Meet Jenn Uhen: Founder, The Pledgettes, a community for women to talk about money.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jenn Uhen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenn, do you have a budget? how do you think about personal finances?
Having a budget is similar to being on a diet. It can feel restrictive and can set you up for failure. Then, if you fail, you may quit. I focus on my Net Worth Tracker, which I update monthly. This helps me look at big buckets of money and see how my investments are performing. For example, it may be a good investment for me to purchase a house and rent it out. A budget might just look at additional expense of a mortgage, maintenance, insurance, and taxes…without considering the rental income and the property value increase. I am also an advocate for making sure you are values-aligned with your money (spending, banking, and investing). To keep myself in check, I’ll go through recent credit card statements and make a checkmark next to anything that doesn’t align to my values. That expense is an opportunity for me to evaluate my spending and see if I can reduce what isn’t values-aligned. One of The Pledgettes members did this and saw she was spending a lot of money at brunch with friends…and doesn’t actually like brunch. She stopped going to brunch and scheduled more hikes and free activities with friends. This helped reduce her expenses and spend more time doing things she enjoyed.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Pledgettes is a community for women to talk about money. Each week we collaborate with an expert to share their favorite money topic. We talk impact investing, negotiation, retirement planning, money mindset, and so much more. We are on a mission to abolish the gender wealth gap by facilitating money conversations with women and allies. This community has not only been a way for me to help others on their personal financial journey but I have also grown considerably in my journey. There is no such thing as a self-made man, so we shouldn’t feel the pressure of achieving our financial goals on our own. Let’s do this together!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The amount of day-trips we have access to by living in Denver spoils me! Recently, we celebrated my husband’s birthday by enjoying the Hot Sulphur Springs and had lunch at Rudi’s in Winter Park. Rudi’s also has an Englewood location, so if I’m really craving the turkey avocado melt, I can run down there to pick up a sandwich. Rudi’s also catered our wedding in Grand County three years ago. I also loving spending time in Golden. A cinnamon roll and London Fog from Cafe 13, shopping at Toad & Co, and a dog walk along the creek.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The Pledgettes is a community of supportive women making money moves to achieve their own personal financial goals. We have incredible members including: Jessi Burg and Jacquelyn Chace of Pears to Perennials https://www.pearstoperennials.com/ Stephanie Vail, Realtor https://stephanievail.liveurbandenver.com/ Allie Moore of Creatives Learn Law https://www.creativeslearn.com/ Alycia Campbell of Creative PlanHer https://www.creativeplanher.com/ Heidi Buckout of Manifest Ink https://www.manifest-ink.com/

Website: https://thepledgettes.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepledgettes/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thepledgettes/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepledgettes

Image Credits
2nd image of Jenn Uhen at the table was taken by Rebecca Slaughter www.rebeccaslaughter.com