Socially responsible funds, or socially conscious funds, are those who only pick up companies that fit into certain ethical guidelines. I never think of socially responsible funds as a good idea. Investing is investing, and it does not make sense to me that we have to vote with feet (and money) if we don't like certain industries. (Disclosure: I own Altria, and used to own RJR.)

Here is a list of recommended socially responsible funds from WSJ/SmartMoney's fund screen:

Winslow Green Growth (WGGFX)
Ariel Fund (ARGFX)
Neuberger Socially Responsible (NBSRX)
Parnassus Equity Income (PRBLX)
Ariel Appreciation (CAAPX)
Pax World Balanced (PAXWX)
New Covenant Balanced Income (NCBIX)
Vanguard FTSE Social Index (VFTSX)

This week, we asked Lipper for a list of all of the equity and mixed-asset funds with the socially responsible investing tag. From there, we filtered out those funds with five-year returns that didn't rank in the top 50% of their respective classification. We also eliminated load funds and those with expense ratios higher than at least half of their peers. Finally, each of the eight funds on our list is open to new investors, accepts minimum initial investments of $5,000 or less, and holds at least $50 million in total net assets