June 25, 2024

Fashion substacks are the new haul videos, tipflation and retirement worries

This week I’m sharing a few things that I’ve been thinking about. This is a long one, so settle in.

Fashion substackers

I love clothes. I enjoy looking at them, shopping for them and putting together outfits. I also enjoyed them a bit too much in 2021 when I decided that self-care included shopping. 

I also love magazines and still buy them. So that means I am the ideal audience for fashion and style substacks which come with curated pictures and links, several of them affiliated. 

I’ve been very tempted and did buy an Everlane wool polo sweater from one newsletter and I have no regrets about that purchase. I wore it constantly last winter and spring and will wear it again.  

But after one too many Caroline Bissett Kennedy mentions and the same looks over and over again with the same types of links, I wondered, “does this thing actually look good or it is just expensive and worn by a slim person?” or “Why is everything so expensive?”

First, the chokehold CBK has on a certain demographic of women is ridiculous and second, fashion and style substacks are the new haul videos.

You remember those, right? Videos where people just showed off their purchases and linked them below. They reached their zenith between 2008 and 2018 with some creators getting millions of views per vid just showing off hundreds of dollars worth of stuff they may have gone into debt to buy.  

When it comes to spending money, we need to recognize these substacks for what they are - shopping platforms - and protect our wallet from impulsive spending. 

Now, a lot of these substacks aren’t blatant haul videos. No one is sitting down surrounded by bags and 15-30 minutes talking about their new purchases, which seems to be, in no particular order: wide-legged trousers, vests and ballet flats, sometimes in mesh.

(As someone who lives in the city - gross.)

What they are doing is documenting what they wore (with links), what they bought (with links), what they were gifted (with links), what they bought if they’re rich (with links), what they’re thinking of buying (with links) or what they’re dreaming about but won’t buy (with links). 

Business of Fashion (BoF) has a report on how beauty substacks with active chats are good businesses for the owners and brands looking to reach their audience. Where beauty goes, fashion usually follows.

And on top of that, Bain & Company and Farfetch found that millennials will represent 40% of the global personal luxury goods market by 2025.That’s six months from now. Think about that.

There’s nothing wrong with substackers doing any of this, to be clear. Several of them are former or current fashion journalists, stylists and influencers. This is their job and considering the state of media, why not make money off of it. 

What we need to do is be aware of the ecosystem we’re in when we consume that content, and not add to cart and hit complete purchase. It’s nothing new, just another platform that encourages spending.  

We can enjoy and pay for their content without clicking on the links, or we can just unsubscribe if we don’t want to be tempted to click and buy.

Retirement worries

This is the second thing on my mind, not because I’m retiring anytime soon as I plan on working until I can’t. What brought this to my mind was the sixth Canadian Retirement Survey released this year by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP).

The report found that Canadians are worried about not having enough to retire on:

Persistent high interest rates and a rising cost of living continue to have a significant negative impact on Canadians’ ability to save and manage the cost of daily life, threatening their retirement preparedness. While all Canadians are struggling, women and those closest to retirement are especially hard hit with lower savings and higher levels of financial stress.

Of those surveyed, 49 per cent said they didn’t put any money towards their retirement in the past year. Many are banking (pun intended) on the sale of their home to fund their retirement. 

That raises questions such as: 

When you sell, will you make enough money to 1. Buy a smaller place in a market that is haywire right now or 2. Fund a long-term care home?

Other results weren’t that surprising to me. Working and retired women were worried about their retirement. Duh? Do I need to point out that pay gap that still exists and the years women spend out of the workforce caring for children and family members? 

Housing affordability, equal pay enforcement and affordable daycare to start, you bastards. 

Here’s what I found interesting: 

Canadians with workplace pensions are better prepared for retirement, as those with access are more likely to have more savings than those without:

• Canadians with a workplace pension plan are able to save more efficiently. Just 29% of those with a workplace pension have less than $5,000 in savings, compared to almost half (48%) of those without.

• More than half (59%) of unretired Canadians with a workplace pension feel somewhat or very well prepared for retirement, compared to only a third (34%) of those without.

Now the report doesn’t say if it’s a defined benefit or defined contribution pension but it makes sense. Pensions do make it easier to save as the onus isn’t entirely on the employee. Defined benefit pensions are better, as the company manages it. It’s expensive so a lot of private companies have switched to a defined contribution plan, which puts more of the responsibility on the employee. There are pros and cons to both. 

You can set up your registered retirement pension plan (RRSP) or a tax-free savings account. In 2020, 58.1 per cent of Canadians contributed to some kind of registered plan.

I have a very small pension thanks to another gig I do. So far with the contributions I make, when I retire, I’ll get $7 a month. I think that’ll buy an extra-extra small coffee by then.

 

Read: Why you need a team

When you’re single, you do most of the work. As I’ve mentioned before, you’re the primary wage earner, cook/chef, cleaner, accountant, coach, etc.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot to carry and sometimes you just want to lay down on your couch and sleep forever.

That’s why delegating to a team can help.

CEOs want people back in the office. Why not start with covering commuting costs

If you live in Toronto, you may have read about how Mayor Olivia Chow met with bank CEOs in Toronto’s Financial District to talk about revitalizing the downtown area aka, the financial district around Bay Street. 

Mayor Chow revealed that the solution was to encourage people back into the office four to five days a week. The rationale was that increased foot traffic will help struggling businesses still recovering from the pandemic. 

Not to protect their real estate investment portfolio, their weird obsession with face-time, collaboration and camaraderie, their need to maintain corporate control, or to do a little quiet firing. This despite multiple studies that show that hybrid work doesn't affect an employee or a firm’s performance, reduces quit rates by a third and helps more people get into the workforce including female employees and people with disabilities. 

Also, forcing people back into the office is ableist especially if you don’t plan on providing accommodations.

Maryam Siddiqi pointed out that it is not employees’ responsibility to revitalize the downtown core and there are alternatives. 

May I suggest another? If you’re going to dictate that people come back into the office, pay for commuting and parking.
As you saw, I’m not the first person to suggest this. Let’s do some very basic math around commuting costs. 

Taking the TTC is $6.60 a day for two trips. That’s $33 a week, $132 monthly. There are no tax deductions for this. 

If you drive, there’s parking which ranges from $14-$24 a day. That’s $70-$120 a week, etc. etc. 

That’s money a lot of us aren’t spending right now. Factor in coffee, food if you don’t cook or don’t like leftovers and aftercare for your kids and we’re back to spending money.

And please don’t give me the argument that commuting costs are built into your salary? Really? So can someone leave home at 9 am and leave work at 4:30 then? That’s within working hours.

Will this happen? Of course not because of the society we live in and right now 77 per cent of Canadians are staying at their current job because they fear a lack of job security at a new firm. This is according to a recent poll from global recruitment consultancy Robert Walters.

All I’m saying is don’t be that person and demand. Sweeten the pot, don’t run to the mayor. One hand can’t clap, even if that hand is attached to a CEO. 

(How many of you just tried clapping with one hand? Let me know.)

Canadians are not fans of tipflation

A study released today by Lightspeed found that 67 per cent of Canadians feel increased pressure to tip, while 54 per cent say inflation has affected their ability to do so. Tipflation isn’t new and several experts think it’s here to stay. Some of us are scaling back on the size of tip, with 25 per cent of us tipping less. 

Now according to the report, that means we’re cutting back on tipping the most when compared to U.S., U.K., and France. 

I checked the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the mean hourly wage for a restaurant server is $17.56. That means some are making more, some are making less. I asked if there were other factors influencing why we’re tipping less. The data doesn’t show this but you can extrapolate that the cost of living in some Canadian cities like Toronto, higher taxes in Canada, and potentially the consumer's understanding of restaurant staff's hourly rates. If people know staff make less per hour, they may be inclined to tip more.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you.

This week’s readings:

By me. Is the sou-sou saving method right for you and your friends? Just beware of the scams (Toronto Star)

I’m a Financial Expert: Always Use These 7 Money-Saving
Shortcuts for Buying Groceries (Yahoo!)

Why are so many big-city condos sitting empty? | About That (CBC News)

The wage gap for women in Canada's tech sector is only getting worse: report (CBC)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a proposal to ban medical bills from credit reports (CFPB)

Are lower housing prices on the way? Plus, CPI basket makeover (MoneySense)