This Week In Your Wallet: Turn Old Stuff Into New Money
How many items do you have in your home? Take a quick guess. Now, think about all the things you no longer use (or never used) that are in boxes — under the bed, in that extra closet, in the attic or basement. Did that number increase significantly?
The average American home has about 300,000 items, professional organizer MJ Rosenthal told The Boston Globe. And we might have our ancestors to thank for that “impulse to acquire.” After all, for hundreds of thousands of years, they tried to accumulate as much as they could (food, tools, warm things to wear) without knowing what the next day had in store.
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t not a problem. Many of us are buying more than we need in goods, services and food (one survey by the American Chemistry Council shows the average American household estimated wasting $640 in food each year). That general over-consumption is a recipe for household debt, which, at $12.73 trillion for the first three months of 2017, has topped its 2008 peak, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
And there may be gold in them thar stuff. This morning on TODAY, I talked with Savannah Guthrie about how much free money you can find by unloading stuff you’re not using. Trust me, it feels good. In the last few days, I shipped one bag off to thredUP and dropped off a couple of items at my favorite consignment store. My husband and I even cleaned out the old DVDs. Next up: The basement!
Modern Motherhood And The Economy
On to the rest of this week’s headlines… first up, motherhood and the economy. For a while, the world’s women were making “clear economic progress” — more of us were working, and we were earning more and boosting the global economy while we did it. But that progress came to a head two decades ago and has since stalled, reports Bloomberg. Why? Barriers include “a lack of equal opportunity and challenges to combining work and family,” said Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve Chair, in a recent speech. She — and other economists —cite parenting demands as the key issue keeping some women out of the workforce, especially when combined with high childcare costs and lack of workplace flexibility.
These barriers result in women around the world being much less likely to be employed than men their age, which has a global economic cost. (The U.S. economy would grow 5 percent if an equal number of women compared to men were employed, and that’d be 9 percent for Japan and 34 percent for Egypt, according to research from Strategy&.) When it comes to lack of workplace flexibility for mothers, Yellen is right. And the scales tip in favor of higher-paid workers. American workers in households earning more than $75,000 a year are two times as likely to receive paid leave as those earning less than $30,000, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. What can you do? Focus on your own personal economy, carving out areas of expertise that employers are likely to value; that can lead them to be more flexible, assuming you show you can get done what you need to wherever you are. And if you’re an employer, my personal experience — and my two cents — is that being flexible with staffers leads to more loyalty, a fantastic work ethic and a happier, more productive team.
Women Rule The Markets (And Savings Accounts)
On the flip side, when it comes to our investing prowess, women are making hay. Women generally outperform men in both investing and saving, according to a report by Fidelity Investments. In our investments, we earned 0.4 percent higher returns than the guys. As for savings, we socked away a higher percentage of our paychecks — at every salary level. Pat yourselves on the back, ladies. And try to mean it. Because here’s the kicker: Only 9 percent of women believed they would do better as investors than their male counterparts.
The key here is building confidence. And the best way to do that is with data. Make yourself take a good look at your savings rate, your investment returns and how you’re tracking on your progress toward your goals. If you’re still feeling less than, sometimes having a pro take a look at what you’re doing — which requires an appointment with a financial advisor or your accountant — and give it the seal of approval is all it takes.
Have a great week,
Jean
