Each year we proudly highlight incredible women-owned businesses to support while doing your holiday shopping (and all year round) in our Holiday Gift Guide. Why? Because what we buy matters! How we spend money is a way to vote for more of what we want to see in the world.

We’ve compiled a list of your (and our) favorite brands. Thank you for sending in all of your new favorites this year.

There are a lot of similarities between saving and giving. The biggest one? We wait to get started because we assume it will be easier once we earn more.

We get the promotion and the raise, prioritize paying everyone else first, and then there’s still no money leftover for us to save or give.

Or maybe we feel like our twenty dollars a month won’t do much. But much like with saving, it’s about using the muscle. When we start, we begin to view ourselves as someone who gives. We get the ball rolling, momentum builds.

Each year we showcase incredible BIPOC and women-owned businesses to support while doing your holiday shopping (and all year round). Why? Because what we buy matters! How we spend money is a way to vote for more of what we want to see in the world.

Plus, the pandemic, inflation and supply-chain issues have made the last few years really challenging for small businesses. Our support can make a big difference. We’ve compiled a list of your (and our) favorite brands. Thank you for sending in all of your new favorites this year. This list just gets better and better. And we plan to continue to add to it!

Secondhand Shopping 101: How I Saved $4,500 Buying Secondhand Furniture

Shopping secondhand can be a tremendous win-win and way to align our spending with our values. We save money because buying secondhand is often much cheaper, it’s better for the planet, and we’re not supporting companies and industries that exploit women. For some, the process can also be really exciting when you search and find something great.

2022 is right around the corner. One of the things I love about the New Year is that it is a great opportunity for a fresh financial start. I reflect on how the past year went and what I’d like to do differently in the coming year. I think about the highlights of my year - what I liked having and doing. Then I can incorporate this reflection into next year’s financial plan.

As part of our Women’s History Month series, Cinneah (the founder of Flynanced) and I co-hosted a series of incredible roundtable discussions with some of our favorite women in the personal finance space with the goal of fostering rich intersectional conversations around money.

Melissa, the co-founder and content creator of the Millennial In Debt brand, refers to her community as future millionaires. We asked Melissa to describe how investing helps create millionaires. She talked to us about the investing gap that exists between men and women and how that gap is further widened by race.

As part of our Women’s History Month series, Cinneah (the founder of Flynanced) and I co-hosted a series of incredible roundtable discussions with some of our favorite women in the personal finance space.

Dasha Kennedy, an award-winning financial activist for Black women, educator, and creator of The Broke Black Girl, is an advocate for economic justice, cultural competence, and equity in financial education. She spoke about the wealth gaps that exist in the United States, why they exist, and how they impact the entire economy. As a solution-based activist, she also shared some ways that we can start to think about combating these gaps and serve as allies, particularly for Black and Brown women.

Throughout centuries of history - over and over again - the Black community has been stripped of wealth through policies, massacres, theft and destruction.

According to the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances, the median white household has a net worth of $117,000 - 10 times the median Black household net worth of $17,100.

It would take 228 years for Black families to amass as much wealth as white families if our current policies stay in place.

As a major proponent of equality and women getting paid what we’re worth, I hear from my fair share of gender wage gap deniers. These are people who either believe that the gender wage gap doesn’t exist or that there are logical and fair reasons to explain why it does.

I’ve found that many cases of wage gap denying are due to misinformation or lack of information. Regardless of whether you’re reading this because you have your own doubts or you want to get armed with stats to stand up to your sexist uncle during the annual holiday party, I have you covered.

Over and over again in the United States, the Black community has been stripped of wealth through policies, scandals, and even massacres. This has created and perpetuated a racial wealth gap. It will take 228 years for Black families to amass as much wealth as white families if current policies stay in place.

One of the institutions that have played a major role in the racial wealth gap and the United States’ racist past is banks. Due to racial discrimination, the Black community hasn’t had access to banking products and services at all or in the same way that white folx have.

Once you’re ready and excited to make the switch to a socially responsible bank, the next logical question is “which one?”

We know you’re eager to align your spending with your values (while also reaching your financial goals), so we’ve done the research for you and outline the best socially responsible banks.

How and why to switch to an ethical, green, and socially responsible bank.

At the Fiscal Femme, we’re all about aligning our spending and investing with our values. Every time we make a spending decision, we’re voting with our values. In an ideal world, we should be able to look at our recent spending and have a good idea of what’s important to us.

Pandemics and times of economic upheaval, (like we’re experiencing today), exacerbate inequities that were already there.

Data shows that the Black community, specifically Black women, are bearing the brunt of this current recession.

Here are a few top tips to help all of us financially get through COVID-19 and answer one very important question — what should we be doing now to protect ourselves and our communities during this crisis? 

In 2020, March 31 is Equal Pay Day in the United States, which means that women have to work all the way until today in 2020 to earn what a man did in 2019.

In other words, for every dollar a (white, non-Hispanic) man made in 2019, women earned just $0.82.

If we are financially well (imagine a nice savings buffer in our bank accounts), we can negotiate harder to be paid fairly at work.

We can leave relationships and jobs where we’re being mistreated. We can take more risks in our careers without worrying about the financial implications. We’d see more women on boards and management teams.

Compensation conversations can be really hard to initiate – (and women are four times less likely to negotiate their salaries than men!) We might try to avoid them or put them off for later. We convince ourselves that our companies don’t give real raises, or we worry that we’ll get turned down because we’re not worth it. Here’s what you can do to prepare for and execute a negotiation confidently.

The gender pay gap -- in which women on average earn 80 cents to every $1 earned by men -- is a penalty women see, and feel, directly in their paychecks.

The gender savings gap, in which women traditionally invest and save less than men, is a hidden penalty that also hurts women, many of whom don't realize it until it's too late.

Financial wellness means being in a place where you are spending and saving your money thoughtfully, where your behaviors and thinking around your personal finances contribute positively to your short-term and long-term goals. In our money journeys, we’re always working towards more powerful thinking about our finances, which leads to less stress, and ultimately, more wealth. Being in a state of financial wellness also means that a big, unexpected expense (like a hospital bill or other emergency) wouldn’t completely derail us. If we’re financially well, we’re more equipped to handle unanticipated events and their costs.