Your money is a tool to support the people and the causes that you care about.
In this episode, I talk with Tanja Hester about becoming a wallet activist. Tanja Hester is the author of the award-winning book Wallet Activism: How to Use Every Dollar You Spend, Earn, and Save as a Force for Change. She is also, as The New York Times called her, “the matriarch of the women’s FIRE movement”.
Listen and learn how to find out what your values are, spend on what matters, and raise your consciousness around how things are made and the impact our purchases have on the environment and other people.
“Wallet activism is using your financial power and all its forms for the greater good or the collective good.” – Tanja Hester
“Frugality has a cost. There’s a cost, a human cost to frugality that we often don’t think about.” – Melanie Lockert
“Every choice we make is going to likely have some problems. And, I think it’s important to know that and to recognize that.” – Tanja Hester
“Anytime you can spend less and buy less, that is an incredibly powerful act.” – Tanja Hester
What You Will Learn From This Episode
- What is wallet activism and how it can help us spend our money appropriately
- How can we find out what our values are and how to not get paralyzed when making decisions that align with our values
- What are ‘externalities’, why it’s important to recognize them, how it can help us, and what to consider when shopping for deals
- Why Starbucks, notebooks, and the dollar store can be problematic
- How we can be aware when a company is using ‘greenwashing’ as a marketing tactic
- What white people should consider before buying certain food or living in a certain area that can impact indigenous people or people of color
- All about ESG (Environmental Social and Governance) investing
- Do you need money to be a conscious and empowered consumer; what you can do if you don’t have much financial resources
About Tanja Hester:
Tanja Hester is the author of the award-winning books Wallet Activism: How to Use Every Dollar You Spend, Earn, and Save as a Force for Change and Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way. After spending most of her career as a consultant to Democratic politics and progressive issue campaigns, and before that as a public radio journalist, Tanja retired early at the age of thirty-eight. She documented the process on her financial independence/retire early (FIRE) blog, Our Next Life.
She’s been an outspoken voice in the personal finance media community to consider systemic barriers and opportunity gaps, rather than simply pushing people with lots of advantages already to accumulate more wealth, part of why The New York Times called her “the matriarch of the women’s FIRE movement.” She hosts a podcast also called Wallet Activism, writes an occasional opinion column for MarketWatch, and lives in a burgeoning permaculture food forest she’s growing in North Lake Tahoe, California, with her husband, Mark Bunge, and a flock of tiny rescue dogs.
Resource:
- WalletActivism: How to Use Every Dollar You Spend, Earn, and Save as a Force for Change by Tanja Hester
Connect with Tanja
Connect with Melanie
- mentalhealthandwealth.com
- melanielockert.com
- Support the podcast through Ko-Fi
- Buy Melanie’s book “Dear Debt”
- Contact: mentalhealthandwealthshow@gmail.com
Want more content and support?
Sign up for the Mental Hump Newsletter and get our free Mental Health and Money inventory worksheet. You can sign up at MentalHealthandWealth.com.
Also, we host a Mental Health and Wealth Hangout every other Thursday over Zoom at 5 pm PT to chat about all things money and mental health. Join here!
Follow us on Apple Podcast or Libsyn!
Love the podcast? Leave a review on iTunes!
