There’s a lot of talk these days about “voting with your dollars.”
In 2025, I made a public decision to say goodbye to Walmart, aligning my everyday purchases more intentionally with my values. That was a big step. But today, it gets even more real: I needed new water filters. Simple, right? Except the main places that reliably carried the exact brand and model I use were… Walmart and Amazon.
This is where theory smashes into reality.
With food, it’s easy to pivot. Most stores like Safeway, Kroger, and smaller local shops offer relatively competitive pricing. But when it comes to “little” things, water filters, electronics, specialty snacks, limited edition products, you start seeing how tied you are to certain major players. Products often have exclusive licensing deals with big chains. Some packaging and models are only made for Amazon or Walmart. Distribution is controlled at the wholesale level, meaning small stores can’t even get access to certain products.
You can want to boycott a store all day, but the system quietly makes it hard for you to do so.
This experience made me realize: the same thing happens in investing.
Can You Be an Ethical Investor in a Capitalist World?
When I started investing seriously, I had to confront a harsh truth: if I wanted to build wealth for my future, I’d have to participate in a system that doesn’t always match my values.
For example, I’ve chosen not to directly own Amazon (AMZN) or Walmart (WMT) stock. I don’t believe in monopolistic practices that crush small businesses and reduce consumer choice. Free market capitalism, in its purest form, was supposed to encourage competition and innovation. When a handful of companies control almost everything, when Whole Foods, The Washington Post, and half of the internet are owned by the same empire, we’ve drifted far from that ideal.
Adam Smith, often called the father of capitalism, championed the “invisible hand” of the market guiding resources efficiently through competition. He didn’t advocate for monopolies. Quite the opposite. He believed monopolies were dangerous because they could manipulate markets, distort prices, and block innovation.
Today, many of the world’s largest corporations have amassed so much power that real competition barely exists in some sectors.
And yet, if you invest in something like VOO (the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF), you do own pieces of Amazon. And Walmart. And Google. And Facebook.
The reality is: in a capitalist economy, it’s nearly impossible to be “pure” unless you’re willing to sit out investing altogether, and even then, your bank might still lend your money to companies you oppose.
The Dilemma of Ethical Investing
Ethical investing is not as simple as it sounds.
You can avoid buying individual stocks that conflict with your values. I do that. But index funds? Pension funds? Retirement accounts? They are tied into the broader economy.
I had a professor once, she was from Germany, very environmentally conscious, very green. She didn’t like Amazon at all. But she knew her retirement portfolio, the one she spent her whole career building, included companies she philosophically disagreed with. She struggled with it. There were moments she wanted to sell everything out of principle. But at the end of the day, she knew she’d be sabotaging her own future if she did.
And that’s the cold reality: you have to build wealth in the world you live in, not the world you wish existed.
You can’t opt out of capitalism and still participate in financial security the way the system is structured today. That doesn’t mean you sell your soul. It means you make conscious choices where you can and keep your integrity intact in the ways that matter most.
Why Monopolies Matter (and Why I Cheer for Breakups)
I’m a firm believer that unchecked monopolies hurt everyone: consumers, small businesses, innovation, and yes, even the spirit of capitalism itself.
Google controlling what search results you see isn’t just about convenience. It’s about power. It’s about the ability to shape narratives, suppress competition, and entrench dominance.
Amazon acquiring Whole Foods and The Washington Post isn’t just business expansion. It’s vertical integration that consolidates power over your food, your news, and your spending habits.
This is why I’m not upset when regulators go after big tech or big retail monopolies. Even if I hold exposure through an index fund, even if it means short-term pain for the market, I’m okay with it.
Healthy markets need checks and balances. Otherwise, they rot from the inside.
When a company oversteps and gets sued, broken up, or fined? That’s the system working the way it should. That’s capitalism with a pulse.
Conscious Investing Isn’t About Being Perfect
I love the investing game.
I love watching my money grow. I love seeing compound interest work its magic. I love building something that once seemed impossible.
But I don’t love it more than I love my integrity.
That’s why I accept some level of “unavoidable exposure” through index funds, but I won’t directly hold companies that go against my core beliefs. It’s why I’m okay if a company I’m indirectly exposed to gets broken up or fined. Because my goal isn’t just to be the richest. It’s to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know I didn’t sell out who I am to get there.
Being an ethical investor isn’t about being perfect.
It’s about being intentional.
It’s about understanding how the system works, wholesale control, licensing deals, monopolies, backdoor investments, and making the best choices you can within it.
When you realize how distribution chains work, when you realize how licensing controls access to products, when you realize how a few corporations quietly dominate everything from what you buy to what you read, you understand why “just boycott it” isn’t as easy as it sounds.
You start seeing the invisible chains wrapped around everyday life.
But that doesn’t mean you’re powerless.
Your choices still matter. Your investments still tell a story. Your dollars still cast a vote, maybe not a perfect one, but a real one.
You can participate in capitalism without letting it consume you.
You can play the game without losing your soul.
And that, to me, is what real wealth looks like.
The Broke College Student 
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