Highs and Lows of the Pandemic with the Happy Hour Ladies
Highs and Lows of the Pandemic with the Happy Hour Ladies
Today is the last Friday of the month and my regular listeners know that on the last Friday of the month, I host the happy hour on the podcast where I gather great friends with me to drink cheap drinks and talk about money topics.
March 12 marked the official one-year anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic in the U.S. Can you even believe it has been a year? What a wild year it has been. The ladies and I took the time to reflect on the year and share our highs and lows that have come from the pandemic.
March is also Women’s History month, and we also share some of the women who inspire us and who we’d love to support even more.
What are we drinking?
Melanie from Dear Debt, Lola Retreat, and MentalHealthandWealth.com — Mindful Margarita from Spirit Cocktails
Tonya from Tonya-Stumphauzer.com — Pinot Grigio
Kassandra from kassandradasent.com — Moscato
Shannon — Gin and Tonic
Podcast Notes
Highs and lows of the pandemic:
Melanie:
Highs: Melanie grew a lot this year. All of the years of therapy prior to 2020 were training. She was more mindful, she stopped drinking for six months, she fostered her relationships, and she tried to take care of herself.
Lows: Missing her friends and family, boxing, live music, and other things we rely on to keep us going were put on pause. March, April, and May were stressful to go to stores.
Tonya:
Highs: Keeping it all together and being resilient, flexible, and adapting to the situation.
Lows: No travel, going to the grocery store, hugging people, parties.
Kassandra:
Highs: She changed jobs and negotiated her highest salary to date. She enjoyed seeing other women around her win, despite setbacks. The human spirit is something to be proud of when it is put to great use. She is still hopeful.
Lows: Losing her mom. Never take your time or anyone for granted.
Shannon:
Highs: Being tested to the limit and growing in areas that weren’t planned and the ability to solve problems. She is proud of her team and their productivity this past year. There are so many helpers, including frontline workers and healthcare workers. She is grateful for her faith, which has helped her through this last year, and she has never felt alone.
Lows: Processing grief has been a low. There is so much we have lost. Over 500,000 people in the U.S. have died this last year.
On March 13, 2020, we had no idea what was coming. There have been stages of the pandemic and the Tiger King and toilet paper shortage stages feel so long ago. It feels so good to see all of the Lysol wipes and hand sanitizer on the shelves now.
Right before the shutdown occurred, Tonya went to the store and she couldn’t find a parking space, the shelves were empty, and it felt like an asteroid was about to hit earth.
In April, the only thing you could do was food shopping, and the traffic finally died down in L.A. Shannon’s big plans one Friday night was standing in line to get into Trader Joe’s.
Florida had a curfew in the beginning. Everyone was shut down in April and by May some states decided to do their own thing. People couldn’t leave their houses until June in NYC.
Outdoor dining is a win from the pandemic. Some through traffic streets turned into pedestrian only in L.A. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of restaurants and businesses have closed permanently.
About 72% of the population is living paycheck to paycheck and it is similar for companies. Even if you have an emergency fund, it isn’t enough if you are still unemployed, or if your business is restricted, a year later.
Some words we never want to hear again are “unprecedented” and “you’re on mute”. 2020 feels like 12 years and also like a lost year.
Tonya didn’t like high school, but she never would have wanted to do virtual like they did last year. The education situation is a low for students, teachers, and parents. Everyone is mentally exhausted. Nobody is really learning at full capacity at this point and there will be ripple effects for years to come.
Young children will probably forget the circumstances of why they need to stay away from people, but this will need to be unprogrammed later.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. Last June, Shannon wondered if we would ever see the light again. It felt very bleak. After May, George Floyd died and protests started. L.A. had curfew at 5pm.
We didn’t just deal with the pandemic in 2020, we dealt with George Floyd, racial injustice, the election, the insurrection, the wild weather, etc. The human spirit is resilient, but mental health took a beating. From a political standpoint, families are no longer speaking because of disagreements.
Shannon recently started dating someone and she has laughter back in her life.
Shannon thinks this will be a very strong population of kids. She is optimistic for these kids. The greatest generation was born of the depression.
Gen Z say the laughing/crying emoji is old hat, skinny jeans are out, and the side part is out. Instead, they use the skull, wear wider leg jeans, and have middle parts.
March is Women’s History Month. There was a study Shannon posted recently on her Instagram Stories about fintech startups. Only 3% of all fintech companies are female founded - 97% are male founded. The Gym is a fintech company and this industry is the future, but female founded companies in the fintech space have raised less than 1% of the funding.
This is proof that we cannot afford to stay silent and assume someone is going to speak on our behalf. It is important to have male allies, but there are not enough male allies interested in shifting the dynamic at this time. It is on us to move us forward. There is room for everyone in the same spaces.
Tonya had a client she was working with who later said they would appreciate a discounted rate. She had to say no. She understood that she may lose work, but she kept her integrity.
We need to keep companies accountable. We have Black History Month and Women’s History Month and celebrating is important, but why is this not translating to actual numbers in a bank account and support? We need to put our money where our mouth is.
There has been a lot of corporate kowtowing. During Black Lives Matter, Bank of America said they were going to put a billion dollars into the community. What type of support did they actually do?
The Gym said they were going to offer scholarships last year and they followed through. Be consistent and do good things.
Melanie is a big fan of the organization FreeFrom, because they help domestic abuse survivors financially through entrepreneurship. She has supported them through Lola Retreat. Money is the route to freedom, especially in domestic violence situations. Also, she is a fan of the Budgetnista, Patrice Washington, Tonya Rapley, and Clever Girl Finance.
Check out who Kassandra follows on Instagram (@kassandradasent). She highlighted Empowering Marginalized Women and Girls, which is an organization in the Bronx, and their mission is to focus on women and girls to improve their health and wellness.
The Financial Gym is led by Shannon and a strong female team. There are male clients, but The Gym empowers women to take control of their finances. Stephanie O’Connell’s statement cards encourage people to celebrate and encourage others for things other than weddings and babies.
If you were treated poorly by a female coworker or manager, break the cycle and don’t do it to someone else. It is okay if there are competitors in your space. Someone else’s success doesn’t take away from your success.
If you feel good about yourself, you will feel good about other peoples’ successes. It is easy to be happy for others when you are happy. Hurt people hurt people.
Shannon supports The Latinista, who is a long-time client at The Gym. Check out IFundWomen to find and support women-run businesses. If you are not following Shanae Alexander, check her out.
There are so many ways to support women for free, including following, sharing, and telling them how they are influencing/encouraging you.
TAKEAWAY: My biggest takeaway is that supporting other people doesn’t have to take much time or money, but the support you give can be truly life changing to the person receiving it.
This pandemic has impacted all of us in a number of ways, and if your finances were something that stressed you out in 2020, I hope you’ll break the cycle in 2021 and start fresh with The Financial Gym. We’ve literally seen it all and we’ve literally fixed it all, so I hope you will leave your financial stresses in the past, like 2020, and head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com.
If you have any topics you would like for us to talk about during happy hour, please feel free to email me at shannon@fingyms.com or tweet to me at blonde_finance or join the private martinis and your money Facebook group and let us know. Until next time, take care!!