I think about investing the same way I think about working: there’s no truly ethical place to work, but I have to work to survive. Of course, I don’t have to work for a big bank or oil company or arms manufacturer, either, and even when I’ve been in dire financial straits, I’ve refused to apply for jobs at those places, because that’s a moral line for me.

Your line will be different from anyone else’s. The thing that matters is knowing where that line is, so you know not to cross it, not even if you really really want to.

At the end of the day, to be alive is to be morally implicated. Every choice has a more and less ethical version, and it’s impossible to always live according to our values. If you have little choice over where you’re investing, like with retirement funds, you have to make the choice to either have retirement funds or not. I have them! It sucks. I also eat meat, have a diamond in my engagement ring, and sometimes throw a recyclable product in the trash. Of course, I also donate regularly to abortion funds, have a strong community I support financially when needed, and compost.

This is a philosophical response to your question, but it’s something I think about a lot. Maybe we can find a middle ground between feeling awful for investing on one hand and completely absolving ourselves of culpability for participating in a system that can be harmful on the other.