Financial Adulting

CHAPTER 6Consumer Activism

Next we're going to talk about consumer activism. The exercises in this chapter will increase the positive impact you have in the world with your money, which also typically has the wonderful side effect of decreasing the amount you spend.

What Is Consumer Activism?

Consumer activism means using your dollars to support or vote for things you believe in. It also means boycotting (or not using your dollars to support) companies that have values or take actions that are in opposition to what you want to support. The idea is that when we buy or don't buy something, our group buying power can influence companies to change their practices and policies.

Consumer activism can mean buying (or not buying) your everyday products or services from companies that believe and support the same values as you. It can also be in the form of giving to nonprofit organizations doing work that's important to you, and there are also opportunities to invest our money in ways that have an impact (we cover investing in Chapter 8). In order to become a consumer activist, we need to decide what our activism looks like.

Some Consumer Activism Inspo

For me, it's always helpful to learn and get inspiration from what others are doing. Sometimes this whole process can feel very abstract and overwhelming but Tanja Hester, author of Wallet Activism, maintains that it's worth it: “The collective good needs you.” I've included Tanja's framework for making financial decisions in the ...