Two for Tuesday: Venmo + How Women Rise

By Jennifer Faherty | October 30, 2018

For this week’s Two for Tuesday, here are a couple things I’m finding really practical, interesting to ponder, or just pretty cool:

1. VENMO USERS BEWARE

Do you remember when Google became a verb? More recently, that’s happened with Uber (“We can Uber there”) and, for some, the digital wallet Venmo (“Just Venmo me”). I admit, I’m a little late to the Venmo party – and hopefully it will stay that way. On the one hand, I absolutely love the convenience of paying electronically. Just the other day, I wanted to take a quick break from work and ran out to a local cafe for a cup of coffee, but I had forgotten my purse. The barista suggested I use Apply Pay (since, of course, I had my phone). I set up the app while in line and, voila!, my almond milk latte was served! Then, later that day, my husband’s friend needed to pay us back for some travel expenses via Venmo and, Boom! Money back in our account within minutes.​​​​​​​

On the other hand..Oh my gosh, how scary is that?! Perhaps I’m showing my age and resistance to technology dependency here, but these transactions in cyber-space with a simple few clicks seemed wrong for so many reasons… security being the most glaring, with privacyand keeping track of expenses very close behind.  
Does that mean I’ll stay clear of Venmo and other digital payment apps like Apple Pay or Zelle for good, a die-hard of the dollar bill and loose change? Likely not. The convenience is just too compelling. HOWEVER, please do your due diligence and system checking. Remove the public feature on Venmo, for example, so everyone can’t see your transactions, and continue to track everything in your budget carefully – the convenience can make it seem like the spending is not “real” – until you see a much lower than anticipated monthly balance – so it may require an extra step for some of you to ensure payment apps like these do not inadvertently de-rail your financial goals.

 ​​​​2. HOW WOMEN RISE

I attended the Pennsylvania Conference for Women a couple of weeks ago where there was a panel discussion with Sally Helgesen, Leadership Expert and Author of How Women Rise (co-authored by Marshall Goldsmith). In her book, she details 12 habits exhibited by women that hold them back as they advance their careers (and grow their wealth). Extensively researched and easy to read – grab a copy and let me know which habit you might need to work on changing. We can figure out an action plan so you can reach your income goals for 2019.