Blog

SPANX and SPAC’s…one you might know a thing or two about (helloooo and welcome back waistline) and one might be the equivalent of what SPANX were to you back when they first appeared in women’s lives (I keep hearing this term…what is it?) SPAC’s SPAC’s (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies) are being talked about more often, so you may be hearing more about them in the coming quarter and year. You may have heard this term mentioned by someone you know – pay careful attention for yourself, your sister, Mother, Grandmother and best friend because these are not for average (retail) investors. Why are SPAC’s seeming to suddenly appear in the investment arena?  Technically, they have been around for 20+ years back when we were belting out I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston and My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion in the ’90s (ok guilty, I still belt it…when I’m alone, of course). Coupled with the IPO (Initial Public Offering) process being volatile the last few years, a growing and increasing stock market, extremely low interest rates and a desire by the public to look at equity/growth investments, SPAC’s have refined and emerged as attractive. In fact over 65 SPAC’s went public in 2020 raising over $22.5 billion, which accounted for approximately half of total IPO volume in 2020.   What exactly is a SPAC? As an example, think of the SPAC as a cocoon looking to become a butterfly… the cocoon is filled with cash which it will hope to spin into a merger with a business and into a publicly traded company within a 2-year timeframe.  Some current SPAC’s include an investment focus on industrials, cannabis, ESG and things related to future transportation and electric vehicles; sports betting, financial-technology and businesses in online gambling, with attention growing in real estate and insurance. Some stocks you may recognize started as SPAC’s include Virgin Galactic Holdings, Nikola and DraftKings. Currently shortages of SPAC’s in biotech and technology seem to also be attracting attention.   A word of caution Because the SPAC is complex, and should be treated with caution, an individual (retail) investor needs to commit to doing serious study! Wrapped inside a SPAC is a lot of financial terminology and concepts that are in evidence throughout the investment world. To be successful, you will need to understand working definitions of: incentives, sponsors, “promote”, redeem, dilution, section 11 liability, rights & warrants, prospectus, PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity), forward-looking projections, 1933 securities act, etc.   Many financial experts do not feel SPAC’s are a practical way for individual (retail) investors to make private-equity-like investments without paying the fees associated with private equity funds. One thing to keep in mind is that it is typically hedge funds that are the major investors of SPAC’s (approximately 85% of SPAC investors are institutions).   To sum up, I’ll play the role of your big sister…and tell you the absolute truth when you ask me to tell you how you look… The SPANX look great and Do a little more research on the SPAC’s before you pull the trigger – they may be (a lot) more complicated than what appears on the surface   PS. Shout out to Sara Blakely, the founder of SPANX, and who encourages us to elevate ourselves and others – a true SISTER For more Financial EDUCATION, and less Financial JARGON, sign up for our Newsletter below! Subscribe To Our Newsletter * indicates required Email Address * First Name *

Five years ago today ______________.(fill in the blank) Five years ago today I got married. Five years ago today my spouse died. Five years ago today I graduated. Five years ago today my son/daughter was born. Five years ago today I started a new job and company. Five years ago today I retired. Five years ago today I got divorced. This is just a very small sample of the number of things that happened in anyone’s life five years ago today. The number of things that have changed in your life in the last five years is probably extensive; what will the next five years look like? You may want to put in a little time on your next five years! Just like the last 5 years, there will be things you Plan for, and there will be things you cannot Plan for!

Well ladies, we’ve come in 2nd, again. Multiple studies show that women have worse credit scores than men. How is that possible?  We are the ones proven to be more rational in our financial decision making compared to men. Cognitive neuroscience has proven that we ladies are a great deal more rational in financial decision making than are men!   So what gives? What is keeping our scores down?   Studies conclude that due to the gender pay gap women have suffered from for so long, our decreased income leads to higher debt to credit ratio than that of men. Due to a lower income level, women as a group overall are granted a lower credit limit than men. This leads to women using more of their credit, and getting closer to their given limit; resulting in a higher credit to debt ratio, which takes points off credit scores.   So, there you have it ladies, once again we are fighting more to stay alive in this financial world. The good news? The gender pay gap is continuing to be a topic of discussion – which is a substantial win in itself compared to previous years. In the meantime, we will need to find other methods to continue to take control and excel with our finances. Stay tuned, Sisterhood ……   “Second place is not a defeat. It is a stimulation to get better. It makes you even more determined.” -Carlos Lopes

Have you ever left the office (maybe to return home to kids doing homework) and think to yourself, if only I could go back to a level of high-school-difficulty-life. Sometimes I think about how easy it was at times; How we would love to exchange our adult responsibilities and problems with those of our 16- year-old self.   Imagine that for 1 day, you can go back to high school. However, in that 1 day you must pass a financial literacy test. Do you think you could do it??   A New Bill?   In March 2019, State Senator Rick Horner (North Carolina) co-sponsored a new bill that would require high school students to pass a financial literacy course in order to graduate. Currently only 17 states require high school students to take Personal Finance Course.1   According to an article, the financial course would cover “the true cost of credit; choosing and managing a credit card; borrowing money for an automobile or other large purchase; home mortgages, credit scoring and credit reports planning and paying for post-secondary education; and other relevant financial literacy issues” among other topics.   What are your thoughts? Do you think this requirement is a good idea?   Would you be better off today if you had learned about the basics of finance when you were younger?   Do you think it’s important to support the idea that women and men should be armed with knowledge that directly affects their lives and future? Rather than keeping them in the dark thus making them susceptible to others taking advantage of them and their finances, or leaving them behind?     If you want to check on the status of the Bill…here is the link to the Government’s Bill Lookup Tool: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2019/s134   If the bill is approved, it would cost taxpayers $2 million dollars to fund training for educators and would be added to the 2020-2021 school year curriculum.   Let us know what you think about instituting a Financial Literacy requirement in schools. Comment below, send us an email, drop us a line on our social media platforms. We’d love to hear what you think! 1 Winston-Salem Chronicle- Winston-Salem, NC

Financial planning is much more than just buying life insurance, or an annuity and calling it a day. Many people have a false perception of what financial planning really entails accompanied by a false sense of fear. Financial planning is not just a singular action, the concept is a process to follow, much like a diet plan. If you wanted to lose weight, or live a more active lifestyle, would you just start by making random purchases of products you think can help? Most likely, you would not. One of the best examples I can think of to help explain the reality of financial planning is a weight management program, such as Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. If you have ever been a part of these programs, then you know that they are more involved but generally lead to great results. When you join a program like these, you simply do not just try to eat better, workout more, and hope for the best. When you are creating a financial plan, you follow a similar format to that of a weight management program, acknowledging that both plans are to make your life better from now on so you can live longer and enjoy life!   Financial Planning Weight Management Step 1: Find your starting point Where do you currently stand financially? What assets and investments do you have? What are your measurements: weight, diet habits, exercise frequency, etc. TO CONTINUE READING & FOR STEPS 2-7, CLICK HERE

  (These terms are intended to educate, not to provide tax advice or legal advice. We want you to seek tax assistance from a professional as each person’s situation is unique)   As tax season is once again upon us, here are a few key tax terms to help you through yet another scramble of a process that was never taught to us!   AGI This stands for Adjusted Gross Income, which is the total of all of the income you receive over the course of the year. This total includes everything from wages, interest, capital gains, dividends, etc. The AGI calculation also subtracts items such as business expenses, moving costs, contributions to IRAs, etc. to establish the adjusted amount. [ as opposed to the Gross Income] Imagine when you go to a restaurant and they give you a check with the food expenses, taxes, and tip already included into one large number – it’s the absolute total of all individual pieces combined.   Taxable Income An individual’s taxable income is the total income minus all of the allowable deductions, adjustments, and exemptions. This is the amount that one will be required to pay taxes on.  [Note: be aware of filing options and requirements – i.e. “married individuals filing joint returns, heads of households, married filing separate” etc.]   Exemption An exemption is the amount that the IRS allows you to subtract from your income to reflect the people who count on your income in their lives. The IRS allows you to claim exemptions on yourself, your spouse, and any dependents. The total of all the exemptions you take will be subtracted from your AGI. This is like a $10 off purchase of $50, $20 off purchase of $75, or $30 off purchase of $100 coupons. The more exemptions that you are allowed to claim (like the more you purchase), the more you get to exclude from your AGI.   Deduction Expenses that the IRS allows you to subtract from your AGI so that you can determine your taxable income. For example, for an individual who has an income of $40,000 and $6,000 in deductions, the taxable income will be $34,000. There are two types of deductions as explained below.   Standard Deductions This deduction is a fixed dollar amount for the year that all taxpayers can subtract from their income. This fixed amount is determined by the taxpayer’s filing status and will change each year due to adjustments in inflation,formula and regulation. *Note: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in December of 2017 results in increases to the Standard Deduction for the 2018 tax year and beyond. An individual filing their 2018 tax return now has a standard deduction of $12,000, an increase from $6,000 in the past, while joint filers’ deduction raises to $24,000.   Itemized Deductions These deductions can include expenses incurred from Medical costs, other taxes (like state, local, or property), mortgage interest, charitable contributions, unreimbursed employee expenses, etc.   Tax Credits A tax credit is an amount of money that a taxpayer can subtract from the taxes they owe. This amount is different from exemptions or deductions as those factors lower the income for which you can be taxed. A tax credit is used to reduce the amount of tax that you actually owe. You can think about a tax credit like a store coupon, it lowers your total cost that you have to pay. How do you get a tax credit? The government authorizes a tax credit to promote a specific behavior- such as replacing old appliances with more energy efficient ones.   Progressive Taxation The U.S utilizes this system of taxation in which as income levels rise, higher tax rates are applied to the taxpayer. The United States uses tax “brackets” to implement this system. The lowest bracket starts at 10% and the highest bracket can reach 39.6%.   The system works like a champagne tower! Each tax brackets contains a range of income. Think of your income as represented by bottles of champagne- one bottle is worth $10,000 of your income. Once your income fills up one of the champagne glasses, it spills over into the next glass. This next glass represents a different, higher tax bracket. Many people (including myself for the longest time) believe that if you are in the 25% tax bracket, you pay 25% of all your income. However, you are only charged the specific tax rate for whatever the amount is in the glass. When your income (champagne bottle is empty) is depleted, you pay the tax rate on the amount of income in each bucket, respectively.   Voluntary Compliance The United States tax system is based on the philosophy that the U.S. taxpayers voluntarily report their income and taxes honestly and comply with all tax laws and regulations.   Withholding Another name for this term is called “pay-as-you-earn”. This process allows for taxes to be paid to the IRS as you earn your money over the course of the year. When taxes are withheld, they can be taken out of an individual’s pay before they receive their paycheck. This money will be put into an IRS account and you will be credited [at the IRS] with the total amount when you file your taxes.  

How does money directly affect every second of your life? Think about the decisions, choices, and lifestyle options you make everyday– It is all related to money… Let’s start by explaining Maslov’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory. We can refer to the pyramid shown below to explain Maslov’s theory. He states that the following categories are the most fundamental needs of a human being. The bottom category, physiological needs, are the most important and fundamental to a human. As you move higher up the pyramid, the needs become slightly less fundamental. Physiological needs include the need for food, water, shelter, love. The second category, Safety, includes the need for feeling safe and secure. According to Maslov, if either of these two needs are not met, the individual experience anxiety and fear. Money is directly related to both of these. While it is not imperative to have money for minimal shelter, food, and water, one feels more secure when they know they have money to help them achieve these fundamental needs. Money is what makes us feel safe and secure in today’s money-evolved world. Without sufficient money to feel a sense of security and safety, we experience anxiety. Our entire lifestyle is thus effected by the negative feelings we possess from uncertainty in our life. Money somehow directly affects every second of our life. We live in a world that is entirely controlled by money and in which every aspect of our lives can be traced back to money, or lack thereof. We need to make money a more important part of our life plans. While we don’t need to have it control our everyday life, we need to incorporate it so that we are able to achieve our most fundamental needs as a human and feel secure in doing so.  

How does your mind react to those words? What emotions are sparked by those words? Do you immediately sigh and say, “whew I am not gonna panic because my ESF (Emergency Spending Fund) will take care of me.” Or, do you feel like so many people we heard from during the recent Gov’t Shutdown – “oh, no … I live paycheck to paycheck… this is an emergency spending problem.”   Like all unintended consequences, the government shutdown has highlighted a guiding principle here at Financial Sisterhood. We repeatedly emphasize the theory of having money in reserve … call it an emergency fund, call it rainy day money, call it contingency funds, or any one of other terms … you MUST have a stash of cash that has no other purpose other than to fix entirely unexpected, unforeseen, serious, threats to your financial structure.   The 2019 shutdown has shined a light on issues of personal financial security, national security and fiscal health and preparedness. In the 2018-2019 Government shutdown, employees were not being paid for the duration of the shutdown, with far too many employees having a hard time making ends meet. Does that inconvenient word “unprepared” come to mind?   This circumstance just highlights a problem that thousands of other non-governmental, private sector employees have every month with any number of unexpected issues that challenge their financial foundation. We should all use this revealing example to gain greater financial literacy and fix our own future emergency days. Ladies, let’s not be naïve … it is when, not if!   This is a lesson to learn from and to secure your own financial future.  It’s not just in the USA either … countless international examples show this necessity of action for women around the world.   Women are, arguably, the glue that holds families together. To keep your own family strong it is imperative that you have an emergency spending plan. Having exposure to such a risk without a thoughtful and disciplined solution is irresponsible in the adult world; it leaves you vulnerable, manipulated and open to poor or desperate choices. Often from those poor or desperate choices come outcomes that truly have even more devastating consequences. Think of an example of those consequences being things like a lower credit rating, higher future interest rates on borrowing occasions, lost personal and business opportunities that could make a career or personal life.   Rarely can one define an emergency in advance, and often things don’t really seem like an emergency until … suddenly … there is a problem.  Try as we all might, it is fantasy and not reasonable to assume that we can consistently live a life that is never interrupted and always goes as we wish.  Or, worse yet, that someone else is going to bail us out of our problem.   But let us all take heart and see the silver lining in an ugly situation … we can increase our financial learning and we can define an ESF (Emergency Spending Fund) for our own use.   How do we start? Using the government shutdown as an example would be that those employees who receive their back-pay apply a portion to strengthening, or as it sounds many should start, an emergency fund.   What makes an emergency spending fund? Most times an ESF (Emergency Spending Fund) is considered to be readily available money to cover 3 months to a 1-year timeframe of necessary expenses for a household. Certainly at a minimum it would mean having enough funds to carry a 14 day or 30-day paycheck, unlike what has been demonstrated in the government shutdown.   ** Woman-to-woman TIP: Have tires, food, gas, hospital bills, water heaters, refrigerators, roofs, gone down in price in the last 3, 5 or 10 years? Certainly not. Be sure to have your ESF keep pace with inflation and your spending plan; which means once in a while you will have to increase your contribution to your ESF (Emergency Spending Fund) and not just sit without attention.   And, please, don’t get enamored with trying to figure out if your money sitting in a cash account is not earning enough interest, or isn’t getting you “points” etc.  Put it aside for its’ intended purpose … be disciplined and only use it for emergency; the slight trade-off in interest will be returned many fold when you actually need, and can immediately, access your ESF. How much should you have in your ESF? Use our free worksheet to find out Free ESF Worksheet

  Question 1: Is it possible to be a millionaire in your lifetime? Answer A: No way Answer B: Does in my dreams count? Answer C: Maybe if I had a “small loan” to start like Donald Trump Answer D: Yes The answer is… D—Yes. It is possible.   Question 2: Would you have to rob a bank to make the previous statement possible? Answer A: Um, yeah, it doesn’t seem that possible to me Answer B: Maybe rob a couple banks? Answer C: No, maybe if I had a “small loan” it would be easier? Answer D: Nope, you could do it legally! The answer is… D—it is totally possible to be a millionaire and stay out of jail at the same time.   Question 3: How do I find out how I can become a millionaire? Answer A: I ask my mom Answer B: I ask my neighbor Answer C: I guess Answer D: I use the Cool Million Calculator on Financial Sisterhood’s Calculator Page The answer is…D – Go to the Calculator page and click on the Cool Million Calculator to determine how you can be a millionaire. It shows you at what age you can achieve a million dollars and how you can get there even faster.   Being a millionaire is totally achievable! Check it out; I think you’ll be surprised!