How I'm merging my values and finances
Walking the talk, one step at a time.
Today, I’m sharing the system I’ve set up to ensure that 5% of my income goes to supporting causes, organizations, and people I care about.* Moving forward, every month I’ll be donating that amount to a cause of my choice and sharing it with you here.
This month, I donated $313 to Gaza Orphanage, which my Palestinian-American friend recommended to me as one of the most vital Palestinian organizations to give to now. They offer food, shelter, education, and support to the many thousands of young orphans in Gaza now. I invite you to donate as well.
*Please note: I am not a financial advisor and none of what I offer here is financial advice!
I have been building a life I don’t wish to escape from for the last five years.
A life in which I’m not just living for the weekend, but living every day. A life which I’m not simply suffering through, desk-bound, until my next, brief vacation. A life where joy, nature, creativity, and my loved ones come before work and money. A life in which I am DOING the things I say I care about. A life in which ENOUGH comes before MORE.
Part of that building process includes further incorporating my values into every part of my life, including the ways I earn and spend money, and the art I create. (Huge influences/teachers in this area include Cody Cook-Parrot, adrienne maree brown, and Ann Friedman.
and are new favorites as well.)Before this year, I didn’t have a true system in place for wealth redistribution, or donating to causes and organizations I care about. I had a recurring monthly donation set up at both Planned Parenthood and the Creative Visions Foundation, but it wasn’t much. Otherwise, I’d randomly throw donations at causes that popped up along the way, or to friends and community members in need. This didn’t give me oversight on how much I was actually donating, and meant I was donating less of my income than I’d like to, since my donations lacked tracking and accountability.
So, when I met with my Financial Gym advisor for a Q1 meeting in early January, I redid my money system. (Much of the system I’m about to describe was originally set up while I worked with wealth activist Stella Gold, who I cannot recommend enough! They helped me set up the entire S Corp business structure I have now.) I wanted more oversight of my donation amounts, to have a set time to make monthly donations, and to build a system into this newsletter (my biggest platform) to highlight organizations I donate to — and encourage others to donate as well.
I also thought about my personal values and goals. First, I want to cultivate enoughness in every facet of my life. I want to joyously spend money on the experiences and things that matter to me most and make me feel personally wealthy: travel, health, social outings, great meals, in-person time with my family, dedicated time in nature, business and creative classes, subscriptions to the newsletters I love, my monthly nail art appointments.
I can do without many of the things I think I want, like makeup, a new Kindle, and yet another merch shirt. Instead of buying those things, I throw them on a doc called The Want List, which can give you the same dopamine hit you’re seeking as actually clicking “purchase.” I ask my Buy Nothing group for items I need before I purchase them. And if I do need to buy tech, I try my best to buy refurbished or secondhand.
I want to continue to save, as well as invest. I made a monthly budget that included all of my fixed expenses (rent, insurance, my cat’s arthritis shot, etc.) as well as variable expenses (groceries, eating out, buying concert tickets, etc.), and set my variable expenses budget at $350 a week. I try to stay within those boundaries so I can enjoy some of my money completely guilt-free, and so 5% of my earnings can go toward savings and investments, so I can continue to build financial security as a freelancer in an insecure work world.
I want to be a true community member and show up locally with my money, time, energy, and support. I want to continue to be politically involved, beyond just voting, especially on a local level, where I can make the most difference. I want to make sure I have the time and energy in my life to educate myself on current issues, and physically show up when it counts. I want to regularly volunteer my time and skills. I am slowly returning to this aspect of living my values after a season of grief kept me small and isolated.
As I shared in my 2024 freelance year in review, I made about $75K last year, for the third year in a row. I’m in the 47th percentile of household earnings in America. With my current level of income, expenses, and savings, I feel comfortable committing 5% of my gross earnings to wealth redistribution, with the hopes of raising that amount as I make more money, and/or discover I can bump it up. Even as my monthly paychecks go up and down, as they do in freelance life, I feel solid at that number, for now.
My every-single-paycheck system
When I receive a payment in my Novo business checking account, I enter the payment amount into a spreadsheet that automatically distributes the amount along set percentages. (For Sheets geeks, the formula is =[CELL]*[PERCENTAGE]. For example, if I’m looking for 5% of my total paycheck, the formula is =B2*0.05.)
40% = My Pay
35% = Business Expenses
15% = Taxes
5% = Savings and Investments
5% = Donations
Then, in my Novo biz checking account, I transfer those amounts into “reserves,” which are sub-accounts of my main checking account. I simultaneously move the same amounts into buckets in my YNAB account, which I use to track all my spending.
Now, I know exactly how much I have available to spend in certain areas. I pull my business credit card monthly payment from my Business Expenses bucket; my personal credit card bills from My Pay; my accountant’s fees from Taxes. I’ll throw some of the money from Savings and Investments into either my individual 401K at E*Trade or brokerage accounts. And, finally, I plan to donate the full amount in my Donations bucket monthly to a different cause of my choice, and share it with you here.
This month, I donated $313 to Gaza Orphanage, which offers food, shelter, education, and support to the many thousands of young orphans in Gaza now. In April, I also donated $100 to the Austin Creative Alliance, $20 to the Creative Visions Foundation, and $20 to Planned Parenthood. That’s a total of $453.
Is this system the absolute best I can do? Probably not — but it’s a start. Are there some obvious ways I’m still living outside of my values? Yes!
I don’t expect myself to be perfect. But I do expect myself to give a damn, show up with my money and time, and implement systems that keep me growing in my values. I want to walk the talk, and I can consciously say that I am on the right path. I’ll keep learning and adapting along the way.
What are some of the small and large ways you merge your values and financial choices? I’d love to hear in the comments!
