For Women Who Refuse to Be Underestimated, Underpaid and Undervalued

I was 14 the first time I understood what financial freedom felt like. Wiping tables at Dairy Queen, while my classmates bought the newest blizzard flavor, laughing at me. But I didn’t care - because that was my money. My freedom. Then I got to college – first-generation, poverty background and had to put $200 on my first credit card. I almost had a heart attack, but I knew I was investing in my future – to break the cycle of poverty. Then, years later, I started representing women – smart, accomplished, successful women who were making far less than their male counterparts and learned that women leave about $1MM on the table over their career by not negotiating their salary. And when you do get the money, what do we do with it? Kimberly Palmer — personal finance expert at NerdWallet and this week’s guest on Takin’ Care of Lady Business — has spent her career closing that gap. This episode is the conversation I wish someone had handed me at 18. And honestly? It might be worth a million dollars to you.

With Love & Lady Business,
JJ

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In today’s edition:
1. Stop Playing It Safe With Your Money
2. Taking Back Control - Wherever You Are
3. Client Spotlight: Rozzi
4. Lady Bits

1. Stop Playing It Safe With Your Money

The financial system wasn’t designed to fail women. It was designed to exclude them. The wealth gap isn’t an accident. It’s the result of decades of women being told to leave the money to the men. To stay in their lane. To be grateful, not ambitious. And we internalized it. The hesitation, the over-saving, the flinching when someone asks what you make. That wasn’t weakness. That was conditioning.

Kimberly Palmer joins me this episode to name it, dismantle it, and give you the tools to stop leaving money on the table. Her message: stop treating money like it’s someone else’s problem. It’s your power. Start acting like it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
— Why avoiding risk is costing women more than making mistakes ever would
— The real reason money feels overwhelming — and how to fix it fast
— The first financial move every woman should make — and why most don’t

Episode Highlights:
(00:00) — Meet Kimberly Palmer
(02:00) — The girlfriend who wouldn’t talk salary
(03:06) — Why financial systems feel so overwhelming
(03:36) — The fear of making a money mistake
(11:07) — The letter Kim’s mom wrote that changed everything
(14:00) — Why tracking your spending comes first
(15:00) — The 50/30/20 budgeting breakdown
(27:10) — Why women invest too safely
(33:47) — Giving back while making money
(34:50) — The worst advice Kim ever got

→ Listen now

2. Taking Back Control - Wherever You Are

Before the strategy, I need you to sit with one question first. What are you worth? By yourself. Not as someone's partner. Not as someone's mother. You, alone — what are you worth? Most women, accomplished, powerful, successful women, have never answered that out loud. And it's costing them at every stage:

IF YOU'RE BUILDING: Every year you don't negotiate compounds against you. A $25K raise left on the table at 35 isn't $25K - it's $400K over a decade. The discomfort of one conversation does not cost what silence costs.

IF YOU'RE PARTNERED: Know every account, every asset, every liability in your household. Your own credit. Your name on things. If your partner resists any of this, that is information worth having.

IF YOU HAVE MONEY: Do you know where it is? How it's structured? What happens to it if everything changes? I've watched women lose it all in divorce and lose it just as fast when a windfall arrived because no one taught them how to hold it. Having money is not the same as owning your financial power.

REAL TALK: You cannot negotiate for yourself if you don't know your worth. You cannot protect what you have if you don't understand it. Financial fluency at every level is how we break free.

This week: name your number. What do you make, what are you worth, and what's the gap? Write it down. That's where we start.

3. Client Spotlight: Rozzi

Some artists spend their whole career waiting for someone to hand them the moment. Rozzi builds it herself. If you don’t know Rozzi yet, fix that today because her new album Fig Tree just dropped. May 8th. Right now. Go listen.

Rozzi is an LA-based soul-pop artist who has spent the last decade earning every room she’s walked into. She was discovered by Adam Levine at 19, toured arenas with Maroon 5, and Kelly Clarkson, and has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Today Show, The Talk, and Apple’s The Morning Show. She’s collaborated with Nile Rodgers, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Sheryl Crow, and Jacob Collier. Her song “Best Friend Song” was the title track for Netflix’s Me Time. She even played herself on Hulu’s Dollface.

Fig Tree is out now. The LA residency is coming. Go listen, go follow. 

Lady Bits

💸 Women investors outperform men in this financial market and no one is more surprised than men. Read more 

💰 Women are expected to inherit this much by 20248 and what are they doing with it? Read more 

🎵 She Works Hard for the Money— Donna Summer, 1983. Still the one. Play it loud on the way to your next negotiation. You’ve earned it. Listen here

😤 Single women deliberately do this out of fear and it needs to stop. Read it here.

📚 Smart Mom, Rich Mom: How to Build Wealth While Raising a Family by Kimberly Palmer

🎬 Hollywood Has Been Ignoring Its Biggest Audience for Decades. The AARP CEO Just Called Them Out. Read it here.

Hi, I’m JJ

Since starting the Justice Dept, we have increased women's wealth by over $100MM in just over 5 years. Want to know what inspires me to do this work, other than making women money? My clients' surprised reaction when we manage to get them much better terms for themselves and their companies, whether via talent agreements, employment, severance, partnerships, asset sales or investments. They often admit that they never thought they could get that result. Not even hoped. This blows my mind. As we know at The Justice Dept. you are all worth everything you ask for and more. Reach out and we’ll show you how!
x TJD