Welcome to Part 3 of your “Cool Adult Financial Action Plan”! Today’s topic is one that comes up with every single one of my clients -- Credit Scores!

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Credit scores are important because they impact the interest rates you’re offered by lenders (think mortgage lenders, car finance companies, and personal loans from banks) and those interest rates can really change your financial outlook.

For example, let’s compare getting a $350,000 mortgage for 30 years at a 5.5% interest rate versus a 7.5% interest rate. 

At the 5.5% interest rate your monthly payment will be $1,987 and, over the course of the 30 year mortgage you’ll pay a total of $715,320 for the $350,000 loan.

At the 7.5% interest rate your monthly payment will be $2,447 and, over the course of the 30 year mortgage you’ll pay a total of $880,920 for the $350,000 loan.

BOTH are expensive loans, especially in comparison to 2020 rates, but the 7.5% interest rate costs you an additional $165,600. That’s a lot of money! AND you have at least some control over what kind of interest rate you get offered. Your credit score will dictate if you get offered the best deals available or the worst, or somewhere in between. It will also dictate if you can get approved for a loan, regardless of the interest rate that is being offered. 

The important thing is to make sure you are keeping track of your score before you actually apply for a loan so that you aren’t surprised by the interest rate you are offered (or surprised by a loan denial). The good thing is that it is much easier to track your credit score and address problems (i.e. inaccuracies or fraud) than it used to be. I recommend using Credit Karma to all of my clients (I’m not being paid, but I wish they would!). Credit Karma is free, easy to use, and provides clear alerts when something on your credit history changes. All you need to do is create an online account and check out your “full credit report” periodically. For most people, looking at this report once a quarter or once every other month is good, but if you are working to increase your score prior to applying for a loan, I recommend checking it once a month. 

If you find anything that is inaccurate, then you’ll need to address the issue ASAP. The longer something wrong is on your credit report, the harder it is to get it removed. There are buttons throughout the “full credit report” on Credit Karma that connect you to the appropriate credit agency to dispute errors. Easy peasy! Or, at least getting connected is easy. Depending on the error it may be pretty simple to fix or it could involve a fair amount of work (sorry, but I don’t want to lie to you).

If you need help or know that you want to raise your score, but aren’t sure how to do it, reach out! I’d love to talk. 

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO,

This is Part 2 of your “Cool Adult Financial Action Plan” friends! And boy oh boy are we getting spicy today!

Drumroll please…

I can’t hear you!!

Alright, alright. No drumroll necessary. This one speaks for itself. 

SOCIAL 

…

SECURITY!!!!!!!

via GIPHY

I know, I know, social security isn’t all that cool, but it is something that impacts almost all of us (i.e. anyone with a social security number who has worked in the US, or is married to someone who has worked in the US) and it is important to make sure your ducks are in a row. 

The good thing about this particular adulting financial action item is that it is super duper simple. 

Do you have a Login.gov or ID.me username and password?

If your answer is no: First things, first. You’ll need to make one. I don’t think it really matters which one you pick, but most of my clients have found ID.me to be easier. 

If your answer is yes: Great! You’ll need to make sure your social security account (formerly called myssa) is connected to your existing portal. All you need to do is log into either Login.gov or ID.me and scroll down to the Social Security Administration box to connect the two accounts.

Once you’ve done that, check out your Social Security account! You can see how much you can expect to receive in benefits based on your existing work history as well as your expected future earnings. 

Thank you for reading It Doesn't Have to be Terrible. If you know anyone who might benefit from this post, please share!

If anything looks suspicious or incorrect, now is the time to fix it. Believe me, you don’t want to be trying to deal with the problem at the same time you are receiving payouts -- that’ll be an administrative nightmare. 

To fix any issues, the first thing to do is reach out to the Social Security Administration via their chat box. This shows up as “Get Help” in the SSA portal and then looks like this once you’ve clicked into the system. 

That’s all! Just make sure you can log into your account, have your password saved in an encrypted system, and that all of your information is accurate. Check, check, check! 

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO,

P.S. I’m taking on new clients starting in August! I’d love to work with you to help you determine where your financial pain points are, and create and implement a personalized plan with you to help you not only eliminate those pain points, but also reach your financial goals! 

You can schedule a free consultation call here or fill out the new client inquiry form to learn more about the coaching process and to get started with your goals. Can’t wait to chat more soon!

Friends -- it is already mid July! JULY! How can that be? That means that it is basically August, which means school is already back in session, and we might as well all start planning for Thanksgiving and Winter Break. Actually, this year I am already planning for Thanksgiving and Winter Break, but that is a real anomaly for me. We’ll see if I keep it up in 2025. 

Regardless of where you are on the plan ahead train for holidays, I’d like to encourage you to get on the plan ahead train for your finances. We all have to take care of our personal finances, whether we like it or not. The question really is, would you like to do it in a way that feels calm and (relatively) stress-free or would you like to do it feeling like a chicken with your head cut off? 

In order to tackle your finances with a healthy dose of CHILL, that means that you need to do things before they snowball into problems. So, over the next few months I’ll be covering some low hanging financial action items that will make you feel accomplished and financially confident come November and December. 

Photo by Ivan Samkov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/high-angle-shot-of-a-notebook-and-a-pen-beside-a-mobile-phone-7213436/

Today we are going to start with something super basic, but often overlooked…your accounts!

• Make a list of all of your bank accounts (checking, savings) and make sure that you can log into each portal online. Save your usernames and passwords in a safe location. I highly recommend using an encrypted password saver, like KeePassXC or 1Password.

• Check to see if any of your bank accounts charge regular fees. If they do, call/chat and ask if there are ways to avoid the fees. If there aren’t ways to avoid them, then I recommend looking at the following options as alternatives: 

• American Express (only available to credit card users) 

• Alliant

• Ally 

While fees aren’t the end of the world, they really do add up. For example, if you have a $20 monthly fee, you end up spending $240 per year or $1,200 over five years. If you put that same amount in a high yield savings account with a 4.25% interest rate, you would end up with a total of $1,359.14 after five years. And really, which would you rather have, negative $1,200 or positive $1,359.14?

• Speaking of, if you don’t have a High Yield Savings Account, this is your sign to get one. My favorites are: American Express, Ally, and Vio Bank money market savings. For most of my clients (and myself) I recommend having a savings account that is housed at the bank where your main checking account is, even if it doesn’t have a great interest rate. That savings account should hold a buffer amount of money that can be transferred to checking immediately if the need arises (i.e. the cost of rent or your mortgage payment). The rest of your savings should be in a High Yield Savings Account, earning you interest. 

That’s it! Check your accounts, make sure you can log in, save your passwords, reduce fees, and optimize interest! If you do all of that, you are on your way to being a financial wizard, or, at the very least, an incredibly confident adult. And hey, that may be better than being a wizard anyway. I hear the hats are less silly.  

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO,

P.S. Do you have any recommendations for other topics for me to cover? I’d love to hear your input! Just hit reply to this email.

P.P.S. Want to work with me one-on-one? I’d love to work with you! Book a free consultation call here or fill out the new client inquiry form and I’ll follow up with you via email. 

I meant to send out a newsletter last week. And I meant to post on Instagram more than zero times over the past two weeks. I meant to respond to work emails. And, I meant to send a few emails to relatives. 

Instead, about ten days ago I slipped on ice, fell entirely on my head, and ended up in the ER. I have a concussion (I got a concussion? I had a concussion? I’m not actually sure how the grammar works here). Anyway, I’ve been on forced rest time, or, as the ER doctor explained it, “clean living”. During this time I am supposed to stay away from screens (which is incredibly challenging even when you’re really really trying, so I think we might all be doomed there), avoid alcohol, sweets, and fried foods (perfect for holiday eating), do a lot of “resting”, and drink lots of water. Reading is okay, except that sometimes it isn’t. Exercise is okay, except sometimes it isn’t. Me being me, I assumed that I’d lay low for a few days and pop back better than ever.

Instead, it is over a week in and I’m still not doing great. My brain is definitely working now (yay!), but I tire easily, and am still feeling the need to take a lot of physical and mental breaks throughout the day. As much as I’d like to be kicking off the year with a bang -- announcing some new things in the works over in Verdi land and recording loads of new podcast episodes --  I’m finding myself forced to keep that quiet. Instead, I’m working on being incredibly kind to myself. I’m journaling, I’m listening to music and audiobooks, I’ve started meditating again. I am seeing clients this week and am really excited for that, but I’m not doing any of the other things that typically make up my workload. I’ll still be taking on new clients this month, but I’m limiting the number of sessions I do per day to make sure that I don’t go overboard. My husband has and will be continuing to take on more and more parent duties as well as more and more Verdi operations duties. I don’t think I’ll be on Instagram much. 

At the moment, while I type this on my laptop with all the blue light removed (it is very orange!) and have a timer set so that I don’t spend more than 20 minutes total on a screen, I feel somewhat hopeful about what the next month will bring. 

Ben (the aforementioned husband and business partner) has been slowly taking on more roles over here at Verdi land and we now are in a position where I’m forced to hand more over. I’m not sure if this will be a surprise or not, but I’m rather a type A personality and the process of handing things over has been hard for me, even though I know it is a good idea. This forced process might be good. I don’t have a choice, and that’s likely a good thing. 

And, again with that Type A personality thing, I’m not great at slowing down in general. I have a hard time not making lists, not constantly trying to improve processes (even ones as mundane as my post-shower skincare and teeth cleaning routine), not chilling out. Now I don’t have a choice. And, as of now, I’m feeling kind of grateful for that lack of choice. 

I’m also feeling grateful for the clients I have and the new ones coming on board. I’m grateful that I’m getting the opportunity to do only the work that I’m best at -- only the client facing work (and writing this weekly post). I’m grateful that I get to shed the other things and I get to decide how quickly or slowly I take on new folks. For now, I’ll just be taking on 2 new clients this month. That replaces a couple folks who are graduating out so it doesn’t actually increase my capacity. I hope that by this time next month I feel ready to increase that capacity further, but we’ll see. 

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO,

Let’s start with some basic information about the state of insurance in the U.S.. Or, rather, let’s start with some facts about the insured. Based on the most recent Census data, as of 2022 8.4% of Americans did not have health insurance. Truthfully, at first read that seemed lower than I was expecting and it has gone down over the years, much in part due to the Affordable Care Act. But, upon closer inspection I was pretty appalled by this number. While as a statistic 8.4% is not very high, it accounts for over 27 million people. Twenty-seven million! That is a lot of people. That is about 6 Louisians! That is 7 million more people than live in the state of New York! That is too many people who are most likely not getting the medical care that they need or deserve. 

And then let’s talk about the rest of the population. Of those with health insurance (again, these numbers are from the most recent Census): 

• 54.5% have employer based insurance

• 18.8% have Medicaid

• 18.7% have Medicare 

• 3.4% have Tricare or VA Insurance (armed forces)

• 10% purchase their insurance directly from carriers or from the marketplace

Those numbers combined are actually a bit over 100% and that is because some folks had multiple types of coverage or multiple types throughout the year. 

I’m glad so many people have health insurance. Not having health insurance is scary -- medical costs are extraordinarily high in the United States and a single medical bill has the ability to completely derail someone’s financial security. The fact that over 50% of folks get their health insurance from their employers makes me feel a few things. Again -- I’m happy folks get coverage, but anecdotally I know that this coverage can often feel like a set of fancy (or at least decent) handcuffs. Leaving a job that isn’t a good fit and starting something new, especially starting something entrepreneurial is a huge, terrifying, often incredibly gratifying leap, but because there aren’t great options for coverage outside of employer based plans (we’ll get to that 10% in a moment), it means that a lot of people don’t feel able to go out on their own. They feel stuck at jobs they’re miserable at. 

For a country that prides itself on the American Dream, small businesses, and the ability to pull oneself up from the boot straps, this feels like an incredible structural oversight. Actually, I don’t really think it is an oversight. I think those in power just don’t really believe in the things they say they do. I think they think it is okay that the only people who are financially able to start their own businesses are already wealthy or have safety nets and few responsibilities. 

So let’s talk about that 10% of folks who get their health insurance on the marketplace. While Verdi now has its own company based health insurance, I have experienced direct pay a lot over the past decade and it is how most of my clients get coverage so I feel pretty well versed in the manner. I’m glad that this option exists, but I hate how complex it can feel. I hate that in many states there are only a couple options for coverage which means that the options that do exist are rarely very good. I hate that coverage often feels overpriced and full of loopholes. I hate that small group insurance (coverage for businesses with fewer than 50 employees) is often more similar to the individual marketplace than the large company coverage. And, most of all I hate that if you don’t have coverage at all you are super screwed and if you do have coverage you are…well, still screwed. 

Sorry this week’s post was a downer, but this topic really bums me out. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

P.S. The incredible course that Puno of ilovecreatives and I run, Finance Friends Forever, has a great chapter on insurance. If you want to learn more or learn how to determine what type of coverage(s) you need, I highly recommend checking it out. 

P.P.S. AND the most recent podcast episode is live! I get even more in depth on this topic this week and I’d love for you to listen. If you enjoy the podcast please rate, subscribe, comment, or like. All of that engagement is incredibly helpful and appreciated :) 

As I was writing last week’s post, I realized that I really needed to tell you all about a few other end of the year tips and tricks to make sure that everyone’s favorite time of the year -- TAX TIME -- goes smoothly. 

The worst thing is realizing when you are filing that you missed out on some money saving opportunities, but that there’s nothing you can do about it now. Let’s try to avoid that scenario together!

So, what can you do before the end of 2024? 

• Bookkeeping

• Already have a bookkeeper? Check in with them! Ask them if they need any additional information or documentation from you before they close out your books for the year. 

• You are your own bookkeeper? Make sure your books are up to date and reconciled. This is the time to find those old receipts, upload them, and move on! If this is like pulling teeth for you, I recommend good ol’ bribery (i.e. telling myself that I’ll order my favorite Thai takeout tonight if I finish Q2 and Q3) or admitting that you might want to outsource this work for next year (reach out to me for recommendations!) 

• Own a business and have no idea what I’m talking about? Please reach out! I can help you create systems so you aren’t in a stressful tax situation in the future -- and so that 2023 taxes aren’t as stressful as they could be. A kind, knowledgeable, holding hand is pretty awesome. 

• Documentation & Mail

• If you are a 1099 employee, make sure you know exactly who to expect 1099s from in early 2024 (i.e. anyone who paid you more than $600). I recommend making a list of the people/companies as well as the amounts you got paid so you can cross reference and check them off the list when the papers come in. That way it is also really easy to know who you need to follow up with early next year! 

• If you want to be really nice check in with these folks and make sure they don’t need a W9 form from you (you likely already filled one out for them, but sometimes these things get lost or forgotten about!)

• If you are a W2 employee, check to find out if you’ll be getting your W2 in the mail or electronically. If it is electronically, make sure you know how to log into whatever portal the company uses so you aren’t dealing with last minute tech headaches! 

• Speaking of portals, no matter how you get paid, now is the time to figure out how to log into all your portals. That means any HR related portals as well as all bank accounts (especially savings accounts!), and investment accounts. Most tax docs go electronically now and it can be easy to miss things! 

• Spending Money!

• If you own a business (LLC, s-corp, or sole proprietorship) this may be a good time to make some last minute tax deductible purchases. You might even be able to prepay for upcoming events or services you know you’ll be signing up for in the new year. The trick with these types of last minute purchases is that you need to buy things you actually need to buy! The tax deduction is rarely worth it to buy things you actually don’t want or need, but stocking up on disposables that you regularly use, nonperishable items, or equipment can be a great idea! 

• This is also a great time to check in on your charitable giving. If you itemize your deductions (i.e. you do not use the standard deduction when you file taxes), you may be able to deduct your charitable contributions! The rules on whether or not you can deduct and how much are dependent on other tax circumstances, so you should reach out to your CPA to find out exactly how those donations will impact your taxes, but either way you will be giving money to support a cause you believe in -- and that seems like a win to me! 

And what can you do between January 1 and April 15, 2024? 

• Contribute to retirement! This could be an IRA, 401k, SEP, or 403b. As long as it is a pre-tax retirement account then you can deduct your contributions for the 2023 fiscal year. Most financial institutions (i.e. the companies that hold your retirement accounts) have an easy way for you to indicate that you want the contribution to be for the previous year, but if you don’t see it you can always call the company and ask for help. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

I know we are only halfway through Q4, but in my world things have already shifted over to focusing on Q1 2024. 2024! I actually accidentally wrote 2024 as the date the other day. Perhaps my brain is a little too focused on the future? But, as this post is about how it is important to focus on the future, let’s go ahead and ignore that concern.

If you are a business owner, now is a great time to do some forward thinking brainstorming about the next year. I like to start without a ton of data to back up the brainstorm -- instead, focus on feelings, not specific metrics. If you know how you want to feel, then you are better able to determine which metrics will help you get there. And, from the metrics and the feelings, you are often better equipped to narrow down on appropriate strategies to support that work. 

A few brainstorming questions I like using are: 

• Imagine your perfect work day. What does it look like? Where are you? How long do you work? What kind of things fill your day?

• Think about the impact that your business has on the people closest to you. How do you want them to describe that to others?

• Now think about the impact that your business has on your community. What do you want that to look like? How do you want folks in your community to describe your business? 

The next step is to work backwards from your answers -- if you know what your perfect work day looks like, what do you need to do to make that a reality? Do you need additional support? Different offerings? A new workspace? Of these things, are there any that you can start implementing quickly? Or are some of them things that you can make progress on in the coming year, but not necessarily achieve? Any of those answers are normal and valid! 

If you are not a business owner, or would like to just focus on personal finance for a bit, the same general structure is true. Starting with the big picture helps! 

The reason why starting with your emotions, instead of starting with the data, is helpful, is because it grounds us in the things that actually matter to your daily satisfaction and happiness. Life isn’t about making a certain amount of money, saving a certain amount of money, or spending a certain amount of money. Life is about experiencing the things on a day to day basis that bring us joy, comfort, and help us create positive impacts in the world. By starting on that super high level, you can then better define how your the money that will propel you to that spot. If you start with the money (or the metrics) then you end up focusing on what someone else thinks you should do, or perhaps worse, your goals are pulled from thin air and don’t have the emotional component that will actually keep you motivated to reach them. 

A few brainstorming questions I love to use for personal finance big picture planning are: 

• Imagine your financial worries and stresses are gone. What has changed about how you live your life on a daily basis? What about how you spend your time throughout the year? 

• Imagine your financial worries and stresses are gone. What has changed about your financial reality? Is it that you have more savings? Own property? Have less debt? No debt? Support to help you understand and manage financial admin? Someone who handles your bills? Be specific! 

• Think back to this year -- what financially related things felt really stressful? What would have made them feel less stressful? 

• Think back to this year -- what financially related things felt really good? How can you create more of those moments?

The next step is exactly the same as it was for business finance. Backwards plan to determine what you can start implementing quickly and what will take more time. Determine the supports or inputs that are currently missing in your life that you’ll need to get in order to make your dream a reality. A lot of this work is about determining your end goal and then figuring out what stepping stones make the most sense along the way. Inevitably there will be times when you take a stepping stone that doesn’t work out like you thought and you may need to backtrack or change course. That is okay!

If you want help with this process, reach out! I’d love to chat. You can book a free consultation call on my calendar or fill out the client inquiry form to start the process with me. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty overrun by holiday shopping ads. It seems like a never ending barrage and this year for some reason feels more heightened to me. 

So, I wanted to take some time in the newsletter to share the system that I’m using to make sure that I have a successful holiday shopping experience. And, by successful, I mean that I stay within a set amount of money I’ve decided to spend, that I’m happy with my purchases, and that I don’t feel too stressed. 

Some parts of my plan may seem over simplified, but by a super not scientific poll conducted by me asking clients and friends, it seems like very few people use any system at all, so I hope this helps! 

Step 1: Make a list! (Actually make a few lists)

• Make a list of everyone you would like to get a gift for

• Make a list of any events you are attending

• Make a list of any events you are hosting

Step 2: Identify Your Non-Negotiables

For each of the above lists check the non-negotiables (i.e. you have to and want to go to your sister’s annual New Year’s party and you absolutely will be giving a gift to your niece). 

Step 3: Eliminate the Fluff

Is there anything not on the non negotiable list that you really don’t want to do? If so, cross it off! I know! It is nuts! If it is an event, make a calendar event for that day/time that says something along the lines of, “Congrats! You made a good choice and get to do whatever you want instead of going to XYZ!”. If it is a gift for someone, ask yourself if you need to tell them. If you do, give them a heads up and explain that you are working on larger financial goals that mean that you’ve needed to cut back on spending this year. Or - better yet - blame me! Tell them your financial coach said to cut it out. 

Step 4: Budget it OUTTTT

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Give yourself a gift giving budget, an event hosting budget, and an event attending budget. 

These budgets should all either be doable for you with your expected income or should be something that you want to pull from savings for. They should not be amounts you are planning to put on a credit card. 

Not surprisingly, I like to use a spreadsheet to map out my plans. For each gift or event I write out all of the expected expense items, the amounts of money I plan to spend, the links for anything I am buying online, how much I actually spent, and whether I went over or under my goal. 

Step 5: Buy the things! 

Pretty sure this step is self explanatory :) 

A couple tips just in case you’re feeling stuck: 

1. Accept help if you are hosting an event. People really do want to bring things! It makes them feel useful and good!

2. When buying host gifts, think about things you can buy in bulk.

3. If you need a special outfit for an event, but don’t think this will be something you use much in the future, look into renting the clothes instead! A lot of my clients love Rent the Runway. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

P.S. If you are reading this and thinking, “but Caroline, I have no idea what my budget should be!” then you may be ready for some financial guidance. If you want to try something low commitment, but meaningful, check out the Money Diary (clients actually call this tool LIFE CHANGING). If you’re ready to go full hog and get all your financial ducks in a row (oh my goodness, too many animal puns, I’m sorry), then schedule a free call with me or fill out the client inquiry form. I’d love you to join me for coaching in December or January! 

Ripping the Bandaid vs. Slow and Steady Wins the Race

I’ve always been a big fan of ripping the bandaid - both literally and figuratively. Once I make a decision, I want to implement it immediately and then move on. This has been incredibly helpful for much of my life, but has not always been helpful in my financial life. For example, while ripping the bandaid to learn more about my credit card debt in my early adulthood was helpful, I wasn’t able to actually get out of debt quickly -- I needed a slow and steady pace to make that work. 

So, when does it make sense to rip the bandaid? As in, when does it make sense to work really intensively for a short period of time to reach your financial goals? 

• Setting up legal and operational structures for a business 

• Revamping your existing saving and investing systems to fit a new goals or financial realities 

• Implementing new account systems that optimize interest and functionality

The reason these things work at a fast pace is because each of them are, fundamentally, about setting up new systems. The goals are clear and once the systems are set up they are low maintenance to maintain.

What about slow and steady wins the race? When does that work better?

• Eliminating and managing debt

• Creating new spending or saving habits 

• Learning new habits for using financial analysis in your business 

Slow works best for implementing new habits and mindsets. That work is complex, often emotionally charged, and takes some degree of trial and error. Therefore it is important that there is time for that process built into the implementation period. 

The reason I needed to move at a slower pace to actually get out of debt was because the reasons I had gotten into debt in the first place were habit and emotionally based. It wasn’t knowledge or a system alone that was going to the fix the problem. I needed to really understand what the emotional reasons were behind my purchase decisions and then use that information to help me make different decisions in the future. That was hard, slow work! 

I think there are seasons for each method in our lives. I also find that sometimes jumpstarting something by working really intensely for a short period of time and then continuing for a longer period of time in a slow and steady fashion works great for a lot of people. It’s the best of both worlds.

If you were to put this in Verdi coaching terms that would mean having 1-3 Sprint Days (3 hour intensives) and then hourly coaching 1-2x/month for a few months after that. Regardless of the speed that works best for you, the goals are the same -- gain the knowledge and skills you need to reach your financial goals. 

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO,

P.S. LIke the content of this newsletter? The Podcast goes way more in depth on the same topic! You can listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

P.P.S. Feeling out of touch with your spending habits and ready to get in alignment? Check out the Verdi Money Diary! It will help you understand your spending habits and create actionable goals to change things that aren’t serving you anymore.

I specialize in working with folks with fluctuating income. That means business owners with fluctuating business revenue (and therefore often fluctuating take home income), folks who work with commission based salaries, freelancers, and gig workers. Today I want to focus on the gig workers, specifically the gig workers in the film industry, but the takeaways can apply to other industries as well. 

I’ve worked with folks in front of the camera (the “talent”) and those behind the camera (the crew and post production team), and the overarching financial narrative is complex and often painful. 

First off, there’s a vernacular in the industry that I think muddies how folks think about their work. My film industry clients talk about their work as if the industry is their employer. On the other hand, other freelancers I work with never talk that way. My freelance graphic designers don’t say the Graphic Design industry employs them -- they say individual clients employ them. By saying it is the industry as a whole, my clients unknowingly take the individual humanity out of the equation. When something is wrong and you say it is caused by “the industry” that is vague and often not actionable, but when something is wrong and you say it is caused by Steve, that is actionable. 

In general, folks who work in the film industry feel like they have been sold a bill of goods -- the industry, and what the industry makes, is cool. It is pop culture. Unlike most work, the finished product actually gets seen by millions of people. You can tell someone you worked on Barbie and they are going to think you are cool. Most of my clients in the industry would never say that that matters to them. They typically say that they love the functionality of their work - they love working on creative projects and they love the teamwork that is inherent to the job. That is all very legitimate! Those are great reasons to love the work and, I think for some, they outweigh the drawbacks. But, the cool factor is there too -- and it muddies the waters. It makes it hard to recognize the problems and makes it difficult to explain the problems to outsiders. 

Over the course of the last 7 years I’ve also come to more fully understand the drawbacks of the work and, therefore, who is the most likely to “make it” in the industry. 

Drawbacks: 

• Lack of control over pay

• Requirement to come with your own equipment/upkeep 

• Either no benefits or it is challenging to qualify for benefits

• No control over schedule

• Tied to location 

Let’s talk more specifically about a couple of these drawbacks. 

The norm in the industry is to talk about pay in terms of your day rate - which, depending on the role you have, can be pretty high. For example, a PA (Production Assistant) makes about $200 a day and a camera operator makes about $600 a day. A Director might make $4,000 or more a day.

This makes people feel like they make a ton of money when they are working on set, or at least have the potential to make a lot of money. The problem is that very few people in the industry actually work enough days to have the math work. It is not abnormal to go entire months without working -- or, depending on your role, to even go years without working. 

These ups and downs mean you don’t know when you’ll work again and therefore most people feel forced to take the next thing that comes up no matter what -- thus taking on things that aren’t good fits or overworking and burning out. This happens for creative freelancers in other industries as well, but in most other career paths you can work up to turning your freelance work into a (relatively) stable business and can run that business like any other small business. But, if you are a Grip in the film industry you will almost definitely never be able to run your work like it is a standalone business. 

And that doesn’t even begin to take into account the expectations of what each individual employee comes to the table with. If you are on the crew, you likely are expected to own a fair amount of your own equipment -- often thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. You need to take care of this equipment, fix it when it needs repairs and keep it up to date to industry standards (i.e. replace items, buy new items regularly). 

If you are talent, you are expected to invest significantly into your skills and appearance. This means regularly hiring acting coaches, participating in expensive acting classes and spending a lot of money on appearance related activities (personal trainers, fitness classes, facials, makeup, etc). These things add up and are not covered in any way by your employers. These are the pay to play costs and, for the most part, are non negotiable. 

Some of you reading I bet are thinking, “why would anyone agree to this?!”

I think a huge part is the day rate vernacular. 

When you are talking in day rate terms it is really hard for our brains to compute this in a helpful way. People typically think of money needs in terms of months -- how much we need to make in a month in order to cover our monthly expenses (i.e. I need to make at least $5,000 to cover my base expenses). So, when doing the day rate math you end up thinking -- I need to work X days/month to hit my minimum revenue needs. And, quite frequently the number of days you need isn’t outrageous so it feels doable, but, again, the lack of control that individual workers have means that hitting that number is a roll of the dice. 

Honestly, working with so many people in the industry over the years has made me think of the industry as pretty toxic. In fact, for some of my clients it almost feels like an abusive partner -- it pulls you in, gives you presents (day rate), makes you feel special (cool factor) and then turns around and cheats on you (don’t get hired) or expects too much from you (equipment investments). 

It really doesn’t have to be this way. I’m thrilled that the strikes seem to be making some progress in the right direction and I hope there is more of that in the future. While the work may not be saving lives, it is something that touches most of us most days and it would be nice if we (actually, not we -- the industry!) treated the people on the ground with more respect and kindness. 

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO, 

Let’s be real, I decided to write this newsletter because I thought the title was fitting for Halloween, not because I had the perfect topic to go along with it. Although, let’s also be real, I could pull almost any financial institution or figure out of a hat and explain how they are a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And hey, maybe I’ll actually turn this into a recurring series and write about someone different each time! 

Today, though, I want to just focus on one figure in the financial services world - Dave Ramsey. 

For those of you who don’t know, Dave Ramsey is a personal finance “guru” and evangelical Christian radio host who has been famous in both the finance industry and American Christian world for decades. 

Not that surprisingly, there are a lot of scandals now associated with him (see this Covid related one, this BS financial advice one, and this premarital sex one to get you started), which I’m not going to go into because the real journalists out there are absolutely doing a better job. 

What I want to talk about is his message. 

Dave Ramsey has built a career by teaching people how to get out of debt. And, I think he’s likely been incredibly helpful for a lot of people. The problem is that he also pushes messages that are harmful and offensive. 

His message is often extreme. He recommends cutting costs by eating rice and beans (like, only rice and beans). I know that being extreme is how you build buzz, which I’m sure was his goal, but it also can put people in a really scary situation. When you’re hearing that the only way to succeed is to cut expenses to the point of pain, that is what happens -- pain. 

Dave, on the other hand, is an incredibly wealthy man with an estimated net worth over $200 million. He is the son of real estate developers and has been in real estate and/or finance since the beginning of his career. He was a millionaire by age 26. 

He explains his financial story as a rags to riches story because after gaining incredible wealth he ended up declaring bankruptcy. His version of the story is very scary. I’m positive that it was really scary and stressful at the time. I’m also positive that the financial laws in place allowed him to succeed long term. 

Dave Ramsey declared bankruptcy as part of a business solution to a problem. His portfolio at the time was reported to be worth $4 million and his recalled debt was $1.2 million. He had high earning power and was, by all accounts, set up to land on his feet. It is not dissimilar to many other rich, white cis men of his generation declaring bankruptcy (i.e. Donald Trump, Larry King). It is dissimilar to the experiences of his audience. 

I’m not saying that he didn’t work hard, but I am saying that his experience is not the norm, nor is his experience relevant to his audience. He is an extremely wealthy, privileged, white cis man, telling a whole lot of financially vulnerable people what to do. He thinks that because he is rich he is better -- there is a moral judgment baked directly into his message:

If you follow my rules (which I never have had to) then you will shed your failings that got you where you are and you will be good (rich) like me. 

That is his core message. 

Being in debt or being poor is a moral failing. Being rich is a sign of moral success.   

Ramsey preys on his audience (he also claims to pray for his audience, but who knows). Folks who are in debt come to him and to his resources looking for relief and guidance. They are often scared and overwhelmed. They are in vulnerable situations and are looking for help. 

And then Dave sells them a system. He makes money off the vulnerable by selling “quick” solutions that, like most diets, are almost impossible to follow perfectly. That means that when a customer falls short of their goals the answer that Dave can give them is that they (the customer) didn’t follow all of the rules correctly. They failed because they couldn’t cut it, not because the system wasn’t realistic. He sets himself up to be infallible while still touting the righteous nature of his system. 

That isn’t how life works and it isn’t how money works. Our lives are inevitably full of unexpected expenses, changing priorities, and external realities. Some of us are born into systems that set us up for success and some of us are born into systems that set us up for failure. There are absolutely tools that we can use to improve our financial reality (heck, that’s why I have a job!), but ignoring the baked in realities and systemic failures of our financial system is foolish. 

So, if you’ve been hearing financial advice over the years from Dave Ramsey or anyone else that makes it feel like you’ve been doing something wrong and that’s why you haven’t reached your financial goals, I’d love for you to try to shed some of that guilt. If you want some help or support in shedding that guilt, reach out! I’d love to chat. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

It is HAPPENING Y’all!!!

ANNOUNCEMENT: My coaching roster is full for October, but I have spots open in November! If you’d like to learn more, go here or schedule a free consultation call with me here. 

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AND NOW, BACK TO OUR REGULARLY PROGRAMMED SCHEDULING: 

Today is a really big day over here at Verdi HQ! For the last 4 months my husband (and business partner) and I have been working together on a very exciting new venture…drum roll please…

The It Doesn’t Have to Be Terrible Podcast!

You can listen to the first 3 episodes on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and you can watch the first three episodes on YouTube!  If you enjoy listening, please subscribe or share with your friends. That kind of support is incredibly helpful and meaningful to me.

Some of you may know this already, but I’ve been talking about starting a podcast for years.

I never felt like I really had the time to devote to launching a podcast, nor did I feel like I had as much direction as I really needed in order to make it well. And then, a few months ago, my husband made the decision to focus more of his career attention on Verdi and all of a sudden we had the capacity, expertise, and drive to get this thing off the ground! 

Ben handles all the backend -- lighting, sound, filming, editing, tech; and I handle planning the content for each episode. We film once a week and, as of now, our plan is to drop an episode weekly on Wednesdays while taking some breaks for holidays and family vacations. 

Ben and I have tried to collaborate closely on creative projects in the past and, quite frankly, it didn’t usually go well. Neither of us were good at taking feedback from the other and it often ended in a fight. 

So far the making of this podcast has been the total opposite. In fact, I’d say it has been pretty gosh darn delightful. 

I think a lot of the change can be chalked up to age, but I also think we are both more comfortable in our areas of expertise and no longer try to micromanage (let’s be real -- that was mostly me) the other one. We trust that we each know what we’re doing and can do it. And we do! 

So, what the heck is this podcast and why should you listen? 

The It Doesn’t Have To Be Terrible podcast explores the stories, questions, and topics that help us better understand how we, as individuals, impact and are impacted by the financial world around us. I’ll cover some of the same types of topics I write about here, but in more depth (sometimes in much more depth). I’ll also be interviewing guests about their financial journeys and will be sharing more about what goes on behind the scenes with my business. 

I would be honored to have you listen! 

And, don’t worry -- I’ll still be putting out this newsletter once a week. Nothing changes over here in Substack land.

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

I get questions all the time about what my job actually is. I often get asked if being a Financial Coach is the same as being a Financial Advisor. And…the answer is sometimes. 

I know, I know, I always give the sometimes answer. But, basically, the sometimes answer is always right (now I’m just being obnoxious). 

Anyway, I want to take the time to explain the difference between these overlapping jobs, at least as I understand them. There will absolutely be other opinions out there that don’t perfectly match mine! 

Financial Advisor

Financial Advisors are sometimes called Investment Advisors or Money Managers as well. Those three terms are quite interchangeable, but they often overlap quite a bit. 

Financial advisors most frequently advise on investments, oftentimes actually handling a person or company’s investments on their behalf (i.e. making trades, recommending stocks or portfolios, recommending investment and related tax structures). Their job is to make recommendations to their clients based on the information they have at hand. While there are meetings that take place between advisors and clients, they aren’t super frequent (typically annually, semi-annually, or quarterly). Meetings are usually focused on updating clients on their current investment portfolio and making recommendations on next steps. 

This is what I did right after earning my MBA and, while a lot of the knowledge I gained during this period impacts my work now, very little of my actual work is the same. I no longer focus solely on investing and I no longer handle anyone’s money or investments on their behalf. I no longer put together 401k plans or group health insurance plans, but Financial Advisors DO do all of those things! 

To note, many Financial Advisors (like basically all professionals), focus on one or a couple areas of work. Some only work with individual investors. Some only work with companies. Many have set a net worth minimum for prospective clients. 

Financial Advisors most often get paid based on a percentage of “assets under management”. This means that an advisor makes a specific percentage (think 1%, 0.75%, etc.) per year of the funds they manage. The more money you have with that advisor, the more money they make off of you. 

Financial Coach 

This is what I refer to myself as, but, as I state below, I act as a consultant as well. 

Financial Coaches work with clients to help them learn new skills, crucial knowledge, and operational processes to better manage their own money. 

Like all of these professionals, coaches tend to focus on specific financial issues or specific types of clients. My personal expertise is working with small business owners and freelance professionals who have fluctuating income and want to reach their professional and personal financial goals as well as create systems for financial operations, analysis, projections, and daily habits. That messy middle in between business and personal finance is my jam! 

Other coaches may focus on more specific financial topics, such as debt management, investment strategy, or personal budgeting or on other types of clients (i.e. individuals with a specific net worth, folks nearing retirement, people with specific career paths).

Coaches typically work with clients in person or through virtual meetings. Client time is reserved for teaching, asking questions, analyzing current systems and helping clients practice new skills or set up new systems. There is no doing for you, but instead a focus on helping you learn how to do it yourself. 

Some coaches also provide online classes (I have one with Puno of ilovecreatives here!) or group coaching opportunities. 

My Financial Coaching services consist of: 

1. Monthly coaching packages with either one or two sessions/month for 6-12 months

2. Sprint Day packages with (typically) 3-6 three hour intensive sessions over the course of a few months

Financial Coaches typically get paid on a monthly or by session price. I had been paid by the session for many years, but recently moved that to a monthly system to better incorporate all of the backend research, preparation, and client communication I do in between sessions. 

Financial Consultant

This one really feels like the catchall term in the world of advisory financial services. A financial consultant consults (ughhhh, I’m the worst!). But they do! 

Financial Consultants work clients on a wide range of financial issues. They do not do the work on a client’s behalf or manage money a la a Financial Advisor, but also don’t necessarily teach clients new skills, a la a Financial Coach. Instead, Financial Consultants review the current reality and make recommendations on next steps, some of which they may help implement to a degree, but would not take full responsibility of doing. 

For example, a financial consultant would likely create projections of potential financial growth scenarios for a company, but would not implement any of the necessary functional changes for the company. A financial consultant would likely review and analyze an investment portfolio and help the client determine what works well for them, what doesn’t, and how to change it, but would not do it for them. The difference between a Coach and Consultant is the amount of backend time needed to help the client reach their goals. I spend hours of time researching, analyzing, and creating spreadsheets for my consulting clients, whereas I spend most of my time with my coaching clients actually communicating (either via email or via video sessions). 

Like coaches and Advisors, most Consultants have a specific expertise and only focus on that type of client or that type of work. The folks I work with on a consulting basis are very similar to the folks I work with on a coaching basis. The difference is often either the scale of their business (i.e. larger business, more revenue, more staff) and/or the specific financial goals they have. 

My Financial Consulting services consist of: 

1. Business Strategy and Support monthly packages for small business owners, that consists of some mixture of the following areas of consultation: 

1. Financial strategy creation and/or advising

2. Financial operations and management 

3. Pricing determination for services and products

4. Revenue analysis

5. Expense analysis

6. Account(s) systems and maintenance structures

7. Investments and fundraising

8. Bookkeeping

9. Growth and/or time horizon projections

10. Debt management and/or strategy

Financial Consultants usually get paid more like Coaches than Advisors. They get paid on an hourly, monthly, or per project basis, depending on the coach and the scope of work. I work with clients on a monthly basis with a cap on the number of hours of backend work that I will do. 

So, do you need one of these people in your life? 

My go-to answer when I get asked this is, “maybe, but not necessarily”. 

1. Most folks don’t need a Financial Advisor unless you are managing a large investment portfolio or are in charge of benefits for a company. 

1. Note: if you are in the market for an investment or financial advisor, hit me up! I’m happy to share some recommendations.

2. I’m rather partial to financial coaches, but I still don’t think everyone needs them. If your financial reality is pretty simple (i.e. no high interest debt, steady income, relatively steady expenses, and no complicated tax or other financial structure) then you likely don’t need a Coach. However, if you are really struggling with the emotional and mental aspects of your finances, you may need a coach who specializes in that area or a Financial Therapist.

3. Financial Consultants work best when you have come to the point in your (almost always business) finances where you know you need help and don’t want to have to learn how to do everything by yourself, but you aren’t at the point where you need to hire someone full-time. 

If you thought, “hmmmm, that could be me!” to either of the last two bullet points, let’s chat!

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO, 

I talk, or at least mention, Money Diaries a fair amount on Instagram and in this newsletter. They are a crucial aspect of my personal money journey and are a crucial tool for the vast majority of my clients. But, upon some reflection, I realized that it has been a long time since I actually explained what a Money Diary is. 

So here goes! 

First, the purpose of a Money Diary is to enable you to track your income and expenses in an organized and thoughtful way so that you can glean helpful information which, in turn, will help you implement new financial strategies to better reach your goals. Whew, that was a mouthful!

To simplify…

Money Diary = Tracking Income & Expenses = Data = Habit Shifts = Goal Accomplishment!!

See? They’re really cool. 

There are a lot of Money Diaries out there, but they don’t all call themselves that term. There are things like YNAB and Mint and there are Pinterest versions of pen and paper written diaries. 

I have never found a version that I think truly captures what I want, so when I started this work in 2016 I made my own. I have tweaked it over the years to the point that I don’t think the original would even recognize the 2023 version, but that means the 2023 version is pretty gosh darn amazing. 

It includes: 

• Directions for using the spreadsheet

• A way to update and personalize all spending categories 

• A way to update and personalize all income categories

• A sheet for each month of the year

• Emotional reflections that help you recalibrate and more quickly reach your goals

• A year in review doc that can be used throughout the year to better understand trends

And now it also includes a Learn-At-Your-Own-Pace Video Module where I walk you through how to use the spreadsheet, some tips and tricks for how to streamline the process, guides for what to do when things don’t go as planned, and how to match the diary process with your larger financial goals. 

Tracking income often gets ignored, or at least not highlighted, when doing traditional budgeting, which has always driven me bonkers. Income is half of the equation! And, by understanding our income mix and trends we are better able to plan for the future (i.e. if you understand that you always have lower income in the summer it is easier to plan for that throughout the rest of the year). 

And expenses. Oh expenses! Often the goal in traditional budgeting is to lower all expenses as much as possible. While lowering expenses in certain categories may be helpful for reaching your goals (it often is!), it is often counterproductive to try to reduce all categories, or even many categories at once. For one thing, some expenses are out of our control! And, some expenses bring joy and ease into our lives such that removing them or drastically reducing them would end up working against our larger financial goals.

That’s why the reflection piece matters. You need to be able to understand which levers to pull and which ones need to be left alone. Knowing is empowering and exciting. Knowing means you can move forward with clarity, structure, and ease! 

Ready to get going? 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

The decision 

Back in August I wrote a piece on Amazon Palm Readers and, at the time, I said I was on the fence about them. 

Well friends, I’m off the fence! I have an opinion! 

To start, let me explain that any time you’re making a financial transaction you are picking between options that all have real downsides. 

For example, cash is very hard to track and almost impossible to recover if stolen. Swiping cards gives you the highest chance of having your bank or credit card details stolen. The chip is better than the swipe, but not perfect. 

Then there are the last two (other than things like Venmo, Cash App, which we’ll talk about at a later date), the Tap and the Palm. 

Between the two I think it is a no brainer. 

The tap system actually creates a unique ID for each individual purchase, making it extremely difficult for your card details to be stolen. While the technology isn’t perfect (and not ubiquitous yet), it is improving quickly. 

The palm scanners are also extremely secure -- no one’s palm is exactly the same and therefore, unless you steal someone’s hand a la Total Recall, your info is pretty safe. The downside, which I think overrides the security at this point, is that the companies that control the Palm Reader technology (aka Amazon) now have access to biological data on the users above and beyond the already huge wealth of information they have. For now, this feels like information I’d rather not give away for free. 

Maybe the inevitable is moving us toward palm readers and iris scanners as the way of identification and payment. Maybe in a few years I’ll feel like that’s okay because I’ve been slowly whittled down into thinking it is normal. Or maybe the future is going to include a backlash to this kind of data mining. Who knows?!

But, for now, I don’t see an upside to Amazon knowing even more about me than they did before. And, let’s be honest, is it soooo hard to tap a card?! 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

P.S. I didn’t even touch Apple Pay or Google Wallet today! If you are curious about my thoughts or want me to one big comparison for all the ways to pay, shoot me an email at caroline@verdiadvising.com

As I’ve shared in the past, my early adulthood financial journey included a whole lot of sticking my head in the sand and trying my darndest to not pay attention to my money (or, often, the lack thereof). And, as I’ve also shared in the past, I think there are times in life when not being as vigilant or aware may be a necessary coping mechanism. And, on top of all of that, very few of us have been taught helpful skills, habits, or even have reasonable real-life examples of what financial health and awareness really look like. 

As such, I never judge anyone who has buried their head in the sand when it comes to their money. It is a totally normal and reasonable reaction to a confusing, often overwhelming and scary part of life. 

AND, my career is dedicated to helping people unbury their heads. I like to think of this work, whether you are doing it with a professional, or on your own as split into two categories: 

1. Your Emotional Reality

2. Your Financial Reality

In an ideal world these two things are perfectly synced, but I think that is incredibly rare -- even if you have a really deep, thorough understanding of your finances! Instead, I like to think about getting those two realities as close as possible to each other. 

I start with #2 and weave in #1 as I go. What this looks like in practice:

• Exploring your key financial numbers so you know where you stand now

• Defining financial goals 

• Matching those goals to accounts (i.e. where will you save for that next business investment? How do you optimize retirement planning?) 

• Exploring current financial habits to determine what works well for you and what needs to change

• Create financial systems that ease stress and help you reach your goals

Throughout this process I weave in the emotional reality by asking questions. SO MANY QUESTIONS. And through the answers I help clients figure out why they’ve struggled with certain financial goals -- is it that they don’t know how to do something or how to create systems? Is it that the goal isn’t truly aligned with their values and desires? Is it that they were taught things and given financial belief systems that hold them back? I find that for almost every client there is a mixture of those three things going on, whether we’re working on business or personal finances (or a combo of the two!). 

Below is a brainstorm exercise that may help you begin to understand your own financial emotions. Try it out!  

• Imagine yourself 5 years in the future. In an ideal world, what are you doing? What are you spending your time doing? Who are you with? What does your home look like?

• Now, ask yourself the exact same question again. 

• And again. 

• Are the answers the same? Did they evolve over time? What things do you hold most dear…most close to your heart?

• Try that same exercise again in a week and compare your answers. 

• If they’re all the same then your financial goals are likely very well aligned with your actual values and desires. If not, you may be striving for something you don’t actually want and THAT is incredibly hard to do. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

Which makes me wonder…what else can I try out? 

My kids started at a new preschool in mid August. They had spent the last 5 months with a wonderful nanny and before then had been at a different daycare. Having the nanny cost more than the previous daycare and their current school is almost exactly the same cost as the nanny, so my finances haven’t changed much. 

What has changed is my schedule and routines. The actual time that kids are being taken care of has barely changed -- the nanny worked 9-4 and would be flexible to stay a little later or come a little earlier if a need arose (i.e. early morning doctor’s appointment or client session that ended right at 4). Now the kids get dropped off at 8:45 and picked up between 4-4:30. Almost identical to the previous schedule, right??

Wrong!

My husband and I both work from home -- I work in a home office on the second floor which is right next to the kids’ bedrooms and my husband works out of a workshop in the backyard which, importantly, does not have a bathroom or running water (it does have electricity and AC, however). What this meant in reality when we had the nanny was that we were both trapped for good portions of the day. We didn’t want the kids to see us and then get thrown off of their regular routines and so we hid away. This meant I didn’t get nearly as much midday movement in my life, which has always been a really important factor in my productivity and neither my husband nor I drank enough water or ate reasonable meals on a lot of days. Granted, the nanny always took the kids out for a morning activity, but that wasn’t the time period that seemed most important for us to be able to leave our respective offices. 

Okay, now I’m just rambling. 

The point is that all of a sudden we have our house fully back! And, let me tell you, it is marvelous. I made a wonderful lunch yesterday AND ATE IT AT THE DINING ROOM TABLE. A luxury! 

Sometimes when I’m feeling stuck in a client challenge I putz around the first floor and walk up and down the stairs to clear my head. Incredible!

My husband regularly drinks water and eats food. A HUGE win! 

And how, praytell, does this relate to money you ask? 

Well, in a roundabout way it is entirely linked. Sometimes the options you have aren’t really about money, they’re about lifestyle or values. And, sometimes, you don’t really know what you’re missing until you’ve tried both options. We absolutely adored our nanny. She is still an important part of our lives and I wouldn’t have traded that time for the world. AND the changes in my day to day when my kids are fully out of the house are priceless to me. 

Sometimes it is easy to try both ways -- you can absolutely get one kind of milk at the store one week and try the other kind you’re interested in the following week. But, more often than not it is hard to try it both ways. You can’t buy two homes (probably) in two locations to see which one you like better, but you can rent an Airbnb for a few days to check out a different neighborhood. You can’t commit to a nanny and a preschool at the same time and decide which one you like better, but you probably can try out a full-day babysitter for a day or two to test the waters. 

If you’re struggling with an “either or” financial decision I highly recommend taking the time to brainstorm ways of recreating the scenarios so you can see how they feel before making a decision. Who knows, maybe you’ll realize you can pee in the middle of the day without fear of upsetting the delicate balance of your 18 month and 3 year old’s dynamic! And, let me tell you, that’s a miracle. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

Nothing says a 3 day weekend is over like some math! 

If you’ve been a long time reader of this newsletter you may remember that I’ve written about financial statistics in the past, but it has been a long time and a lot has changed in the economy so I want to revisit some of my favorite (aka not favorite) economic metrics. 

In honor of Labor Day, I’m revisiting our old friend: Unemployment.

Last Friday the national jobs report came out. In a lot of ways the numbers were sort of same old same old as the last couple months. The August highlights were: 

• Employers added 187,000 jobs 

• The unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 3.8% 

• Hourly earnings rose 4.3% over the month

• In general, hiring weakened over the summer (as in employers aren’t feeling the need to hire as much/as quickly)

The one highlight I want us to focus on today is that second bullet point -- the unemployment rate. I think most folks assume that that number includes everyone who is unemployed and would like to be employed. This would likely include folks who work part-time, but who would like to work full-time and those who are freelance who don’t have gigs right now. That makes sense! Unfortunately, that isn’t how the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the rate. This particular indicator is referred to as the U-3 unemployment rate and only counts folks who are: 

1. Available to work 

2. Actively seeking work

3. Are furloughed

It does not include folks who are: 

1. Working part-time, but want to work full-time

2. Underemployed

3. Work 15+ hours/week of unpaid “family work”

4. No longer looking for a job because they haven’t been able to find one in a long time (this is referred to as “out of the labor market” by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

I always find the details of the rate to be pretty mind blowing -- they are missing so many people in the count! It makes the economy look better than it is in reality for many people. It also makes sense why folks feel like the economy isn’t doing as well as the numbers may say. 

So, what is a more helpful indicator to look at? 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics actually has another version of the unemployment rate called the U-6 that I find really helpful. The U-6 includes people who are “marginally attached to the labor force” and who are working part-time, but want to work full-time. Note: marginally attached includes folks who have given up searching for a job. 

The August, 2023 US U-6 unemployment rate was 7.2% -- almost twice the U-3 rate. The last time I looked at this rate for the newsletter was 3 years ago. Then, in August of 2020, the U-3 rate was 10.2% and the U-6 rate was 16.5%. 7.2% is way better than both of those! And while that is true, I still wish the powers that be, namely politicians and the media outlets that report on these statistics, would share a more thorough and nuanced understanding of the indicators because without clear definitions and details we miss the real story. 

Yes - the unemployment rate has improved since the height of the pandemic. That IS good, but the real story is that there are still over 7% of Americans who would like to work more than they are. And that doesn’t even begin to touch wages, work-life balance, job satisfaction, or inflation. The unemployment rate alone - regardless of whether you are looking at the U-3 or U-6 rate doesn’t really tell us what is happening in the economy -- it is just a snapshot of one piece of the puzzle and I sure wish politicians would stop using it as a badge of honor or weapon when most Americans just want to feel secure, be able to spend quality time outside of work, and spend money in alignment with their goals without feeling financially terrified.

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

P.S. I have a few open coaching spots for the fall! You can book a free consultation call with me, fill out the client inquiry form, or check out the Verdi website if you want to learn more.

I am not a big fan of grocery shopping. Probably because I’m not a big fan of cooking. The exceptions to this rule are Trader Joe’s (snacks for dayyysss) and Whole Foods (they’ve really figured out how to make me feel seen -- maybe it is the olives?).

For most of my adult life I avoided Whole Foods since it has a tendency to eat money quickly, but one of my kids has a lot of food allergies and we’ve found that there are some things that he really loves that we can only find there. So, I’ve started being a somewhat regular Whole Foods shopper. 

As a complete side note, one of my most clear memories from high school is telling my dear friend Brendan that I wanted to do something really good for the world (i.e. work a “noble”, but poorly paid job), but still be able to buy cut fruit from Whole Foods whenever I wanted it. For some reason that, and probably expensive jeans, seemed like the end all be all in high society living for 16 year old me. 

That all is a long preamble to tell you about a recent trip to Whole Foods where, as I was checking out, the attendant subtly pushed their new “palm reader” to pay. I immediately laughed awkwardly saying that it completely freaked me out and that I’ll skip for now (thank you very much!). 

The attendant acted surprised that I was freaked out. It made me wonder if my reaction was unusual. I mean, it feels like a pretty sci-fi device -- wouldn’t the other uptown moms (i.e. the majority shopping population at my local store) also be kind of freaked out by this shift in payment structures? Or am I just a dinosaur?

I haven’t done enough research into palm readers yet to know if I’m truly for or against them (Amazon claims that they are more secure than traditional methods), but I will and when I come to some sort of conclusion I’ll absolutely share with you. In the meantime, I’d love to know your reactions! 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,

We’ve got a lot of very fun things cooking for fall over here at Verdi HQ and I cannot wait to tell you all about it! BUT…I’m not quite ready for all of the announcements yet. In the meantime, I want to share something that has been really top of mind for me recently.

It is easy to put your hands up and just say f*** it when it comes to money. 

Sometimes that feels good and right and the only way forward and I don’t blame you in any way if you’ve been there in the past or are there right now. Heck, I’ve been there! In fact, I’ve been there a lot over the past year and half. 

I don’t think periods of letting things go are necessarily bad, but they can be problematic if they last too long. The f*** it attitude can mess up your long-term goals, can get you in debt, and can stall your income growth.

If you’ve been in that space for a while, I feel you. I’ll tell you how I’ve been getting out of it: 

1. I got loosey goosey with Money Dates for a while, but for the past couple months I’ve really honored my financial journey by committing to having a Business Money Date every Monday and a Personal Money Date every Friday. Not only do I feel more aware of my financial reality, but checking in with myself is enabling me to make changes in real time that ease financial stress and move me closer to my goals. 

2. I’m tracking all of my personal expenses using my Money Diary (hint: I do this as part of my Money Date!). By looking at my expenses every week I’m able to remember how I felt every time I made a purchase. Understanding how I felt helps me determine which expenses are worth the money and which aren’t. For example, I paid for a super expensive car wash the other day because the only way to get the seats cleaned was to buy the most expensive package that included a whole bunch of stuff I didn’t care about. I do want the car to be clean (including the seats), but this package wasn’t worth it for me. 

3. I’m rethinking my long-term financial goals to better take into account the reality of my life. I haven’t come to exact conclusions yet, but I’m getting closer by spending the time to really think. 

As always, I’m rooting for you.

XOXO,