USSG
Xtrackers MSCI USA Selection Equity ETF
stock NYSE ETF

Your financial foundation is actually stronger than most people starting at 40. Zero debt, $70k in savings, a stable income, and a pension means you are not starting from scratch, you are starting from a position of genuine security, and the first move is not picking stocks but making sure your emergency fund is sized correctly given the upcoming move, which at $2k-2.5k rent means keeping 6 months of new expenses liquid in your HYSA before you invest a dollar. For someone with ethical screening preferences and a market skepticism bias, ESG-focused broad market ETFs like ESGV or USSG give you diversified equity exposure while systematically excluding the sectors you want to avoid, and pairing that with a Roth IRA as the account structure means every dollar of growth from here comes out tax-free in retirement, which on a 25 year horizon is an enormous advantage you cannot get back if you delay. The bubble concern is legitimate but the honest answer is that trying to time entry around a perceived bubble has historically cost investors more in missed compounding than the drawdown they were trying to avoid, so the more practical approach is dollar cost averaging.

Your financial foundation is actually stronger than most people starting at 40. Zero debt, $70k in savings, a stable income, and a pension means you are not starting from scratch, you are starting from a position of genuine security, and the first move is not picking stocks but making sure your emergency fund is sized correctly given the upcoming move, which at $2k-2.5k rent means keeping 6 months of new expenses liquid in your HYSA before you invest a dollar. For someone with ethical screening preferences and a market skepticism bias, ESG-focused broad market ETFs like ESGV or USSG give you diversified equity exposure while systematically excluding the sectors you want to avoid, and pairing that with a Roth IRA as the account structure means every dollar of growth from here comes out tax-free in retirement, which on a 25 year horizon is an enormous advantage you cannot get back if you delay. The bubble concern is legitimate but the honest answer is that trying to time entry around a perceived bubble has historically cost investors more in missed compounding than the drawdown they were trying to avoid, so the more practical approach is dollar cost averaging.