Values Added

06/30/2022

Last Friday, the Supreme Court struck down federal protection for abortion care. This will mean that many people who want/need abortions won’t be able to access them. As with so much in our society, the burden of this decision will fall especially heavily on those with limited financial means to pay for travel and medical expenses.

I imagine many of you are outraged, as I am. I wish I knew what to tell you but I haven’t found the answer even for myself.

We might not have the right words but I do want to share some initial steps Values Added is taking.

We’ve offered free investment and financial advice to Abortion Funds and will be meeting with a major city’s fund later this week.

We’ve reaffirmed our personnel policies that provide broad flexibility and support for VAF team members to take time off for medical services that meet their needs/preferences.

We plan to donate to the DC Abortion Fund and reproductive justice organizations fighting to strengthen state and local protections for reproductive rights.

Though this news is very bleak, I feel very moved to have clients and colleagues to work with toward a better world, one where healthcare is broadly available and people of all races, genders, and means can access as much as they need or want.

--Zach Teutsch

03/30/2021

We are excited to announce that Kathryn Kubiak-Rizzonehas joined the Values Added team as an associate financial advisor!

Kathryn loves helping women and families navigate the many financial decisions they face on the path to financial freedom, with a specific focus on serving the intersectional needs of women, people of color and LGBT+ folx. Her background in physical therapy and higher education highlights her passion for helping others understand complex topics and implement the changes they seek to reach their goals.

Kathryn lives in Rochester, New York with her family, where she is a parent leader with a strong commitment to educational equity and anti-racist advocacy. She has served on multiple nonprofit boards and strategic planning committees, is a member of her town and school districts’ Diversity and Equity committees, and is a grassroots activist in her community. When she’s not sharing financial guidance or working toward systems change, Kathryn can be found reminding adolescents to complete their chores and keeping a toddler from destroying the house. Her favorite ways to strive for work-life balance are family hikes, cooking, high-intensity workouts with good music, and traveling with her wife.

Kathryn has a BS in Physical Therapy from SUNY at Buffalo, an MS in Human Movement Science from UNC Chapel Hill, and a Certificate in Financial Planning from NYU School of Professional Studies. She is a member of the Financial Planning Association.

We know you’ll love Kathryn and can’t wait for you to meet her!

02/05/2021

I had a great conversation earlier this week on Takoma Radio about how we approach integrating your values with your decisions around money at Values Added. If you give it a listen, would love to hear your thoughts!

This week, we're breaking not one but TWO social taboos by talking about religion and money! My guests for the conversation are Rasul Shair, who is Muslim and serves as a Small Business Advisor for t

12/01/2020

It's Giving Tuesday and you are probably seeing solicitations from every direction (email, text, social, ads, etc). Thanks to all those who are sending these messages for reminding us that it's a great time to be thinking about what we can do to make the world better and more just. To help, after weeks of work and years of thinking, Values Added just released our guide to help you with giving. http://valuesaddedfinancial.com/charitable-giving-part-one/
The guide will help you develop a giving practice that is mindful, values-aligned, tax-efficient, effective, and fun.

The guide covers 5 questions:
*Part one: Why should I give?
*Part two: How much should I give?
*Part three: Who should I give to?
*Part four: How can I make giving a meaningful part of my life?
*Part five: How can I maximize the tax benefits of giving?

Would love your feedback! What resonated? What questions do you have? What did I screw up? Any reactions?

As the year approaches its end, lots of people begin to think about charitable giving. Unfortunately, this means that many people are rushing around trying to cram a year’s worth of giving back into one of the busiest months of all. If this is you, maybe it’s time to consider developing a well-p...

05/20/2019

Check out this month's edition of the Brown Alumni Magazine--it features Zach and Values Added!

"Brown’s alumni ranks are full of people who aim to do well and also do good. Zach Teutsch ’05 has made it his mission to help others do the same."

A financial manager with a social conscience

01/30/2019

I wrote this piece for Vox on 1) why emergency funds are important, 2) how big they should be, 3) how to get started even (especially) if it seems daunting, 4) why this a weirdly American problem, and 5) some hacks to keep you on track. I hope this helps you or people you know!

Workers missed two paychecks during the government shutdown. That would be an emergency for many Americans.

11/28/2018

We often help clients who are considering starting or are running new businesses. Sometimes they have the desire to build something really big (usually with investor support) and other clients would rather lead a small shop, perhaps doing political, data, or communications consulting. Either way, I want to share a book that I've found really useful myself. It's called "Entrepreneurial Action" and was written by Bob Caspe, a professor at Babson, in (one of?) the best entrepreneurship programs in the country. Conveniently, the book is currently available for free download. I think I paid $30 so with this link, you'll get the same super useful book but for free. You're welcome.
One last thought, thanks to Joshua Herzig-Marx for the original recommendation.
If you check out the book, let me know what you think.

This textbook was created by Bob Caspe for the graduate course called "Marketing for Entrepreneurs" that he taught at Babson College and other graduate universities as part of MBA programs in Entrepreneurship.  The course and textbook are designed to help an entrepreneur understand how to build an...

10/31/2018

Values Added Financial (VAF) is growing and we’d love to add a third team member in DC.

Join us and help progressives build thoughtful, prosperous financial lives!

It’s a great opportunity to learn financial planning in a mission-driven context with people who care deeply about clients.

Read more and see if it's the right fit for you here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eqplBGODTSIalxNxxUOH5e33Nruh6lSCFCbysEMEiGg/edit

It is essential for anyone joining the team to be able to participate in several meetings per week in our office in Petworth (DC). Team members could work remotely several days per week.

As a small firm, we know that the time to build a diverse staff is now. Given that, we strongly encourage women, people of color, and all members of other historically disadvantaged groups to apply. Having a diverse team is important to us and to the firm’s success.

If you have any questions, email [email protected].

10/01/2018

Given all that's been going on the past week or so, many people missed that credit freezes are now free. It's a really useful tool to protect against identity theft and other related issues. You can read more here:

A year after the Equifax security breach, most people have not frozen their credit records. Consumer advocates recommend freezes to foil identity theft.

09/26/2018

A few weeks ago (months ago?) I got an offer of some free google ad credits (if I spent some money on buying ads). I asked a friend who also runs a similar firm for a couple reasons: she gives great advice and since her firm is virtual she has done more thinking about online traffic and such. She quickly helped me see that it was a needless distraction--and she was right!

Anyhow, Meg Bartelt wrote a really interesting blog post about it and you might be interested to check it out.

A friend and fellow financial-planning-firm owner forwarded an email to me recently. It was a promotion from Google Ads, promising $300 in free ads if he first spent $300 of …

05/18/2018

Friends, as many of you know, Ari and I are hoping to begin teaching in-person sessions to help people build various financial skills, talk about money stuff, and know what to do in particular moments (having kids, wanting to buy a house, new job, etc). We love the idea of doing this since it will enable us to help more people and group learning can also help folks learn from other participants experiences.

We'd be very appreciative if you could take a few minutes (maybe less!) to fill out this super short interest form. We are trying to figure out topics should we cover when should we schedule the sessions for.

We plan to get started in DC but if it works well, we'll think about adding other cities down the line.