Category Archives: Financial Independence

When Nicole Lee moved to Asheville from Cincinnati two years ago with the idea of starting a consulting business for aspiring entrepreneurs, she reached out to Black Wall Street AVL for assistance.

They helped guide me to get my name on the map here in North Carolina, says Lee, who runs the for-profit Counsel to the Entrepreneur as well as the nonprofit Warrior Moms. Theyve been an amazing resource for establishing fruitful connections.

For instance, she explains, when she wanted to do a playwright reading at the Magnetic Theatre last year, Black Wall Street helped connect her with the right people. And the groups pop-up shop series gave her a place to promote her 12 self-published books.

Black Wall Street has been a gem for me, she says.

Now the organization is hoping to get the financial resources to help even more mompreneurs like Lee, who is a single mother, as well as women who are reentering society after incarceration or substance abuse treatment.

Black Wall Street AVL is one of seven national finalists for the Truist Foundations first Inspire Award, given to nonprofits that support Black, Indigenous and people of color and women-owned small businesses. The first-place winner will receive $250,000 in grant funding, which BWS would use to aid women of color in starting, growing and scaling businesses in marginalized communities.

In Asheville, the majority of women who are low income are single moms, says J Hackett, who founded BWS in 2020. And so how does this single mom take care of her family and still create a business when everything is already working against her? We believe that we have a solution, one that weve tested out for the last two years. And its proven to be successful.

The BWS solution includes paying the fees needed to set up limited liability companies and establish websites. The organization picks up the costs of accounting software, vendor fees and classes on business and finance and helps with social media and other marketing efforts. Black Wall Street also helps women work with nonprofits like Mountain BizWorks and Eagle Market Streets Development Corp., which have grant programs available for people of color to get small businesses off the ground.

The organization aids business owners in connecting with the areas tourists and people who live outside the Black community, something Hackett says is vital in keeping such companies financially viable.

For me, being a mom who doesnt fully understand how to run a business, Black Wall Street has offered a structural support system, says Naomi Waller, owner of Ayoki Styles Curl Academy and Ayoki Styles Beauty Collection. So its a place where Im safe to make the mistakes that I need to. Its a safe place to gain an understanding of how I can take my business to the next level.

If Black Wall Street wins the $250,000 first-place prize from the Truist Foundation, it would be able to help about 50 women in the region get businesses started, Hackett says. A particular emphasis will be put on aiding women who have been incarcerated or in treatment for substance abuse, he says.

We know that entrepreneurship is the quickest way for a marginalized group to establish financial independence, Hackett says. And for a lot of people, a past crime is a barrier to employment. So instead of them trying to be hired for a job, they can create their own job and then create jobs for other people.

Lee says running a business allows mompreneurs to control their own schedule and spend more time with their children.

It was entrepreneurship that allowed me to be able to maneuver throughout my childrens school activities, says Lee, who ran a hair and beauty salon for many years. It was very valuable as a single mom to be able to be home when they got off the bus.

Waller, who is mother to a 2-year-old, says it is sometimes a challenge to be able to tend to her clientele full time. I need to be behind the chair in order to really serve them, but that challenge actually produced a solution for me to where I can do things digitally and still serve my clientele. Black Wall Street actually helped me see that because of their hybrid way of doing business.

On Thursday, Oct. 20, Black Wall Street and the other six finalists will participate in a livestream event hosted by journalist and TV personality Lisa Ling from 7-8:30 p.m. Each organization will present its ideas to a panel of judges, and audience members will choose their favorite finalist, which will be awarded $75,000 in grant funding. Hackett encourages locals to participate in the livestream and support Black Wall Street.

We really, really, really want Asheville to be represented, he says. You can register to participate at avl.mx/c1r.

But even if Black Wall Street does not win any grant money through the Image Award, it will still go forward with plans to help women of color in starting and growing businesses, Hackett says. The group has received $15,000 this year through its banking partner First Horizon Bank and is seeking grants and partnerships through the Coca-Cola Co., the Truist Foundation and others.

Lee and Waller are confident the groups efforts will continue to be a boon to women looking to start their own small businesses. Lee says she always encourages her clients to join the 117 Black-owned businesses who are members of Black Wall Street AVL.

Adds Waller: Im always so surprised when people have not heard about Black Wall Street. They are really for everybody, and I love the communitys efforts to support one another in this movement.

Continued here:

Black Wall Street AVL vies for national award to help women-owned businesses - Mountain Xpress

WASHINGTON, D.C. Stephen Hall, Legal Director and Securities Specialist, issued the following statement in connection with Better Markets comment letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in response to a proposed rule to reform the governance and the management of conflicts of interest at financial clearing agencies.

Clearing agencies play a vital role in our financial system even though they are often forgotten. Among other roles, they stand behind each side of a trade to help reduce the harm when buyers or sellers default. Weve seen serious market stresses since the 2008 financial crisis, including the COVID pandemic and the recent meme stock frenzy, and clearing agencies can play an especially important role in managing systemic risk during such periods. However, clearing agencies face pressures from competing interests, including their owners, the financial institutions that use their settlement services, and even the clearing agencys own senior management. When one of these stakeholder groups has too much influence over the clearing agency, its ability to fairly manage and distribute risk can be compromised, which puts our wider financial system in jeopardy.

The SEC has proposed a thoughtful solution to a number of these governance concerns. The proposed rule requires a majority of the clearing agencys board of directors to be independent from the clearing agency or its corporate affiliates. Also, the board must set up a special risk management committee with representatives from both the owners and the participating financial institutions. Finally, the board of directors must seek out and consider views from all of its key constituents.

As we explain in our comment letter, however, the proposal could and should go further. Ensuring board independence is not enough. For example, the SEC should require the owners of clearing agencies to have skin in the game, including a share of liability in the default waterfall that helps ensure against losses when a participating entity defaults on a trade. In addition, we urge the SEC to address other powerful conflicts, particularly those arising from the influence of dominant dealers in some of the derivatives markets. By strengthening the proposal as outlined in our letter, the Commission can more effectively limit the conflicts of interest that undermine the fairness and stability of these critical market participants, the clearing agencies.

###

Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with alliesincluding many in financeto promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visitwww.bettermarkets.org.

Continued here:

SEC Plans to Reform Clearing Agency Governance Will Help Address Conflicts of Interest, but Agency Must Go Further - Better Markets

HOLYOKE Maiz (corn). Pimientos (peppers). Ajo (garlic). Berenjena (eggplant). Calabaza (squash). Gandules (pigeon peas). Habichuelas (beans). Tomate (tomatoes). These are just some of the crops grown by farmers at Nuestras Raices 30-acre community farm in Holyoke, known as La Finca, or The Farm.

Since 1992, Nuestras Raices has supported people of Puerto Rican and Latin heritage in growing their own food at La Finca and in 14 community gardens throughout the city. Access to land has allowed many farms to grow and thrive, linking members of the Puerto Rican and Latin diaspora to their cultural heritage, the land below their feet, and each other, through food. Much of this is made possible by the hard-working farmers at La Finca.

During this Hispanic Heritage Month, `some of the farmers shared what farming at Nuestras Raices means for them and the greater community.

Benito Torres, a farmer at La Finca since last summer, grows corn, eggplant, bell peppers, squashes and cilantro for his business La Finca Arecibea. Torres grew up in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, harvesting from plantain trees and milking cows. Studying to be a professional chef and cooking healthy meals for others inspired Torres to begin farming, and much of what he grows goes into his cooking, including the peppers and cilantro that go into making sofrito (a cooking base popular in Puerto Rico) and pique (a Puerto Rican hot sauce).

At Genaros Farm, Jose A. Vazquez grows peppers, cucumbers, pigeon peas, wild oregano and tomatoes, and also makes sofrito and pique. Vazquezs father was part of the first generation of Puerto Ricans to farm in the Connecticut River Valley in the 1950s, and he soon followed his father north to harvest apples in upstate New York as a day laborer before settling in western Massachusetts.

The man behind Guavate Farm, Luis Aponte, grew up in Cayey, Puerto Rico, learning to farm bananas, plantainsand taro root. He has farmed on Nuestras Raices land for 15 years, joined for the last seven by Juan Renta of Renta Family Farm, whom he met at a baseball game in Holyoke. The two sell separately but share a large plot of squash, lettuce, cilantro, peppers, cabbage, beans, eggplantand garlic. They also make pique, and preserve and sell their seeds.

Maria Oliveiras of Flora Farm has farmed at La Finca for the past three years, raising vegetables and flowers. Alongside this, she works as an urban garden designer who helps people create spaces to grow their own food. Oliveiras also supports female victims of domestic abuse in finding financial independence by teaching them to grow and make things themselves.

Miguel Aponte of Aponte Farm also grew up in Cayey, Puerto Rico. One of the founders of Nuestras Raices, he has farmed in Holyoke for over 30 years, and is a respected community reference for growing many traditional crops in the Northeast climate. He also produces vegetable transplants for sale in early spring.

A love of Puerto Rican food and farming traditions informs how these farmers grow and share their food. For example, Vazquez farms the way he learned from his elders in Puerto Rico, with care for the future. I want to see this land continue in agriculture, even if Im not here, he says. I want us to continue to have a place to grow our food.

For Torres at Finca Arecibea, this means farming by natural, organic means. God gave me the land and the skills. Its up to me to use them right, he says. We need to see soil as a part of our lives, not apart from our lives.

He feels that, as in Puerto Rico, people in the Valley are disconnected from their food.

They all agree that farming takes hard work and creativity. The cost of running a successful farm is high during a good year, and things like heavy rains (like last year) or drought (this year) present big challenges.

You have to be ready for what nature will throw at you, Torres says. Once youve figured one thing out, there is always a new challenge around the corner.

But the harvest is worth the hardship, because its about more than just food. Farming is a way of life, and a way to provide directly for their community.

Its hard work, no question, says Luis Aponte. But the farm is a space I can call my own. Renta agrees, saying, This is our place to cultivate food from our island. The two make a point to preserve the traditional Puerto Rican crops they grow by saving seeds and making them available to others.

Torres shares their appreciation of food as a deep cultural link. Growing food from my island for people in the diaspora to enjoy thats so important to me. We can find our food in stores, sure. But having it be fresh? Thats why I farm.

Fresh, local food appropriate for Latin American cooking can be hard to find in Massachusetts, and many traditional ingredients are manufactured far away by only a handful of companies. No one is growing plantains in Holyoke, or at least I dont see them, Vasquez says with a laugh.

Many of the farmers say there is a sentiment that local food in New England is both irrelevant to Puerto Rican and Latin cuisine and always expensive. But they are giving their community other options, proving thats not quite the case.

The things I can grow here taste just as good as anything grown on the island, Vasquez says.

We sell tons of our own pique and sofrito, and its better than any of the famous brands, add Renta and Luis Aponte. We wish more people knew about it.

At its heart, Puerto Rican agriculture has always relied on personal connections, Torres points out. Growing up on the island, people would share meals made with produce from their gardens, he says. When people know where their food comes from, it helps build a connection.

These farmers sell at several different local markets. Finca Arecibea, Aponte Farm, Genaros Farm and Guavate Farmers can be found at the Holyoke Farmers Market, Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 164 Race St. through Oct. 15. Many will also be at the Holyoke Winter Farmers Market, held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every first and third Saturday from December through March at the Holyoke War Memorial. All of them also sell directly from their farm plots at La Finca, located at 24 Jones Ferry Road in Holyoke.

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Bringing a little bit of the island to Holyoke - GazetteNET

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Our financial independence coverage here at NextAdvisor can be summed up in nine words: reduce your expenses, make more money, invest the difference.

The Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement inspires many a personal finance enthusiast, but it can also quickly turn into a tornado of numbers. To help you master the basics, we have a new guide youll want to check out and bookmark. Send this to your loved ones who look at you like youve gone off the deep end whenever you start talking about FIRE.

What Is Financial Independence, Retire Early? A Beginners Guide

Heres a bit more detail about the three strategies we cover.

I know, I know this is the not-so-fun category. But we know that lifestyle creep can sabotage many personal finance goals, and expenses tend to also increase whenever income increases. Finance bloggers lost their minds earlier this year when a report by PYMNTS.com and LendingClub revealed that one out of three consumers making $250,000 a year still live paycheck to paycheck. For many of us, money has a unique emotional charge, and brings up beliefs that may or may not be true.

More money isnt always the answer if it leads to more expenses. Take a look at where your money is going each month and see if you can cut some costs and keep more cash in your pocket.

This is my favorite category, personally. Whether it be through side hustles, a small business, a new passive income stream, or a salary negotiation, many of us need to start generating more money each month to properly pursue our FIRE aspirations.

Some approaches are more time-consuming than others, but theres something for just about everyone.

As you widen the gap between income and expenses, youll want to ensure your surplus is being invested. At NextAdvisor, we recommend investing in index funds as a set it and forget it approach, but you might have investing strategies of your own, and certain investments become more or less attractive as the economy ebbs and flows.

One investment option that is currently very attractive is Series I savings bonds. I bonds are inflation proof because their returns are designed to outpace inflation; since inflation is high, so is the ROI. I asked personal finance expert Rita-Soledad Fernndez Paulino about different scenarios in which someone would want to invest in a low-risk, secure investment like an I bond. Read about those scenarios here:

I Bonds Have Their Best Returns Ever, But Thats About to Change. What This Money Expert Says You Should Know

I bonds currently deliver a 9.62% return, but there are certain requirements and drawbacks you should know about before taking the plunge.

If youre free later today, Fernndez Paulino and I are co-hosting a free webinar on I bonds at 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET) ; register here or click the image below to grab one of the last remaining spots.

Financial independence is a long game. Take small steps this week to nudge your money goals forward and youll start to generate the momentum you need to break through.

Read this article:

The FIRE Movement, Summed Up in 9 Words - NextAdvisor

Insider's experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money (heres how). In some cases, we receive a commission from our our partners, however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.

Ever since I was young, my parents always included my five siblings and me in money discussions. They taught us how to save our money and how to spend it wisely.

We are all homeschooled, and we have a personal finance class in our curriculum each year. Because of that, I started learning about money from a young age.

At first, I didn't like our personal finance lessons because I was always an anxious kid. The thought of not having enough money for necessities made me feel awful. After learning more about good and bad ways to use your money, though, I no longer feel anxious about money (mostly).

One thing that's helped me feel less anxious is getting a job. Another thing is a book that my family and I are reading called "First to a Million." It's aimed at teenagers, and it talks about how to become financially independent, which means that you have enough money saved so you no longer have to work.

This was a revelation to me. I like my job, but I definitely don't want to do it, or any other mind-numbing job, for the rest of my life. This is why I'm starting to prepare for my retirement now.

There are two types of interest good interest and bad interest. Bad interest is the kind of interest that you pay to someone when you get a mortgage or have a credit card balance. Good interest is the kind that someone pays you, like when you have money in a bank account. I've learned that you should take advantage of good interest and avoid bad interest.

Here's an example of the power of compound interest:

Starting early makes an astounding difference.

I know one of the biggest advantages I have right now is my youth. Since I am so young, I don't have very many (or any) expenses. So now is the time for me to start learning what I can, saving money, investing wisely and preparing for my future.

Starting to learn about finance when you're young is one of the smartest things that you can do. Take advantage of the time you have now, because before you know it, you might have more commitments like a full-time job, a family, student loans, and a mortgage.

Even though I earn some money from my job, I don't buy the latest fashions or go out to eat all the time. Instead, each time I get a paycheck, I sit down with my dad and go through it. We put half in savings, and give 10% in tithing to our church, and whatever's left I put in my spending account. I save a lot, but that doesn't mean I never spend my money.

Instead, I choose to spend it on things that are really important to me. I've bought Animal Crossing for our family's Nintendo Switch, a weighted stuffed animal, and a few smaller things, too. But it's just more important to me to save most of the money I make.

Another thing I'm doing to prepare for life is building my credit score. I don't have my own credit card, but I'm an authorized user on my parents' cards so I can build a good credit history. I also know not to spend more money than I can afford to pay.

Saving for the future is really important, and it's best to start yesterday, but it's good to start now. Take advantage of the resources you have. Use the magic of compound interest, make your money work for you, and you'll be able to have a financially stable life and a comfortable retirement.

Read more:

I'm Only 15, but I Have a Plan to Reach Financial Independence - Business Insider

//= do_shortcode('[in-content-square]')?> Rha and her mum.

Rha Hira Arayal

Me and my mum are preparing dinner. Its a regular Tuesday evening and were performing our daily chores; I am bustling around emptying the dishwasher, a damp cloth in hand, whilst half of my mums body has disappeared into the fridge as she retrieves ingredients.

I clean the worktop and thoughtfully glance at my mum, her much loved dressing gown a bright splash of pink against the slate grey fridge. She must be bone-tired, I think; she woke up before us to prepare my sisters packed lunch, tolerated the cramped bus to work, walked home, spruced up the house with some vinegar concoction, and is now cooking a dinner for four.

A smile creeps onto my lips, as I think, superwoman. It is a sad smile, a wistful one, a pained one. A smile that hopes Im not next in line. A smile that wishes to whisk my mother away, dressing gown and all, and give her a well deserved holiday.

I tell her all of this, and in response, she tells me about the cycle. The word reminds me of washing machines. It smells like laundry detergent, a nostril quiveringly strong lavender, and makes me shudder involuntary.

She tells me about the barriers blocking women like her, Asian migrants, from becoming financially independent. She tells me about how she felt powerless, sad and left out, knowing that she was unable to financially support herself when she moved to the UK with my dad.

Nepal

She moved from Nepal to build a better life for her future family. She explains that her greatest difficulty was not being proficient in English: I could not get a good job because of my English. It is my second language. She says that the inability to communicate was the most significant hindrance, followed closely by having to adjust to a different culture and environment.

I then ask her: But many people argue that there are enough employment services for female Asian migrants what do you think about this?. Her response was Thats not true. I didnt get any support when I was applying to jobs twenty years ago.

My mums backstory is similar to so many other migrant women in the UK. At 24, she got engaged to my dad, who already lived and worked in Wales. My father works as a civil engineer and mum always felt that she would be judged for working a low-level job, such as a cleaner, compared to my dads traditional white collar one.

She felt that this social disparity would be frowned upon by our family in Nepal, yet it was the only type of job that she could get without fluent English language skills.

Support

Support from an organisation could have significantly changed my mums career prospects. EYST (Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team Wales) supports Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals living in Wales. Selima Bahadur, Programme Manager, explained that negative views of Asian migrant women are oversimplified: Difficulties they face stem from the intersectional issues related to being a Person of Colour, a Woman [or] a Muslim. Each of these can have negative associations in day to day life and when getting employment.

She said there has been some improvement compared to 20 years ago because [some Asian] women were not given the opportunity for employment. Now this has changed, we have also seen more opportunities within some employment fields and progression through to senior positions,. However, she is aware of employers [] who take on people of minority ethnic backgrounds, almost as tokenistic gestures and then expect them to be the face of the company.

There is no real opportunity for these individuals to progress to higher positions if they wish to do so. She said that she witnesses many migrants with career histories from abroad struggle to find work in their chosen fields due to not having the qualifications in this country. So they apply for unskilled vacancies. This means that things are not getting better really but, if anything, worse for Asian migrants.

Teacher

This issue is echoed in my mums story. She was previously a primary school teacher in Nepal, and has a BA in Social Sciences but was unable to transfer these skills as her qualifications mean little to nothing in the UK.

As a charity, EYST have set up the Black Asian Minority Ethnic Employability Network to increase employment and employability of minority ethnic backgrounds. The group meets weekly and has been effective in raising awareness of the disparities in employment among different racialised groups. However, the network ought to be expanded to all regions of Wales.

Selima also believes that Wales could be more welcoming and inclusive to female Asian migrants by having more role models in different fields and value the contributions that they make to society.

Various other charities such as Women for Refugee Women, which operates UK wide, have identified similar difficulties for refugee women. In response, they have organised countryside retreats to improve their leadership skills. Helping disadvantaged women develop their confidence can lead to personal transformations, as Rebecca (a pseudonym) writes in a blog on the charitys website from 2018. Before joining Women for Refugee Women I was very shy and I had lost all hope of living a normal life This all changed for me when I met Women for Refugee Women because I have had opportunities and training.

Opportunities

She explains the various activities that they participated in, including drama sessions, a sewing course and poetry performance. Dont hide away, there are opportunities available and you have so much potential. She now supports other female migrants on their journey to success.

Overall, it is easy to see why female Asian migrants may be reluctant to pursue professional opportunities, whether that is due to language barriers or low self esteem. However, it is also encouraging to see women gaining independence, knowledge and experience, allowing the integration of valuable voices into our work industry.

I hope that the future will hold further support, advice and services aimed at female Asian migrants to allow them to unlock their full potential and gain financial independence.

Sometimes, we need to stop being polite, scrunch up our noses and squint at the world, and tell it that its not treating us well enough. Sometimes, we need to discard overpriced laundry detergent by tipping it down the sink, slam the kitchen door and put our shoes on.

Lets break the cycle.

Rha Hira Arayal is one of the participants in GALWADs Peoples Newsroom.

GALWAD is part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, co-commissioned with Creative Wales with funding from Welsh Government and UK Government galwad.cymru

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

See the original post:

Breaking down the barriers between Asian women migrants and financial independence - Nation.Cymru

62% of employees have reduced their short- and long-term savings contributions amid high inflation and concerns about a possible recession. Moreover, 71% of employees said money-related stress has negatively affected their work and personal lives, a 7% increase from 2021.

And while we at Bored Panda don't have the instruments to change the monetary policy, there is something we can do to help the situation. Have a laugh about it. After all, humor makes everything better, doesn't it? So this time, we invite you to join us in exploring the subreddit 'Frugal Jerk.'

Its 147k members constantly share memes about being poor, often taking things to ridiculously extreme levels to accentuate the painful realities of bills, taxes, and everything else related to personal finances.

"We, the proud few who stand on the cutting edge of frugality. We hold our heads high as we steal toilet paper, shoplift lentils, reuse condoms, syringes, and drink our own piss to save multiple dollars each year," the people behind the online community write in its about section.

So continue scrolling to check everything out and don't miss the chat we had about spending and saving with Doug Nordman, who managed to retire at 41 and now runs the website Military Financial Independence and is the author of The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement.

More:

45 Satirical Pics That Laugh At Overly Frugal People, As Shared In This Online Group - Bored Panda

Stacey Tisdale was working her dream job as a financial journalist with some of the biggest media organizations in the business: the Wall Street Journal, CBS and CNN, just to name a few, but despite her success, she was unfulfilled. She was highly stressed and she wasn't making the best decisions with her money.

"I was playing it safe and it was getting me nowhere," Tisdale tells Insider. "I was stressed out and wondering what my next step was going to be. I knew that I wanted to continue working in financial journalism and helping people manage their money better, but I had to do it in a different way."

Tisdale finally realized that she was scared. She had always done what was expected of her.

"I had been conditioned that where I was and what I had was enough and that trying to break away from that would have been crazy," says Tisdale.

She went to work on changing her life. One day while doing a report for CNN, she asked herself, what is it about money that makes it so difficult for us to get it right? Not only get it right in terms of everyday money management, but also setting ourselves up for financial success.

These questions, and her own desire to get right with money and break down traditional barriers, led her on a 6-year study into financial behavior on what keeps us from breaking away from traditional models, investing in our passions, and finding financial independence.

Tisdale's journey culminated in a study on financial behavior or "money scripts." A money scripts is a term used in behavioral finance coined by Rick Kahler, author of "Conscious Finance: Uncover Your Hidden Money Beliefs and Transform the Role of Money in Your Life," to describe beliefs that we have acquired about money and how it works and are the result of conditioning that begin from the moment we are born.

According to Tisdale there are 3 main money scripts:

Childhood Scripts: Our first education about money comes from our primary caregivers and how we observed them handle money and their ideas and attitudes around money. This is often where our first impressions about money come from. If you saw your parents stressed about money or living paycheck to paycheck, more likely than not, you may also find yourself stressed about money and living paycheck to paycheck.

Social Scripts: We are greatly influenced by social messages and the media about what we should have and what we should do. We spend a lot of time comparing our lives and achievements to our peers. These social scripts also influence how we feel about ourselves.

"This was the money script that I struggled with. In my mind, I had what most people would want and it would make no sense to walk away from that," Tisdale explains. "I was comparing myself to other people and what society said success should look like. That kept me trapped and afraid to walk away from what I was doing."

The Songs We Play in Our Heads: From the moment we start receiving money, we have preconceived notions, according to Tisdale. Negative inner thoughts and doubts can become one's biggest barrier to financial success. Believing notions such as, "Money management is too difficult," or telling oneself that "I will never understand how to invest," are examples of "songs" that can play in one's head.

Once you understand your money script, you can break out of it and stop making financial decisions that play into it.

"I really had to get rid of that social script that was playing in my head and telling me that I was fine where I was, because I wasn't. I was operating out of fear and not using my money to its greatest potential. It was when I let it go, that I moved forward and started investing differently," Tisdale states.

Tisdale knew that she would have to eventually leave corporate America. She admits she struggled with this. She was one of the first women and the first African-American to report from the New York Stock Exchange, but even this did not bring her happiness and financial independence.

"I knew that money and teaching people how to manage money better was my passion, but the way that I was doing it was not. It took some time to walk away because according to society and my peers I was where I should be," Tisdale says of the experience.

Also, during this time, she tackled her own negative financial behaviors.

"I found myself overspending and carrying credit card debt. It was not an overnight process to get through this, I also needed to test the waters to see if what I wanted to do would work," says Tisdale.

To see if her idea was feasible, she formed Winning Play$, a behavior based financial literacy program that helps students develop healthy behavior around money.

"After reporting on money for years, I had a unique perspective on people and money. I could easily spot negative financial behavior and realized that it often started very young and stuck with us throughout our lives," Tisdale says. She took the time to get out of debt and improve her own financial situation while testing her business idea.

It was also by creating Winning Play$ that Tisdale finally found her passion and knew that she could put her acquired money knowledge to use in a way that she loved.

"Once I had accomplished that, that was really the jolt that I needed to finally break away from what I had known for so long. I then started putting my resources into building my business around money and financial literacy in earnest," Tisdale explained.

Tisdale says that the reason why this is important is because we are all operating under some kind of money script, whether we know it or not.

"Whenever there is a financial problem, we go right to the numbers and think that the only way to solve it is to get more money," she says. "Then you get more money and a few months later you are back in the same situation. What if you asked yourself, 'Why am I in this situation?' or 'Why is this a cycle for me?'"

She went on to build Mind Money Media, a multimedia and event content provider with a focus on financial wellness. It wasn't until she got out of her own way that she found career and financial success, Tisdale concedes. Her company has partnered with numerous organizations and corporations teaching their workforce positive financial behavior and encouraging healthy relationships around money. Because of her research, she became one of the pioneering journalists in behavioral finance and financial psychology.

"We all have to realize that our financial decisions are based on learned financial behavior and typically it is this behavior that is keeping us from pursuing our passions and achieving our financial goals," she explains."It wasn't until I dropped that script in my head, telling me what I should be doing, and invested in what I really wanted to do that I achieved financial success."

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Personal Finance Expert Stacey Tisdale Says We Are All Living With Money Scripts and It Impacts Our Financial Success. - Business Insider

This story is part of So Money, an online community dedicated to financial empowerment and advice, led by CNET Editor at Large and So Money podcast host Farnoosh Torabi.

Welcome to So Money Hot Mic, a weekly column on my latest financial musings.

I'mnew to TikTok and the algorithm is still figuring me out. Case in point, it keeps feeding me stay-at-home mom content.

Right now, hashtag#stayathomemomlife is trending, with over 778 million views of content from full-time caregivers. Some parents share struggles like loneliness. Others show how they structure their days to include a workout.

Then there's this TikTok from the husband of a stay-at-home mom, with a million "likes." Waxing poetic about why wives should stay home to "handle business," he says, "I don't want her working." And while acknowledging the huge responsibilities of being a "housewife," he ends with a derogatory note that most women who stay at home are smart enough to "keep it quiet and let the man out there making all the dough think he's running sh--."

Stay-at-home parenting, whether you choose to pursue it because of personal values, cultural pressure or due to the high cost of child care (or all of the above), is a real pull that I understand and respect. Without expansive programs for free preschool and paid parental leave, our current system does little to support working parents.

My husband and I have two young kids, and we occasionally talk about how life could be easier if one of us left our jobs and became the primary caregiver. It's usually after a long week of no childcare, a sick child and a pile of dirty laundry.

Joyful parenting. Me with my two kids.

But if you've followed my podcast, you know my viewpoint, which is not always popular: Stay-at-home parenting is a risky move and not one I like to recommend.

Why? At bottom, it's because I care about financial independence. In many cases, the partner who doesn't earn a paycheck (usually a woman) has little to no financial autonomy in the relationship. And, while I understand that not everybody can or wants to prioritize their financial freedom, I get nervous about any household model that leaves one adult financially defenseless and reliant.

I occasionally receive emails from my audience with questions like these:

Recently, I got a message from Sabrina, a 50-year-old mom of three from California. She was splitting from her husband, but hadn't made her own money during the marriage. "I've primarily been a stay-at-home mom, which for such cliche reasons crippled me financially. I'm in the process of divorce. My ex's career is soaring, while I feel like a 1950's housewife ... in the dark and starting from scratch," she wrote.

About 11 million people, or 1 in 5 US parents, are stay-at-home parents, according to a 2016 Pew Research study. In the last few years, especially given the work-life constraints of the pandemic, stay-at-home parenting is on the rise. If you're in this camp -- or leaning toward taking on this role -- here are some important considerations for your financial health.

Stay-at-home parenting is a tireless job that involves myriad responsibilities and, according to at least one 2019 study, amounts to a six-figure salary. The Mom Salary Survey estimated the average annual value of a stay-at-home parent as $178,201.

Attaching a financial value to your household contributions as a primary caregiver is important. Prescribing to the adage that "money is power" can oftentimes leave a spouse, who is not earning a paycheck, feel they can't (or shouldn't) have an equal vote in household financial matters.

As I wrote in my most recent book When She Makes More, the partner making less (or no money) deserves a central and active seat at the table. They should have a say in how household money gets spent, saved and invested. Any resistance to this from the primary wage-earner is a red flag in my book.

You can stay financially active through other means, too. Have routine budgeting meetings with your spouse. Review monthly bank statements and credit reports. Consult with financial planners and accountants and review all tax documents.

Is stay-at-home parenting a move you're willing to afford? As a financial advocate, I always tell people to run the numbers. When you're not earning a paycheck, you're not just losing income -- you're losing out on the compounding growth of that income, as well as future retirement savings. For example, a 32-year-old woman earning $60,000 a year who stops working for five years to be a stay-at-home mom will lose $300,000 in wages, as well as another $400,000 in lost wage growth and retirement benefits, for a total of over $700,000. This calculator from the Center for American Progress helps parents understand the long-term costs of full-time caregiving.

For some, the math will make them stop and reconsider. For others, it will make no difference. My insistence on weighing these long-term financial implications has rubbed some people the wrong way. This summer, I received an angry email from a stay-at-home mom who had listened to my podcast on the subject. "I choose to sacrifice for my kids, not sacrifice at the altar of financial success," she wrote.

To be clear, my argument is not that money is more important than kids. My main point is that our choices have trade-offs. Like with any financial decision, it's important to be clear on the costs and proceed with eyes wide open.

Banking your own money -- either through a part-time job or by taking an allocation from your spouse's income and depositing it in your own account -- can ensure some financial independence as stay-at-home parents, experts say.

According to Tracy Coenen, a forensic accountant who has worked on many divorce cases, it's crucial to have your own money during a marriage and in the event of a divorce. "You need to be able to make some autonomous spending decisions," she said recently on my podcast. "It's also important because, if the marriage ever goes south, you need to have a source of money to pay an attorney to get the divorce filed, to potentially go get an apartment of your own, and feed yourself."

One of the most heartbreaking things Coenen sees during a divorce is when the wage-earning spouse cuts off the stay-at-home parent. No one should feel trapped in a marriage because they don't have the resources to survive on their own, she said.

Along those lines, having a personal credit card ensures that if the couple breaks up, the nonworking partner has access to their own line of credit for emergencies. And it's better to apply right away, said Coenen, "while you have the earnings of your spouse that help you qualify for that credit card."

If you're a stay-at-home parent, it's a good idea to prepare for re-entry in the job market somewhere down the road. In her book Off Ramps and On Ramps, author Sylvia Ann Hewlett found in her research that a vast majority of women who leave the workforce eventually want to get back to their jobs and careers.

Regardless of why you want to get back into the workforce -- whether it's because you change your mind or your kids are all grown -- one of the best ways to get ready is by investing in your education and skills. That way, you increase your odds of meeting qualifications and getting hired. You can learn on your own time through free online programs and courses, and you can stay connected in your field through networking, social media and LinkedIn.

Or, you can do what Sabrina, my podcast listener, did. She invested time and money in pursuing a master's degree in mental health during her marriage, which took her seven years to complete while attending to responsibilities at home. Now, she's able to exit her relationship with some professional momentum, and with the hopes of building a practice and getting a return on the investment.

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It's Hard to Recommend Stay-at-Home Parenting. Here's Why - CNET

The pandemic threw many entrepreneurs off track as they suddenly grappled with unexpected challenges. One of them was Delhi-based Harsh Bala, whose manufacturing business of small electrical products suffered huge losses. But she didnt lose hope. Harsh Bala reinvented her career as a tutor with the help of digital tools on the internet. Heres her inspiring story.

Harsh, an engineering graduate, ran her own manufacturing business of small electrical products because she wanted to be her own boss but when the pandemic hit in 2020, the business saw sales dropping and costs increasing. The losses started piling up as the country went into lockdown eventually forcing her to put the business on hold.

Tiding over difficult times

From drawing a five-figure salary from her business to sitting idle during the pandemic, Harshas life became miserable. From being someone who always kept active and tried out different things, she became clueless about her future. Her savings were nearly exhausted, leaving her devastated.

I was unable to come to terms with the fact that I was losing everything, which took me a lot of time and effort to build. I was traumatised and lost my self-confidence, she says.

How she harnessed the power of digital

But giving up was not an option for her. She wanted to pull herself out of the loop of self-pity she had fallen into as soon as possible. She started looking for ways to keep herself occupied. She spent more and more time on the internet. After trying out different things, she decided to become a tutor to regain her financial independence and lost confidence. At the same time, she enrolled herself in the WomenWill program. She learnt from the entrepreneurship training that the course provided through short, simple, vernacular videos. Specifically, she learnt how to grow her tuition business and earn money.

She has started earning again and her confidence continues to grow. The best part about her tutoring business is that she is still her own boss. Now that she has a steady income, she also plans to revive her manufacturing business soon.

This article is published in partnership with Google.

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How Entrepreneur Harsh Bala Reinvented Her Career As A Tutor Using Internet - SheThePeople