I’ve been languishing. Anyone else? 🙋♀️
Adam Grant coined the term and defines it as a "blah feeling" where you’re less focused, less motivated and less energetic, among other things.
I’ve noticed this trend among both friends and coworkers.
I have some theories… The stress of the pandemic, economy and state of the world, all while trying to still show up to work and do our jobs took a bigger toll than we thought. We’re trying to recover while still dealing with it all.
If you have major money goals for 2023 but feel overwhelmed trying to conquer them on your own, we have you covered. 👏
Enter the Financial Adulting Challenge.
Here’s how it works:
You’ll get a weekly money move (i.e., an action you can take to improve your financial well-being) straight to your inbox for 15 weeks
The money move will include a description and short video lesson
Gain access to our private Slack channel for support, encouragement, and questions specifically for the challenge
Yours truly will be in there, answering questions and cheering you on once a week
The Fiscal Femme started as a blog back in 2011 where on a challenge from my life coach, I started sharing about my own money journey on the internet.
Despite my fears, the response was very positive. Other personal finance websites asked me to write for them because they wanted to feature a young woman’s voice talking about money (which was very unique in 2011!). And people started reaching out asking me for help with their finances.
I ended up getting my coaching certification (via IPEC) because I was inspired by the work I was doing with my own coach and I had been drawn to behavior / mental health from a young age.
I want to talk about gratitude. 🙏
Gratitude is a powerful practice to cultivate abundance and really enjoy all that you have.
As a very goal oriented person, it can be really easy for me to focus on what I’m out to accomplish. I used to believe that I’d finally be able to relax and enjoy once I achieved X, Y, & Z.
I’m really lucky that I’ve been able to achieve some of my big goals. And what I have found is that while I did feel a sense of accomplishment (for a bit), nothing really changed after I hit the goal. It was life as usual, on to the next thing.
Women are still investing less than men even though studies show we’re better at it when we do.
While there are many valid reasons women are investing less than men… think wage gaps, pink tax, higher interest rates, the need for more emergency funds, a male dominated investing landscape, and the list goes on and on, I’m very passionate about getting more women investing.
Why?
When we don’t invest for our long-term goals, we miss out on tens of thousands - if not millions of dollars over the course of our lifetimes. Millions!
As we approach the biggest shopping weekend of the year, I want to share some of the strategies I’ve developed for not overspending (too much).
For years, I matter-of-factly decided I wouldn’t buy anything on Black Friday or Cyber Monday - and I consistently failed. 🤦♀️ Sometimes bigger than others.
These are the five things that have changed the holiday sale game for me:
With inflation impacting our wallet, I took a look at our budget to see where we could save.
Spoiler 🚨 alert: I asked the Fiscal Femme community the same question. You can find the results below!
Each year I do a big budget clean out where I let go of the unnecessary expenses that don't bring much joy or add much value.
You know the things that show up, or creep in over the course of the year? Those! And it’s such a good feeling to let them go. I wrote about it here.
When I revisited my budget this year, the main area I thought we could save was on food. We decided to cook more meals at home.
The stock market has been on quite a rollercoaster 🎢 (to say the least). It's a nerve-racking time to be an investor.
I have some strategies to make it a bit easier (see below) but the most important thing to remember is this:
You don’t lose money (or make money) until you sell.
When your investments are down, you haven’t lost money.
That’s why it’s so important to invest for the long-term. Because when you have time, you can wait out the downturns in the market.
So while your investments might be down, you haven’t actually lost money.
Next year I plan to start a new travel tradition with the fam... 🥁
We are going to live (and work) in a new place for 4-6 weeks each year.
Why so long? I’m a big fan of living like a local and getting the chance to immerse myself in a new culture and another language.
The kids are learning Spanish from our au pair so we’d like to go somewhere we can practice our Spanish!
Because it’s tough to go away for long periods while the kids are in school, especially as they get older, this is going to be a summer tradition!
How will we budget for this?
In the U.S. women perform 4 hours of unpaid labor per day compared with men’s 2.5 hours.
That’s almost 11 extra hours per week, 45 hours per month, and almost 550 hours per year.
What would you give for an extra 11 hours per week? What would you DO with an extra 11 hour per week?
That’s 11 less hours for our careers, for sleep, for personal development and for (G-d forbid!) FUN.
But, it gets worse...
Back in August we talked about tipping etiquette and how to navigate gratuity in a world where we’re prompted to tip in a lot of new scenarios.
Many of you shared that you....
Have felt guilted into tipping more than you’d like
Are confused about how much is enough to tip these days
Tip based on your mood or what is in your bank accounts (vs. having a strategy)
You pack up to move and become nauseated by how much stuff you have. How does it all fit in those cabinets?!
Or maybe you help someone else move and vow to rid yourself of all of your belongings and live a minimalist life.
Anyone else experienced this? 👋
We live in a consumerist culture but it’s become very clear to me that there is a real cost to having so much stuff.
Have you ever saved up for something or really splurged and ended up NOT enjoying a second of it?
Oh I have! 👋
I dream of beaches as I look out my dark and dreary window during the NJ winter. Then sometimes when I finally make it to the sunshine and white sand, my mind is on my to-do list, I’m grumpy and/or I’m stressed that I’m not enjoying this long awaited and expensive vacay. AHHH.
This happens to me with big things like vacation but also with smaller joys too. I look forward to trying a new restaurant all week then gobble up something delightful without even tasting it .
A couple months back, many of you shared details about your spending (and vices) in an anonymous money survey. If you missed it, you can see the results here.
The second part of the survey asked about your money systems (the results are here!).
What are money systems?
Money systems are the apps, tools, accounts and strategies we use to organize our finances and achieve financial goals.
If you’ve been here a bit you probably know I am all about taking small consistent steps in our financial lives because they lead to big results. That’s what being a financial adult is all about!
Those small steps can have even more of an impact when they are coordinated and lead to the completion of a big task.
For example, in June / July, I shared a series of money moves that got you recession ready. If you followed along and took action, that’s a big accomplishment 👏. If you didn’t, there’s still time. Then we put together a travel budget in August.
I want to do it again with another big goal - getting to work-optional. Work optional is a rebrand for what we traditionally call retirement.
There are many similarities between our personal finances and the finances of running a business.
Important note: If you are a freelancer, have a side hustle, work in the gig-economy or make money via a hobby, you run a business.
Just like we want to be the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of our personal finances, we want to do the same for our business.
I know, I know. It’s probably not the reason you started your business and it's also probably not even a job you want BUT typically before you can hire a CFO, you have to be one yourself.
Health insurance... We need it. It costs tons of money. It’s a complete cluster of jargon and policies.
Side note: I cover health insurance and everything you need to know about it in chapter 10 of Financial Adulting - check it out!
But there is something very specific about health insurance I want to talk about today - the out of network EXCEPTION.
Many health insurance plans categorize providers as "in-network" or "out-of-network."
Do you have travel on your mind?
A recent survey shows that Americans’ top goal for 2022 is to take a vacation. And it makes sense. So many of us are overdue - way overdue - myself included.
If you are making up for lost time, I’ve got you covered. If you’ve already been traveling and haven’t put together a budget, that’s okay too. It’s always better to start.
Over the next three weeks, I’m going to walk you through how to budget for travel, step by step.
“Invest in yourself!” It's advice we see everywhere. I say it all the time!
But it’s also advice that gets given and received out of context.
First and foremost, it’s important to invest in ourselves and what matters to us. That could mean anything from buying that course that will help us start our side hustle or making the conscious choice to go to bed earlier and not get something else done. It could also mean investing for retirement or some other future goal.
A key part of investing in ourselves is that we benefit from it or get something out of it.ores give the option to add a tip at checkout. And sometimes the lowest option is 20%!
Have you noticed this?
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?
