Progressive Pockets: a podcast about the untapped power of our wallets to build the world we want

A podcast at the intersection of social impact and personal finance that covers questions of how we might spend, donate, and invest more in line with our values.

Hosted by Genet "GG" Gimja
Formerly known as the Spend Donate Invest Podcast

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Episodes

10. Fair trade or bust

Send us a text Today's letter is about shopping fair trade. Here's the letter: How do I know if the places I shop really are sustainable? There are some phrases that sound good, but might not actually mean anything, or anyway, aren’t official stamps of approval. For example, “ethically sourced.” On the other hand, if you see “Fair Trade Certified” that is an actual certification that requires the company to provide proof. You can also look to other certifying organizations like the Rainforest Al...

Oct 11, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 10

9. When your company doesn't offer a socially responsible 401k

Send us a text Today's letter is about getting your company to offer a socially responsible 401k. Here's the letter: My employer doesn't offer a socially responsible 401k, what should I do? In order to maximize your chances of success, I have three tips for you to consider: Buddy up, get other employees into the effort. They probably won’t add options unless you have a ton of influence at your company, but if they see that there’s a group of people that want this, you’ll have more weight. It pro...

Oct 04, 2021•7 min•Season 1Ep. 9

8. Where to find charities and what to ask

Send us a text Today's episode is about where to find charities and what to ask. Here's the letter: How should I research a charity to decide if I want to give to them? Where do I look and what questions should I be asking myself? Start by asking yourself your budget and your financial requirements. For example, is it important to you that you claim tax benefits from your donation? Is that even realistic for you given the standard deductions? If you think you’ll be donating less than that thresh...

Sep 27, 2021•11 min•Season 1Ep. 8

7. Giving up brands with shaky values

Send us a text Today’s letter is about giving up brands with values that are different to our own. Here’s the letter: Before I offer up two suggestions for things you can do, let's be clear that it was never intended to be our responsibility as individuals to hold corporations accountable for human rights abuses of their employees, or to have the task of having to research whether your paint shop is actively lobbying against providing basic human rights to all people. That was never supposed to ...

Sep 20, 2021•7 min•Season 1Ep. 7

6. Picking a focus for my investments

Send us a text Today's letter is about picking a focus for socially responsible investments. Here's the letter: How should I pick the focus of my socially responsible investments? If you tend to pick from the 401k options at your job, I will be very impressed if your employer is already offering ESG funds as part of the 401k options. I do think that some companies, especially those that want the branding and to appeal to millennial employees are going to start offering more of these options in t...

Sep 13, 2021•6 min•Season 1Ep. 6

5. Where to donate when everyone needs help

Send us a text Today's letter is about trying to decide where to donate when it seems like everyone needs help: Is it better to split donations across many groups or pick one to consistently support? I care about so many things its hard to choose, so many people need help these days! The most important thing is to avoid decision paralysis. Don’t get caught up trying to find the “perfect” or “most efficient” way to help and spend so much time analyzing whether or not you’ve come up with the very ...

Sep 10, 2021•6 min•Season 1Ep. 5

4. Socially responsible shopping- is there any point?

Send us a text Today's letter is about socially responsible shopping: My twin says that socially responsible shopping is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What do you think? So your twin’s a skeptic. It’s good to keep skeptics around. What’s funny is that your twin’s attitude might be a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy, at least as far as socially conscious purchasing goes. People who think the world is getting better are more likely to shop consciously. 58% of the optimists versus 4...

Sep 09, 2021•7 min•Season 1Ep. 4

3. Investing in line with my personal values

Send us a text Today’s letter is about Socially responsible investing...here’s the letter: I'd like to invest more in line with my values. How can I do this? I want to set expectations up top. It is difficult to find publicly traded corporations who are not harmful to our society. So, more often than not, this conversation of socially responsible investing is actually about eliminating a few companies that investors find to be the most egregious, according to a very narrow set of criteria. This ...

Sep 08, 2021•12 min•Season 1Ep. 3

2. How much should I donate?

Send us a text Today’s letter is about deciding how much to donate. Here’s the letter: How do people decide how much money to give? I'm not religious, so 10% doesn't hold a personal significance to me, so how much should I give? 1. Even if you aren’t religious, you could borrow from those traditions. The Bible instructs Christians to donate 10% as a tithe. The Torah guides Jews to give 10%. Among other donations, the Koran instructs Muslims to donate 2.5% of your wealth (not their income) after ...

Sep 07, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 2

1. Welcome to Spend, Donate, Invest!

Send us a text This past year has made the inequality in our society even more blaringly obvious than it was before. A lot of us are grappling with our own role in the current movements towards a more just society. More people have hit the streets to protest, more people have shown up to the polls to vote, and that begs the question...what other sources of power do we have to improve the world around us? That’s where this podcast comes in. When this idea first came about in the fall of 2020, the...

Jul 17, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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