Welcome to another week of the Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays roundup. I started this series after months of debate because I wasn’t certain I wanted to up the ante and commit to publishing three posts a week. However, now that I’ve started sharing these posts, I’m so glad I started.
There are so many fabulous women writing about personal finance online, and yet there is still a perception that women aren’t good with money, don’t care about money, or don’t understand it on a granular level beyond perhaps knowing how to coupon and score a good shopping deal. These roundups are my way of doing a small part to change that perception. There are no shortage of women online doing their part to make it clear that they DO understand money, and these posts are meant to amplify that fact.
The hardest part of this post every week always is narrowing it down to my favorites, because there is just so much good content out there. If you’re ever interested in what else I’m reading, I share quite a few other posts on Twitter (and that’s also where I read most of the content to begin with these days).
Our Women’s Personal Finance Facebook group also has a sharing thread on Fridays, and that’s the place to read all the blog posts written by members over the previous week. If you’re looking for more articles written by women, that’s a great place to continue reading (plus we have plenty of great discussions on finances the rest of the week as well!).
If you don’t have the time or inclination to go searching down myriad posts, though, I will be continuing this series every week to showcase some of the best of the new content I read. If you ever read a post you thing I absolutely need to consider for this roundup, please let me know! I am always open to reading new blogs (and posts of blogs I do know, because I miss some).
Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays – Week 14
1. 8 Lies I Told Myself that Kept Me in Debt Good Life. Better.
I’ll argue with anyone who says that money – and more specifically, debt payoff – isn’t an emotional thing. It may technically be “just math,” but if that’s all it was, so many people wouldn’t be in the debt they are. It’s why, as much as I may disagree with him personally, Dave Ramsey does debt payoff so well. His methods play completely to the emotional. We are generally emotional beings, as much as we may attempt to say otherwise, so we may as well accept it and proceed accordingly.
Of all these Jenny describes here, number eight is definitely my biggest nemesis, be it paying off debt or now, saving and investing. Which of these is your hardest hurdle to overcome?
2. Teaching as Part of the Human Experience Frugasaurus
This was a really thought provoking read on teaching and leaving a legacy. I think sometimes that those of us who have children have a easy, concrete part that is clearly part of our legacy. But regardless of having children or not, I think it is so important to think about this on a larger scale. We don’t exist unto ourselves, and we would be in a much better place on this planet if everyone thought more broadly here.
I’m not a teacher in the traditional sense, but this post has me thinking a bit more how I might incorporate this sort of thing into my life. And no matter what, at least paying attention to it.
3. Your Husband Could Cost You $500,000: Why It’s A Bad Idea to Let Yo’ Man Manage Your Money The Dumpster Dog Blog
{Explicit} If you haven’t read anything by The Dumpster Dog yet, I will warn you that she swears a whole ton in pretty much all of her posts. But she is hilarious, smart, and absolutely worth reading.
As is hopefully obvious by this point, I feel very strongly about women being included – and leading – the financial conversation within relationships. In this post she gives four reasons why you shouldn’t allow your partner to be the one to manage your finances 100%. It may be hard sometimes, but it is so, so important to have real input in that part of your life.
Especially when it comes down to the poverty numbers as people age, this is such an important conversation. We are nowhere near financial parity, but it is vital that we get there. Read this post, and then go talk to a woman in your life about her finances.
I hope you enjoy the posts this week as much as I did. I read a ton of content and it was hard to narrow down my favorites. I’m looking forward to sharing some new ones with you again next week!
As always, if you’re looking for a categorized list of self identified women writing and speaking about personal finance, here is my comprehensive guide to the Women of the Finance Independence Community.
Another great roundup!
1. I’m with you… Lie #8 is the toughest one for me.
2. I love the idea of being intentional about leaving a legacy, and teaching others is a great way to do that.
3. Also after 15 years of working in the financial services industry, I can vouch for the fact that yo’ man may not be around forever. One of the toughest parts of my job was helping newly widowed or divorced women figure out their finances when they had no clue (because their hubby or bf had always managed the money). So many heartbreaking stories!
Oh I had no idea you worked in the financial services industry! It makes so much sense now why you’ve been so drawn to the personal finance community 😊
Thanks for the round up!
#3 really resonated with me after I found myself as the primary breadwinner and learning that that no one other than myself has to be responsible for my money and my freedom.
I’m a pretty new subscriber and discovered you through Rockstar Finance (I really liked your piece on The Case for Separate but Combined Finances)
How did you get started on your FI journey?
Thank you! And yes – it is so freaking important to be in control of your money.
Getting started on FI definitely started with paying off my student loans and finding punchdebtintheface.com back in the day. I did a guest post on Abandoned Cubicle about a year ago and it has a pretty good recap:
https://treadlightlyretireearly.com/2018/02/26/my-story-guest-post-on-abandoned-cubicle/