← HerMoney with Jean Chatzky
HerMoney with Jean Chatzky
Impact Investing for Women: Building Wealth and Shaping the Future With Janine Firpo
00:31:19
Your money has more power than you think.
Loading summary
Transcript35 lines
- [00:01]
Jean Chatzky
5:00am I'm up with a crisp Celsius
- [00:03]
Janine Furpoe
energy drink running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change and head to work. Meetings, Workshops One more Celsius. No slowing down. Working late but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing.
- [00:15]
Jean Chatzky
Celsius Live Fit. Go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at
- [00:20]
Janine Furpoe
your local retailer or locate now@celsius.com this
- [00:25]
Jean Chatzky
episode is brought to you by Peloton Break through the busiest time of year with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread plus. Powered by Peloton iq. With real time guidance and endless ways to move, you can personalize your workouts and train with confidence, helping you reach your goals in less time. Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push and go explore the new peloton cross training tread +@1peloton.com
- [00:53]
Janine Furpoe
you can also if you are in the stock market, you can use losses to offset gains and you can think about moving from an existing investment that you have to something that more values aligned that gives you the same return or better. If you've got money in retirement accounts, you can move money around in those accounts and not have to deal with the capital gains issue. So there are many, many ways that you can look at this without having to give up financial return.
- [01:22]
Jean Chatzky
Hey everyone, it's Jean Chatky. Welcome to Her Money. And today I want you to imagine something. I want you to imagine if women had held equal economic and political power starting all the way back in 1925. In this alternate timeline, this alternate world, the gender pay gap was closed by 1965. Parents haven't paid for childcare in generations, cervical cancer was eradicated in the 1980s. Teachers make more than lawyers, more teens have investment accounts than TikTok accounts and the US ranks as the happiest country in the world. And by the way, this is not fantasy fiction, this is economic modeling. And it's part of the research behind something called our she Economy, a data backed reimagining of what happens when women control half the capital and half the power. Not all of it, but half. Now bring it back to today because over the next decade roughly $30 trillion if not more is expected to move into the hands of women. The great wealth transfer is not hypothetical. It is happening right now. And the question we should be ask asking isn't just what will women inherit, it's what will women build? Joining me today is Janine Ferpo. She's an impact investor and former tech and development leader who now champions Arch Economy, a movement empowering women to invest with intention and use their growing financial influence to shape a more just and sustainable world. If you've been with me on Investing Fix, you've met Janine before. She's come on to explain the world of social investing to all of us. She's done it with candor and with a very understandable approach. And I'm really excited to talk about this economy here on her money. So welcome.
- [03:44]
Janine Furpoe
Thank you so much. I love the way that you positioned what we're doing. It was really excellent. I couldn't have done a better job myself. So thank you so much.
- [03:53]
Jean Chatzky
Thank you for doing it. Tell me about the research, because what you and your team have done, I think, is really unusual. Instead of just saying women's economic equality would be good for the world, which I think is something that I've said many, many times, you modeled it. You asked, what if women had actually had equipment, equal economic and political power. And then you sort of followed the breadcrumbs, weird breadcrumbs that you wouldn't necessarily think would have connections. Can you walk us through what you set out to measure and how you got where you ended up?
- [04:34]
Janine Furpoe
Yeah, well, thanks for that question. So what we did and what I really love about a lot of what we've done, is that it's been done by women. And so when we came up with the original idea of headlines that would really describe what this future could be, what a different world would be, we knew that just saying that would not be sufficient. We needed to have it data backed. So we went to a group of women who had deep experience in both the financial markets as well as data. And they put a small team together and they went and they looked at the information. They used artificial intelligence, and they went in, in. And they looked at, well, what do we know? And using that, they started to put together timelines. What if this particular event had happened sooner? What would that have then led to? And so by picking some key data points for every one of our headlines, they started putting these pieces together and were able to show how if certain things had happened earlier in certain orders, we could have had the outcomes that we're talking about. And those breadcrumbs, as you mentioned, were real data points that are actually true.
- [05:43]
Jean Chatzky
When we hear the term economic equality, we often think of redistribution. We think that it involves taking from one group and giving to another. But what your research suggests is actually something very different. In your modeling, GDP rises significantly when we get to this point of full gender parity. It's not because wealth is being shuttled around. It's not a Robin Hood situation. It's because more capacity seems to be unlocked. Is that a fair way to describe it?
- [06:19]
Janine Furpoe
It's a very fair way to describe it. So we know that when women invest, for example, that we often outperform men and that has a cumulative effect over time. We also know that when women lead companies, they again, they outperform men. And so we are actually economic generators. And I think that's really something that's really, really important in this. I think a lot of times when we talk about this great wealth transfer that will by 2030, put 40% of the capital in this country into women's hands, we're thinking about it just as a money transfer. But what we're really talking about is economic empowerment and women finally beginning to have an equal seat at the table in terms of just the entire economy. And we become actors in the economy as opposed to participants or bystanders where either we've been excluded completely. I mean, as a reminder, we only got the right to get loans on our own without a male co signer 50 years ago. So we were excluded for many years and then we were sidelined and money just passed through us. But it didn't actually stop with us and we didn't have the agency to use it in the ways that we wanted. And that's really a big part of what's changing and that leads to greater economic outputs.
- [07:43]
Jean Chatzky
We're going to take a very quick break. Back in a sec. Let's be honest. Retirement planning can feel overwhelming and a little confusing and sometimes like a second full time job. You told us you want more straight talk retirement guidance, so we're delivering. Starting now. On the third Wednesday of every month, we are teaming up with Limra to drop a special retirement focused episode of the podcast. With practical tips, smart strategies and real world conversations, these episodes will give you the tools to help you feel more confident about what comes next. Thanks to Limra, these monthly episodes will touch on everything from how much you need to save to last a lifetime to actually turning those savings into a paycheck you can live on and enjoy. No jargon, no guesswork, just clear practical guidance to help you feel prepared and empowered as you step into your next chapter. So mark your calendar hit subscribe and tune in every third Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. Tax season is funny. It's one of the only times all year when we actually look at our full picture. What we earned, what we spent, what we saved, and sometimes what we wish we'd done differently. But instead of just looking backward, I want to use this moment to move forward. Simplify your finances with Monarch. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier. It brings your entire financial financial life, budgeting accounts and investments, net worth and future planning all together in one dashboard on your phone or your laptop. Feel aware and in control of your finances this tax season and get 50% off your Monarch subscription with Code Hermoney. Achieve your financial goals for good with Monarch, the all in one tool that makes money management simple. Use code hermoney@monarch.com for half off your first year. That's 50% off@monarch.com code hermoney we are back with Janine Furpoe for our listeners. We know that financial independence is mostly about that word you just raised, agency. It's about personal agency. Arch economy sort of feels like collective agency. So if, if someone is thinking, I don't control billions of dollars, I don't even control millions of dollars. I am just trying to get from where I am today to a comfortable retirement, what do you say to help her see that she's part of the story?
- [10:38]
Janine Furpoe
You ask really good questions. I love it. So this entire effort is collective. One of the other things that you can go to on the website is a resources tab, and There are over 120 organizations listed, almost all women led, but not all that are in the process of doing things differently and helping to change the economy and helping to create ways that women can think differently about money. So we are all in this together. You're right. Any one of us alone can't really achieve a lot unless we're some of the wealthier people in the planet. But collectively, we can do a tremendous amount. For example, collectively we actually give more money to philanthropy than the big foundations do. Collectively, we have an enormous amount of money in this country. And so if we start thinking about that money and doing things with it in ways that actually support the things we care about, things we want to see, the kinds of products and services, et cetera, then we can literally begin to shift the economy. And that's really a big part of what this is all about. So all of us matter, all of our contributions matter. And women, this is kind of a thing we do. We like to do things in community. We like to do things collectively. And this is just another way that we can think about our money also having an impact in a collective manner.
- [12:10]
Jean Chatzky
It's why her money exists, because we know women like to do things collectively. We like to Learn collectively. And that's what we've been doing in this community. You mentioned the great wealth transfer. And one of the things that's come to light recently is that for a long time it was called the generational wealth transfer. Now there's this greater recognition that a good part of that transfer is going to be horizontal, that men are going to die and their spouses, their wives are going to inherit a great deal of money that will come across. But when we look at what sort of money is moving, are we talking about retirement accounts, real estate businesses, trusts? In what form is this money coming to women? And why is that important as we look to manage it?
- [13:06]
Janine Furpoe
So it's coming in all of those forms. Women are going to be getting access to capital in probably every kind of asset class and way that it's held that's imaginable. And why it's important is because understanding this takes a little work. And even if you have a financial advisor, I mean, one of the situations that a lot of women are in, they're married, let's say they have financial advisors, but they haven't necessarily been paying attention. They haven't been the ones who are really holding that power in a way. If that money transfers to them through some sort of transition and even a hard transition like a divorce or a death, that is the worst time imaginable to start taking control of your money and learning about your money. You are then at other people's whim and you have to be trusting other people. You don't want to be in that situation. You want to start now, gaining more knowledge and more control so that when the time comes that you do control money, you know what to do and you feel confident.
- [14:17]
Jean Chatzky
One of the things about the great wealth transfer, at least it feels this way to me. But other people are starting to talk about this as well, is that it's felt like it's been a long time coming. It's felt like we've been talking about it for a really long time. It's been slow to gain steam. A recent Bloomberg column argued that it might be overblown because median retirement savings are lower than the headline suggests. And health care and long term care costs as you get into your 80s and beyond are enormous. Plus we've got people carrying mortgage debt into retirement. And historically, if you look at inheritances, only one in four adult children ever gets one at all. Why are you a believer in the wealth transfer and the enormity of it?
- [15:13]
Janine Furpoe
Well, you're right. And a lot of people don't actually get the wealth transfer. I think part of the thing that's left out of the conversation too, is that women are also earning more money. That is another way to be thinking about this wealth transfer. So we are moving into higher wage earning jobs. We're gaining more capital that way. And for those who are in that part of the population where there is wealth transfer or a bigger amounts of money, that's often some of the most important value in money that's being shifted. Right. So if somebody gets a million dollars or they get more than that, that gives them a lot more agency than they've ever had before. Even if you're just getting $100,000 or less, sure. It gives you agency. And the younger you are at some levels, the more agency it gives. So if this is starting to happen, particularly for money going into younger generations, a lot of younger women are paying more attention to more control of money. It can be life changing for them. Literally life changing.
- [16:19]
Jean Chatzky
I, I'm just nodding along with what you're saying because I think we can thank the advances of behavioral finance for bringing some of these younger women along. It's because of auto enrollment and auto escalation that a lot of these younger women are investing in their retirement accounts at work. In a way, women of my generation and your generation just didn't. Right. We didn't understand what we had. We didn't have the Pension Protection act in place to allow our employers to opt us in. We had to opt ourselves in. And many people just didn't. And so I think that when you have money, it begets being more responsible with your money and thinking more clearly about what you want this money to do for you.
- [17:11]
Janine Furpoe
What you just said was so important. So, Jean, you were one of the pioneers in this space of actually stepping up as a woman and talking to and training other women about money. When I wrote my book back in 2020, to get a publisher, I had to do a very extensive review of all of the books out there. And there was very little. There was you, there was Susie Orman. I mean, that was kind of it. And I look at where we are now, six years later. Last night I just went to another author party about a book that came out for women about finance. It's starting to change. And this is also, I think, a really important thing to think about when we think about this wealth transfer. This isn't just about who gets the the money. It's about stepping into that agency and it's about then training and being a model for the next generation to come. I really feel that I am in a financial position that I would never have been in if my mother hadn't taught me right. And so this is really important that those of us who are farther down this path, those of us who are a little older, that we're helping that next generation and the generation after that not have to deal with this in the same way that we did. And you're right, there shouldn't be a question. When you get a job, if there's a 401k and there's a match, you put your money in that. It's like it should just be known.
- [18:42]
Jean Chatzky
We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, we're going to take Janine back to her bread and butter and talk a little bit about impact investing and how to get started without sacrificing returns or blowing up your retirement plan. Back in a second. The year is moving fast and somehow there is still no extra time to cook. These are the weeks when I'm focused on work workouts and trying to eat well and I just don't want dinner to become another project. That's where Factor has been so helpful. I recently tried the Ginger Teriyaki salmon and the Thai Roasted Vegetable Green curry and what I love is that they're fully prepared and dietitian designated and genuinely satisfying. There are 100 rotating meals every week, including high protein, calorie, Smart, Mediterranean and more. I use this and you should too. Head to factor meals.com hermoney50off and use code hermoney50off to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year. Eat like a pro this month with Factor New subscribers only. Varies by plan. One free breakfast item per box for one year while subscription is active. When we launched Hermoney, I remember thinking, what if no one listens? What if this doesn't work? Starting something new, whether it's a podcast, a side hustle, or a product you've been dreaming about, always comes with doubt. But having the right partner makes all the difference. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all E commerce in the United States. From brands just getting started to household names like Thrive Cosmetics and Allbirds, it gives you everything you need in one place. Inventory, payments, analytics. No juggling multiple platforms. You can build a beautiful online store with ready to use templates. It's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.comhermoney go to shopify.comhermoney that's shopify.comhermoney we are back with Janine Firpo, who in addition to helming the Arch Economy movement is the co founder of Invest for Better. Invest for Better was a pioneer in impact investing. I know you are deeply passionate about this. One of the concerns that I hear from women in their 50s and 60s especially is I care about impact. But at this point in my life, I cannot afford to sacrifice returns. I'm too close to retirement. So let's talk about that. Is it possible to invest with intention without jeopardizing your financial security?
- [21:54]
Janine Furpoe
I do think it is. But I think that point about being farther along and maybe have been invested for a long time and you have a lot of capital gains. That's very real too. So this is not an all or nothing game, right? You can make choices where maybe you move some of your capital into something that feels safer for you and more comfortable for you and you're not taking a loss and not other parts of your capital. So it really depends on where you are in your life and what your investments are. But you can think as simply as something like your bank and where you bank and where your savings account is. So as an example, I moved all of my money out of the big banks and it's all now in local banks in my community and it's being used to provide capital to underserved populations of people. I'm getting the same kind of return on my cash. I have mobile banking just like I had before. I mean, a lot of what I had before is still available for me, me. So you could even think that simply. You can also, if you are in the stock market, you can use losses to offset gains and you can think about moving from an existing investment that you have to something that is more values aligned, that gives you the same return or better. If you've got money in retirement accounts, you can move money around in those accounts and not have to deal with the capital gains. So there are many, many ways that you can look at this without having to give up financial return.
- [23:25]
Jean Chatzky
I like in particular the idea that you don't have to boil the ocean, that you can take one step, whether it's your bank, whether it's your ira, whether it's just taking some tax losses and reinvesting that money in a different way. You can chunk it out and move in a way that feels comfortable for you until you get where you want to go and you're happy with your positionings. When we have a portfolio, many times I think people don't know what sort of impact their portfolio is generating. What's your suggestion for reviewing our current holdings to understand a little bit more where our money is allocated for impact, whether it's unintentionally concentrated in certain places or exposed to companies that we wouldn't consciously choose or perhaps already invested in some funds that have applied suitability screens.
- [24:22]
Janine Furpoe
So there are several free tools online. You can use something like Morningstar that gives you some sense of this. But my absolute favorite is something called as you sow, invest your value and it's so, so investor value. So if you just type that into your browser, you will come to a website where you can literally put the stock ticker. And for those who don't know what that is, although I'm assuming anyone who listens to Eugene knows what it is. But it's the five letter that are used to identify a particular stock fund. You put those into this tool and it will show you exactly how that investment is holding up against things like investments in fossil fuel, what it's doing in terms of women's gender equity, if it's invested in prisons, if it's invested in tobacco and so on. So it will give you a score letter grade for a variety of different values and it really shows you what's under the covers incredibly quickly.
- [25:24]
Jean Chatzky
One of the things that was so surprising to me when you came and you spoke to Investing Fix was that there are these big funds that own a lot of the things that you want to be in anyway. Right? They've screened some things out, but it's not like you, you're not in tech, it's not like you're not in health care, you're in these sectors, you're in these companies, but maybe you're in some other things as well.
- [25:50]
Janine Furpoe
Exactly. Yes, exactly.
- [25:53]
Jean Chatzky
I know some people may be wondering about the timing, if this is the right moment to lean into sustainable investing or impact investing, given how unfortunately politicized the topic has become. Does a changing regulatory or political climate alter the long term case? And how have you wrapped your head
- [26:18]
Janine Furpoe
around this in terms of timing? In some ways this is the perfect time. Because I do think a lot of us, particularly women, are feeling the strain of what's happening in this country and feeling the strain of the desire among some to see the advances that we've made taken away from us. And there is a desire among some to roll back the clock quite a bit. And I think women, just like men, have the right to show up in this world however they want. If they want to be a full time mom, more power to them. And if they don't want to be a mom, more power to them and to everything in between. We have that right. We should have that right. That should be a human right. So I think that beginning to look at our money and recognizing the power that it has, even if we don't have a lot, is another way that we can step into our agency in this time. So I think that's really important. The other thing, yes. So the term esg, which stands for environmental, social and governance, has become incredibly politicized and it has primarily due to the funds of the oil and gas industry. It's really important to recognize that term only applies to the stock market, primarily applies there. It doesn't apply for those women who have the capital to go invest in women led companies which we should be thinking about if we're in that kind of a situation. It doesn't apply to most categories of capital. It applies to the stock market. And the thing that is important to understand is that it is really at its core and this is why big institutional investors got involved. It's really a risk management tool. It's really saying, you know what? In the world today, the success of a company is dependent upon more than just their bottom line. I want to, as an investor know more about this company than what their financials look like. I want to understand there are big changes afoot in this country, in the world. I mean the climate is one. But talk about AI. There are huge changes afoot. And if you are not looking at and thinking about those changes and what that's going to mean to a company's viability in the long term, then you are not making the best strategic decisions. So although the term ESG has become a political hot button, it is not stopping people from looking at the risks that these different kinds of challenges that we're facing are going to have on corporate success and financial return. It's just smart investing.
- [29:12]
Jean Chatzky
I completely agree with you. You mentioned rolling back the clock, which takes me back to the Arsh economy initiative and measuring what happened if women had been at parody going all the way back to 1925. For my listeners who are nodding along, because I know they are, and saying, yes, I want in, I want to do this. What can I do? What do you want them to do?
- [29:41]
Janine Furpoe
So I would love them to come and participate in a 14 week challenge that we are putting on. We are going to have every week for 14 weeks. There are themes, a different theme every week. And for each of those themes, there are a couple of small actions that you can take. You can take one, you can take two, you can take all three. They each build upon each other, and we would love you to participate. And you don't have to do every week. Again, we are kind of perfectionists. We want everything. We want to be the experts. We want every I dotted and every T crossed. We don't have to do that. We show up and we do what we can do. But I think you would be really engaged by it, because unlike most actions that are put out there for women, this is not about saving your money, doing the budget, and investing in an index fund in the stock market. This is going to take you farther than that. So this challenge and this campaign are really about for women who are feeling like money matters to them, who want to step into control, who are making more than they need, who have maybe started already investing. This is for you. This is for the women who have not been taught to have not been given opportunity in the past to learn more beyond the basics. One of the themes one week is invest in something you love. And we're going to give you a bunch of products that you can invest in. Some are banks, some are fixed income products, some are stock products. Some are other things that you can invest in for as little as $100. So for that woman that we talked about earlier, who maybe has a lot of her money tied up in things with capital gains, she could take a little bit of her money and put it into something that uplifts all the women CEOs out there. Or that if she's really interested in climate, she could do something there. Or if she's really interested in water, she could do something, something there. So there are many, many options that we have that we don't get told about that we're trying to show a little bit and showcase. So come to the website, join the challenge. You'll get weekly emails that remind you that another challenge is ready, and we'll help you do that. We're also running a series of live events, so you will be able to come and join us in these different game shows and money therapy sessions and different things that we're carrying on over the course of 14 weeks.
- [32:12]
Jean Chatzky
Well, we will be following along. Thank you so much for coming on and talking to us about this. Congrats on the launch. It's a big deal.
- [32:21]
Janine Furpoe
Thank you so much. Thank you for being such a great supporter of what we're doing. I really appreciate it.
- [32:26]
Jean Chatzky
Absolutely. And before we go, if you love today's episode, please take a moment to leave us a five star review on Apple Podcast. Your feedback means the world to me, but it also helps other women find the show. And if you're ready to grow your investing skills and make smarter decisions with your money, come join Investing Fix, our twice monthly Women Only investing club. Expert stock pickers bring ideas to the table and together we help build a portfolio. Since launching four years ago, we've built a strong track record and more importantly, a community of women who are learning and winning together. Tap the link in the show notes to check out Investing Fix today. Your first two classes are always free. Her Money is produced by Hailey Pascalides and our music is provided by Video Helper. Thanks for listening and we'll talk soon.
- [33:22]
Janine Furpoe
Hablas espanol spries du deutsch com de
- [33:25]
Jean Chatzky
nosq if you used Babbel, you would Babbel's Conversation based techniques teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babbel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. Start speaking with Babbel today. Get up to 55% off your Babbel subscription right now at babbel.com Spotify spelled B-A B-B-E-L.com Spotify rules and restrictions may apply.