Spending with Purpose Supporting Local Businesses - Expert Edition Episode 41 (Classic Episode)
In another hard hitting episode from our ESG series with our certified financial planner, Marie Thomasson. We explore the profound impact of supporting local businesses, and how it aligns with spending according to your values. We discuss the repercussions of choosing convenience over conscience, like the 'Amazon Tax,' and how we can change our spending habits to benefit our communities. Join us as we issue a challenge that could make a significant difference this holiday season: opting for quality over quantity and investing in local businesses to promote sustainability and diversity in our neighborhoods.
About Our Guest:
Marie Thomasson, CFP® is a financial advisor for progressive women. Marie started her journey with a prestigious internship in asset management after studying Applied Mathematics at UCLA. It turned into 13 long years, overseeing over six billion dollars in bonds for pension funds, institutions, and banks. The experience left her with a deep skillset, and a deeper longing to be free of an industry saturated in privilege, misogyny, and self-interest.
https://modernassetsla.com/
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TRANSCRIPT:
[00:00:00] Naseema McElroy: All right, nurses on fire. We are back talking about how to spend in a socially responsible way with our certified financial planner, Marie Thomasson. And this time we're going to talk about something that's a little bit more challenging than what we talked about last time, even though that was a bit challenging, but it was the easiest of the options.
This isn't the hardest. This isn't the easiest. So this is the medium option. Hey Marie.
[00:00:25] Marie Thomasson: Thank you. Hello, nice to be
[00:00:28] Naseema McElroy: back. Yes, yes, yes. Nice having you back. And that was such a great conversation that we had talking about farmers markets and buying food sustainably. So I hope people got something from that and are able to go to the farmers market like I, like myself,
[00:00:50] Marie Thomasson: it's, it's progress, right?
Yes, yes, yes. One day at a time. Yes. Yeah. So we talked about farmers markets and we're basically going to move into an extension of that, which is shopping and spending your money at small businesses. And so when I'm talking about small businesses, I just want to clarify things. Cause like this definition of small business by the small business administration is a company with 500 or less employees.
All right, we don't care about 500 employee companies. What we're actually really talking about is you're like micro and local businesses. So these are predominantly companies with between 1 and 10 employees. That is what we're talking about. And so a lot of statistics and sometimes it's hard to break it apart you know talk about small businesses 500, employees.
Yes, it's small compared to Target, but it's still really big and they still have a lot more access to capital and resources and I might add so this is a statistic I looked up that I was like It makes so much sense and it just aligns perfectly with this whole idea of sustainability and, like spending according to your values, the smaller the company is, the more likely they are to represent the U.
S. demographically. So companies, and so this was on the SBA website, companies with like the 500 employees, let's say between like 100 and 500 employees, they're still overwhelmingly owned and run by old white guys, okay? The smaller the company it is, then you actually, like you approach for, 10 employees or less, you are approaching the actual demographics of the United States.
And so it's really easy. In that sense to spend according to your values. If you just like, you don't have to worry about too much. But if you're just shopping at these like small micro, businesses and entrepreneurs, you are suddenly spending in a diverse way. That's it. And now that's not to say that that's entirely easy to find them, but if we take the example of the farmer's market, this is one reason why actually going to a farmer's market is so huge, because streets that have farmer's markets on them, like the stores nearby, they now all of a sudden they get that exposure, right?
Like it drives people actually getting out of their houses. And into local shops, like you actually see, you see the shop where you see the cute little restaurant, whatever it is. And so, that cannot be understated small businesses. Again, this is the 500 or less provide half the U S paycheck, half the GDP, they account for half the jobs in the United States.
And yet. Americans spend such, and I don't know exactly what the number is, but they spend way more money at these big box stores, on Amazon, anywhere else, but at these small businesses, and it's like, you're really, we're ending up just shooting ourselves in the foot, and I think that right now, with the pandemic as an example, Of what happens when you don't support local businesses and the livelihoods, that are being ruined.
It's really powerful and frankly, just disturbing, right? We're both small businesses.
[00:04:42] Naseema McElroy: Yes, we are.
[00:04:44] Marie Thomasson: We are both small businesses. And here we are, like, like, look at us, we're approaching a sample. That is much more in line with, what the U. S. is demographically, age, ethnicity, all of these things, and that's what you see when you work with, people who are there like solopreneurs or, selling some online services.
This is why I, like, so personally, I make it a point. To, for every vendor or service to at least at the very least say like I am going to interview at least one person of color or a woman or, and for that matter, and kind of even look outside those demographics.
I think that, we talk about it a lot, but what about somebody who's in recovery or somebody who's disabled or, God forbid somebody who's overweight. Right. Like, there's all these things that people are discriminated against for, and so I think that it's important to, to actually try to look beyond that so I know we're going off on a little bit of a tangent, but I, I think that it's important because when we think about just where you spend your money, and spending your money with a diversity of people, you do that by spending with small businesses.
[00:06:03] Naseema McElroy: Yeah, I like that. I really like that a lot. It's giving back into pouring back into your communities. People typically live where you live there, so that's like the biggest way that you can give back and. It's again, a little bit more challenging than getting your two day delivery from Amazon, which, with the pandemic hasn't been two days anyway, and I'm trying to get my refund or prime, but,
Like it is pouring back and I do make it a point to try to shop locally too. But yeah, it's definitely, definitely challenging because it's just like, Oh, well, that means that you have to, instead of having this marketplace of like, Everything that you need, you kind of have to source things here and there and everywhere.
But again, tied back to the theme of this whole series, you get what you pay for, right? Yeah.
[00:06:54] Marie Thomasson: Yeah. So, so one example, I went to a pet store recently, and I was looking for a little watering fountain thing for my partner's cat. This is a very precious cat. And so we found this little water fountain thing, and I'm like, alright, it's 60 bucks.
That seems a little expensive to me and we looked up online and it's on Amazon for 40 and he was like, oh, well, we're gonna like, maybe we should order it from Amazon. So the first thing I do is I go to the person at the register and I asked them, I was like, can we get. A price match for Amazon.
And she was like, no. And my first thought was like, damn! Right? Like, why not? Why won't you price match? Because a lot of places will do that, right? Like, you go in, and you show them your phone, and they'll price match. And she's like, we can't afford it. We're a small business. And I was thinking to myself, and I'm like, You're not that small.
Like, I'm in LA. I think they've got like four or five locations. And I went home and I kind of slept on it. And I thought, you know what, that is the Amazon tax, right? And so I was like, damn it, we're not going to buy the 40 one from Amazon. We're going to get the 60 one from this store because, and I think that it's, it's hard.
It's, like it's probably that 20 is all of their profit.
[00:08:30] Naseema McElroy: But the thing is, yeah, Marie, like that's a total luxury too, though. Yeah. Well, I mean like buying a cat, a water fountain, number one, that's a luxury. Okay. So let's just go there. But then number two, like. That's a luxury to be able to pay a 20 difference on just an item period But but I think a lot of us have that luxury To do what matters and that's what's important And so I that's like the juggle that we have in our heads do what's right or do what's cheap it can
[00:09:05] Marie Thomasson: be Yeah, and I mean everybody has a different idea of luxury Like I I've got an old car And I'm going to have an old car for a long time, right?
Like we all have priorities about where we, put our money and spend it. And, and I think that overall, especially if you're, worried about what's going to happen to our planet or just, the, the wellbeing of the people on our planet, materialism has to decline. It just. It just has to, especially in the United States.
So just buying less stuff, period, is the first thing. And being more thoughtful about it, secondly, is, is the second. So, we actually ended up not buying that water fountain because I didn't even like it. I was like, I still think it's kind of ugly.
And so it was like, you know what? I looked online and I saw one that was really pretty on Etsy, but it was like insanely expensive. And I said, you know what? Maybe that's something that down the line we invest in one that I'm like, oh, it looks more like a decoration than, like a fancy cat, water bowl.
And then I'll be happy about that. And then you're even buying from Etsy. Like more to the point thinking through what we're purchasing period, the less you purchase, the more you're able to actually spend a little bit more money on the things that you're buying, right? Like this is the quality over quantity.
[00:10:34] Naseema McElroy: Yes. That's exactly what I was going to say. Yes.
[00:10:38] Marie Thomasson: And it's hard to do, but it's really hard to do though, to make that choice when it's still the same thing from China that you're buying at your local store or Amazon. And there's a 25 percent difference in price. So, to me, it's worth the luxury, maybe not of buying the cat fountain, but it's, to me, I just call it the Amazon tax, like.
Do you want Amazon to, to own, retail trade in the United States or not that, they're just buying up everything. And so, you're going to have to pay more at the end of the day.
[00:11:17] Naseema McElroy: Yep, I definitely don't want Amazon controlling all the retail. No, thank you. Because then once they control it, it's not going to be so cheap anymore.
Like that's what people don't understand. They're going to monopolize it and it's going to be expensive. And then we don't have that competition that drives the prices down or that controls the prices, so.
[00:11:37] Marie Thomasson: Exactly. Like what happened to Blockbuster? What happened to Barnes and Nobles? Or Blockbuster.
I know, I know. Poor Blockbuster, but Barnes and Nobles, like they're gone. And guess who's moving into their locations?
[00:11:50] Naseema McElroy: Amazon. Yeah, girl. Physical locations, physical locations. Yes. It's crazy.
[00:11:56] Marie Thomasson: Yeah. And it's just, it's not though, it's not that it's like Netflix taking out blockbuster, it's Amazon taking out everyone, Amazon Walmart target, they're taking out everybody.
And Amazon, I think, obviously Walmart is moving into that game. But Amazon was first to it and, they're going for supply chain, like that's why they moved into the grocery industry. They want the stuff that you can't live without. And so, they started with books, but it's A to Z.
It really is. It really is everything. And so, so I looked at, I just looked this up and the average American spends about 1, 500 a year around Christmas time. A lot of money, right? That's hella money. Yes. And so what if, like, I'm just going to pose this as like a challenge. What if instead of spending your money.
At these big stores, you bought a little bit less stuff and especially right now, like one in five small businesses has already gone out of business. Like what is this going to look like in six months? Yeah. The average small business owner makes less than a hundred thousand a year in revenue. Not even like this is, this is like before expenses.
So, I would just challenge everyone, and I'm going to do this myself, no online shopping, to buy less presents, but to spend the money at local businesses.
[00:13:28] Naseema McElroy: Yeah, I think that that's a great challenge. I think that's an awesome challenge, especially now when we're like facing more shutdowns and like the country is kind of like not recovering the way that we thought it would, it would really benefit our local economies if we did
[00:13:44] Marie Thomasson: that.
Yeah. It would be absolutely huge. Yeah. If each and every one of us, if you have the money to spend on Christmas gifts, right? Like it's again, it's a huge luxury to even be able to do that. So if you have that luxury, Then take the time because some people don't have the luxury. So do it on behalf of the people, who don't have that luxury and go out and put that money back into our local communities.
[00:14:12] Naseema McElroy: Yes, I love it. Okay, guys. So you got the challenge. I hope you respond with who's actually participating in that, but I think that it'll do a lot for, your economy locally and just it's the right thing to do. So I hope you guys
[00:14:29] Marie Thomasson: participate in that. It's the right thing to do. Like if you feel like you don't know what to do right now, there's so much anxiety in the world.
Like this is one really impactful thing that you can do. Right. And we already know it, like going out and supporting local restaurants and getting takeout from like the local Indian store and whatever, but even like. Fine. Like the local handcrafted stuff, right?
Like the people making, crazy expensive hats. Right. But just be really thoughtful about it. And, and and put your money like right back into the community where you live. I think that that would be even better is to say challenge yourself to actually buy it from like local merchants.
[00:15:14] Naseema McElroy: Yes. Love it. Yeah. Okay, Marie. So next week, we're going to hit that hard, but I'm excited about, we're going to talk about next week. This is going to be a cliffhanger because I'm not going to even tell you, but it's still about spending, but we are going to tackle something major, right? Yes.
[00:15:33] Marie Thomasson: Yes, we are. Yes, we are.
[00:15:36] Naseema McElroy: All right. So I hope you guys join us next week when we talk about that hard button, this challenging button of how we can change our spending so that it can be socially responsible. All right. Thanks again, Marie.
[00:15:49] Marie Thomasson: All right. Thank you.
Hey there I’m Naseema
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