I have had a long-time dream of living and working from a new place each year and I’m excited to report that this summer we’re kicking off the tradition!

We’re going to be living and working in Spain for a month. 🤩🤩

I shared a bit about why I want to do this and how it’s even possible here and I’m so excited to take you along for the journey.

For the next couple of months (starting next week) you’ll find a new 'My Travel Journey' section in this newsletter where I’ll be sharing the money savvy travel tips and pointers I learn and experience along the way. 🧳

If you have been here a while, you know that I have a pretty boring (yet effective!) investing strategy. I invest for the long-run in broadly diversified low fee index funds.

Over the last 30 years, this has yielded over 8% annual return adjusted for inflation. Not too shabby. 🤑

Plus, it’s low fuss. I can automate my investments and don’t always have to keep up with business news or read company 10-Ks to feel confident in my investments.

BUT what about the folks who think it’s fun to invest in a specific company they love or want to try their hand at stock picking?

Have you ever gone after a goal expecting that achieving it would change the way you feel, indefinitely?

We might think things like:

• Once I own my own home, I’ll know I’ve “made it”

• If I get this promotion (or client), I’ll finally feel accomplished and worthy in my career

• When I’ve paid down my debt, I’ll never stress about money again

I’ve been there. Over and over.

My first job in NYC was near the flagship Bloomingdale’s. It was probably the biggest department store I’d ever stepped foot in – it’s 9 stories high!

The first time I went in and bought some clothes I was offered a store credit card at checkout that would save me 20% on my purchase. 🛍️

20% off probably meant $50 in savings, and I felt like such an adult getting my very own credit card. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

I went back to work and forgot all about it. Although I made a login to see my credit card statements, I rarely checked it. I thought I signed up for alerts and linked my credit card to my account, but I must have done it wrong.

You may not know this but April is Financial Literacy Month. 💵

I define financial literacy as having the knowledge to make decisions around your money that will lead to the results you want.

It also means having confidence in your plans as well as the self awareness to follow through and make them happen.

In talking to so many people, especially women, about their financial lives, I’ve found a common thread in many of our stories.

I first heard about the "Use It Or Lose It Challenge" from Becca (of @blondebrokeandboujie) and I loved it from the start.

She challenged herself to use up all the items around her apartment. From Becca - “There are so many things I’m saving for a special occasion, or I keep just in case, or I honestly forget I have.”

I do this with a lot of things. There are the:

💋 Beauty products I keep as backups for when I run out of the ones I actually like

Only half the people in the U.S. invest - and women tend to invest 40% less than men, on average.

These numbers are even lower for communities of color. In 2019 only 34% of Black people and 24% of Latinos owned stocks, compared to 61% of white people.

The problem is many fold, but the end result is that many people do not have money available to invest. It’s not something that’s reasonable or feasible for most.

I have some exciting news...

On Friday I passed the CFP® exam. 🥳 Yes, I’m celebrating!

And while I'm awaiting the official designation, I was excited to share the news.  

What does that mean? Here’s how the CFP® Board describes it:

One of the most powerful habits we can implement into our money lives is taking small consistent steps. 🪜 Completing a money move each week.

Why does it work?

Small steps are manageable so we actually take them. Quite important. Plus, they are easier to implement because we know what they entail.

A money move each week also helps us build momentum because the big results they lead to are extremely motivating.

We’re in the midst of tax season and the dread is palpable. 🫠

There’s nothing like adding a large and often confusing annual task to our to-do list - on top of everything else we’re all trying to juggle.

If you expect a refund, you might have already filed. If you expect to owe taxes, you might be putting it off. Or maybe you’re not sure and are feeling daunted by the process.

Wherever you are, I get it!

Money mindset is how one interacts and relates to money.

Our families, cultures, how we were raised, the influential people in our lives and impactful experiences all come together to create our money mindset.

For example, I’m an elder-millennial who started my career during the Great Recession. That definitely impacted how I view and interact with my money.

The cool thing is that in a lot of ways our money mindsets are there to protect us. Because we saw and experienced the market crash in 2007,  we make sure that we’re investing for the long-term and that we have enough cash for the short-term.

We’re midway through February and while many of us might have had some big dreams for our 2023 budgets, it’s COMPLETELY typical (and ok!) if you already feel off track.

I got you.

First, an important reminder: Financial well-being is not an arrival point (is anything?). It’s a journey. Things change, our priorities change, our goals change, and we’ll always be learning and growing.

The good news is that this takes a lot of the pressure off.

If you earn a salary, it's probably your largest form of compensation (or benefit) offered through work.

Yet many of us don’t learn how to maximize that benefit. And to make matters worse, we aren’t sure who to turn to when we need help.

And that’s just budgeting. There’s also the other very important parts of our financial lives like investing, debt pay down, credit scores, and the list goes on and on.

Quick recap for you -

In the U.S., women perform 4 hours of unpaid labor per day compared to men’s 2.5 hours.

That’s almost 11 extra hours per week, 45 hours per month, and almost 550 hours per year. This only gets worse for breadwinning women. What?! I know…

A recent study found that when women are the breadwinners in a heterosexual relationship they take on MORE of the labor at home.

As a recovering Type A person, I used to go after goals in an aggressive way.

An example: A few years ago, I got inspired to reorganize my apartment after watching the Home Edit series on Netflix.

I blocked off two weekends in a row on my calendar (including work time) to ‘Edit => Categorize => Contain => Label’ our entire apartment.

It was intense but I just wanted to get it done. 😂

A couple of months ago I restarted my morning meditation practice. This time, it’s a bit different. I’ve been including a quick 5-minute intention setting exercise that sets the tone for the day.

After settling in and some deep breaths, the teacher asks … "How do you want to BE today?"

I love this question. Notice - it’s not “what do you want to DO today?” It's "How do I want to be?"

The Fiscal Femme’s mission is to get women (aka YOU) wealthy.

That sounds nice but why is financial wellness important? Why should you want to get wealthy?

Please note, condensing this into a few paragraphs took some major edits. I could talk about this ALL day.

Financial wellness…

Happy New Year! 🥳 🥳 🥳

It’s 2023 (somehow) and what better way to kick off the year than to share some money intentions or goals.

Why does goal setting matter?

It’s time to celebrate!!! 🥳

We did it! Regardless of how messy, different than planned or [insert descriptor here] your year turned out, you did it. Another trip around the sun.

It’s so important to celebrate how much you’ve accomplished and grown in the last year. I asked you to share your wins, big and small, and there is so much to celebrate. 👏 👏 👏

We’re almost at the end of 2022. I can hardly believe it. 🤯 But don’t I feel this way every year?

Now is the perfect time of year to start planning for 2023.

Here’s what goes into a holistic planning sesh:

1. Reflect on the last year and review what worked in 2022

2. Create goals for 2023

3. Put together a financial plan (or happiness allocation) to support those goals