Part of being a shareholder is corporate governance.? It is incumbent on us to vote the proxies we receive.? To my left, I have ten or so proxies I will vote tomorrow.
If we don’t vote our? proxies we have no right to complain about corporate governance.? And, for those who own mutual funds, have you told your mutual fund company what you care about?? They may or may not listen to you, but if they hear a decent number saying the same thing, they might take your position, multiplying your opinion by ten or more.
Voting proxies is a matter that helps keep shareholder capitalism morally legitimate.? Without it, corporation managements are tempted to do as they please, which generally leads to worse results for all but management.
And if I might get on the soapbox for a moment, I would like to say that we all as investors should begin to vote down management pay and incentive packages where we can.? Let’s engage in brinkmanship.? They are paid well enough already.? If they don’t get the increase, where will they go?? And, isn’t there a lot of talent in the wings that could replace them?? My view is the best management teams are those that love what they do for the challenge, rather than the money.
Incentives for the rank and file are another matter, and should be approved, unless they are excessive.? Also, ignore the special interests of the loony left who own stock only to affect corporate policy.
That’s all.? I have been traveling and am rather tired.? But vote your proxies!
Perhaps if more fund managers held management (and BoD’s) to account many scandals and other Very Bad Things could be avoided. Alas, we can only hope, eh?
Hi Mr. Merkel.
One of the problems I see with the proxy items re: executive compensation is that they are non-binding. That may mean something other than I think, but my current impression is that it means the board can ignore the vote.
Board members also seem to be highly compensated. For example, McDonalds board members are making 230,000 per year.
I also have the impression (which may have been too heavily influenced by a few notable cases) that board members and executives come from the same sphere and are a little too cozy scratching each others’ backs. When I see the slate of board nominees and read their profiles in the proxy statement, I cringe because of the lack of choice.
PS: I am curious how you choose to vote on board members, given the limited information available about them.