Sloane Ortel
Founder & Chief Investment Officer, Ethical Capital
What I Believe
What I believe about this industry
- Asking "how little of this do I have to do?" treats ethical constraints as a compliance cost. That's a profound failure of creativity.
- When every client gets their own screen, the firm loses its power to act as a collective force in the market.
- Avoiding preventable harm isn't just an ethical stance. It's a framework for identifying risks the market systematically underprices.
Why I do this
- I've known I was going to manage money since I was five or six.
- It's the greatest game in the world and I get paid to play it.
- I started Ethical Capital because the industry needed a firm that chose client interests every time — not just when it was easy.
Career
Founder & Chief Investment Officer
Founded July 2, 2021. Began accepting deposits September 1, 2021. Portfolio manager and architect of the firm's exclusions framework.
Content Manager, Enterprising Investor
2010–2018. Global editorial role at the world's largest association of investment professionals.
Registered Representative
2007–2008. Managed a portfolio of auction rate preferred securities and conducted quantitative tactical asset allocation research as a registered representative at 19.
Formal Bio
Sloane Ortel is the founder and chief investment officer of Ethical Capital LLC, a state-registered investment advisory firm based in Provo, Utah. Ethical Capital's organizing principle is to avoid preventable harm to living things — a framework that shapes both its investment screening and its portfolio construction. She serves as portfolio manager of the firm's flagship Growth strategy as well as its Income and Diversification strategies.
Ortel's investment career began at Oppenheimer & Co. in 2007, a few months before the financial crisis. Before founding Ethical Capital in July 2021, she spent nearly a decade at CFA Institute as a frequent voice on responsible and long-term investing, writing and editing for Enterprising Investor. She wrote the "Inclusion in Wealth" column for Citywire RIA from 2020 to 2022, and co-authored the CFA Institute Investment Idea Generation Guide with Jason Voss, CFA. She was named a 2023 Rising Star by Financial Planning magazine and has presented to audiences of 100+ investment professionals, including at the US Mission to the United Nations.
She is co-founder of Woodcache PBC, a carbon removal developer in the intermountain west. She is based in Provo, Utah.
Beyond Ethical Capital
- — Woodcache PBC — Co-founder. Efficient, durable carbon removal projects in the intermountain west.
- — Skiing — Living in Utah with access to extraordinary snow, and not wasting it.
- — Gardening — Killing the lawn and replacing it with wildlife-friendly perennials.
Published Works
International Retirement Guide
Should I Leave America? A guide for Black, queer, trans, and marginalized Americans
- — The Seven Questions: A Decision Framework for International Retirement
- — Safety by Identity: What Black, Queer, and Trans Expats Need to Know
- — The Other Side of the Ledger: What Your Move Costs the Place You're Moving To
- — What to Do Next
- — …and destination guides for 37 cities across 20+ countries
Research & Articles
- 2024 A Subtle Rebuttal to an Energy 'Realist'
- 2024 What We Own Right Now and Why
- 2024 What I'd Tell Your Chief Investment Officer about Divestment
- 2024 Where Returns Came from in 2023
- 2023 What Antique Dolls Taught Me About Valuation
- 2023 3 Practical Questions for Corporate Stewards About Decarbonization
- 2023 Why ESG Investing Has Been Such a Letdown
- 2023 The Climate Conundrum
- 2023 They Grow Up So Fast
- 2023 Seek Perfection Elsewhere
- 2023 Do You Need Diversification?
- 2023 How We Measure Investment Performance
- 2023 Stock Market Performance: What Should You Expect When You're Investing?
- 2023 12 Resources to Help You Create Your Charitable Giving Plan
- 2023 What Would a Recession Actually Mean for Long-Term Investors?
- 2022 Why We Need A New Food System Now
- 2022 How I Became an Active Manager
- 2022 Don't Stop With Divestment
- 2022 Why We Own Farmer Mac
- 2021 5 Investment Lessons from the Compost Pile
Media Mentions
- 2026 ESG Watch: Investor climate group reborn with weaker pledges — Reuters
- 2025 Dog Whistling for Dollars: The Investment Case for Transphobia — Inc. Magazine
- 2024 Why budgeting is terrible advice for lower-income people — Salon
- 2024 Trans Financial Planning Guide — Autostraddle
- 2024 Under the Hood Podcast: Ethical Investing Deep Dive — Stallion Capital
- 2024 20 LGBTQ+ Business Leaders on the Importance of Visibility — Inc. Magazine
- 2024 Women Entrepreneurs Building Animal-Friendly Companies — PETA
- 2023 Compound Insights Podcast: Ethical Investment Strategies — CFA Society New York
- 2022 How my values transitioned me from a passive to active investor — Morningstar India
- 2021 Vegan Mainstream: Plant-Based Investing and Business — Vegan Mainstream
- 2021 Sloane Ortel launches Invest Vegan — Financial Planning
- 2017 Gay on Wall Street: LGBTQ+ Finance Professionals Breaking Barriers — Institutional Investor
External Publications
Books
- — Investment Idea Generation Guide — with Jason Voss, CFA, CFA Institute
- 2020 What I learned when I came out as transgender
- 2021 Don't fall for the 'cognitive diversity' cop-out
- 2021 Decolonizing your diversification
- 2021 How to build an RIA inclusively
- 2022 The vegan investor
- 2014 Can Financial Advisers Make Their Clients Happy?
- 2017 Active vs. Passive vs. Amazon et al.
- 2018 The Seven Kinds of Asset Owner Institutions
- 2018 How to See the Hidden Risks of ETFs
- 2018 You May Beat an Algorithm Today — What About Tomorrow?
Sloane Ortel was named a 2023 Rising Star by Financial Planning magazine (Arizent), an annual award recognizing up to 10 early-career RIA professionals for advancing the profession through their work and service to clients. Recipients are selected by Financial Planning's editorial team based on accomplishments and community contributions; no more than 10 years of industry experience is required for eligibility. No compensation was paid to or received by Ethical Capital in connection with this recognition. Past awards are not indicative of future advisory outcomes.