Elizabeth, Author at Women’s Money

04Nov 2020 by Elizabeth

Gratitude Will Make you Rich, Healthy and Happy

Miscellaneous

Want to know one simple, three-minute practice that will change your life? Start a gratitude journal. That’s right. Gratitude. It’s the word of the decade. You are probably sick of hearing it, but do me a favor and read to the end of this post. I’m here to tell you from personal experience that practicing gratitude actually works. It has changed my life over the past two years. But don’t just take my word for it. Science backs me up. Study after study reveals that a simple gratitude practice can make us happier, healthier, and even richer. Why Practice Gratitude Research has documented hundreds of reasons to practice gratitude. Some of my favorite reasons why to practice gratitude (along with the research to back them up) are below. 1. Being…

01Nov 2020 by Elizabeth

Why and How to Set Up a Donor-Advised Fund

Goals / Taking Action, Take Action

One of the most practical tips I learned in law school was from a Wills & Trusts class. No, it wasn’t about how to plan for your death. It was about how to plan for your life, specifically when it comes to donating money. The term I heard in that class, that I had never heard about before, was “donor-advised fund.” We learned that this was similar to a charitable trust, but with some unique differences. I don’t know about you, but to me, setting up a charitable trust or anything similar sounded like something only rich people would or should do. However, it turns out you don’t have to be one of the ultra-rich to have a donor advised fund. You can and should set one up. Why Should…

28Oct 2020 by Elizabeth

Giving November: Why You Should Give Money Away Every Day this Month

Non-Profit - null

Every November, with the increase in appeal letters and emails from non-profits we care about, our family steps up our donations and charitable contributions. However, we are doing things a little differently this year. Each day during the month of November this year, we are going to give away $100 to a charity. Most importantly, we are making it a family event. With a six-year-old and a nine-year-old, this is going to be interesting. The plan is this: we are rotating family members and each day a different family member gets to choose which organization receives our donation. While we have always tried to teach our kids the importance of giving, we hope that this consistency will really cement how important it is to contribute to causes. For my nine-year-old,…

25Oct 2020 by Elizabeth

How and Why to Check Your Dependent Care FSA Today for COVID-19 Breaks

Take Action

For most employees, it’s open enrollment season right now. And, for many of us, it’s hard to imagine what we need to sign up for in 2021. If you’re like me, everything we thought we needed for 2020 turned out to be a bit different than we planned. A year ago, I signed up for all of my company’s benefits. These benefits included a health care plan with HSA (we have two young kids and always hit our deductible), a vision plan (because two of us wear glasses), a dental plan (yep, we all have teeth!), and the trusty Dependent Care FSA. What is a Dependent Care FSA? For those who aren’t familiar with it, a Dependent Care FSA allows you to set aside pre-tax dollars (up to $5,000 in…

17May 2020 by Elizabeth

19 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Business

Uncategorized

Thinking of starting your own business? Here are 19 things I wish I knew before I started my own business. 1. Starting a Business is Really Easy You don’t need anything fancy to start a business. You don’t need start-up capital. You don’t need an office. You don’t need a website. Or even your own domain name. You don’t need business cards. You don’t need a bank account. You can just start working. 2. Find Someone Who Will Buy Your Product or Service (Before You Do Anything Else) The only thing you need to start a business is someone to buy your product or service. And then you need the ability to provide that product or service. It’s that simple. 3. Don’t Google for Answers Google can serve up a…

30Apr 2020 by Elizabeth

Check Your Tax Withholdings with a Withholding Calculator

Uncategorized

About This Week's Action "Taxes, didn't I just finish dealing with those for the year?" is probably what you'll ask yourself when I mention that this week's take action step deals with taxes. And while April 15 does seem like just yesterday, the reality is that it's already halfway through the year and it's time to ensure that your tax payments are on tract. So, this week's action is to check your tax withholdings and adjust them as needed. Why Take This Action You'll Take Back Control (and Prevent Surprises) The most important reason to check your withholdings is to prevent any surprises when it comes to tax time next year. Most people overpay their taxes and get a refund - but wouldn't it be nice to be able to…

06Mar 2015 by Elizabeth

Saving for Maternity Leave and More (#WMW15 Roundup)

Parental Leave

Here's the second round-up of #WMW15 Posts:Coming home with a babyI have countless birth announcement emails from friends. They’re all cuddling their freshly born babies, sleek hair framing a tired but smiling face (is that MAKEUP??), painted nails, even classy jewelry.Me? If I wasn’t already flattened I’d have collapsed into a pile of jelly legged oh my GOD is that over, really? face haloed by a wild nest of hair that could substitute for Medusa’s wig. Hands clasping the new LB that had been too swollen to wear my rings for months. Elegant, not so much. But realistic. A Guide to Saving for Maternity Leave In my opinion as soon you decide to have children, (no matter how far into the future that day may seem), you should start setting…

05Mar 2015 by Elizabeth

How I Negotiated for 4 Months Paid Maternity Leave

Parental Leave

When I found out I was pregnant in the spring 2011, one of the first things I did was investigate my maternity leave benefits. I pulled up my employee handbook on my computer and scrolled to the parental leave section.I was appalled by what I saw: I was entitled to 2 weeks of 100% paid leave. (The US, which requires 0 weeks of paid parental leave, has the absolute worst maternity leave of any developed country in the world.)That’s two weeks to recover from childbirth. Two weeks to bond with my new baby. Two weeks to master breastfeeding, pumping, and bottle feeding. Two weeks to get into some kind of sleep schedule that left me with enough brainpower to function at work.Determined to fight for more leave, I got to…

05Mar 2015 by Elizabeth

Canada vs US Maternity Leave – One Family’s Experience and More (Roundup)

Parental Leave

We've had some amazing stories come through for Women's Money Week 2015. Check out some of the great posts below: Canada vs U.S. Maternity Leave: Here’s Our Experience With Both at the Dough Report When Radhika and I moved from Toronto to San Francisco two and half years ago with our toddler, we knew it would be an eye-opening experience. We’d travelled to the Golden State many times, but you know what they say: to really get to know a place, you have to live there. And come to know it we have: both the good parts, which are almost too numerous to list (weather, food, wine, etc) and the bad, which include an outrageously high cost of living, a byzantine medical system, and, as we learned getting ready for the…

03Mar 2015 by Elizabeth

Recent Articles on Parental Leave

Parental Leave

To get you excited about Women's Money Week 2015, and to show you just how timely and relevant this is, I've compiled some great recent articles below. Feel free to list others in the comments: Will Millennial Women Ever Get Paid Maternity Leave? Does Your Member Of Congress Offer Paid Maternity And Paternity Leave? Want to create more women leaders? Offer paternity leave The Economic Benefits of Paid Parental Leave Paternity Leave: The Rewards and the Remaining Stigma Paid Leave Encourages Female Employees to Stay State paternity leave law benefits working fathers Obama pushes paid sick/family leave for workers Obama to Announce New Family Leave Plan for Federal Employees What else have you read about maternity leave lately?

Author: Elizabeth