3 Reasons for Healthy Savings Against Fascism
This is going to address some brutal truths, but you need to hear them
Elizabeth Silleck La Rue
2/1/20261 min read
I’m not playing with money this year. Not that I ever really “played” with money, but I have given away too much free and discounted labor out of the kindness of my heart.
But the kindness of my heart doesn’t pay rent or buy medication. It doesn’t keep the electricity on, put food in the fridge, gas in the car, or the many, many professional services and digital tools that are increasingly necessary for self-employed people working remotely across borders.
Without getting too deep into it, I’ll just note that things were looking promising in October 2024 for my business, between emigration consulting and equitable conservation consulting for nonprofit organizations.
Within weeks after the November election, it was clear that substantial funding projections by my nonprofit clients — heavily reliant on federal dollars — had simply disappeared. For my husband, the opportunities never materialized to begin with.
By February, 2025 it was official — none of the substantial contracts I anticipated working on happened. We are managing — barely.
I’ve learned some hard lessons along the way with regard to one-on-one emigration consulting. I’ve had some wonderful, honorable clients. I’ve also had other people waste my time and extract. People who asked for free advice, promising to enter into contracts, and then disappeared. People who claimed their situation was an “emergency,” demanded my time over the weekend, promising all along that they’d sign a retainer, and then completely bailed on it. Friends and family members who expected me to give away seasoned professional advice for free, even though they have steady, well-paying jobs and benefits.
Boundaries are up this year, because we need to be serious about taking care of our family.
And I’m writing this to you to encourage you to be similarly protective over your resources and time. Unapologetically.
Because there are three very significant potentialities that USers who are not complicit with fascism may be facing. Dealing with them will require funds...
