Welcome to Friday Financial Focus!
Each week, we bring you a round-up of the headlines that impact your bottom line. Some you may have heard about, and others may have gotten buried in the chaos of the week. Either way, they all matter when it comes to managing your money!
Distilling all of the current events into a single newsletter is impossible, so be sure to follow us on Bluesky. Join our Patreon community for financial history and resistory stories that inform and inspire, along with astrological and tarot support for the month. There are 3 paid tiers and a free level with limited posts - something is accessible for everyone!
Have a news story or financial topic you want us to explore further? Let us know about it!
Upcoming Classes
Want to get a handle on finances? There is still time to register for upcoming money classes! Both of them are about pricing, but from very different viewpoints: the consumer and the business.
Our Sagittarius workshop is also next week, and we're offering another serving of holiday support with a repeat of our free class on boundaries and navigating social gatherings in this *ahem*... "political climate".
It Costs How Much?? (Nov. 17)
The headlines can seem like a Buzzword Bingo of anxiety-inducing terms - stagflation, inflation, shrinkflation, FRUSTRATION!
Take a deep breath and join Rebellious Resources for It Costs How Much?? The Hidden Impact of Rising Prices*, where we’ll take a closer look at how the macroeconomics all around us impact the microeconomics of our personal budget. We keep things fun, informational, and relevant to your life!
Get the Deets
- Date: Monday, November 17, 2025
- Time: 7:00 pm EST
- Where: Online (Zoom link will be sent prior to event)
Sagittarius Resource Workshop (Nov. 19)
Change comes whether or not we’re prepared for it. Sagittarius can help you overcome the fear of the unknown and see life as an adventure that is meant to be lived fully!
Join us for this Sagittarius Resource Forecast Workshop* to learn how you can explore truth, adventure, and freedom, while also finding your inner Fire to keep those changes going.
Get the Deets
- Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2025
- Time: 7:00 pm EST
- Where: Online (Zoom link will be sent prior to event)
Managing Your EBA: Turkey Day - 2nd Helping! (Nov. 22)
Did you miss our first session? Then get a Second Helping of Support with another serving of Managing Your Emotional Bank Account: Turkey Day Edition!
Setting clear boundaries this Turkey Day season is good for filling your Emotional Bank Account and protecting your resources. We'll show you how to keep those cluckers from ruffling your feathers!
Get the Deets
- Date: Saturday, November 22, 2025
- Time: 7:00 pm EST
- Where: Online (Zoom link will be sent prior to event)
The Price is Right... Right? (Nov. 24)
Money makes the world go ‘round, but how do you know if your business is actually making money? It all starts with your COGS, or “Cost of Goods Sold”!
Join us for The Price is Right… Right? In this live virtual workshop, we take you step-by-step through calculating COGS, your operating expenses, and how to determine your real profit margin. We’ll also look at where “hidden expenses” can eat into your budget, helping you to decide if a business, product, or event is really worth investing in.
Get the Deets
- Date: Monday, November 24, 2025
- Time: 7:00 pm EST
- Where: Online (Zoom link will be sent prior to event)
This Week's Financial Focus
The holiday season is upon us and no matter how you celebrate, this is historically the time of year when people spend, spend, spend. Nothing says "Christmas Spirit" like capitalism, amirite? However...
Folks are changing where they put their cha-ching this year. There are calls for continued boycotts, strikes, slowdowns, and selective spending. Of course, everyone has a different idea on what that looks like. Not everyone has the luxury to fully disengage from the system.
So this week, we're taking a closer look at some of the ways you can redirect spending to support small businesses and causes that need your help more than ever, and why it matters more than you think!
The (Not O)K-shaped Economy
You may have heard about a K-shaped economy and how that is very much not okay, but what does the term mean? Think of the letter "K" - two lines extend out from a single middle point. One line sharply angles up while the other sharply angles down. Remember this image.
In a K-shaped economy, there is a sharp divide in wealth, where some folks who may be part of the upper middle class or higher become increasingly rich. They are in the line that sharply angles up.
Other folks who may also be in the middle class or lower see their relative wealth and spending power drastically decreased, putting them in the line that sharply angles down. The divide between the two becomes ever wider with nothing in between.
That is where we are now, with the middle class essentially disappearing. In today's K-shaped economy, only 20% of high-earning households are in that upper line. That means 80% of us are in that downward line, and it feels like it's getting worse.
Astonishingly, the top 10% of income earners account for nearly half of our economic consumption. They are relatively unconcerned about additional tariff expenses and their assets like homes and stock portfolios are currently appreciating in value. In other words, they are doing quite well financially.
The bottom 80%? It has become harder to build wealth with real estate prices skyrocketing and the general cost-of-living outpacing earnings. As we saw last week, more Americans have more debt now than at any point in history. Eventually, the house of (credit) cards will collapse.
Challenges to Charities
Because cruelty is the point, this regime has also launched an extended attack on nonprofits that rely on federal grants to continue their work. This encompasses every cause from cancer research to job training to domestic violence, and the impacts are felt downstream.
Since January, there have been at least 200 federal programs completely eliminated, along with their staff, funding, and grants. For the ones that remain, this regime has tried to restrict funding for any nonprofit that works on behalf of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or transgender rights.
The regime has been met with legal challenges that (so far) are siding with the nonprofits, but damage is still being done as grant funding becomes inconsistent and unreliable. Of course, when the DEI attack fails, they try another approach.
The DOJ has now directed shelters that receive federal funding from the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to verify the immigration status of survivors before administering services. The directive is being challenged in 26 states plus the District of Columbia, but the harm is already being felt nationwide.
Survivors often either do not have access to their records like birth certificates or social security cards and may need to have them replaced after fleeing their environment. With this directive, anyone that shows up to a shelter without "proper documentation" can be turned away. ANYONE.
While this regime can claim they are only targeting "illegals", the reality is that they are suppressing any survivor's efforts to leave their abuser. Who benefits from that???
A K-shaped Cause for Concern
Between the elimination of federal programs and the significant restrictions being placed on the remaining grants, the competition for funding among nonprofits has become even more fierce. Larger nonprofits that used to rely on these government grants to fund their services are now looking to private grant providers to fill that void.
Like the K-shaped economy has done for consumers, this leaves smaller nonprofits squeezed out of the private grant pool they had relied upon for their own funding. These smaller nonprofits are often the ones closest to the ground and the cause, doing the hard daily work that larger organizations may steer away from.
That means they are more in need of community support now than ever before. Grants often come as restricted funding, meaning they can only be used for specific expenses like program supplies, but these grants often prohibit use for overhead for employees. However, you need people to make the program and nonprofit run, and not all of them have the luxury of being a full-time volunteer.
This is why your small local nonprofits need your direct support. Whether it is a monthly donation, hours of volunteer help, or donating a specific service like marketing help, your contribution will help take some of the burden off of their shoulders. Remember - nonprofits still need to pay bills like insurance, web hosting, accountants, etc.!
Redirecting Corporate $$$ to Community
And while we're on the topic of supporting your community, just this week, I have seen three small businesses take the brave step to ask for help because without it, they were going to have to close. These are businesses that do good work within the community. They have employees, donate when they can, and reinvest in the local economy.
These are the small businesses we want to see succeed.
Yet, they were all falling short of their needed income to keep the lights on. Not because they weren't trying. Not because people didn't value their work. Just... because. Perhaps folks were lost in their own quagmire of chaos and concern. They didn't stop to think that in this K-shaped economy, their favorite local businesses were struggling, too.
We have seen multiple boycotts this year as folks sought to divest their spending from corporations that no longer aligned with their values:
- Target has felt the heat since denouncing DEI
- Disney saw a mass exodus of subscribers after Jimmy Kimmel was suspended in September
- Starbucks Workers Union is officially on strike until further notice at 65 union stores due to an impasse in contract negotiations, with more stores set to join the effort
There is a national boycott and strike planned by the Blackout the System movement for November 25 to December 2 - prime holiday shopping season. The goal is to remove from the system the one thing that corporations understand: money. Skip work, don't shop, and stay out of the system as much as possible for an entire week.
While consumers disappearing during a week as important to the Shopping Gods as the one after Thanksgiving is great, we need to be mindful of unintended consequences. We still need to support small businesses and the local economy.
We're cancelling corporations, not community.
Boycotting one week and then returning to shop at those same corporations the next defeats the purpose. We are shifting our money to small, local, and sustainable businesses.
Shift the support you would normally give to corporations and use it to highlight small and local businesses, or great organizations that need extra support. Do you know any that could use an extra shout-out? Let us know about them!
It takes a village and intentional consumption to un-K this economy. We might not be able to fully close the gap, but we can buoy one another by supporting the small businesses and nonprofits that provide so much more than a storefront. Build and sustain your communities and they will build and sustain you.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Let us know!
Rebellious Services & Communities
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Find support and guidance for navigating change, protecting your resources, and reclaiming your power with a 1:1 Resource Toolbox Tarot Reading.
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This informative community will offer insights into world events through the lens of political, corporate, and historical astrology (AKA: mundane astrology). This unique approach highlights patterns on a larger scale.
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Sometimes you need 1:1 help as a business owner and need insight from someone with years of experience. Power Hour is a single 60-minute 1:1 session designed to give you clarity and action items to move you forward.
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Arcana Resource Coaching is a 13-session program designed to explore your relationship to your resources. We uncover the hidden opportunities and challenges you have to embracing your full potential.
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As always, your support is appreciated. Stay well!
Sincerely,
Rayna, Money Culture Disruptor & Financial Inclusion Advocate
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