Casual Wednesday?

I rarely read the news feed Apple sends across my phone. Mostly because although I have an awesome iPhone 6, which is the totally perfect size for talking, it’s not the perfect screen size for my 20/40 eyes to use for reading. However, as I accidentally scrolled to the left one too many times, May 25th’s New York Times article “The End of The Office Dress Code” caught my questionable eyesight and my attention. I was compelled to explore further investigations of this potential phenomenon via my desktop monitor because, well, I wasn’t wearing my glasses at the time.

The article’s focus is on an exhibit on uniforms and conformity and the ironic relationship between uniforms and fashion. The writer also speaks to the change in attitudes toward what is deemed professional dress in the workplace, a uniform of sorts, especially for women, and how fashion trends have created an evolution of the “dress code”. If a huge, ginormous billionaire such as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook can admit to wearing the same grey t-shirt everyday to give himself more brain space to “focus his energy on other decisions”, surely there can be no correlation between what we wear to work and productivity, right? Apparently, there was also this social media thing dubbed “Sweatergate” last month, attributable to an joke perpetuated by a Los Angeles meteorologist centering around the need to cover up her bare shoulders while on the air and her male coworker covering them for her….social media went berserk. How dare he! Double standards!! Off with the station manager’s head!! Whereas many moons ago, it was considered crass to wear a tank dress without a sweater or blazer anywhere other than a picnic. Clearly, mindsets about clothing in the workplace are changing and Twitter has neither chill nor sense of humor.

Having worn security uniforms and movie theater usher vests everyday at one point, I appreciate the extra brain space not having to think too hard about your work attire creates as well as the purpose for uniforms and visibility in customer service oriented positions. But in the office as a paper pusher? Nah. The office dress code has long been one of the minor annoyances I struggled with- even before I had an office job. When I began thoughts about a career path, I was pretty adamant with two things – one, I must work indoors 100% of the time and two, I don’t want to wear a three-piece suit and pumps every day.  I’m a really casual, calm, cool, and collected individual. Not that I’m a t-shirt and pajama bottoms for work kind of girl, but I am a cute top, curvy jeans, and comfy wedges Señora.

My office attire and my bar attire preferences are one and the same. In my early 20’s, these preferences usually got me written up. Needless to say, I also got sent home a few times to change. Some would argue that it’s common sense to never wear leggings or belly shirts to work; ok, I get the why a belly shirt is wrong thing. But my argument to leggings was always why not?? They are pants. My whoo-ha is covered. Plus, I’m sitting on it anyway. Who cares? I crunch numbers in a cubicle all day. I later realized the answer to my question of “who cares?” was anyone who believed it is the woman’s job to curb male carnal instincts because he just is unable to can.  Sexy clothing and bare legs or protruding breasts are a distraction to your office mates and therefore, unprofessional. So are bike shorts on men, unless you’re a courier. Thus, we have created dress codes that spell out for employees how to leave the house everyday because otherwise, if left up to our own vices, we would come in looking like Tina Turner and The Mack everyday and cause such a distraction that work productivity would diminish to near zero.  *insert eye roll here*.

I must admit, Human Resources has tried to make dress codes as equal as possible in the last twenty years or so by not making codes gender specific or having a long list of  “acceptable wear” just for women. However, as a result of these efforts, I have seen dress codes that are two pages long and require employee signatures to verify it was read. Because for every outfit a female can’t wear, there has to be an equivalent outfit that a male can’t wear listed, too. Pants for everyone; thonged sandals for none.  Funny dress code tidbit: my last place of employment actually had the words “no visibly dirty clothing” in its dress code policy. I still wonder why this sentiment had to be put into words…I’m going to assume it was due to someone being extra proactive and not someone who came out the house that morning with ketchup and mustard stains on a white button-up.

My last battle with a dress code was during the mid-2000’s concerning Capri-length pants for ladies. I don’t win many dress code battles, so this one was a milestone for me.The fashion trend was Capri, or knickers, and pumps. I thought it was cute and business casual; my fellow female coworkers thought it was convenient and comfortable.   My boss, a lawyer by trade; an Executive Director by title, didn’t like the trend. They were “too close to shorts” he said. He notoriously wore a suit and tie 4 days a week and on day 5 he wore a polo shirt and khaki’s. I persuaded him to consult a few online forums, talk to a couple of women in senior management, and even take a trip to Macy’s to see if Capri suits were in fact being sold as business wear. (They were.) Much to his chagrin, he conceded to allowing the pants as work attire, but inserted a new clause in the dress code – no pants shorter than knee-length. The concern was not that someone would show up in Daisy Duke’s, but that that someone would be male. So to keep the dress code equal, it had to be done. Or, he could have spent that two weeks on doing something else uber important, like focusing on the new document retention policy requirements for nonprofits.

In the constant struggle by GenXers for work-life balance, the happy medium seems to be shifting to glass-enclosed offices, less free coffee, more healthy snacks, and a heightened sense of personal accountability.  Professionalism is  no longer about designer suits and dressing up for the job you want; it’s an attitude. Now, I am in no way advocating for dirty clothes and pajamas or for showing up to official business meetings wearing miniskirts and flip-flops. However, the traditional three-piece uniform with sensible pumps is staying in the closet, sans interview. My current office’s dress code policy is one line – “be comfortable, but dress appropriately for your day’s business interactions.” Meaning, please recognize sweatsuits to a business meeting with grant makers will be frowned upon and we probably won’t ask you to go to another meeting with anyone ever again.  Unspoken, yet, understood. And somehow, work gets done. Imagine that. Clothes and productivity not being totally related. Who would have thought it possible? This girl right here. Oh, and Mark Zuckerberg.

 

 

Divatude in the C-Suite

This past weekend while I was tuned in to an HBO snooze-fest, I saw an advertisement slash infomercial slash plug slash call to action urging Hollywood to hire more women directors for big budget and blockbuster films. I have no idea what the technical term was for what I was watching because it was about 15-minutes long so it wasn’t a typical commercial, it didn’t ask the viewers to send money anywhere so it wasn’t an advertisement or an infomercial and featured the likes of current actors and directors speaking on this problem that I didn’t realize was a problem, so it wasn’t quite a plug to watch the next great hit movie. Whatever it was, the call to action didn’t catch my attention until the third viewing when one of the reasons cited for women not receiving the calls to direct blockbuster films with larger budgets was that women are terrible with fiscal responsibility. *Gasp* Excuse me????

There have been thousands of studies and analyses completed on the subject of which sex is more efficient and effective fiscally. The vast majority of these studies agree that women win this title, hands down. I say the vast majority and not all because while I will not claim to have read every study,  of the thirty or so I have seen, I have not seen ANY that point to males being the best financial stewards. I’m pretty confident 0/30 is a pretty good statistical indicator of population. Being a woman in finance, I can’t help but compare the similarities in this story with the lack of women in the C-Suite. According a CNN Money analysis published in March 2016, of the top five leadership positions in the S&P 500, 14.2% are held by women. That’s the CEO, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, or the Chief Operating Officer. 24 of these companies have female CEO’s, which translates to 4%.  This leaves a whopping 10.2% of females in the other four positions. I’m not even going to discuss how many of these women are not white, today. That’s a totally different blog and not the point here. Women are not receiving the accolades to match the advances made in education over the past 15 years, where women are obtaining Bachelor’s degrees at a higher rate than men. But they are certainly not receiving the pay to match the student loan debt attached to the increases in education. The good news about the pay gap is in the last 40 years, the average gap has closed by 20 cents between women and men in general. The bad news about the pay gap is that it still exists and at the current rate it will not be closed for another 100 years.

In a nation where women still receive an average of 79 cents to every dollar men earn across all employment fields, Fidelity Investments published research in 2014 showing portfolios owned solely by women perform better than those owned by men. The average return on investment for the ladies in 2014 was 7.4%; the average return on investment for the gents was 7.3%. Not because women are better guessers at performance, but because women take fewer big risks with their investments. Experts chalk this up to the overconfidence of the male ego. (HA!) Men tend to have riskier portfolios and subsequently lose money more often than women. Women tend to hold investments with lower risks and reap higher rewards. Men perform investment trades more often than women and experts blame this paradigm on their overconfidence and egos. Ideally, in investing you want the highest rewards while taking the lowest risks. This strategy is proven to work and women have it down pat. Fortune 500 companies with at least three female directors have seen their return on invested capital increase by at least 66%, return on sales increase by 42%, and return on equity increase by at least 53%. So why aren’t there more females being hired to manage the moolah? Stereotypes.

When you take a look at the risk-reward model, in order to achieve the greatest rewards, you must be willing to take the greatest risks. Women are not generally subscribers of that theory. Therefore, the stereotype in both Hollywood and Corporate America seems to be accurate that a)women tend to make financial decisions based on intuition and emotions vs. hard logic and facts and b) women don’t go for the big jobs or ask for the big bucks as hard or a frequently as men do, ergo, minimizing both risk and rewards. It also fuels the belief that women will not be able to handle the high-pressure risky decision making necessary to make them successful as a big budget director or as a S&P 500 CEO. The idea that women just won’t be as good as a man in financial management positions has been embedded in our society to the point that we really don’t think about it’s validity or truth anymore – it is what it is and it’s not changing. In present day 2016, a good-ole-boys club still exists. There are men who don’t believe women are better financial stewards, and they speak for the masses. They make the C-level hiring decisions. They are the board members. They are the persons with the oversight on who they trust to direct their film ideas. They are even the ones who are running for President of the United States in 2016. (Le sigh.)

What do women need to do to become more visible in these roles? Women were “given” the right to vote and to equal education almost 100 years ago. Roe vs. Wade was 40 plus years ago.  Yet, somehow, employers are not recognizing that diversity is not only an issue of race, but one of sex as well. In my opinion, ignoring for a second that HBO was cited as having one of the worst hiring rates for female directors, the HBO advertising slash call to action piece is a step in the right direction. Although women are scientifically proven to be better communicators than men, they shy away from conversations about finance, including salary negotiations, benefits, and promotions. We don’t discuss our credit scores, our kid’s college tuition, or our own student loan debt collectively. Starting a public conversation about the inequality in our systems will make more people take notice and learn this is a problem with the simple solution of actually looking at women for these positions, not because they are women, but because they are qualified to lead. Managerial diversity training is still necessary to move women forward in business. While it is not my dream to be a CFO of a Fortune 500 company, it is my dream that I have the opportunity available if it wanted it. Here’s to hoping the female directors in Hollywood gain momentum in this fight for equal opportunity and that female executives get the opportunity to bring a little Divatude to the C-Suite in my lifetime.

A Redefining Diva

My 2015 goal in life was to practice beautifying myself at home. Driven by a want to spend less and save more, I knew this was one area I would excel in. I’ve been doing my own hair since since I was a teenager and I took a class to learn some nail techery in my early 20’s. I went natural and perfected the twist-out 2 years ago and I have plenty of pretty polish and I could always get more for 99 cents at the CVS or Beauty4U. Piece of cake!

I forgot the reason I went to the hair salon and the nail shop wasn’t because I was too lazy or it was too costly; but because I needed to put myself in time-out every so often.  I tend to rip and run around DC from sunrise to sunset every day. Well, more accurately, from 6 am to 2 am…on a regular basis. It was rare that I was in the house in the bed before 11pm ever. I didn’t factor in that I needed me-time in order to buff, file, and polish myself up.  Going to the nail salon or spa forced me to just “be” for an hour or so and let someone else take care of me.

“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” My 2016 goal is to get back to the nail salon. I didn’t do a bad job at the actual polishing, but I did do a bad job making time to sit still for an hour. My toes became one more chore to add to my list of things to fit into my day. That ain’t diva, y’all. I was supposed to be happy to beautify me. Instead, I became resentful of my toes. As cute as they are.

Reevaluating and redefining life goals. It happens. It should happen.  Here’s a link to a great list of 10 questions to ask yourself while reevaluating your life by Katerine Cerulean. Sometimes we get so stuck on not being a quitter or a failure that we forget that the whole reason we have a goal in the first place is to make us happier.  If your goal is making you miserable, it’s not leading you toward your dreams.

What is the point of having a great dream if you are not on the path to achieve it? WC Fields wrote “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it.” My toenails may not incite world peace, but they incite inner peace. And in the end, that’s what counts.

 

Financially Grown. Eventually. One Day.

Procrastination is my biggest vice. I intended to write a resolution post via Facebook weeks ago you know, because, everyone was making “New Year, New Me” and “2016 will be the Year of (insert successful sounding noun here)” posts.  The vast majority of those posts on my timeline discussed money woes. Seemed like becoming financially grown was everyone’s goal. Well, almost everyone. Some of us wanted to lose 20 lbs by March for the 9th consecutive year.

Being financially grown has nothing to do with age, rather, its the mindset regarding finance. Not even Warren Buffet was born knowing what stocks to invest in – well, wait, maybe he was. He did start buying and selling stock pretty early on in his life at like 11 or something. Scratch that thought. Most of us garnered an understanding of finance through life trial and error. It’s an ongoing process that starts when you receive your first allowance or your first paycheck, regardless of your college attendance and graduation dates. The learning process lasts for what seems like forever. Until, eventually, one day, you realize you’re a financial grown up. But, only because hindsight tells you so.

Hindsight is 20/20.  It is the recognition of the realities, possibilities, or requirements of a situation, event, decision etc., after its occurrence.  Not quite the same as regret – a sense of loss, disappointment, or dissatisfaction.  You regret not utilizing what was learned. Or worse, not realizing anything had been learned at all. It’s all about the semantics. Hindsight is  the lesson(s) you learned while traveling this road called Life that you didn’t realize you learned until – eventually. One day, you had to put that knowledge to good use. Hindsight and regret make you ask yourself the same question – if you knew then what you know now, what would you do differently? Only hindsight gives you the answer.

I read an article recently where the author stated the top two financial mistakes women make are not knowing what they have and not understanding their financial needs. Seems accurate to me. Not knowing an unpaid hospital bill is debt is slightly different than not understanding you can make payment arrangements to pay that hospital bill with the current financial resources you possess. Semantics. Life lessons. Like regret and hindsight. Both terms will make sense. Eventually. One day.

You are the best financial adviser for you.  The internet will give you hundreds of thousands of posts geared toward every financial decision you could possibly make. A quick Google or Bing search for financial advisers will give you hundreds of options specifically in your city. And I’m sure we all have a friend or three who know everything about personal finance. You can garner advice from just about anywhere.  Whether you accept the advice is totally up to you. Eventually, one day, hindsight will tell you if the choices you made were correct for you.

Of course. there is a road map to being a financially grown woman and it begins in your 20’s. *Cue Beyonce’ Grown Woman* Sorry. That song was stuck in my head while I’m writing.  Every woman in her 20’s should learn the lesson of living under 85% of her income. Why? Because it’s a much easier lesson to learn when you only have to be responsible for you. You may one day have a child or ten. You may get married thinking your income just doubled for life- heeeeyyy more shoes for me!!! (SOOOOO not the case, let me tell you.) You may have to take in and care for an older relative. In reality, learning to live well under your means in your 20’s prepares you for life in your 40’s and beyond – when you are thinking about making a career change, or getting divorced, or when the kids have gone to college and you’re footing a portion of the bill and, the ultimate life goal, the golden years of retirement. You will be able to better handle drastic financial life changes if you prepared for them 20 years earlier.

What do you do with the other 15%? Save 10% and waste 5%. Get it out of your system. Now.  Buy party dresses, go to the movies, eat out on occasion. Learn to hate take out. Buy pretty shoes and learn that no one needs 70 pairs of shoes. Not even Beyonce’, Miranda Gates,  or Warren Buffet. Lend a friend money for groceries and don’t worry about getting it back. But don’t go over that 5%. It takes practice. And eventually, one day ,you will learn none of that is important all on your own. In the meantime while you are waiting to learn this lesson, participate in the company retirement plan. Buy a reliable used car. Get health insurance. Apply for and pay every month, on time, one credit card. Start paying on your student loans. In a separate fund, start saving 20% to put down to buy your own home. And by all means, learn the definition of the terms “budget” and “emergency fund”.  It will be an important life lesson eventually, one day.

As an Accounting major in my 20’s, it never dawned on me I could apply what I was learning in college to myself. Heck, accounting was for corporations. Finance was for Wall Street. I lived in DC and I was gainfully employed in the world of small business and non-profits. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles only applied to wealthy folk. Not me.  I did not think I had any money to invest, no matter what my pastor, Suze Orman, or Michelle Singletary had to say about it.  Besides, I had forever to care about saving money and stuff. I’d worry about it when I was someone’s CFO in an office on the 15th floor overlooking the Potomac River. In the non-profit world, tho? Man. I was disillusioned.  For now, let’s eat, shop, dance, and be merry. In hindsight, my investment income was hanging in my closet. Or in shoe boxes on the floor.  And in the extra interest I was paying on my brand new car monthly due to a bad financing deal I didn’t research. I would get around to saving and budgeting. Eventually. One day.

And then I was unceremoniously laid off. I knew it was a probability – I did work in the finance department and I prepared the income statements. But I wasn’t ready for it.  I was given a severance check for two weeks pay and the option to continue my health insurance with COBRA benefits. My emergency savings fund consisted of that severance check and the $50 in my checking account. Eventually, one day came much sooner than I anticipated. Learning the meaning of “budget” and “emergency fund” at the same time was a tough one. Moving back home and starting over again was tougher.

Much to my chagrin, clothing, shoes, and cars don’t appreciate; they only depreciate in value over time. Hence the reason the clothing at the thrift store was so inexpensive. Insert ah ha! moment.  By the time I was 30, I had racked up several thousands of dollars in credit card debt and I hadn’t landed that CFO job with the office on the 15th floor and a view overlooking the Potomac River. It was then I realized “they” will make you pay for the credit you use. Yeah, seems like a common sense thing….but…I didn’t want to. I wanted to keep using my credit cards for more shoes and $1 candy bars and sodas from CVS because I didn’t have any cash on me – actually, that was two lessons in one; the candy and soda were neither helping my mission to lose 20 lbs nor my bank account.  Student loans must be paid. Paychecks get garnished. Cars will be repossessed. Homes may be foreclosed on. Banks close checking accounts, and guess what? They tell the other banks not to let you open an account with them. How rude! Then, eventually. Suddenly. One day. You learn to pay what you owe. Immediately. Every month.

Hindsight. If only I hadn’t maxed out those 3 student credit cards and never paid the bills….if I had 20% to put down, I wouldn’t have to pay that extra PMI cost thing. 20% of $99,000 is only $19,800. That roughly amounted to saving about $2,000 per year or $166 per month, not including accrued interest just for the sake of this post. If only I had started 10 years ago when I began working. I mean, $166 was less than the 5-year note on my brand new $14,000 car that was totaled after 2 years with no GAP insurance. 10 years seemed like an eternity ago. But a 30-year mortgage??? 30 years of anything is a long time. I had only been alive for a few more than 30 years and I’m about to sign my paycheck away for some date in the future 3o years? What about my shoe collection? *Shudders*. Nope. I’m not ready. But I will be. Eventually. One day.

One day came about six years later.  I’m married, with children, and we live in the basement at my mom’s house.  Financial responsibility hit hard and without warning. I worked extra hard to pay off every debt I owed while still paying for transportation and cell phones and kid school lunch. Then I worked hard to raise my credit score to an acceptable number by paying two cards on time every month to obtain the best interest rates. Eventually, one day was right now.

I found myself nearing 40 and thinking maybe Suze and Michelle knew what they were talking about.  Retirement is coming in about 30 years. Because I was just too uninterested in picking my own stocks (take that, Warren!!), I chose the preset retirement package my employer offered based on the year closest to when you will reach retirement age. Of course, this package is titled by the retirement year. “Target 2040”. Seemed like a long time away. Until I recalled years earlier in college my thinking that 40 is sooooo far away; let’s eat, shop, dance, and be merry.  Insert face palm here.

In a few more years, the 50’s will hit. Do I have enough medical coverage? Term life insurance equal to 10-15 percent of my salary? Is my 401K on track for me to live to 99 at 65% of my current salary ? What about power of attorney and a living will? A will at all? My beneficiaries – what do I have to leave them? If I get divorced, can I survive on my own? Did I teach my kids enough about finance that I will NEVER have to live with them again? Deep sigh.

We women tend to put off thinking about financial goals until “the time is right”, whatever that may mean.  It’s as if we have to make a choice between taking care of everyone else around us and taking care of us. We don’t think about having an emergency fund of six months of living expenses, participating in our company’s retirement plan, or turning our side hustle into a viable business until – eventually. One day.

The lucky humans will take their life lessons and happily retire to the Maldives (is that possible? I really hope so.). The not-so-lucky ones will stop working and……….then what? I mean, there’s always Social Security. Maybe.  So I’ve heard. Until then, I shall pay off my debts, maintain an emergency savings fund of 3-6 months, participate in retirement plans, live on a budget, be frugal with my dollars, and after all of that is said and done, eat, dance, shop, and be merry.  But when eventually, one day arrives around age 70, I’ll be ready to purchase about 30 more pairs of shoes and a cute party dress for my retirement bash.

 

 

 

.