7 Money Tips Every Freelancer Needs to Know

7 Money Tips Every Freelancer Needs to Know

Dealing with our finances is hard enough when we have a steady W-2 salary. When you add the complexities of variable income and managing business expenses, it becomes even more difficult. 

More and more of us are going to experience working as a freelancer at some point in our careers. It’s predicted that freelancers are going to be the workforce majority within the next decade. 

The good news is that there are some very doable - yet extremely impactful - things you can do to set yourself up for financial success as a freelancer or entrepreneur.  

5 Things You Need to Know About Your 401-K or IRA

5 Things You Need to Know About Your 401-K or IRA

We know it’s important to invest in our retirement and we know it’s important to start early so that compound interest can work its magic. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to feel confident in the choices we are making about our 401-K or IRA.

Choosing investments, deciding how much to contribute and all the jargon in between can be enough to have us avoid doing anything at all. Luckily, just like with many things in our financial lives, it’s so much more important to get started than to do it perfectly and it can be a whole lot more simple than you might think. Here are five things everyone should know about their 401-K or IRA.

Love and Money Etiquette

Love and Money Etiquette

Dating and money etiquette, financial red and green flags, and more.

Dating and early relationships can be stressful. Then add in money and it gets even more complicated.

Not only is dating expensive (hello inflation!), it can also be confusing. I always had questions like… Who should pay? Do we split? When should we talk about money? How do we split expenses? Is that a financial red flag? What are my financial green flags?

Why You Need a Dream Team 

Why You Need a Dream Team 

For many of us, money is a taboo topic that we don’t even talk about with our closest friends and family. This might not seem like a big deal, but it has some major repercussions. One is that it makes it a lot more difficult to reach our goals.

When the people who love us the most don’t know about our goals, they can’t support us. They might even unknowingly sabotage us!

Fiscal Femme Anonymous Money Survey 2022 - Part #2

Fiscal Femme Anonymous Money Survey 2022 - Part #2

And we’re back with part #2 of the results from the Fiscal Femme Anonymous Money Survey. If you missed it, here’s part #1. This time we’re talking about your systems and accounts.

While many of you shared your favorite apps (I’ll give you a rundown below), a great deal of you were also looking for recommendations. Stay tuned!

How and Why to Shop Secondhand

How and Why to Shop Secondhand

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.

Our Favorite Free $ Resources 

Our Favorite Free $ Resources 

Over the past nine years (the Fiscal Femme had it’s 9th birthday on March 2nd!), I’ve been creating resources to help you succeed in your financial life and reach your goals. And we provide many of them for free.

Here’s a roundup of my favorite free resources. Whether you are new to the Fiscal Femme or you just missed a few of these golden nuggets, I’ve compiled them for you here in one place.

Use this System to Plan for Larger Infrequent Expenses

Use this System to Plan for Larger Infrequent Expenses

How we traditionally set up spending plans doesn’t work because we aren’t accounting for the big infrequent expenses in our lives. Yes, there are things we can’t plan for (and that’s why we have our rainy day fund) but most of these expenses are things we know about or even things that happen every single year. 

Why is this a problem? Not only does this way of spending keep us from planning and saving the way we want, it also makes our financial lives much more stressful. If I have to make a big expense in any given month, cash will be really tight and I’ll have to put the expenses on a credit card or pull money from savings. I have to spend the next month recovering (until another expense comes up!). 

The good news is, I am excited to share a tried and true system to stop this spending and saving rollercoaster. Once you take the time to set it up, it will do the work for you and take the stress out of these larger more irregular expenses.


Retail Therapy: A Money Expert Explains Why We Should Kick The Habit

Retail Therapy: A Money Expert Explains Why We Should Kick The Habit

Okay, yes. For any of us who have purchased something and experienced a quick high, we know that retail therapy can work in the short-term. It can be a distraction or even a nice chance to imagine ourselves wearing or using the item we just purchased. That feels good.

What happens next provokes a vicious cycle. We may experience buyer’s remorse, stress about our new higher credit card balance, or feel deflated and guilty for failing to curb our impulses. We may already be looking for that next thing we want to buy.