Im unsure if theres a risk of losing my money like with gambling.
I dont know if theres a way to invest and avoid feeling responsible for awful capitalist BS.
Investing Is Worth the Risk
Theres a lot to unpack here, so lets dive in.
The short answer is, yes,investing is absolutely a riskthats its defining factor.
Youll put money in, and the stock market will go up, and youll have more money.
But then the stock market will go down, and youll have less.
Thats the way it is, and its something youll have to get comfortable with.
Its not akin to gambling, because youre much more likely to make money.
For example, theaverage annual returnfor the S&P 500 is around 7%.
These accounts arent the investments themselvesyou can think of them as baskets that hold your investments.
Index funds are ideal because they arepassively managed.
You want to take human error out of the equation.
Apps like Robinhoodlet you buy stock in individual companies for a low fee.
But to get briefly philosophical, thats true of pretty much anything we consume.
The products we use every day are in some fashion exploitative; the art we enjoy is, too.
So you have to ask yourself what you will accomplish by not investing.
Ok, all that aside, there are ways to invest only in companies that are theoretically socially-conscious.
Heres a more in-depth look at how to divest from gun stocks.
Benefits and Drawbacks of SRI Funds
No company is ever going to be 100 percent ethical.
They want to make money, after all.
There is someevidenceto suggest that companies that have higher ESG scores have slightly higher returns.
(Its worth pointing out that these SRIs are what I would consider active investing.)
If you want to invest, you have to get comfortable with that, too.
Investing is one of the few ways workers have to build wealth.
Because thats what it comes down to.
And we all deserve that.
