Queercents

Armed with a well-known name, Candace Gingrich, made her own mark as an activist for the GLBT community over a decade ago. She first served as Human Rights Campaign’s National Coming Out Project Spokesperson in1995 and is currently HRC’s Senior Youth Outreach Manager where she works with and inspires queer youth around the country.

In anticipation of today’s webchat taking place at HRC (part of the “7 Days to a Better Financial You” campaign), we invited Candace to take her turn at our ten money questions. Read on as she puts the personal into personal finance. Enjoy!

1. As an activist, what does money mean to you?
In many ways it is the invisible discriminator when it comes to GLBT equality. When I am asked whether or not I’ve ever been discriminated against, my answer includes the often unnoticed ways that we are affected financially: paying federal taxes on domestic partner benefits; the income gap between queer and straight people; paying for lawyers and documents to protect our families; etc. There is also the damage that the myth of GLBT affluence does to efforts to secure GLBT equality.

2. What is your most significant memory about money?
The cast-iron mechanical bank collection I had growing up! One of my favorites was Uncle Sam - you’d put the coin in his hand and he would drop it into a satchel labeled “taxes”. Read the rest of this entry »

I just got my very first pet four months ago; a pregnant tabby me and my partner, Grace, rescued from the roof adjacent to our apartment. Soon after, she had kittens and we ended up keeping one- his picture is to the right. Having never had a pet as a child (my parents are very, very neat people), I knew this would be a huge emotional investment for me, but what I didn’t realize is how much of a financial investment it would be as well.

Pets, in addition to being invaluable emotional support, proven stress reduction and overall adorableness, cost money. And if you believe the media portrayals, we as queer people are particularly lavish with our pets, treating them to fancy hotel stays (Best in Show) and acupuncture (Flipping Out). Like Paula said “Pets are our furry children”. Of course, having a pet doesn’t have to break the bank, so let’s talk about some ways to save money while still being the best pet owners we can be. And if you’re still in the process of considering the financial implications of owning a pet, please read Nina’s post “Are Pets Worth the Price?” I’ve already said yes to that question and so in the next couple weeks I’ll be posting a series of topics on saving money on pet expenses, starting with food. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Readers: I must confess the truth: I am a New Parent Money-Waster.

Every week, I regale you with tales of my attempts to save money while saving the planet. Economize! I exhort you. Resist consumerism Reduce, reuse, recycle! Resist the temptations of Buy Buy Baby. Think before you click! Did a child laborer get carpal tunnel making that cheapo onesie? Is that ‘clear’ infant soap really organic? Do you really need that plastic tchochke?

Kill your TV! End consumerism! Turn your kids on to real values!

Yet I, your environmentally conscious, feministical, conservationist, anti-materialist, and above all, CHEAP Queercents parent have fallen pray to the seductions of the expensive, the poorly-made, the wasteful, and yes: the non-recyclable.

To save you from a similar fate, I’ve compiled a list of the Worst of the Worst purchases that I made for my baby. So here is my list of pricey, environmentally unsustainable, and all-around wasteful purchases made during my baby’s first year.

1. Five different, utterly useless thermometers.
Every baby book will tell you that one ‘must’ to purchase before your baby arrives is a baby thermometer. What they don’t tell you is which one to purchase. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur when the time comes to leave the corporate cubicle, do you know how to manage your money? Whether you choose to leave on your own timetable or are the recipient of some rampant downsizing and reorganization, you need to have a strategy and system for understanding your business and personal finances in this brand new world.

For over 17 years I did what the rest of the employee cattle call did — got paid regularly, managed my finances (in my case very closely), and waited for the next paycheck to come in. It was a pretty predictable cycle in which planning, investing, spending, and floating money was easy. Then, I got reorganized right out of a job which I took as a blessing in disguise to finally get full time into my business which I had been running on a part time basis for several years. But, what about the finances? How the heck do I manage in this brave new world I just stepped into?

As I’ve experienced you really need to know three key things on both an estimated and actual basis.

1) What money is coming in?
2) What money is going out?
3) What do I have in reserve?

It sounds simple but can be a whole new way of thinking especially if you’re used to a guaranteed paycheck showing up at your direct deposit door each week or month. Read the rest of this entry »