2023 SheMoney Year in Review

What a year! 2023 was my 15th year of writing about money, with a gender-lens, and it was a transformational one for me, as SheMoney has become so much more than a newsletter. It is now an events, content, and consulting company, dedicated to supporting women+ on their journey to financial wellness and agency. And as amazing as this past year has been, 2024 is going to be even bigger, because not only will we be launching both a podcast and a digital learning experience, but in 2024, we will also be hosting the inaugural SheMoney Summit. After years of designing, consulting, and curating money events and experiences for others, I am finally pouring all of my learnings and wishes into our own events. And trust me, you do not want to miss out on being at the gathering that sparks the SheMoney Movement! More details about the SheMoney Summit will be announced soon. Sign up on sheplace.com to join our mailing list for updates and feel free to message me here on LinkedIn.

If you are a regular subscriber of SheMoney, you know that every month I take on a specific topic and go pretty deep. My newsletters are not exactly what you would call a ‘quick-read’. I always have a lot to say, and every month I go down a rabbit hole of information that I try to pass on to you in an accessible and interesting way. And because of this, I wrestle with the same question every month: What should I write about? Despite the best efforts of my team to try and plan these newsletters in advance, I really can’t. The essence of what I think makes this newsletter different, even compelling I hope, is that I write about what I am curious about, what I find interesting, and what I want to know more about. These newsletter topics are personal, and more importantly, I hope they are timely.?Therefore, I am using this year-end newsletter to review all of the topics that I wrote about this year, and offer up a money lesson as it relates to each one.

I would love to hear what was your favorite newsletter of the year, and if there is a topic you would like me to consider writing about in 2024 please let me know in the comments below.

From all of us at SheMoney, wishing you a very happy holiday season, and I look forward to all of the important money conversations and experiences we will have together in 2024. If you are looking for a fun gift for someone special, check out our SheMoney product line. The ASSETS underwear are my personal favorite.

SheMoney Highlights of 2023

The Science of Economic Opportunity??

Inspired by the work of economist Raj Chetty, this newsletter dove into the science of economic opportunity. Professor Chetty's work examines the social capital of each county in the US across three indicators: Economic Connectedness, Cohesiveness, and Civic Engagement and shows a correlation between the degree of "cross-class" interactions that exist with upward mobility. I hope we all want our communities to flourish and his work offers practical insights on how to make that happen.

Money Lesson? Build your social capital and help others do the same. It matters a lot! This research is a big 'WHY' behind our community of ShePlace. We exist to help our members build their social capital and we are not afraid to name it.??

How to Advance Gender Equity? ChatGPT Has Answers.??

To celebrate International Women’s Day, I once again released a list of the top reports to advance gender inclusive giving, investing and action, including my personal favorite, The Pathway to Inclusive Investment, produced by BNY Mellon Investment Management. This study makes a powerful case for doing the work to close the gender investment gap and why it matters. I also decided to embrace the oncoming AI revolution, and turned to ChatGPT to find out what it would take to advance gender equity worldwide. It's suggestions were pretty darn good, even in those early days. What is so mind-blowing is that this tool just launched November 30th, 2022.

Money lesson? Get curious about AI. Personally, I am obsessed with it, and I am most definitely on the “this is revolutionary technology” train. LLMs (large language learning models), as an example, are a powerful tool for enhancing our personal, professional and financial lives. (watch this video about LLMs) I regular check in to this site, IsThereAnAIForThat, to look for AI tools that can help me with whatever task I need support around. What scares me? Built in bias and that we may be living in the Matrix. I will be writing more about this in the future, and I am so thankful to have recently been introduced to UpLevyl, an AI built by women for women.?

Happy Financial Literacy Month! A Look At Financial Health in America?

April is Financial Literacy Month in the United States, and therefore I took this opportunity to take a look at the data around financial literacy and health in the United States. Spoiler alert, the numbers are pretty grim. I used this month’s newsletter to advocate for more quality financial literacy courses in public education, as well as to encourage everyone to check in regularly on their financial wellness.

Money lesson? An invitation to prioritize YOUR financial health in 2024. In October of 2022 I wrote about why financial wellness is so critical to your overall wellness, and followed up with how to get started with the 7 Money Moves. The time to get started is right now!

Financing Fertility?

The WHO estimates that fully one in six people worldwide will struggle with infertility in their lifetimes, and an entire industry has grown around helping those who are affected by this widespread and underreported issue. This newsletter looked at the finances of fertility, both in terms of the costs of infertility, but also with regards to the investment opportunities in this growing industry. ( of note, this is the most viewed newsletter of the year!)

Money lesson? We save money for a lot of reasons, but the idea of saving for possible fertility care was not something I would have thought about. If you are at the stage of life where you are considering having children, if you can, start putting money aside as soon as possible. You may not need it for fertility care, in which case you have that money for another purpose, like a future college fund for your little one. For investors, this is a highly investable area and capital is very much needed to create greater access to affordable products and services.

Need Money to Start and Grow Your Business?

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and millions of people across the country, and across the world, dream of one day starting their own business. Everyone’s path to entrepreneurship is inherently different, but one thing is true for all. To start a business, you need access to appropriate and affordable financial capital. In this newsletter, I break down the different types of capital available, and offer resources for choosing which type is right for you.

Money lesson? I get emails every day from women who want answers to questions about accessing funding to start, grow, or scale their businesses. While every person and business’ situation is different, the resources in this newsletter were meant to provide some guidance one not only what type of capital is right for your business, but where to go to find that capital. While they were designed with a gender and Utah-focused lens, there are resources available across North America!

The Cost of Gender Bias??

It had been two years since my infamous Cheerios rant, and the last thing I wanted to do was write yet another newsletter about gender bias in finance. But then the latest numbers from the VC world came out, which showed that a mere 1.9% of all funding dollars went to businesses headed by women, and I knew that I couldn’t let those numbers go with comment. So this newsletter took a look, yet again, at the cost of gender bias in finance and why it is so important.

Money lesson? Oh gosh, so many. In November I had the opportunity to spend a number of days with my dear friend, and Gender Intelligence expert, Barbara Annis. We hosted a lunch for predominantly male business leaders, a workshop for women professionals, and more. The only way the number above will materially change, is if we, the royal WE, build our personal and institutional competencies and capacities to think and to act in more inclusive ways. Let's do the work people! The more power and privilege you have, especially as a capital allocator, the more responsibility you have to use that position to make a meaningful difference.

Black Owned Banks and Why They Matter: A Conversation with Ashley Bell?

This month’s newsletter took a look at the history of Black-owned banks in the United States, and highlighted the work of Ashley Bell, CEO of Redemption Bank, the 17th Black-owned bank in the US and the first time Black investors bought a non-minority-owned bank. Ashley is an incredible individual, and I was honored to interview him to learn more about his career and work in closing the racial financial gap, as well as the significance of Redemption Bank at this particular moment in history.

Money lesson? I highly recommend the book The Color of Money by Mehrsa Baradaran to learn more about ourromant financial history and how to help close the racial wealth gap. Also consider not just where you spend your money as an expression of your values, but where you keep your money is equally if not more important. Make sure that your financial institution is operating in alignment with your values, and if its not, consider shopping around!

The Trauma of Money

From the minute I heard about the work of Chantel Chapman, I knew it would be transformational for me as a financial educator and coach. After taking her Trauma of Money? course, it has become a mission to amplify her work in any way I can. Her work is an absolute GAME-CHANGER. Since publishing this newsletter, we brought Chantel to Utah for a couple of workshops that left everyone needing, and wanting, more. READ THIS NEWSLETTER!

Money lesson? I am going to boldly make the claim that most people have experienced some form of financial trauma, which Chantel describes as "an emotional wounding that happens as a direct result of something to do specifically with money". Understanding what may be true for you, accepting and integrating those experiences, will advance your financial wellness. SheMoney is going to a lot more with Trauma of Money? in the coming year. Stay tuned and join us if this topic speaks to you.

Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life's Biggest Decisions

Money plays a big role when it comes to love and relationships. Money is one of the biggest stressors when it comes to relationships between people, and not just romantic relationships. Platonic relationships of all kinds can easily be strained due to money issues, and therefore it’s important that we all learn how to navigate these issues in a healthy and productive manner. To gain some insight on this, I turned to authors Myra Strober and Abby Davisson to interview them about their new book Money and Love.

Money lesson? Don't brush money under the rug when it comes to your relationships. As we learned from Trauma of Money, financial avoidance is a trauma response. Caring for financial wellness in romantic partnerships, family units and friendships can support everyone involves, including yourself. Buy the book, it's great, and I love their Five C's framework that is outlined in the article.

Who Runs the… ECONOMY?

My most recent newsletter explored the subject of financial agency and why it’s so important. I did so using the headline-grabbing accomplishments of two women at the height of their social, financial, and cultural power. I’m talking, of course, about the record-breaking tours and business acumen of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, and I used the examples they’ve set to discuss why financial agency has never been more important, especially for women. I also coined the term Bey-Tayonomics, which I hope is here to stay. This just in from the New York times about Beyoncé and did you hear that Harvard and other universities are offering courses about Taylor Swift? Bey-Tayonomics !!!!!!!

Money lesson? Don't underestimate the power that WOMEN have on the economy! Also, an invitation to think about spending on experiences, versus stuff. Additionally, the reason that I was able to get tickets was because of a special offering of my Citi credit card. Choose or add a card that has benefits aligned with what you value.

That is a wrap for the SheMoney Newsletter for 2023. Again, I'd love to hear what your favorite article of the year was and feel free to make suggestions on what you would like me to consider writing about in 2024. Be sure to sign-up for our ShePlace newsletter for additional content and to stay up to date with all our offerings, and of course, subscribe here on LinkedIn to SheMoney if you haven't already.

If you want to give me a gift this holiday season, forward this newsletter on to your friends and colleagues and invite them to subscribe. We are climbing towards 160,000 direct subscribers and the bigger our reach the more impact we can have.

Have a joyous holiday season.

Jacki