Speaker 1: Episode tote Divesting Banking Sustainably. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast,
Speaker 1: where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and
Speaker 1: liberate your life. Here your host Jen and Jill. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name is Jill, And today we are talking about a
Speaker 1: way that you can steward your natural resources well for free.
Speaker 1: I think when we talk about sustainability, we're always talking
Speaker 1: about how to buy your way to green, and one
Speaker 1: of the ways we fight back against that is to
Speaker 1: buy less, consume less. But there's another side to that.
Speaker 1: Coin is where you keep the money. Once you are
Speaker 1: saving money, where do you keep it? Where do you
Speaker 1: invest in that what we're talking about today? And Jen,
Speaker 1: you have really introduced me to a lot of this
Speaker 1: thinking more deeply about where is our where are we
Speaker 1: keeping our money and what does that mean? What is
Speaker 1: the impact of that? And admittedly, and you'll hear this
Speaker 1: probably from me throughout the podcast, I'm still there's still
Speaker 1: room for growth for me in this area. And I
Speaker 1: think there's there's room for all of us to learn
Speaker 1: as we go. We don't have to have the expectations
Speaker 1: on ourselves at any given point that we know all
Speaker 1: the things and we're doing all of the good and
Speaker 1: right things. We are limited capacity and we take on
Speaker 1: different causes at different times. So admittedly where I bank
Speaker 1: has not been my highest priority in my life related
Speaker 1: to other causes that are near and dear to me.
Speaker 1: But as I learn more, I'm respall posible for what
Speaker 1: I know. So I'm here. I'm here with you, Jen,
Speaker 1: I'm here with the listener who might not be as
Speaker 1: far along in their understanding of what banks do with
Speaker 1: their money. Yeah, so here we are. Yeah. So today's
Speaker 1: topic is a lot about sustainability, and we're not here
Speaker 1: to burden you with more knowledge to give you one
Speaker 1: more thing to do, but hopefully this episode will will
Speaker 1: maybe open your eyes to some things that if you
Speaker 1: are so motivated that you can make a change that
Speaker 1: costs no money. It just costs a little bit of time.
Speaker 1: And that's what I love about this. But first, before
Speaker 1: we get into the main topic, this episode is brought
Speaker 1: to you by get Ready for this one You're not
Speaker 1: Ready fees. One of the most common exploitative mechanisms big
Speaker 1: banks used to target those struggling financially is the overdraft fee.
Speaker 1: Banks report collecting fifteen point five billion in over draft
Speaker 1: fees in nineteen alone, with nearly a third of that
Speaker 1: coming from just three banks Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank
Speaker 1: of America, and the CFPB estimates that fewer of fewer
Speaker 1: than ten percent of all bank customers are responsible for
Speaker 1: nearly eight percent of all of those fifteen point five
Speaker 1: billion in over draft fees. And the worst part is
Speaker 1: that there are plenty of banks out there that do
Speaker 1: not charge these predatory fees like overdraft and account maintenance.
Speaker 1: So while this episode isn't specifically about predatory banking fees,
Speaker 1: want you to know that the only language banks understand
Speaker 1: is money, and you have a choice on what you
Speaker 1: do with yours fees. The only way to tell a
Speaker 1: bank you disagree with how they prey on our country's
Speaker 1: most vulnerable is to take your money out of there. Wow.
Speaker 1: I think that was the end of the episode. This
Speaker 1: It was a sponsor, but it was also just an episode.
Speaker 1: It was so I kept looking for an article on
Speaker 1: divesting that also covered this topic, and they were all
Speaker 1: solely on sustainability, and I was like, well, let's not.
Speaker 1: Let's not burden the public with another episode on predatory banking,
Speaker 1: and I'll just well, we'll just bring fees in to
Speaker 1: sponsor the episode. It'll find the way to weave it in.
Speaker 1: John's getting her message baked in here some way, somehow.
Speaker 1: So if this is something that you care about, where
Speaker 1: you hold your money, where your money sits, then that
Speaker 1: we do have a few other episodes um where we
Speaker 1: cover this. So we we have episode one sixty five
Speaker 1: where to Save your Money we talked about like high
Speaker 1: yield savings accounts, all that good stuff. And then episode
Speaker 1: one oh eight Smart and Frugal Banking, we talked about
Speaker 1: how the best online banks and how to choose one.
Speaker 1: So those are prob bab believe when we're looking for
Speaker 1: solutions to this problem, those two episodes are going to
Speaker 1: be good ones to queue up for after this episode.
Speaker 1: So let's just dive in to our first article. So
Speaker 1: what we want to do is kind of cover what
Speaker 1: divesting is, what banks do with your money, and then
Speaker 1: how you can change how you bank and maybe quell
Speaker 1: some fears that you might have about changing banks or
Speaker 1: practices or whatever. So first article is how to stop
Speaker 1: funding fossil fuels by moving to an ethical bank. The
Speaker 1: five steps to positive action. What did you think of
Speaker 1: this one, Jill, I felt so seen, particularly by the
Speaker 1: introduction to this article, and hopefully I'm not alone here,
Speaker 1: but this whole question of where is your money going?
Speaker 1: And thanks thanks to you, Jen and some of the
Speaker 1: episodes we've already recorded, this is not entirely new to
Speaker 1: me to think about and consider. But I can't say
Speaker 1: I've put a ton of action to this or that
Speaker 1: it's always at the forefront of my mind. But I
Speaker 1: appreciate the questions that they raise and some of the
Speaker 1: thought processes that help us kind of enter into why
Speaker 1: this is something worth considering where our money is sitting.
Speaker 1: And the first kind of part of the article talks
Speaker 1: about banks offer an alternative to keeping your cash hidden
Speaker 1: in a freezer. Great, and my grandmother did do that,
Speaker 1: by the way, that was her solution to banking, and hey,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe better than keeping in some of these larger
Speaker 1: banks that are doing unethical things with the money. Banks
Speaker 1: rewards you for storing your money with them by paying
Speaker 1: you interest. That's great. Banks invest in thousands of projects
Speaker 1: and loan your money to others sounds great, But then
Speaker 1: not always, and so they're kind of beginning to go into.
Speaker 1: That's the part that is maybe not necessarily affecting us
Speaker 1: directly in that moment, but kind of the more macro level.
Speaker 1: And I think for most of us we do think
Speaker 1: more on the micro level. What what am I getting
Speaker 1: out of this exchange? How is this impacting me? Now,
Speaker 1: let's not be full the macro level, cause effect does
Speaker 1: impact us eventually some way somehow, if not us are
Speaker 1: children and great grandchildren depending on where they're investing the money,
Speaker 1: and so that that is a massive purpose of a bank,
Speaker 1: not just to keep us from needing to stash cash
Speaker 1: places and be more vulnerable, but they also invest the money,
Speaker 1: loan the money, and sometimes two projects that we may
Speaker 1: not be so thrilled to know that they are investing in,
Speaker 1: i e. Fossil fuels. Yeah, and it's not just fossil fuels,
Speaker 1: it's all of different So essentially it could be the
Speaker 1: entire stock market. So depending on what you're passionate about there,
Speaker 1: they're contributing money to everything, and fossil fuels just tends
Speaker 1: to be one of the biggest things. Um. They in
Speaker 1: this article they actually list how much the big banks
Speaker 1: are contributing to fossil fuel exum expansion, and I thought
Speaker 1: it was so funny. I saw another article that talked
Speaker 1: about how these banks are giving to um renewable energy,
Speaker 1: and the comparison is just insane because they're each of
Speaker 1: them are giving about a billion dollars um on average
Speaker 1: to renewable energy like investments every year. Put Chase, who
Speaker 1: blows the competition out of the water, Jill gives, I
Speaker 1: feel it's act. I feel. See Fund attacked two hundred
Speaker 1: sixty nine billion dollars a year to fossil fuel expansion
Speaker 1: and investment, followed by Wells far Ago at a hundred
Speaker 1: and nine billion, and then City Group at eight billion
Speaker 1: and Bank of America at hundred and fifty seven billion. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's it's quite striking to see the numbers, to see
Speaker 1: the difference, like how much more money Chase is giving
Speaker 1: to these these endeavors and they're not even giving more
Speaker 1: to renewable energy sources. I think Bank of America actually
Speaker 1: is giving the most, but still it's like I think
Speaker 1: they were giving like one and a half billion or something.
Speaker 1: So it is really telling to see where they are,
Speaker 1: you know, prioritizing, and these are publicly traded companies, these
Speaker 1: banks are publicly traded, they have a quote unquote obligation
Speaker 1: to show um returns on their investments quarter over quarter,
Speaker 1: and so it makes sense for them if nobody is
Speaker 1: telling them we want to prioritize sustainability and long term
Speaker 1: thinking all their prioritizing our short term returns that they
Speaker 1: can show at quarterly earnings meetings. Yeah. I mean, in
Speaker 1: my defense, I do have a Chase checking account, but
Speaker 1: I opened it so that I could go to Disney World,
Speaker 1: So you did you know? In my defense, so okay,
Speaker 1: and we'll put it well that this is a good
Speaker 1: time to say, like we both have Chase credit cards,
Speaker 1: and you signed up for that that Chase like checking
Speaker 1: account to show Florida residency residency. And because they were
Speaker 1: giving like what two hundred dollars, it was like three dollars,
Speaker 1: I end up being able to go into Disney for
Speaker 1: free because of that. Yeah, I mean, so we love
Speaker 1: taking from big banks. Chase has the best credit card rewards,
Speaker 1: and I will take their money every year for their
Speaker 1: credit card rewards. But I don't give to Chase. I
Speaker 1: don't let money sit there so that they can invest.
Speaker 1: It will go in later on where I have my money.
Speaker 1: But so that's my like, I don't think I don't
Speaker 1: solely not use Chase, Bank of America City. I've had
Speaker 1: credit cards with all of them, and if they have
Speaker 1: and if the rewards are good enough, I'll continue to
Speaker 1: have credit cards because those benefit me and they don't
Speaker 1: benefit Chase or Bank of America because I don't pay interest.
Speaker 1: And I will happily cancel a credit card to avoid
Speaker 1: an annual fee if that fee no longer, if that
Speaker 1: card no longer serves me. So so that's where I stand.
Speaker 1: That is a helpful distinction, I think, and I think
Speaker 1: too with this episode, my goal is not to tell
Speaker 1: people what they should or shouldn't care about, or what
Speaker 1: they should be doing ultimately with their money, but information
Speaker 1: because I think, like me, I wasn't thinking about what
Speaker 1: a banks do with the money. I knew what they do,
Speaker 1: but again not at the forefront. So if anything, just
Speaker 1: raising the awareness again, putting this at the forefront for
Speaker 1: anyone to decide, Okay, then what's most important to me?
Speaker 1: What do I want to see long term? What do
Speaker 1: I want to be supporting with my money, both on
Speaker 1: the micro level and the macro level. And you decide, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to read this one quote from the article
Speaker 1: that I I really like. It says a bank's power
Speaker 1: lies in having financial knowledge and expertise that we do not.
Speaker 1: Banks can make this topic confusing and benefit it's them
Speaker 1: to do so. So a lot of people don't know
Speaker 1: what banks are doing with their money. I think I
Speaker 1: didn't realize it either. I mean I was. I think
Speaker 1: I was writing personal finance full time before I realized
Speaker 1: what banks are really doing with our money. And sure,
Speaker 1: like we want to think they're lending it out to
Speaker 1: people in our community so they can buy homes, so
Speaker 1: they can like live their American dream, and that's like beautiful.
Speaker 1: I want them to do that with our money. But
Speaker 1: there's a lot of money and they're doing a lot
Speaker 1: more things than just that. So I just want to
Speaker 1: open some eyes on what's happening and the steps that
Speaker 1: you could take to positive action if you want to
Speaker 1: do that. So let's get into those. Yeah, here's action
Speaker 1: we can put to this. If you're unsure you want
Speaker 1: to learn more. Step one, investigate your bank. Where do
Speaker 1: you currently have your money stashed? Is it in the freezer,
Speaker 1: is it under the bed? Is it at a bank?
Speaker 1: And look into what is that bank saying they're doing
Speaker 1: with the money. They did list a resource that we
Speaker 1: could use called bank Green, which curates research of several
Speaker 1: organizations who worked tirelessly to uncover banks financing activities. Because
Speaker 1: a lot of banks aren't going to be super forth
Speaker 1: right just on their landing page of their website, so
Speaker 1: feel free to check that out. Just start investigating. Even
Speaker 1: calling I think that's mentioned either here or in another article.
Speaker 1: Um calling your bank and asking these questions. But first
Speaker 1: find out before you do the action of potentially moving
Speaker 1: your money, find out what's what's happening at the bank
Speaker 1: you already have your money at. Yeah, And then the
Speaker 1: second is to don't be intimidated. Again, banks capitalize on
Speaker 1: making financial information confused U saying, so that you are
Speaker 1: intimidated and don't move they want. That's why there's so
Speaker 1: many banks on college campuses, because banks know if they
Speaker 1: get on a college campus and they can get eighteen
Speaker 1: year olds to start banking with them, Studies show that
Speaker 1: they rarely leave. They will bank there for probably the
Speaker 1: entirety of their lives. And there is a trend now
Speaker 1: with millennials of younger people moving their money like now
Speaker 1: we're starting to see that trend. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: they know if they get you at eighteen, they've got
Speaker 1: you for life. So don't be intimidated. I have closed
Speaker 1: a bank account before. It is not hard. I think
Speaker 1: the hardest thing was changing over my utilities payment because
Speaker 1: for some reason, they're the only place in the world
Speaker 1: where you cannot change a card or checking account online.
Speaker 1: You have to go in. But that was the hardest thing.
Speaker 1: So don't feel silly asking your bank what they're doing
Speaker 1: with your money. Don't feel silly asking them any questions.
Speaker 1: You have the power because you have the money. Like that,
Speaker 1: they're using your money. So don't be intimidated because you're
Speaker 1: the one with the power. You're the one they want,
Speaker 1: and they want you to feel intimidated, so you stay.
Speaker 1: And if you're like me, they may not even try
Speaker 1: intimidation tactics because you don't have enough money in the
Speaker 1: bank account to make content. You're like, okay, you see
Speaker 1: you later. Well it's not I mean, we're not even
Speaker 1: talking about like if you feel that way, it's not
Speaker 1: that we're saying, like, you know, a hundred dollars in
Speaker 1: the bank is you know, gonna gonna intimidate them. We
Speaker 1: know because you're listening to our show, you're on a
Speaker 1: path to really building wealth, like your leaps and bounds ahead,
Speaker 1: your leaps and bounds ahead of your friends that aren't
Speaker 1: listening to the show. Tongue in cheek, right, So, so
Speaker 1: you're on this path, you're eventually going to have a
Speaker 1: hefty emergency fund and we'll talk about investments in a
Speaker 1: little bit, and you're on your path to building a
Speaker 1: multi six figure net worth. You can prepare now and
Speaker 1: get this out of the way now so that when
Speaker 1: you have that, because it's much easier to transfer tens
Speaker 1: of thousands of dollars than it is like five thousand
Speaker 1: or whatever. So that's that's kind of we're preparing you
Speaker 1: for the eventual wealth you're going to build and just
Speaker 1: setting you up, yeah, to do it right. And number
Speaker 1: three kind of along these lines of what you just said, Jen,
Speaker 1: not letting them distract us. So while banks, many large
Speaker 1: banks will be investing potentially billions of dollars into the
Speaker 1: fossil fuel industry, a lot of times they're also in
Speaker 1: sting and some of these more renewable energies, but not
Speaker 1: to let that distract us from the main goal of
Speaker 1: but overarchingly, what's happening with the money, what's making the
Speaker 1: biggest dent an impact on the environment long term? And
Speaker 1: so some banks will still use words like we're going green,
Speaker 1: we're sustainable, we're environmentally friendly, and that may be true
Speaker 1: in some regards, Like they give this example of one
Speaker 1: bank using those terms as kind of a distraction, like, no, look,
Speaker 1: we're doing good things like we recycle at our offices
Speaker 1: and we invest in solar panels. Okay, but if the
Speaker 1: majority of the money is going towards some of these
Speaker 1: non renewable, non sustainable efforts, then that's just a distraction
Speaker 1: and it could still be time to move our money elsewhere.
Speaker 1: So just be aware, almost like the episodes we did
Speaker 1: about marketing and sales tactics, of this is going to
Speaker 1: happen banks as well. Let me just throw the words
Speaker 1: at you that I think you want to hear, but
Speaker 1: ultimately it doesn't actually mean that we're doing positive things
Speaker 1: with this money. Yeah. I love how the author kind
Speaker 1: of chronicles their journey to finding out what their bank
Speaker 1: is investing in through these steps. So like the second one,
Speaker 1: they were calling their bank to see and they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: we'll send you, you know, we'll send it to you.
Speaker 1: And so in this one they recount like the email
Speaker 1: or letter that they sent, and everything was like a
Speaker 1: like a politically answered question. It was like all these
Speaker 1: good buzzwords, but nothing answered their actual question about what
Speaker 1: are you investing in? And it was all like a
Speaker 1: distraction to make the writer feel better. But unfortunately for them,
Speaker 1: the writers like very knowledgeable about greenwashing. So don't let
Speaker 1: the cool buzz word and this is really on any
Speaker 1: sustainable product to don't let marketing words distract you from
Speaker 1: like the reality of what's happening. Like if you're buying
Speaker 1: a sustainable product that you really could there's something at
Speaker 1: home you could use to not consume more, then you're
Speaker 1: not being more sustainable, you're just buying more and falling
Speaker 1: prey to greenwashed marketing. And these aren't malicious. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's I think it's great that companies are are
Speaker 1: being more quote unquote ethical, but we have to understand
Speaker 1: that there's a big hurdle to jump over from where
Speaker 1: we are now to like where we want to be,
Speaker 1: and we're in this like teenage growing pain stage where
Speaker 1: it's more they see it more as marketing and how
Speaker 1: to like increase sales than they do actually caring about
Speaker 1: the environment. So like for for Fast Fashion, for example,
Speaker 1: all these retailers now have a some kind of like resell, return,
Speaker 1: recycle for their clothes, for any clothes really, But in
Speaker 1: the years that those have been happening, they have still
Speaker 1: been ramping up production. Every year they produce more new clothing.
Speaker 1: So while this is great marketing that shows they're being
Speaker 1: sustainable on the production side, it hasn't changed anything. It
Speaker 1: is purely marketing. So we're placing good infrastructure in now,
Speaker 1: but it's still on this like very like this line
Speaker 1: that you have to be very wary of, and banks
Speaker 1: are very good at doing this. Yeah, we're cleaning it
Speaker 1: up while we're not concerned about the mess we're still making. Yeah,
Speaker 1: right right, um, but we're getting there. I think we're
Speaker 1: on the right track. I truly believe. Oh all right,
Speaker 1: And four is to find an ethical bank. Uh so
Speaker 1: there for me. So there are a lot of banks
Speaker 1: coming up that are are purely focused on sustainability and
Speaker 1: commit to not put any money in fossil fuels or
Speaker 1: anything non like that's non renewable and those are great,
Speaker 1: Like Aspiration is a very popular one. But I think honestly,
Speaker 1: if you just if you focus on online first and
Speaker 1: credit unions, you're fine. Your credit unions specifically that pour
Speaker 1: back into the local community. I think that's so necessary,
Speaker 1: like so important to have at least some of your
Speaker 1: money in a credit union that has a track record
Speaker 1: of investing back into the community. So we use a
Speaker 1: credit union, and we use online first banks. And what
Speaker 1: that just means is they're not creating a literal footprint
Speaker 1: like on the street. They don't have physical locations. They're
Speaker 1: usually tied to a bank that typically does have, you know,
Speaker 1: a brick and mortar location. But but the off these
Speaker 1: offshoots are online first, and I I've been so pleased
Speaker 1: with them, and I think they're great options. Again and
Speaker 1: this is my happy medium. Sure, some of these online
Speaker 1: first banks probably are going to be doing some fossil
Speaker 1: fuel somewhere. I don't know, it can't be perfect, but
Speaker 1: they're not going to be doing it to the extent
Speaker 1: that larger banks are. And if most of your money
Speaker 1: is with a credit union, um, and you just have
Speaker 1: an online like an online first bank like our business
Speaker 1: bank account for Frugal Friends is as an online bank,
Speaker 1: and so I feel like, really good, we've got that.
Speaker 1: And then we've got a credit union, and I feel
Speaker 1: really good not having any money with any of the
Speaker 1: major players in the fossil fuel industry. So that's like
Speaker 1: my radical middle And you can choose yours. You can
Speaker 1: choose one of these super ethical banks and be happy
Speaker 1: with it. It's up to your lifestyle, how often you're
Speaker 1: going into the bank, etcetera. And lastly, on here, tell
Speaker 1: your old bank why you left. I think this is
Speaker 1: this is a really important step that we can often miss.
Speaker 1: You know, when we break up with someone or when
Speaker 1: we leave a bank, tell them why. It could be
Speaker 1: helpful for actually affecting change, because we can't expect to
Speaker 1: see any differences in what banks choose to do with
Speaker 1: the money unless we're saying, hey, here's why I pulled out.
Speaker 1: Here's the reason that I don't want to be associated
Speaker 1: with you or or store my money here anymore. I'm
Speaker 1: not I don't think that this article is saying, nor
Speaker 1: are we saying one letter to the bank is going
Speaker 1: to shift that. But enough people, enough of that messaging
Speaker 1: could help to move that needle and convince people we
Speaker 1: we don't actually want to see this money being lended
Speaker 1: to the fossil fuel industry at the rate that it
Speaker 1: currently is. Yeah, I think the letter is really important.
Speaker 1: I think we take it for granted, but if people
Speaker 1: get enough of them, then shareholders are going to start
Speaker 1: to take notice. And that's who these banks are trying
Speaker 1: to please. And so the more paperwork, the more data,
Speaker 1: the more materials they have to prove that this is
Speaker 1: where the shift is going, the more it helps. So
Speaker 1: I definitely think even if it's just the customer feedback
Speaker 1: survey when you leave the bank saying this is why
Speaker 1: I left, that's I think good enough to so that
Speaker 1: those are some of the things that the banks will do.
Speaker 1: I don't know to like green wash. I don't know.
Speaker 1: These are some actions you can do to kind of
Speaker 1: like investigate and make sure, Hey, is my bank okay
Speaker 1: do I want to leave? Who knows? UM? Once you've
Speaker 1: kind of made that decision, we've got this next article.
Speaker 1: It's called green banking and seven simple ways you can
Speaker 1: help protect the environment, And I really like this one.
Speaker 1: These are these are things you can start today, whether
Speaker 1: with your current bank, and you can transfer these over
Speaker 1: to a new bank if you choose to go new,
Speaker 1: but you can still do these if you choose to
Speaker 1: stay with your current bank. Super super simple. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be long for us to go through this,
Speaker 1: you know. Obviously they talk about going paperless. First of all,
Speaker 1: that's a benefit to us as well. Usually there's some
Speaker 1: sort of advantage even if it's just a one time
Speaker 1: advantage of going paperless banks, it throws some money at
Speaker 1: you for doing that. But if we can get all
Speaker 1: of our statements online, pay or bills online, automate things,
Speaker 1: then that's just it's less paper being printed. It's less
Speaker 1: harm on trees, the environment, the mailman, male person. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then two is to use technology to bank from home,
Speaker 1: uh so, mobile deposits and using your online banking portal
Speaker 1: as much as possible. And then also you can use
Speaker 1: like third party fintech companies too. Um So, I use
Speaker 1: Personal Capital a lot to see all of the credit cards,
Speaker 1: bank accounts, investment accounts, mortgages, everything in one place. Uh so,
Speaker 1: it makes it very easy to check in. Two things
Speaker 1: like I check in once a month to make sure, okay,
Speaker 1: did did I make all these transactions? Did Travis make
Speaker 1: all the ones I didn't make, and just to like
Speaker 1: which ones did Kai make? Right? Did Kai make any
Speaker 1: of these? Uh? So, which is an actual thing that
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to worry about uh soon because
Speaker 1: he's like now knows how to use my phone, so
Speaker 1: using technology to bake from home as much as possible,
Speaker 1: and even like trying to limit cash use by using
Speaker 1: things like zell cash app. And no, I don't know
Speaker 1: if that one's on this this one, but that they
Speaker 1: do mention later on. Okay, when they talk about not
Speaker 1: using checks, some of them are so I mean, they
Speaker 1: hardly make it done, and no one needs to hear that,
Speaker 1: Like who's writing checks anymore anyhow. Automating your commitments to
Speaker 1: I mean they're saying the environment, but also just your
Speaker 1: savings plans, your giving plans. Anytime we can automate something
Speaker 1: that's going to be super helpful. So this is another
Speaker 1: way of putting our money where our mouth and values
Speaker 1: are and automating a portion of our paychecks to go
Speaker 1: to high old savings accounts, automating a portion of our
Speaker 1: paychecks to go to the giving we want to see.
Speaker 1: So they're using the example of giving to like an
Speaker 1: environmental organization that plants trees around the nation. But take
Speaker 1: this concept to whatever it is that you want to
Speaker 1: give to and consider putting that on automation. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I like that they mentioned the high old savings accounts.
Speaker 1: That's another reason to leave big banks because the high
Speaker 1: old savings account at online first banks are two hundred
Speaker 1: times higher than they are at big banks. So it's
Speaker 1: not going to be enough to retire on. Like but two,
Speaker 1: I mean, and it barely keeps up with average inflation.
Speaker 1: It's better than than what the big banks are giving you.
Speaker 1: So using these um high yield savings accounts, like our
Speaker 1: favorite right now is c I T bank UM. You
Speaker 1: can find the Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash c
Speaker 1: I T. They're doing like a two percent a p
Speaker 1: y where the Chases and the Wells, far Os and stuff.
Speaker 1: They're doing point oh one or point one because right so,
Speaker 1: so that's just another reason to keep your emergency fund
Speaker 1: or your larger sinking funds in a high yield savings
Speaker 1: account versus a big bank. Next is to change your
Speaker 1: method of transportation, and so they say bike or walk
Speaker 1: to the bank. I usually hate these recommendations when I
Speaker 1: love biking and walking. But when they're like, you don't
Speaker 1: have to drive, Like what if I live in the
Speaker 1: middle of nowhere and it takes me just thirty minutes
Speaker 1: to get to Walmart. Thankfully that's not me, but like
Speaker 1: that's not a usable tip for someone living in that situation. Well, Also,
Speaker 1: online banking is accessible to like I don't know, not
Speaker 1: many people are going to the bank like every day, right,
Speaker 1: But so I will say on this instead of maybe
Speaker 1: changing your method of transportation, changing your A t M location,
Speaker 1: Because when with an online first bank, most of them,
Speaker 1: if not all of them, will either reimburse you for
Speaker 1: an A t M fee like Unlimited, or give you
Speaker 1: a certain number every month. So you can choose any
Speaker 1: online bank that does that and just use the closest
Speaker 1: a t M to you instead of banking with a
Speaker 1: bank where you have to drive extra to go to
Speaker 1: their A t M. So that's another perk of of
Speaker 1: using the online first banks here it is number five
Speaker 1: is the one that made me laugh. Use other payment
Speaker 1: methods besides checks. I mean, I think that this is
Speaker 1: a newer article, but acting like it's from I don't
Speaker 1: know who. Actually, you would be surprised, you would be
Speaker 1: surprised what still requires checks. There are still things that
Speaker 1: require checks. And that was why I was like, credit
Speaker 1: unions are great because whenever we need a check and
Speaker 1: they don't accept anything else, or they need avoided check
Speaker 1: to set up like a direct deposit, we can just
Speaker 1: go into our credit union and get a standard like
Speaker 1: pay a sheet of three checks that they write our
Speaker 1: account number on and we can use that. You don't
Speaker 1: have to get a whole book, right, So that is
Speaker 1: one of the perks of having a local credit union.
Speaker 1: UH six is to bank with a bank that cares
Speaker 1: about the environment. Again, we talked about UM, talked about Aspiration.
Speaker 1: They introduce Limelight Bank. UM. There are you can look
Speaker 1: up a list of UM eco friendly banks and sustainable banks.
Speaker 1: There are a ton. But again, I think keeping your
Speaker 1: money local, honestly, I think is the best most sustainable option.
Speaker 1: Keep keep the money as close to the community as
Speaker 1: possible UM and I think that's we always talk about
Speaker 1: buying local and all of that will keep your money
Speaker 1: local as well. UM in a credit union, and just
Speaker 1: make sure you're using an online bank that doesn't charge fees,
Speaker 1: doesn't charge predatory fees like overdraft fees or account maintenance
Speaker 1: fees or any of those. Every bank is going to
Speaker 1: charge some kind of fee for for the people that
Speaker 1: don't play fair. But there are predatory fees that a
Speaker 1: lot of online banks are are doing away with and
Speaker 1: those are the banks that I choose to use, not
Speaker 1: for sustainability reasons, but just for ethical reasons. And lastly,
Speaker 1: number seven, impact investing maybe an option for your portfolio.
Speaker 1: So when you're thinking about where to invest your money,
Speaker 1: thinking about these organizations companies that are making an actual
Speaker 1: different in the environment socially, environmentally. So they give an
Speaker 1: example that fidelity can can allow you to search for environmental,
Speaker 1: social and governance e s G Exchange traded the e
Speaker 1: t F S funds on their website. Yeah, let's have
Speaker 1: a short conversation about impact investing. Go for it, because
Speaker 1: you are going to have eventually more money in your
Speaker 1: investments than you are going to have in a bank,
Speaker 1: and so it can seem kind of pointless to be
Speaker 1: talking about sustainable banking because you're never going to have
Speaker 1: more than a certain amount in a bank account and
Speaker 1: the rest ideally you're going to be investing, and so
Speaker 1: investing really, impact investing really is something that maybe down
Speaker 1: the line, we should definitely do an episode on We
Speaker 1: have talked about it before, but that eventually, once you
Speaker 1: get your banking in line, is what you're going to
Speaker 1: want to be focusing on. And so E s G Environmental,
Speaker 1: Social and Governance e t F s or index funds.
Speaker 1: These are funds that have to meet a certain level
Speaker 1: of of guidelines to be either environment social, or governed. Well,
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to even be all three, they just
Speaker 1: get graded three, like three separate grades. And so E
Speaker 1: t F s are fund because you can choose what
Speaker 1: you care most about, and you can get E s
Speaker 1: G funds that really are primarily environmental, or primarily invested
Speaker 1: in companies that are women run or have a great
Speaker 1: track record of diversity um or companies that are making
Speaker 1: a great social difference. It's great. I love this concept,
Speaker 1: but I'm not in a place where I want to
Speaker 1: really study my investments, really study the backgrounds, and so
Speaker 1: I go for an for pretty much just a regular
Speaker 1: standal standard E s G index fund that just cuts
Speaker 1: out some of the major major things that I wouldn't
Speaker 1: agree with. So I personally have a lot of our
Speaker 1: money in it's all in Vanguard, but specifically v F
Speaker 1: T A X, which is their social E s G
Speaker 1: like kind of across the board fund. It's not perfect.
Speaker 1: If you're very super concerned about like the sustainability and
Speaker 1: all the things E s G, then you're gonna want
Speaker 1: to create your own portfolio of ETFs that fit your needs.
Speaker 1: Like that's if that's you. I am okay with a
Speaker 1: happy medium, like good enough, good enough is good for me,
Speaker 1: so I feel good. The five the five biggest holdings
Speaker 1: in v F t A X are the same as
Speaker 1: the Total Stock Market Fund and SMP five hundred. It's
Speaker 1: very similar. The only difference is that it excludes companies
Speaker 1: dealing in what it calls vice products. So there's no
Speaker 1: adult entertainment, alcohol, gambling, tobacco. There's no non non renewable
Speaker 1: energy so no nuclear power, no fossil fuels, uh. There
Speaker 1: are no weapons so civilian firearms, controversial military weapons, UM,
Speaker 1: conventional military. And it also excludes companies that based on
Speaker 1: quote unquote controversial conduct and diversity practices. So that is
Speaker 1: what v T VF t A X excludes. And I
Speaker 1: want to say our entire portfolio is in that. We
Speaker 1: still do have money in the UM Total Stock market,
Speaker 1: so are our portfolio is not completely divested. Again, we're
Speaker 1: not perfect. V F T A X has a slightly
Speaker 1: lower return than the SMP five hundred, it's about one lower,
Speaker 1: but it is a that's a loss I'm willing to
Speaker 1: take for not putting a lot of money into these
Speaker 1: vice products, and that's good for me. You can go,
Speaker 1: you can do more than I'm doing, and you can
Speaker 1: do less. But that's and this is not investment advice.
Speaker 1: This is this is what. This is how we invest sustainably.
Speaker 1: That works for us because eventually you will have more
Speaker 1: money in your investments than you do in your bank account.
Speaker 1: So I just wanted to give that primer. If anybody
Speaker 1: is interested, well it's helpful. I think my takeaway is
Speaker 1: there's options, just the knowledge of Okay, it can be
Speaker 1: more informed on this and it's not going to take
Speaker 1: a ton of time for me to be informed. And
Speaker 1: I can make decisions based off of what I value,
Speaker 1: not just for how I spend, but also for how
Speaker 1: I save. So I love options and you know what
Speaker 1: else gives a lot of options, a lot of room
Speaker 1: for interpretation and people to engage in the way that
Speaker 1: they want after they've done their own research. Yeah, something
Speaker 1: I am fully invested in the week. That's right, it's
Speaker 1: time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe
Speaker 1: a baby was born and his name is Williams. Maybe
Speaker 1: you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and
Speaker 1: you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: US Bill Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Hi, John and Jill. My name is Jacqueline.
Speaker 1: I'm calling from St. Louis. I am so thankful for
Speaker 1: your podcast. I love listening to it on for good Fridays,
Speaker 1: and I'm especially thankful just for your focus on value, space,
Speaker 1: spending and budgeting. My bill of the week is actually
Speaker 1: a bill I do not currently pay the bill that
Speaker 1: I have canceled several years ago. Most a lot of
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways thanks to the support of
Speaker 1: your podcasts and the things that you guys talk about.
Speaker 1: And I was recently at a happy hour we were
Speaker 1: talking about streaming services. I mentioned that I don't have
Speaker 1: a Netflix subscription, that I canceled it years ago, and
Speaker 1: that I even listened to sports and the radio sometimes
Speaker 1: because it's free, And at that point I was kind
Speaker 1: of ex usingly made fun of and called an old person.
Speaker 1: And several years ago this would have probably made me
Speaker 1: really upset, feels kind of dumb, But I feel like
Speaker 1: I've listened to your podcast for several years now and
Speaker 1: I don't feel dumb. I feel encouraged by your community,
Speaker 1: and I recognize that spending money on Netflix is just
Speaker 1: not one of my value so um anyway, I recognize
Speaker 1: that making fun of people from something that you don't
Speaker 1: spend on is really rude and annoying and people shouldn't
Speaker 1: do that. But I am so thankful for this community,
Speaker 1: how supportive you are, and how open you are to
Speaker 1: creative ways to spend mindfully in according to our values.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for this podcast. I love you all. Jacqueline. Yes,
Speaker 1: uh girl, we are with you and feeling the empowerment
Speaker 1: and you get on with your old girl self. I
Speaker 1: love I love it. You know right where to go
Speaker 1: when you need that encouragement and affirmation and validation for
Speaker 1: the choices that you've made. I am so admiring of
Speaker 1: this to not have this streaming service that is very
Speaker 1: very common to have in finding other ways to entertain
Speaker 1: yourself and stay thing incompetence in that despite other people
Speaker 1: making fun of you to know, Huh, this is a
Speaker 1: decision I'm confident in. And why do you care so
Speaker 1: much about where a month goes? Why do you care
Speaker 1: about where my money goes? So real, and everybody's had that.
Speaker 1: Everybody listening has been like, why do you care where
Speaker 1: I'm spending my money? What's that about? Except for this
Speaker 1: whole episode is about how we care about where we're
Speaker 1: keeping our money. Yeah, I care you're keeping your money.
Speaker 1: I care. I care that you have found what you
Speaker 1: value and where you actually want to spend. That's amazing, Jacqueline.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that listening to this learning more about
Speaker 1: your values has helped you to be more confident, even
Speaker 1: in the face of some haters. So yes, you got
Speaker 1: some frugal friends here, Jacqueline, Thanks for calling in. If
Speaker 1: you all listening, have a bill. If it's about a
Speaker 1: bill you got made fun of for and you just
Speaker 1: need some support right now, or a bill that you
Speaker 1: don't mind paying, you know the drill. It's we keep
Speaker 1: it vague for a reason because we get all kinds
Speaker 1: of heartwarming, funny stuff. Visit Virugal Friends podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: slash bill, leave us your bill and now it's time
Speaker 1: for round around. So today's vulnerable question is how are
Speaker 1: you making your money more climate friendly? Right now? Well,
Speaker 1: here you go, Jenn, Can you go first, because you've
Speaker 1: got a lot to brag about. This is I do
Speaker 1: think the vulnerability around for Jen, this is the bragging session. No,
Speaker 1: I so like eco eco people will scream at me, like,
Speaker 1: for there are so many articles on the internet while
Speaker 1: why the social fund at Vanguard or Fidelity is not
Speaker 1: usually sustainable or there's there's always something to hate when
Speaker 1: people are trying to do something better. That's why I'm
Speaker 1: not mad at banks for trying to you know, giving
Speaker 1: a billion dollars to renewable energies, Like that's great. I'm
Speaker 1: so thankful for where everything is headed. Um, I don't
Speaker 1: think we should hate on people for trying to be
Speaker 1: better and not being perfect. And so that's where I'm at.
Speaker 1: I am very like, I'm not always in the middle,
Speaker 1: but I'm very like staunchly in the middle on this
Speaker 1: because I feel like we can only do what we
Speaker 1: can do, we can only do what we have the
Speaker 1: capacity to do. But like, this is something I've been
Speaker 1: thinking about for several years and I've had the time
Speaker 1: to work on, so we um in. We moved our
Speaker 1: mortgage from Wells Fargo. We refinanced to a credit union,
Speaker 1: and credit unions are amazing places to keep your mortgage with.
Speaker 1: Over the length of your mortgage, whether it's fifteen or
Speaker 1: thirty years, you will pay tens of thousands of dollars
Speaker 1: in interest or maybe a hundred over a hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars interest, depending on how much your house is and
Speaker 1: and that's the cost of borrowing money, you know, So
Speaker 1: where do you want that money to go is where
Speaker 1: you have to decide. And when we bought our original house,
Speaker 1: we didn't really have a choice. We didn't know what
Speaker 1: we were doing, and so we just got stuck with
Speaker 1: Wells Fargo. We didn't realize that's where we were going.
Speaker 1: So then when we got the chance to refinance, we
Speaker 1: did have a decision. We did have a choice to make,
Speaker 1: and we could move it to a credit union, So
Speaker 1: that was the biggest It's the same credit union we
Speaker 1: have our primary account with UH, so that is really great.
Speaker 1: I love what they're doing in the community, so I
Speaker 1: feel really good about having my mortgage age there. We
Speaker 1: also bank exclusively with online first banks outside of that
Speaker 1: credit union accounts, our business account, my saving like our
Speaker 1: emergency fund, stuff like that, and uh and we have
Speaker 1: a significant portion of our investments in the e s
Speaker 1: G Fund. I was mentioning not all, not all. So
Speaker 1: that's I mean, that's a a balance that works for me,
Speaker 1: and it's what I'm happy with. I feel good, yeah,
Speaker 1: And I also feel good because I'm making decisions every
Speaker 1: day to reduce my consumption, to tell companies that I
Speaker 1: don't want them to produce more, I want them to
Speaker 1: produce better. So that's where I live. Yeah. Again, not
Speaker 1: much thought typically goes to this for me, where I
Speaker 1: found myself is mostly just related to laziness, and I'm
Speaker 1: not in the worst place. Laziness hasn't gotten me to
Speaker 1: the worst place. Related to banking, I do the online thing.
Speaker 1: I still have money at a local bank back in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: I've been in Florida now for two years and most
Speaker 1: of my money still sits there because I'm able to
Speaker 1: bank with it online. I had a conversation with one
Speaker 1: of the tellers or bank representatives on the phone a
Speaker 1: few months ago and they're like, you're in Florida now,
Speaker 1: you need to change your address with us. They didn't
Speaker 1: try and get me to leave them, even though they
Speaker 1: have no banks down here, and that works. Eventually, I'm
Speaker 1: going to move the money, but I'm not concerned about
Speaker 1: their practices. Thankfully, after reading those articles, they did do
Speaker 1: some research, so that's all right. I'm in an okay spot.
Speaker 1: But again I'm not This is not a bragging point.
Speaker 1: This is a and I just didn't take the time
Speaker 1: to move my money. And I can bank with them online,
Speaker 1: so that works. Are you going to make any changes
Speaker 1: based on episode today? Not to put you on the spot,
Speaker 1: It's okay if if you've got too much on your plate.
Speaker 1: I don't think that I'm going to make any immediate changes.
Speaker 1: I think being aware of Chase that I do have
Speaker 1: a checking account with them, but I don't keep a
Speaker 1: lot of money there. Because I have a credit card
Speaker 1: with them, it does make it easy to pay that off.
Speaker 1: But I think what I will be mindful of for
Speaker 1: the immediacy is not keeping a ton of money in
Speaker 1: that checking account and making an eventual switch. I think
Speaker 1: as I slowly move my finances to local Saint Pete banks,
Speaker 1: that's when I'll make that change. But I don't have
Speaker 1: that on my radar for potentially another four to six months.
Speaker 1: I just have to be realistic. Chase will accept a
Speaker 1: payment from any bank, joll It's not easier to make
Speaker 1: a payment from the shape. I like being able to
Speaker 1: see it. You know, you can again see it on
Speaker 1: you can see it everywhere. I've never had a Chase account,
Speaker 1: and I have a ton of Chase credit cards, and
Speaker 1: I've never had a problem paying off my credit card
Speaker 1: bill and seeing how much is in my credit Union account.
Speaker 1: I know, Jenna. I'm just okay. If you want vulnerability, though,
Speaker 1: this is what you're getting because I will have to
Speaker 1: change where some of my automatic payments go, where direct
Speaker 1: deposits go. It's like it's it's not just a quick switch,
Speaker 1: and I just have to be realistic about the other
Speaker 1: things that are on my docket. I'm not saying I
Speaker 1: won't do it. I just need to be realistic that
Speaker 1: it's probably not going to happen for another four to
Speaker 1: six months. Okay, I'll hold you to that, and I
Speaker 1: will say when I did it, it was not as
Speaker 1: hard as I thought. I just went through the last
Speaker 1: three months of transactions, looked at all of my recurrings
Speaker 1: of them. I was able to do in one day.
Speaker 1: To switch over in one day, I opened the new account,
Speaker 1: I transfer money virtually online, don't have to go in anywhere,
Speaker 1: transferred the money to the external account, and then just
Speaker 1: set up all of my I just changed up all
Speaker 1: of the deposit there. Granted I have to do that
Speaker 1: when we get a new credit card, so I only
Speaker 1: had to do the ones that are on debit. So
Speaker 1: like mortgage, utilities, electric stuff like that. Most of my
Speaker 1: stuff I have it on a system. It's it's all
Speaker 1: credit card paid, and I have it in a system
Speaker 1: where when I get a new credit card, I just
Speaker 1: have a list of things that I go through in
Speaker 1: thirty minutes and like changeover, so it's not a big
Speaker 1: deal for me. I'm always changing. I also feel like
Speaker 1: that's safer for like credit card fraud and debit card
Speaker 1: fraud when you are changing your numbers, you know, not regularly,
Speaker 1: but sometimes. So Yeah, I did it all in a day.
Speaker 1: It was not the only thing that was the utilities.
Speaker 1: The utilities was so annoying. Yeah, yeah, thankfully I don't
Speaker 1: have my utilities tied to that. To me, it represents
Speaker 1: I want to do it all at once. I want
Speaker 1: to move out of that local p A bank into
Speaker 1: local banks here, the credit union, the high savings account.
Speaker 1: Like there's a whole list of things that I almost need,
Speaker 1: like a banking week, and I just know I'm not
Speaker 1: going to have a banking week. You don't need a
Speaker 1: banking week. You need no idea, you don't need you
Speaker 1: just a little bit at a time. You start with
Speaker 1: opening the account, and then once the accounts open and
Speaker 1: ready to go, you've got all the access. Then you
Speaker 1: switch some money over that's going to take a few days.
Speaker 1: You come back next week and you switch take a
Speaker 1: day and switch over, like you can do it in chunks.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be this big thing. I'm getting sweaty.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening everyone. Many of you know we have
Speaker 1: a private community where we do monthly money challenges, and
Speaker 1: you know Jen's always challenging us and we have accountability
Speaker 1: and she's she does things like this and sometimes I
Speaker 1: do two on different topics, and we really congratulate one
Speaker 1: of our members for a big win. Leticia shared tonight
Speaker 1: was my first time being able to join the money party,
Speaker 1: and I'm so glad I did. We have money parties.
Speaker 1: That's that's my favorite thing. I tend to air on
Speaker 1: the more socially awkward side, and I love this small
Speaker 1: breakout rooms. Thank you Jen and Jill for creating this space. Yes,
Speaker 1: we do. We break out in a small group so
Speaker 1: where you have an opportunity to talk to just another
Speaker 1: two or three people on a question that we give
Speaker 1: to you. Almost like speed dating, only way better, way
Speaker 1: more productive. Yes, so that's fun. It's so great. So
Speaker 1: proud of you and my fellow socially awkward or introverted,
Speaker 1: I would say, I would say introverted, not socially awkward.
Speaker 1: It does help because I'm an introvert and so I
Speaker 1: was like, the small breakout rooms are essential. They're more
Speaker 1: important than the big group gathering. So congress, thanks everyone
Speaker 1: for listening. If you want to check out these monthly
Speaker 1: money challenges that we have and the community had to
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash club, you can see
Speaker 1: what challenge we have coming up next and join us.
Speaker 1: See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Yes, Um, Jen,
Speaker 1: something massive happened yesterday and I wasn't prepared for it.
Speaker 1: I knew that it was going to happen. I just
Speaker 1: didn't know that it was going to happen yesterday. What
Speaker 1: oh what you should ask we We removed the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends photo wall that has been up since our party
Speaker 1: in April because big changes are happening, and we've got
Speaker 1: to move the plastic, because big things are happening in
Speaker 1: the renovation in the portion, and pretty soon we are
Speaker 1: no longer going to need to have plastic hanging up
Speaker 1: keeping half of our house unaccessible to us from the
Speaker 1: other half. But you can still have the glitter wall up.
Speaker 1: You can just put the glitter wall back up in
Speaker 1: the new kitchen. There's gonna be what you have to
Speaker 1: pass through to get to the kitchen. Just did as
Speaker 1: a backdrop. Perfect because sustainability. I know I'm gonna want
Speaker 1: hot pink glitter wall again in my life. So we
Speaker 1: still have it. We can use it again. You will
Speaker 1: definitely use that probably for the next guest that stays
Speaker 1: at your We should hang it in your background on
Speaker 1: either side of the boxwood and the neon sign. That
Speaker 1: might be cool, that might be really cool. We will
Speaker 1: have to hang sound dampener, yeah yeah, sound deadening behind it. Yeah. Okay,
Speaker 1: we'll see how that looks Okay, all right, keep you posted. Bye,