 30-year-old PhD student at a northern German university, is embarking on a journey to secure her retirement with a focus on sustainability. Employed as a scientific assistant, Lisa's professional situation may change after her PhD, making it an ideal time to plan for the future.

Lisa's retirement planning budget is set at 300 euros per month. In her pursuit of a sustainable future, she is exploring two providers for her retirement planning: Condor Insurance from the cooperative sector, known for its comprehensive fund selection, low costs, and transparency, and Allianz and InterRisk, two providers of unit-linked pension insurance.

The unit-linked pension insurance offers a significant advantage over traditional deposit investments, with taxation according to the half-income procedure at the end of the runtime, compared to the withholding tax with a pure deposit investment. This feature appeals to Lisa, who is not interested in managing her retirement savings alone.

Sustainability, for Lisa, encompasses ecology, social aspects, and corporate governance. It is a broad and often subjectively defined concept. In her consultation, Lisa is not focusing on financial mathematics, but rather on achieving the most genuine sustainability possible.

One aspect of sustainability that Lisa is not interested in is the involvement of soft drink manufacturers Pepsi and Coca-Cola, due to their perceived unsustainability. This stance was further reinforced by the recent lawsuit in the US suggesting potential investment risks due to the companies' complicity in the spreading obesity epidemic.

Moreover, Lisa has taken notice of the MSCI World SRI, a sustainability-criteria-filtered brother of the larger MSCI World. This index, which focuses on companies with strong environmental, social, and governance practices, aligns with Lisa's values and goals for her retirement planning.

In the wake of Cristiano Ronaldo's notable action during the European Football Championship, where he removed Coca-Cola bottles from a press conference and replaced them with water, causing a temporary loss of 4 billion dollars in the company's stock value, the issue of sustainability in corporate practices has gained more attention.

As Lisa's professional situation evolves, her commitment to sustainable retirement planning remains unwavering. She is navigating this complex landscape with a clear vision and a focus on transparency and active management, ensuring a sustainable future for herself.