The #1 life skill that no one has taught you (until now):

Hi there 👋 It’s Thamina, Founder of The Sheconomist. This is your bi-weekly dose of celebrating the female economy where I help ambitious, purpose-driven women like yourself flip the script on money, career & wellbeing conventions so you can live life on your own terms.

TLDR:

• ⏳ Identifying the 20% of activities that account for 80% of the results

• 🧮 Link to my favorite compound interest calculator

• 🥰 Moodboard with April intentions

• 💰 3 personal finance lessons I wish I and my girlfriends had learned in school

• 🎾 Naomi Osaka invested in what startup?

Quick Ask: If this newsletter doesn’t hit your regular inbox but your spam/promotions instead, can you please do me a favor and move it to your regular inbox? Email providers have gotten increasingly aggressive and I want to ensure you always receive my tips & resources moving forward. 🙏

🧪 Freedom Formulas

The #1 life skill that no one has taught you (until now):

➡️ Identifying the 20% of activities that account for 80% of the results. ⬅️

Also known as the Pareto Principle.

What does this look like in practice?

Well, there’s always going to be more to do.

More emails to write, more meetings to attend, more slide decks to create.

It doesn’t stop.

But just because you’re investing 50% more time or effort, doesn’t mean that the output is going to be 50% better.

So challenge yourself to figure out:

“What are the actual needle movers for my career and overall wellbeing?”

Chances are it in fact is not attending that 4745045th meeting that could have been an email instead.

Or attending happy hour.

Or taking that 9am call.

Time is our most valuable commodity.

You have to protect it ruthlessly.

To ensure you have enough energy to focus on what truly matters.

—

So next time you blindly accept that meeting invite, ask yourself:

“What would happen if I invested that extra hour in:

✅ building my personal brand on LinkedIn instead? OR

✅ strategically networking internally? OR

✅ learning a new skill? OR

✅ working on a project that gives me more visibility in front of my key stakeholders?

There is always going to be more work.

Chances are it’s serving someone else’s agenda.

But not yours.

❣️ Thamina’s Top Picks

🎙️ Overcoming Scarcity Mindset and Knowing When to Pivot with Zuri Adele (Balanced Black Girl Podcast)

📚 Untamed (by Glennon Doyle) Synopsis: How true leadership and personal fulfillment emerge from advocating for a life lived with authenticity and fearless self-acceptance.

🎙️ SHE Goat Podcast celebrating the extraordinary journeys of women in sports (by Iolanda Bronzoni)

💰 My favorite compound interest calculator to project how much my money grows over time

✨ This week’s Moodboard

Post credits go to @wearefeelgoodclub, @creeeeeesta via @bossbabe, @marisa_one_s_only via @ellevest, @sara_wiles

💸 Cooking up Wealth

3 personal finance lessons that I wish I (and my girlfriends) had learned in school:

1️⃣ Management fees can cost you several 6 figures

Understanding the impact management fees can have on your investment returns is critical.

A 1% fee might seem insignificant at first.

But over years and decades, it can compound and eat significantly into your earnings.

Let’s look at an example:

Let’s assume you invest $10,000 every year for 40 years.

In total, you will have invested $400,000.

At an average 7% annual return, your gross value would be just under $2.3M.

WITHOUT fees.

But WITH fees, it’s a different story.

An average 1% fee would leave you with ~$1.75M.

That’s a difference of more than half a million dollars.

I like using this mutual fund calculator that helps me understand the impact of fees.

2️⃣ It’s not about timing the market but time in the market

Any investor is hoping to buy low and sell high.

However, the market’s unpredictability makes timing very challenging, even for professionals.

According to S&P Dow Jones Indices,

78–97% of actively managed funds (as in those with higher management fees/total expense ratios) failed to beat the indexes (e.g. S&P 500) they were benchmarked against over 10 years.

Those are terrible odds if you ask me.

Starting as early as possible and staying invested, even through market ups and downs, is a more sustainable approach.

Lean back and let compound interest do its magic.

—

3️⃣ Investing doesn’t have to be complicated

The idea that investing is only for the wealthy or those with extensive financial knowledge is a myth.

From low-cost index funds and fractional shares to user-friendly investment apps and roboadvisors, getting started is more accessible than ever.

The finance jargon is annoying but not rocket science.

It’s not about getting everything perfect.

It’s about getting started and learning along the way.

And you can adjust your approach as your financial situation and goals evolve.

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice, it’s meant to be educational only, always do your own research.

🌊 Women Making Waves

• Women’s College Basketball Championship Game Draws Record-Breaking 18.9 Million Viewers (vs. 14.8 Million for Men’s); it is the most-watched basketball game — at any level (incl. NBA!) — since 2019. 🏀

• Black Woman Owned Blowout Bar Specifically For Textured Hair Raises $3.1M in Funding Naomi Osaka is one of the investors. 🔥

• The Great Wealth Transfer Will Make Women More Affluent And More Confident Than Ever - Women are set to inherit tens of trillions of dollars in the hands of women over the next few decades, which will result in women owning the majority of wealth in the US. 💸

Enjoyed this? I’d so appreciate it if you shared The Sheconomist with a friend (or two or three 😉)

In abundance,

P.S.: If you want to work with me directly, you can do so here.

Please note that I may receive commissions for some but not all my recommendations. I will never recommend something I don’t actually genuinely believe in or haven’t used myself.

🤳 Social Media Recap

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