Money Musings đź’ Are we supposed to tip on everything now?!
At the beginning of the pandemic there was a big push for generous tipping, as those working in restaurants and stores were putting their health at risk to provide service. Made perfect sense!
From there on out I noticed that the opportunity to tip became a lot more frequent. The coffee shop, the smoothie place, and even some stores give the option to add a tip at checkout. And sometimes the lowest option is 20%!
Have you noticed this?
Unclear of the rules or what's "right," there's definitely guilt and shame, especially when a friend is looking over your shoulder. We think - "should I be tipping on everything?"
Tipping etiquette has come up over and over again in conversation with friends. There’s a lot of confusion and a lot of guilt. What should we be doing?!
I decided to look for some answers and found some good news and some bad news.
The bad news: there isn’t a hard and fast set of rules around tipping.
The good news: creating a system for yourself - a conscious set of tipping guidelines that you feel good about - can make life a lot easier and remove the stress when it comes time to tip (or not to tip). Plus, we can learn from each other.
I created a tipping survey on Instagram so we could all share what we are doing AND our reasoning behind it.
Over 1,000 of you shared your thoughts. I can tell this has been on your mind!
If you didn't get a chance to respond to the survey on Instagram, or have something to add, feel free to respond to me here.
MONEY MOVE OF THE WEEK
TAKE INVENTORY OF YOUR DEBT.
From our first anonymous money survey, I learned that 56% of our Fiscal Femme community are paying off non-mortgage debt.
The first step to managing debt? Take inventory!
Here’s how:
List out each piece of debt you have (credit cards, student loans, etc.)
Find and include the balance, interest rate, monthly payment, and payment date
We have a free debt tracker tool to help you get started and track your progress. If taking inventory feels daunting, start by listing out each debt by name (and leave out all of the details). You can build from there.
If you are looking for step-by-step guidance and support to put together a manageable plan to pay down your credit card debt for good, check out our Tackle Your Debt Course. It’s a fan favorite!
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
DEFINE: FUND.
Also called mutual fund, index fund, or exchange-traded fund (ETF). A fund is a type of investment that’s made up of pooled money from investors (a.k.a. us!).
This pool of money can be invested in stocks, bonds, or a combination of both. I’ve also heard a fund aptly described as a basket of investments.
There are differences between mutual funds, index funds, and ETFs, but for our purposes (and honestly, my purposes, too), they aren’t too important.
ETFs typically have lower expense ratios, have some tax efficiencies and can be purchased in smaller amounts.
If you are curious, check this out!
But if you aren’t, that’s okay too. There is so much investing information out there. Part of being a financial adult is knowing what you don’t need to know.
Funds are a great way to diversify because by owning one share you can own stocks or bonds in hundreds of companies. Index funds and ETFs are types of low-fee mutual funds.
Use it in a sentence - "I look out for fees when it comes to choosing my funds. Fees come directly from my profits so you know I am minimizing those fees!"