Shivani Peterson
As a mortgage lender I have a front row seat to folks’ finances on a very personal and in-depth level. Unlike a CPA who jumps in annually to assess a tax liability or a financial adviser who is focused on long-term wealth, us mortgage loan officers require a very comprehensive inspection of your financial health.
It’s not an overview, it is an in-depth review of your credit, your monthly liabilities, your income earned and retained. We analyze your spending and savings habits, your assets as they stand currently and how they are forecasted to appreciate.
We look at what others have to say about your finances through various verifications and ultimately, we assess your risk level. It’s a financial colonoscopy and to be frank, we really get in there.
In doing this for 11 years and reviewing hundreds of financial portfolios, I noticed one common denominator amongst the most financially secure borrowers I came across. Multiple streams of income. They hadn’t gotten to this level of wealth by just working a 9-5. Their current lifestyle and future financial goals were not sustainable with only one income source. The financially free are sleeping at night (and traveling by day) with the help of a lot of passive income.
Then the pandemic happened. As a mortgage lender I saw a great many impacted by what they thought would never happen – their safe and secure singular source of income, their job… it became a lot less guaranteed. If the importance of passive income streams had been a more mainstream conversation, mental health for many would have fared better through those years. Especially women.
The impact of the pandemic on gender equality was severe. It was moms and wives who left their jobs – permanently – to support their households internally. From homeschooling to the political unrest that ensued, by February 2021 our participation in the workforce was at its lowest level since 1988. We lost an entire generation of gains.
I say “our” and “we” because I’m a female. I am a part of said workforce. I started thinking about what that means as a mother, as a wife, as a human. I believe in feminism from a systemic point of view. When women are financially empowered, their families benefit. As do the generations to follow. The communities around them improve, from their social circles to their churches to their school district and neighborhood.
Yet women today are so busy, it’s like we are on a hamster wheel. While we are running on that thing, it’s really hard to look outside and see that learning more about passive income could change your life.
This inspired me to start The Future is Female – a fundraising group focused on empowering women as real estate investors, while supporting local women and children. It started as a one-hour panel online. I interviewed a real estate investor and three experts.
We’ve had a trust attorney, an insurance agent, a property manager, a 1031 exchange specialist, and a financial adviser speak on various panels alongside women who invest in real estate personally for a variety of reasons. The goal is always to raise awareness about how investing works and give women the connections they need to learn more. By gathering together, we empower each other because you’re able to learn from another woman’s journey.
Over the past three years the event has grown. It transitioned offline to in-person and then from a panel to a half-day workshop. After the first four panels, the feedback was that while everyone in attendance was very inspired – they needed more tactical tips and strategies to actually get started.
So, The Future is Female expanded from a one-hour panel to a four-hour event including mini-workshops from our panelists. The panelists teach a valuable skill they’ve learned when it comes to investing. Our seventh event just took place on March 7 where investors from all over the country flew in to educate our local community on the many different ways a real estate portfolio can be built and grown. This last event raised over $20,000 for The Women and Children’s Center of the Sierra – bringing our total amount fundraised for them to just over $50,000.
WACCS is a local non-profit committed to giving women a hand up, not handouts. They may be best known for their free diapers or food bank but when women come in for these items, they are offered a very wide range of services which serve to lift them out of poverty.
I became aware of the center through another local group, Thank you Ma’am Reno. Thank you, Ma’am is an amplified giving group of women, that meets quarterly. There are over 100 women in the group, and each donates $100 into the “pot.”
Four local nonprofits are able to pitch us to win the whole pot. After a five-minute presentation from each nonprofit, the group votes and whichever nonprofit received the most votes – wins the $10,000-plus donation for that quarter.
They come back next quarter to report how the funds helped their cause. WACCS specifically has seen a huge increase in need from the community over the past year, more than double the number of families coming in.
Our fundraising efforts are needed now more than ever. The next Future is Female will be Oct. 17, and is open to anyone and everyone. Join us if you’re looking to learn more about real estate investing, join us if you’re looking for a community committed to lifting as we climb, join us if you are just looking for an afternoon of positive vibes.
For information, visit www.shivanipeterson.com.
