Super

If you want to invest more than 9 per cent into super, but you'd prefer your superannuation company wasn't investing in industries or companies you're not keen on because you're opposed to, say, its mistreatment of Mama Nature, shop around for a fund that lets you stipulate what industries you're happy for your funds to be invested in.

As with managed funds - where you pool moolah with other investors to buy shares in 10, 20 or even hundreds of companies, plus other assets - all super funds have to give prospective members a Product Disclosure Statement. "If the fund takes things like labour standards, the environment or other social and ethical considerations into account, the Statement has to tell you how it goes about this," says Delia Rickard, senior executive leader for consumers and retail investors at the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC). "If the fund doesn't regard these factors, that has to be in the Statement, too."

ASIC's website fido.gov.au has tops info about super and other types of investments, and WH money expert Justine Davies, author of How to Afford a Husband, says the Responsible Investment Association Australasia website (responsibleinvestment.org) is a great starting point to find a fund that fits.

Banks

Got a beef with the big banks? Look into putting your money into a credit union or building society instead. They're still regulated under the banking act and supervised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), so in terms of regulation there are no material differences.

"In terms of how they are set up, though, there is an important point of difference with credit unions and mutual building societies being owned by their members (their members being the customers)," says Davies. "So by setting up an account with a credit union or mutual building society you are taking an ownership in the business, which gives you a say in how it is run. To have a degree of ownership in a large bank you have to buy shares - simply having an account there won't cut it," she continues.

"Because of that ownership structure credit unions and building societies are often quite community-focused. A great place to find out some handy consumer information about credit unions and building societies is abacus.org.au."

In terms of the investment ability of credit unions and building societies, Davies says they're interest rates on deposit products are usually at least as good as those offered by banks. "A great place to shop around for good interest rates on deposits is ratecity.com.au. You can search by highest interest rate, highest star rating or narrow the search to banks or non-banks."