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ScreenMine: a personal values investment screener you write yourself
Write down what you will not hold, then check the holdings yourself.
ScreenMine is a personal values investment screener for people who already know what they will not hold. You write the exclusion list in plain words and check it against a fund's published holdings, rather than relying on one broad sustainability label.
Waitlist Not built yet Updated 5 September 2026
What problem does ScreenMine solve?
You have a short, specific list. Perhaps it is no private prisons and no coal, or no gambling and no tobacco, with nuclear power fine and defense a question you have not settled. The list is yours, and it does not match any three-letter label printed on a factsheet. So you do what the apps make easy. You pick the fund with the sustainable word in its name and assume somebody applied a filter you would recognize. Months later you open the holdings page out of curiosity and find a line you would never have chosen on purpose, there because it scored well on measures that have nothing to do with your list. Or you try the other route, read the methodology document, meet revenue thresholds you cannot translate into your own words, and give up somewhere in the third PDF. The information is public. It is simply spread across a factsheet, a holdings file, and a policy document, in three different formats, none of which asks what you actually object to.
Exclusion list builder
Tick the industries you will not hold and add your own to get a list you can hand to a screener or an adviser.
Free to use. No account. Nothing you type here is stored.
What would ScreenMine do?
ScreenMine would do two plain things. First, it would help you write the list: tick from a set of common exclusions, then add your own lines in your own words, because the ones that matter most to you are rarely on anybody else's checklist. The list is text you own, and you can copy it, print it, or hand it to whoever manages your money. Second, it would hold that list beside a set of holdings you paste in and mark the lines worth a closer look. ScreenMine would not decide for you. It would not score a company, rank a fund, or say what to buy. Where the underlying data is thin or absent, it would say so instead of filling the gap with a guess. The judgement stays with you, which is the only place a values list can sensibly live.
How would it work?
- 1Tick the exclusions you already know about and write the rest in your own words.
- 2Copy the finished list as plain text you can keep, print, or hand to an adviser.
- 3Paste a set of holdings and see which lines touch something on your list.
- 4Run the check again when a new holdings file appears, because holdings change and lists do too.
Who is it for?
- First-time investors who care about two or three exclusions and nothing else on the label.
- People with a workplace pension who want to ask their provider a precise question.
- Anyone handing an adviser a written list instead of a vague instruction to keep it ethical.
How do you screen your portfolio for ethical holdings without a tool?
Write the list first, on paper, before you look at a single fund. Not adjectives: nouns. "No thermal coal" is a line somebody can check. "Sustainable" is not. Put each exclusion on its own line and, beside it, note how you would recognize a breach. Some lines are easy, like a whole industry. Some are hard, like a practice deep in a supply chain, and knowing which is which saves an argument later. Then find what a fund actually holds. Regulated funds publish their holdings, usually as a monthly or quarterly file linked from the fund's own page under holdings, portfolio, or documents. Take the spreadsheet version if there is one; a PDF works, it is just slower. Sort by weight and start at the top, because the largest positions are the ones you own the most of. Now do the checking by hand, since this is the part no label does for you. Go down your list, use the search box on the holdings file for the obvious names and sectors, and mark three columns: clear, breach, and unsure. Unsure is a real answer. Write down why, and what you would need to know to settle it. Two habits make this stick. Check before you buy rather than after, because selling later carries costs that reading a file does not. And check again when a new holdings file appears, since funds trade and your list is a standing preference, not a one-off decision. If somebody else manages the money, send the list exactly as written and ask them to confirm in writing which lines they can and cannot honour. A specific list gets a specific answer. A vague instruction gets a brochure.
What do people use today?
| Option | Good at | The gap |
|---|---|---|
| Sustainability labels and ratings on a fund page | One glance, free, and right there at the moment you are choosing between funds. | Each provider defines its label its own way, and no label was built around the particular lines you wrote. |
| A fund's own published holdings file | The actual list of what you would own, straight from the provider, free and authoritative. | A long file with no connection to your list, republished on a schedule you have to remember to follow. |
| Screening filters inside an investing app | Built into the place you already buy, so applying one takes a tap and needs no export. | The filters are the ones the app chose to offer, and a line you wrote yourself usually has nowhere to go. |
| Asking a financial adviser to apply your restrictions | A person who can interpret an unclear line, take responsibility for it, and answer follow-up questions. | Costs money, still needs a clearly written list from you, and the checking happens out of your sight. |
What would it cost?
Free
$0
- One saved exclusion list
- Copy or print the list as plain text
Personal
$9/mo
- Unlimited lists and saved versions
- Check pasted holdings against your list
- Re-check when a new holdings file appears
- A one-page list you can send to an adviser
Household
$19/mo
- Everything in Personal
- Shared lists for two people
- A separate list per account
Prices are proposed. Founding members lock in the lowest price if we build ScreenMine.
Questions people ask
What is a personal values investment screener?
A personal values investment screener checks what an investment actually holds against a list of things somebody has decided not to own. The list is written by the person, not by a ratings provider. The screener compares and reports what it finds, and recommends nothing.
Is ScreenMine an esg screener for individuals?
ScreenMine is near that idea but starts from the other end. A score compresses many measures into one rating set by whoever built it. ScreenMine holds your own written exclusions instead, so the standard being applied is one you can read, argue with, and change.
Can ScreenMine exclude companies from an investing app I already use?
No. ScreenMine has no connection to a brokerage and cannot place, block, or reverse a trade. ScreenMine reports what a set of holdings contains when read against your list. What happens next takes place in your own account, in your own time.
Does ScreenMine tell me what to buy?
No. ScreenMine gives no investment advice, names no fund or company as a suggestion, and takes no view on whether any holding is a good idea. What to buy, and whether screening suits your circumstances at all, is your decision or your adviser's.
Where would the holdings data come from?
From the fund's own published holdings file, which you paste or upload. ScreenMine would not invent data. Where a file is out of date, partial, or silent about what a fund holds indirectly, ScreenMine would report the answer as incomplete rather than clean.
What if a line on my list is hard to check?
Mark it unsure and leave it there. Whole-industry exclusions are usually straightforward. Practices further down a supply chain often are not, and a list that admits the difference is more useful than one pretending every line is settled.
Does screening change what my money earns?
ScreenMine makes no claim either way, and anyone answering that confidently for your case is guessing. Screening changes what you own. What that does to a return depends on things this page cannot see and does not model. Ask a qualified adviser about your own position.
When will ScreenMine launch?
No date is set. ScreenMine gets built only if enough people join this list and say a written exclusion list is worth paying for. Joining costs nothing, and the list builder on this page works today.
Where does this stand?
ScreenMine is a proposal, not a product. This page collects demand from search and answer engines. Askwright builds it only if enough people join the waitlist and say they would pay. Read how this works.
This page and its list builder are general information, not financial or investment advice. Nothing here recommends a holding, a fund, or a provider. Check anything you rely on with a qualified professional or an official source.