Reframe Your View of Your Money
To kick 2022 off with a big bang, we were joined by some amazing guests as part of our Reframe Virtual Wellness Festival for four jam packed nights with inspiring, informative conversations on topics that we feel are not talked about enough.
For the second night of the festival, we got real about one of the biggest topics in life...money! This evening was hosted by Emilie Bellet the founder and CEO of Vestpod, who are a community for women to start breaking the taboo around money and make money work for us. We got stuck into subjects like money hang-ups, pensions, investing and so much more with Kim Palmer of Clementine, Clare Reilly of PensionBee and Nina Mohanty of Bloom Money. It was an evening of insightful yet mind opening series of conversations that really got us talking. And today, we’re sharing all the juicy takeaways for you, so sit back, relax and let's talk about money!
Money, one of the eight killers of wellness…
Emilie Bellet, set us off with a conversation with our one and only Kim Palmer. Both Emilie and Kim touched on the fact that money is one of the eight killers of wellness.
Surprisingly, a lot of people see wellness as eating well, exercising, and being happy. However, money problems are the root of so much anxiety and uncomfortability. Money is one of the biggest causes of stress in most people's lives, especially given the current climate where finances have been very difficult.
Kim spoke about how her view of money has changed over the years…
“For most of my life money has been the goal...I use to think that if I got money I would be able to do X which would in turn make me feel better”
Kim highlighted the fact that making money your sole goal/purpose doesn't always make you happy. For her, learning to support yourself financially but NOT making money your one living purpose reduces the stress and anxiety around your money. Here are some things you can do to take those first steps in reducing the stress and concerns you may be having…
Take a look at your money story - what stories have you been told about money your whole life?
Create a budget, limit your spending appropriately
Create an emergency fund
Get advice from professionals
Determine what you need to change or adjust
Track your progress
Emilie mentioned that in order to be able to organise your finances and see money from a different perspective, you need to do some work on yourself first - whether that be learning more about money and your own finances or adjusting your way of life.
Emilie and Kim both touched on some really important topics here, and how revolving your whole life around money really is not the key to your happiness and wellness.
Kim was recently on Vestpod’s amazing podcast“The Wallet”where she spoke about her changing perspective on money over the years, Clementine and so much more. It makes for some powerful listening, so be sure to take a listenhere.
Pensions made simple…
For the second talk of the night, Clare Reilly, Chief Engagement Officer at PensionBee who combine all of your old pensions into one new online plan, opened our eyes to the importance of organising your pension to set yourself up for your post retirement. Both Clare and Emilie shone a much needed light on just how many people have no idea where to start when it comes to Pensions. A study shows that over 80% of people find pensions so overwhelming that they just don't bother with them.
Clare mentioned that…
"At some point in the future, the books are not going to balance"
"You should be putting at least around 15% of your salary into your pension"
To put it simply, pensions are literally just money you save across your working life that will see you through your retirement. The paralysis around the pension topic is what is preventing people from doing the small things they need to do now to have that solid retirement and post-working life they deserve. Here's some tips that Clare gave us on what we can do when it comes to our pensions…
Focus on private pensions and ensure you're in control and are aware of where your money is going
Put around 15% of your salary into your private pension
Learn about who your pension is with and looking at where your pension money is invested to make sure it aligns with you
Feel a sense of agency about your money - check in with who you have pensions with and assess what you're options are
To learn more about pensions and what you can do to give yourself the very best retirement you can, be sure to check out PensionBee.
Investing and finance in a world ‘not built for women’...
Last but not least, the final guest of the night was Nina Mohanty, CEO and co-founder of Bloom Money, a company that gives access to tools to build a healthy financial life and join a community in building a more prosperous future. Nina touched on some heavy topics in this talk around women in the investment industry and how the financial system we are a part of today is philosophically not built for women, but realistically built for straight, white men. When women do invest, we outperform men, which is why commonly, women are often vilified. Starling Bank did an exceptional study on this topic called ‘make money equal.'
"Something is wrong with YOU, it is the women that are the problem"
Nina stated towards the end of her talk something that seriously stuck with us…
"Because we don't talk about it [money], we don't know where to start"
Nina and Emilie both spoke about FOFO - Fear Of Finding Out and how they had to really start looking at their finances to see it. So here are some tips for you on how to get started in the investment industry:
Use apps that invest on your behalf
It is best to only invest in things you thoroughly understand
Become a ‘value space investor’ and invest in things that are important and interesting to you
Ensure you are aware of what fees you are paying
Ask and look for help because education is power and there’s so much of it about - podcasts, blogs and following businesses the will help enlighten you on the subject on social media
Vote with your wallet! Take back power by learning more and making it work for you.
As far as our society has come in terms of equality and equal pay etc, there is still an exceptionally far way to go. That comes with everything for women, especially financially. However, despite the distance we still have to go, the amount of strong, independent female-led businesses, like the guests we had for our Reframe Your Money night is both inspiring and empowering.
We hope this night of our Reframe Virtual Wellness Festival was informative and gave some sort of support or guidance for you financially. For more tips and information feel free to follow the links to the of all of our lovely guests from this session.