What is Equal Pay Day?

National Equal Pay Day raises awareness of the pay discrepancies between men and women for the same work each year. Equal Pay Day was created by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996. This year, Equal Pay Day will be recognized on Tuesday, March 14.

Equal Pay Day also symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.

In 2022, studies showed that women in the U.S. earned, on average, 82 cents for every dollar earned by men, so a woman must work 15 months to make what a man earns in 12 months. This number varies based on occupation and industry - women in the legal field earn 63 cents, and women in finance and insurance earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.

According to an article in Forbes, women lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime compared to their white male counterparts. For example, one study showed that white women lost $555,360, and black women lost $964,400...

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays with its focus on family and gratitude, and it’s the perfect opportunity to feel grateful for everything that I have, despite whatever bumps in the road tried to take me off course throughout the year. But Thanksgiving can also be a difficult time for people for a variety of reasons so I wanted to share how developing a gratitude mindset can help you take a different approach to not only Thanksgiving but each new day. 

So what is a gratitude mindset? 

Gratitude is defined as the quality of being thankful and exhibiting a readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Simply put, a gratitude mindset is the ability to focus on the positive things in life rather than the negative - you know the glass is half full kind of thinking. You see opportunities instead of obstacles. When you can focus on gratitude, the number of things you appreciate continue to grow. 

Why should you strive for a gratitude mindset?

...

When you want to feel empowered around your money mindset, there’s one thing that is at the heart of preparing to increase your income. Sometimes, in mindset work, we forget that we do have a great deal of control. While that control isn't over anything outside of ourselves, we can control our thoughts, reactions, and beliefs — and that is powerful! And it starts with asking.

Kids are great at this. For example: My kids always want McDonald’s. Nevermind that 99.9% of the time when they ask, my answer is no. But they always ask for it. I’m sure if you’re a parent, cousin, or caretaker of any sort, you’ve had this experience, too.

And as any kiddo is too familiar in hearing… Just because you want it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. But when you realize that in your money mindset journey that you have a great deal of power over your choices, you can learn to guide your thoughts and actions to prepare yourself for an increase in...

Often, as someone is entering a life transition, they have this feeling of “I can do it!” mixed with a hefty dose of “What am I going to do?” 

The goal behind Watch Her Thrive is to be a beacon. It’s more than just writing helpful blog articles to show you how something is done. It’s to empower you and show you that Yes, you can do it!

From my early career days, I’ve always been an educator. Sometimes in the traditional sense, like when I taught third grade in inner city Baltimore; and sometimes in the non-traditional sense, like when I became a published senior equity research analyst. And sometimes in the very non-traditional sense as my ex-husband and I navigated the adoption system.

No matter what I did, my mom was always my rock. She was non-judgemental, full of support and encouragement, and always accepting of my anti-status-quo ways. I wanted to blend all of that knowledge and personal guidance into a sustainable, fulfilling...