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Stop Calling It “Personal Finance”

By Frugaling 9 Comments

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Personal finance change

No one thought the poor more undeserving than the poor themselves.
–Matthew Desmond, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Frugaling is fast approaching its third anniversary. Three years of articles, debates, conversations, comments, and millions of visitors. It’s been a humbling journey, but I’ve struggled with a concept at the center of my writing: “personal finance.”

The term grew in popularity in the early 1900s. It was primarily deployed and embraced by the middle classes of America. To scrimp and save was seen as virtuous. You could take nicer vacations, save for retirement, or give more to charity by budgeting better. Undoubtedly, all good things.

“Personal finance” has allowed many to live a fuller life, but also placed much of the burden and responsibility on individuals. Unfortunately, little has changed in nearly 100 years of regular use. Amidst record breaking income and wealth inequality, we seem frozen in time — continuing the use of this term without reservation or thought.

We must ask ourselves some questions about financial education and planning: Are people able to scrimp and save like years prior? Does personal finance capture the economic hardship many face? Is this the best advice we can offer after 100+ years of collective financial experience?

The answer is no, no, and no.

When I break from the 100-year-old script of personal finance and call out the tragedy of income and wealth disparities, people tend to invoke the personal responsibility argument. In response, I receive comments and emails from devout readers who balk at my hesitation to call out financial errs and place more emphasis on society. They tend to ask, What’s the point of saving and making more money if people aren’t personally responsible? They suggest that finances are personal and failure is on the individual.

Over time, I’ve grown increasingly more resistant to the term. For the oppressed, try as they might, their budgets do not add up. They must seek social assistance or face dire consequences (i.e., hunger, eviction, and homelessness).

Whether we know it, prefer it, or like it, personal finance alludes to personal responsibility for errors and successes.

Fail? It’s your fault.

Succeed? It’s your smarts.

Can’t we do better than these oversimplified, overused assumptions? Fortunately, we have an opportunity to approach finance in a new way. It starts with a reinvention of terms. As inequality has worsened, the term has become antiquated and inaccurate. We need to shift to something more appropriate, which captures the diversity of responsibility.

Today I propose we seek a new term and call it: “social finance.” Whereas personal finance places the burden solely on the individual, social finance highlights the environmental, societal, and governmental consequences to an individual.

With social finance, we understand that budgeting will be more difficult for African American men than White guys like me. Why? Because I was afforded great privilege. For instance, one-third of African American men will go to prison in their lifetime. Word to the wise: it’s not because black men are more predisposed to crime than white men.

With social finance, we understand that making money will be more difficult for women than White guys like me. Why? Because I continually earn more than women; not because I work harder, but because society pays women 64% of what I make as a man.

With social finance, we understand that intellectual and physical disabilities affect earning potential — not temporarily-abled White guys like me. Why? Because persons with disabilities are prejudicially fired, refused work opportunities, and the first to lose their jobs to automation and outsourcing.

Personal finance fits well within Western culture. We value hard work, ethic, and personal responsibility above all else. The idea of social finance will be challenging for many, but I believe we can do it. What do you think?

Filed Under: Social Justice Tagged With: Capital, Capitalism, Eviction, Finances, Income, inequality, Personal Finance, Social Finances, Social Responsibility, socialism, Wealth

Frugal Articles of the Week

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Reading Nook Photo

Every week I like to feature a few frugal articles that caught my eyes. Curl up in your favorite reading nook and enjoy. Hopefully these encourage you to live frugal lives!

This millennial yurt is nicer than my apartment by Nitasha Tiku
The yurt. It’s a bizarre, unique, and pretty cool testament to simple living. The round base and slanted ceilings provide space for a terrific home. In this article, a young couple shares their decision to do more with less, while being environmentally conscientious.

8 Reasons Successful People Are Choosing to Wear the Same Thing Every Day by Joshua Becker
There’s a growing theme in the minimalist community on uniforms and standard wear. Frankly, I’m loving this new movement. It’s simple, better for the environment, and helps people focus on what’s most important.

Burdened With Debt, Law School Graduates Struggle in Job Market by Elizabeth Olson
Plenty of articles have highlighted the oversaturation of those with law degrees; yet, the talent pool is busier than ever. Jobs, unfortunately, are still very hard to find. One sad soul now has over $300,000 in student loan debt between undergraduate and graduate school. With a rough job market, it’s hard to imagine how debt can ever be paid off completely.

Want a Steady Income? There’s an App for That by Anand Giridharadas
It’s difficult budgeting and accounting for how much you can spend each month when you have a variable income. This fluctuation is a hallmark characteristic of construction workers, freelancers, and self-starters. One company is aiming to help people navigate the good and bad financial times.

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: app, articles, Budget, Clothing, Finances, Frugal, law school, Simple Living, weekly

Is Capitalism Compatible With Caring?

By Frugaling 6 Comments

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Google is known for being one of the best places to work, with some of the happiest employees.

On the cost of caring

Each year, 217 million workdays are lost or less productive due to mental health concerns. Indirect mental health costs on companies are estimated at $59 billion. But some estimates put these costs as high as $80 to $100 billion. These staggering numbers often serve as motivators for human resources departments and corporations to take action and “solve” mental health crises.

For each specific diagnosis, the statistics vary widely. Researchers tend to look at indirect costs, direct health coverage costs, productivity disruptions, absenteeism, and failure to be mindful while on the job. One of the more common ones, depression, costs employers about $44 billion in lost productive time. Additionally, employees with depression miss about 4.8 days of work and 11.5 days of reduced productivity every 90 days.

Another frequent mental health concern in employees is anxiety. Symptoms of anxiety manifest in various ways, but generally are closely linked with stressors. Anxiety disorders cost about $42.3 billion in the 90s. Inevitably, that estimate would likely be far greater today.

The most expensive diagnosis is usually bipolar disorder. From absenteeism to lost productivity to medications, this disorder has a potent effect on profits. In fact, it costs about $6,836 per employee with bipolar disorder. Closely linked, suicide amounts to $34.6 billion in medical costs and work lost. And non-fatal suicide attempts cost $4.3 billion in lost wages and productivity.

Make companies care through stats

All of these statistics come from fairly reputable sources such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institute of Mental Health (NIH/NIMH), National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), and peer-reviewed journal articles. As an academic, I trust that these organizations are estimating — to the best of their ability — the high price of mental health in America.

In the past, many companies discriminated against applicants with mental health concerns. Frequently, people were ruled out for jobs they would otherwise be qualified for because of mental illnesses. What the CDC, NAMI, and NIMH have worked tirelessly to do is normalize mental health concerns and reduce stigmas. They’ve worked to interject a hypothesis for companies, which is that everybody wins when you care for employees.

Each organization learned that to talk to companies you need to focus on the bottom line: profits. They’ve excelled at making terrific inroads with corporate giants that have instituted better fringe benefits, fun activities in the workplace, and greater time off. They know that companies want happy, healthy workers because that leads to greater sales, revenue, and shareholder returns. And, for the most part, it’s helped.

Treat the illness and profits will boom!

Mental health advocates in the corporate world seem to politely accept that companies are only motivated by numbers. They argue that untreated and undertreated mental concerns cost more than proper treatment.

Understanding this basic premise, companies have accepted a Mr-Fix-It-style psychology. Treat the illness, get better, and then get back to work! Similarly, healthcare companies rarely offer long-term mental health treatment, as it’s limited to short-term, brief therapy. To offer something more substantial would require companies to pay more profits to care for employees.

This pressure has led companies to ask researchers and academics to think of faster ways to treat distress. The question seems to be, How can we rapidly patch people up so that they can get back to work?

Models of treatment have focused on prescription pills and quick rounds of talk therapy to douse the fires. We’ve learned to cap emotional distress — to keep it in line with what corporate America needs.

Companies aren’t the victims, we are

Capitalism is predicated on a fatal flaw: work hard and be rewarded. Unfortunately, people are all born with different strengths and weaknesses, positions in society, and economic hand-me-downs. Working hard will look different for everyone. We are fundamentally created unequal, unlike the founding fathers suggested.

Men are generally taller than women, but that doesn’t mean they should get paid any different. Women live longer than men on average, but that doesn’t mean companies should begin to hire women because they could spend more years working. Our differences must be balanced out, because purely capitalistic forces fail to change the systemic problems.

And just like the aforementioned physicality and livelihood between genders, there’s great variety in mental health needs. People are not raised equally. Some parents are wonderful — others abusive. Some schools are the best in the country, and others are the worst. Some experience difficult traumas, and others seem to float by without incident. Our experiences from womb to tomb will vary greatly, and we need to learn to embrace this fact. Some people will need greater mental health care.

Flipping our understanding of mental health

Anything that gets in the way of working hard, being productive, and increasing revenue has — up until this point — been seen as an impediment. Being depressed has become a “bad” thing that you should avoid. Get that treated! It’s considered a flaw to suffer and hurt, because of the cost to a company’s bottom line. You’re causing profits to dip! Additionally, it’s encouraged people to stay tight-lipped and private about their struggles for fear of being ostracized.

When dollar signs flashed before corporations’ eyes, they listened. They understood that by making their employees healthier, they’d increase their bottom line. It would seem — for a moment — that capitalism was compatible with caring. But what if the money wasn’t there, would companies still care?

Companies desperately need to change the way they do business. Companies must see their employees as autonomous, capable, and creative humans. Companies must provide a space to excel, but also to seek freedom. Companies must look beyond the dollar amounts and pay for better time off and vacations. Companies must do their best to disregard the power of shareholders, in favor of respecting their employees.

Medical and mental health are in decline in America. Our system is bloated, expensive, and frankly, embarrassingly flaccid. It’s time we flip the paradigm. It’s time we say that workplaces need a reboot. It’s time for employers to receive the treatment. Perhaps it’s time to make companies work for us?

Filed Under: Social Justice Tagged With: America, Capitalism, care, Companies, employees, Finances, Google, illness, mental health, Psychology, statistics

What Won’t You Do For Money?

By Frugaling 11 Comments

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Manhattan Skyline
Photo: Geraint Rowland/Flickr

Hoping for a better life

As children, we’re often exposed to idealistic messages: work hard and become whatever you want. But possibilities change and reduce as we age. The responsibilities grow, and the window to become whatever you can dream up tends to dissipate.

It would be nice to champion what many popular businesspersons say about success and achievement. It would be nice to say that the world is your oyster, and you can do anything you can think up. Unfortunately, that would negate the very real circumstances that we all find ourselves in. We come from different races, ethnicities, socioeconomics, genders, and more. Life varies, as do the opportunities.

Most of us cannot drop everything — all our responsibilities — to fulfill dream vocations. Many are just working to pay the bills — to get by. Some are burdened by being single parents, persons with disabilities, and any number of things that pose greater challenges to “making it.”

Debt holds back those dreams further

My frugal journey started with many zeros in the opposite direction. I was in debt to the tune of nearly $40,000, and without an escape plan. I wanted to have a life of freedom to ponder my intrinsic interests and passions. I wanted the opportunity to find my dream job — regardless of income level.

Before I could pursue those future possibilities, I needed to make more income and pay off massive amounts of debt. My paychecks weren’t enough to pay off loans and survive in graduate school. The equation didn’t compute, and I was running a scary deficit.

The mountain of debt seemed unconquerable. Dreams of a pleasant future were held back, and replaced with terrifying sweats and nervous nights. Debt was closing doors in my life. I needed more money.

Desperate times, desperate measures?

From the very start of Frugaling, I received emails from individuals and organizations wanting to write articles for me. At first I was flattered by their offers — some even included payments! Swirling with pride and appreciation at being offered real money to simply publish articles, I contemplated their offers, but hesitated.

I soon learned that these were “sponsored article” or “paid guest post” emails. They increased in frequency and payment amounts as I continued to write and grow Frugaling. Over the course of nearly two years, I received thousands of dollars in guest posting opportunities, but never accepted them. The emails tended to be from predatory lenders and questionable corporations. They seemed eager to receive traffic from websites and to pull from others’ reputations.

That money could’ve taken me on a European vacation, if I accepted every offer that came my way. My debt would’ve been paid off faster, and investing started sooner. There’s just one catch, I would’ve sold out my entire audience — including you!

Recently, I received another email that stated I could receive about $500 to place a sponsored article on Frugaling. Again, I thought about what it meant if I shared it with you all. What I found was that it wasn’t worth it. What I do on this website is about more than just making me more money. Ironic, seeing as this personal finance site, isn’t it?

Finding limits and sticking to them

Most individuals don’t kill, lie, cheat, or steal to make money. Whether religiously informed or intrinsically motivated, these are ethical/moral limits that prevent people from acting on individual needs. They recognize — whether consciously or unconsciously — that hurting another for one’s own gain isn’t collectively advantageous. In other words, individual achievement should not trump collective successes.

Turning down hundreds of dollars for 500 to 700-word articles from shady organizations and individuals was a limit for me. Motivated by a fear of alienating you and misrepresenting my values, I decided against any of these offers — and will continue to.

Nonetheless, I’m left to wonder:

  • What won’t you do for money?
  • What are your limits?
  • Where do your ethics come from?
  • How do you find ways to financially better yourself and others?
  • When have you said “no” to money?

Filed Under: Make Money, Social Justice Tagged With: achievement, advertising, dollars, Finances, Greed, Income, money, Success, Wealth

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