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| What You Need To Know About The Caregiving Crisis |
More than 10 million millennials are caring for aging parents, often before they’ve had the chance to fully launch their careers or start families of their own.
That was the case for Jennifer Levin, who at just 32 became a full-time caregiver for her father after he was diagnosed with a rare degenerative illness. With little support and few resources, she struggled – but turned that struggle into purpose by founding Caregiver Collective, an online support group for caregivers.
Levin wrote about the experience in her powerful new book, "Generation Care: The New Culture of Caregiving.” She joined the HerMoney Podcast to talk about the rage, the resilience, and the reforms we urgently need to make caregiving more sustainable in America.
One of the biggest decisions caregivers face? Whether to keep working. For Levin, it wasn’t even a choice – she wanted to continue building her career, but had to get creative to do so. When her father was diagnosed, she was working in TV production, a field with little flexibility. It pushed her to go out on her own.
“I think that it sounds very empowering, and it can be when you begin, but you’re letting go of a regular paycheck and health insurance benefits in the way that you’re used to receiving them,” Levin shares. “There’s a lot of risk involved in that…[but] it allowed me flexibility to go back and forth as I needed to and as I wanted to, just to be there with him because I loved my dad.”
If you’re caregiving now or think you’ll become a caregiver soon, you won’t want to miss the rest of Levin’s advice on navigating the emotional, financial and professional challenges. |
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| Things That Save You Time |
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Expecting? You could spend hours stressing over the perfect baby name, or you could hire a pro to do it for you. Yep, baby-naming services are a thing. They’re not cheap, but for indecisive parents-to-be, they could be worth it. (Bonus: it’s also a pretty sweet side hustle, with some baby name consultants earning up to $350 an hour 😳) |
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Tired of the endless buy-try-return loop with online shopping? Doppl, a new app from Google, can help. It uses AI to let you virtually try on outfits you find online, so you can stop the guesswork (and skip the return labels). |
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Bringing a single-serve Chobani in your carry-on might slow you down during your next trip to the airport. As USA Today reports, if your travel day snack exceeds 3.4 ounces and you can “spill it, spray it, spread it, pump it or pour it” (someone please put that on a t-shirt), it will cost you precious time at the TSA security checkpoint. |
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| This Week In Your Wallet |
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More women than ever are packing their bags and leaving their families at home. A recent survey from Booking.com shows that over 54% of women want to travel solo. One of the big reasons? We need a break. “I think there are multiple reasons, including the fact that women are exhausted at being defined as mothers, wives, grandmothers, career women, etc, and they’re facing the if not now, when’ question head on,” Stacey Ray, owner of the female-founded travel company Sisterhood Travels, tells Travel + Leisure. Planning a solo vacay? Head here for expert tips on how to save big on hotel stays (hint – timing is everything!).
Forget the lazy Gen Z stereotype. When it comes to saving for retirement, they’re showing up big time. A recent report from Vanguard shows Gen Z’ers are contributing to 401(k) plans at higher rates than millennials did when they first entered the workforce. According to TIAA, Gen Z women are leading the charge. 54% are saving in 401(k)s, compared to 44% of Gen Z men. “Historically there has been a gender gap in retirement savings, with women having about 30 percent less money in retirement than men. But if Gen Z women continue to save at this rate, the gap could start to close,” reports The New York Times.
💰 P.S., from the SIMPLE to the Roth, IRAs can be a woman’s ticket to closing the retirement savings gap. Here are the main types of IRAs, explained.
Summer = outings with friends. But nothing kills the vibe like a messy group check. Enter bill-splitting apps. “These apps can drastically cut down on the number of money transfers each person has to make, and almost completely eliminate the headachy math,” writes Joanna Nesbit for HerMoney. “They’re also super helpful if you often find yourself frequently fronting money for your friend group. There’s nothing quite like stressing over having to ask to be paid back — especially if you’re on a tight budget.” Want to make splitting the bill painless? Check out six of the best apps, here. |
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| Even AI Needs InvestingFixx |
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You’ve seen us mention InvestingFixx, HerMoney’s investing club for women. But we want to let you in on a secret – we’re not just building a winning portfolio. Every other week, we’re meeting to break down what’s going on in the economy, decode investing lingo and build investing confidence from the ground up.
And we’ve got two financial powerhouses leading the way: HerMoney CEO Jean Chatzky and Karen Finerman, co-founder of Metropolitan Capital Advisors (who you’ve probably seen on CNBC).
This week, Karen tackled a key investing concept – the call option – and let us in on a little experiment. Before presenting to the group, she asked four AI platforms to help visually illustrate an options trade. Not one got it right. Moral of the story? When it comes to investing, trust real experts, not bots.
Want the full deep dive? Join InvestingFixx and watch the session replay. We promise, we’re smarter than AI. |
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| Ask Jean |
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| Q: |
I just saw the huge price hike for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I got one when I was younger and childless and traveling a ton, but times have changed. Can I downgrade my card? |
| A: |
To get everyone up to speed, yes, Chase just announced the annual fee for its Sapphire Reserve card is jumping from $550 to $795, making it one of the most expensive premium cards out there. If the perks (which btw, have also been beefed up), no longer justify the price tag, you can downgrade to a lower or no-fee Chase card without hurting your credit.
Why downgrade instead of canceling? Keeping the account open preserves your credit history and credit limit, both of which are key to maintaining a good credit score. To downgrade, just call the customer service number on the back of your card and ask for a product change. You can check out some of the options from Chase, here.
Heads up – if you switch to a card outside the “Sapphire” family, you’ll likely lose the ability to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners, so it’s wise to transfer any points before making the move.
Lastly, the new $795 fee doesn’t kick in for existing cardholders until October 26, 2025. So, you won’t see the changes until your next card anniversary after that date. It might make sense to take the card’s new benefits for a test drive in the meantime. |
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| Submit your questions to Jean here. |
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| More For You To ♥ |
Summer is heating up, and so can your savings. HerMoney has not one but two FinanceFixx programs coming up to help you take control of your finances (and maybe even create some room in your budget for a beach getaway).
😎 4-Week Fast Track to Financial Control: Kicking off July 15, it’s perfect for those who are short on time, but want to get a handle on where their money is going.
😎 6-Week Pre-Retirement Checkup: Starting July 22, this session is built for anyone 10 years or so out from retirement. It’ll help you figure out a) if you’re on track to amass enough of a nest egg to support you when you want to retire and b) if not, how to get there.
Bonus: HerMoney readers can use code SAVENOW for a special discount. Most participants say the program pays for itself, and then some.
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| *This is a sponsored post |
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