More Than Money 💰 April 4
woof... tariffs, birth prep, my fav podcast + hyper-fixation topic, and a coffee rec
The stomach flu hit us this week.
I don’t recommend having a cold, being pregnant, and then contracting the stomach flu at the same time.
Recovery has been slow but it’s happening. I’m used to those 24hr viruses but this one seems to have a longer tail.
Anyway, enough about that sexy topic, let’s dig into all the things I’ve been consuming this week.
Have the best weekend ever!
-Tess
Money:
Oof, every time I write a newsletter, things feel even more bleak. It used to be the uncertainty of student loans, uncertainty of some people’s jobs, the uncertainty of the stock market, now the uncertainty of inflation (though it wasn’t great in the past, it had been steadily and impressively improving) as well as the cost of almost every single thing we consume on a daily basis.
I don’t have a whole lot of new sexy “tips and tricks” to share to get you through this period. I think the best thing any of us can do is:
Shore up emergency savings. (this should be priority #1… get yourself 6 months of your fixed living expenses saved up in cash)
Don’t take your income for granted. (aka always be looking for alternative opportunities, just in case)
Be ready to adjust your budget to accommodate a tariff-inflated cost of living. (especially if you’re making multiple fixed debt payments)
Adjust expectations of bigger financial moves and purchases you were planning to make in the next few years. (new car, house renovation/build, retirement, etc).
If your emergency savings is stocked, your job is chugging along, and you’ve had the funds to be investing regularly up to this point, stay the course. Buy into the downturn (things are on sale!) no matter how backwards it feels. This video by Graham Stephan might help those of you who have the ability to be investors right now.
And of course, if you need help navigating this moment… getting started with investing because you realize now may be the perfect time, getting off of the consumer debt hamster wheel before cost of living really gets unmanageable, implementing a debt-freedom plan with an unpredictable income, or any other seemingly impossible financial dilemma to tackle on your own…
Reach out to me by filling out my coaching questionnaire here. Yes, I am about to go on maternity leave, but personal finance is forever and we can create a personalized plan to get you the help you need now and map out how we’ll improve your financial life over the next year, together.
Online:
I guess I’m in full birth prep mode because I’ve started shifting my evening decompression habits from watching a trashy reality dating show to watching birth vlogs on YouTube. Kudos to the women who are willing to show their full births and themselves in their most vulnerable state (grunting, screaming and all) on the internet for me and everyone else to see.
Listening to and watching other’s birth stories really helped me with my first birth. Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit unprepared and developing a little bit of birth anxiety just because I know that things probably won’t go exactly how it went the first time. For that reason, I’ve started the birth vlogs and listening to positive birth stories as well as dabbling in some hypnobirthing tracks. If you’re pregnant or going to be a birth partner or just curious about labor and delivery, whether it’s in your future or not, here’s a great podcast with hundreds of birth stories to browse through:
This linked episode was a fun listen for my walk yesterday. Learning how birth works in other countries is especially interesting to me (seeing as I’ve only experienced it in Switzerland and know all about the U.S. system as well) and on top of that, I’m always so moved and impressed at the stories where the births are completely unassisted by medical professionals, midwives, or even doulas… just the birthing partner. Not what I would want or plan for, but so cool to know it’s possible, just in case!
Recommend:
Sorrz for the double podcast recommendation in this newsletter, but one of my favorite podcasts did a full THREE HOURS on my hyper-fixation topic of the MAHA movement and how ill-informed these unqualified “nutrition” influencers are when it comes to public health. (Or their over-individualistic view of health; and therefore, complete neglect in how important public health really is for societies, communities, and individuals.)
They touched on every single counterpoint and argument that I hoped they would, and hey, I know three hours is a lot, but if your brother-in-law can listen to Joe Rogan’s Iliad-length episodes on a near daily basis, we can rise to the occasion of the podcast bro era and do the same, just this once.
Listen on Spotify here. Or on Substack here! (You may just see me in the comments section 👀) And consider joining their paid community for even more episodic deep-dives on feminist, political, and more mind-boggling topics!
Enjoy:
It’s finally COLD BREW SEASON. Which is my favorite season as a coffee drinker. The sad news is that there’s no store bought cold brew here in Switzerland, which means I either have to spend $7-8 per cup at a local coffee shop or make it myself at home. (In all honestly, I’m gonna do both.)
I’ve tried many different cold brew coffee making systems in the past, but so many are finicky, messy, and take up a lot of space on the counter. I was in the market for a new, simpler solution when I found the “mason jar cold brew system”. You basically just need to buy a large mason jar and a filter that fits into it.
I avoid shopping on Amazon as much as I can these days, so I found a couple small biz solutions based in the U.S. Naturally, they are a bit more expensive, so I’ll also link the Amazon one that inspired the search for my own set up here in Switzerland.
Buy from the source: Mason Jar Lifestyle | Brewing America | Rumble Jar
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