DIVESTING is the act of selling investments, or banning new investments, in areas of ethical and/or financial concern. The modern divestment movement started in 1758, when the Quaker yearly meeting unanimously issued a proclamation forbidding its members from profiting from the slave trade. Drawing from that 200-year-old example, divestment was used as tool to fight apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s and ’80s.

Many of us approach our personal finances with a sense of shame on the one hand or of “doing the right thing” on the other. Very rarely do we approach our own finances with a sense of kindness; kindness for ourselves, kindness for the people we provide for and kindness for the world at large. And yet, care is at the heart of most financial choices we make.

ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF PEOPLE I ENCOUNTER, from quite wealthy to not at all wealthy and young to old, there is despair about the current role of money in the world. As one new client recently said to me, “I guess I believe that capitalism is irredeemably evil.” That isn’t an easy thing for a financial advisor to hear, but it is a real sentiment for many of us if we give our despair a voice.

As a conscientious investor, how do you know what to do when you get those shareholder letters in the mail asking you to send in a proxy vote? There are several shareholder advocacy organizations that compile impact data on companies and mutual funds so that...

Socially conscious and impact investors don’t behave like traditional investors. In my experience, they tend to hold steady during market fluctuations and stay invested over the long-term. They care as much about clean air and water as they do about how their investments are performing…