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People over Profits
“Funny thing is, is that data shows us that those who chase profit over people end up eroding the thing they covet.”
- The median total compensation for CEOs in the study rose by 21% to $30.9 million in 2025. Meanwhile, the median employee earned $96,548 in 2025, resulting in a CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio of 348 to 1.
Source: Investopedia - Starbucks’ CEO pay was the largest gap in 2024, with its CEO, Brian Niccol, receiving total compensation worth $95.8m, 6,666 times as much as the company’s $14,674 median pay.
Source: The Guardian - The average CEO-to-worker pay gap across the 100 companies in the S&P 500 with lowest median worker pay widened by 12.9% between 2019 and 2024, from 560 to 1 to 632 to 1.
- Over the past 40 years, worker productivity has surged by 62%, yet wages have only increased by 17.5%.
- 41 million Americans work gig or contract jobs without health insurance, retirement benefits, or a safety net to catch them when times get tough (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
- Just 32 fossil fuel companies were responsible for half the global carbon dioxide emissions driving the climate crisis in 2024.
Source: The Guardian - 13.7 percent of U.S. households were food insecure in 2024, marking the highest prevalence of U.S. food insecurity in nearly a decade.
Source: Evergreen Leadership - The wealthiest 1% held about $55 trillion in assets in the third quarter of 2025 — roughly equal to the wealth held by the bottom 90% of Americans combined.
Source: CBS News
“One thing we know about our business is that there are many things that can be copied: We all fly many of the same planes, go to many of the same destinations, buy our fuel from many of the same sources. The only things that cannot be replicated in the airline industry are our people and the culture of the company that is unique.” — Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Airlines
Source: People Magazine
We give an "A" grade to ratings with a score of 80-100, a "B" grade to ratings with a score of 60-80, and so on. Ratings are roughly normally distributed around a mean of 50.
Causes form the basis of impact ratings and analysis on Ethos ESG. Ethos currently has 45 causes available, based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). See descriptions of all causes, SDGs, metrics, and explore in more detail at www.ethosesg.com/definitions.
Light Money focuses on what we think are of the most common areas of concern for the public today based on what investors are telling us is important. These 6 causes are also personally near and dear to the team at Wayfinder Wealth Management.
The 3 metrics shown in the above 6 scorecards were selected by pulling Ethos data for each cause, sorting by weighting, and selecting the highest weighted metrics that had a measurable result while trying to minimize overlap and subjective scoring. These metrics are also aligned with the most common shareholder resolutions that are filed . For a full list of all causes, metrics, screens, and more, please visit www.ethosesg.com/definitions.