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 think 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 39
1. The Four Stages of my FIRE Journey (so far) Fiery Millennials
I think any of us who have fallen down the Financial Independence/Retire Early rabbit hole know these four stages well (or at least the first three). If anything, I see step one get skipped, but there isn’t enough discussion on step four.
Step four is where I’m sitting now (I’d call step five reaching your FIRE number, but we’re clearly a ways away from that still). Regardless, I think step four is the most important one and a part of the FIRE journey that gets overlooked or ignored altogether.
2. Why I’m Not Having Bridesmaids At My Wedding Stephanie O’Connell
One of the big plus sides of getting married super young like I did (and even better, pre Pinterest) is that you really don’t have any frame of reference for what is “normal” for a wedding. I did have bridesmaids, but we didn’t have a rehearsal dinner, I let them wear dresses they already owned, and otherwise just asked them to show up and be a part of my wedding. And the bouquets were silk flowers handed down to me from my one friend that I knew who actually got married before me.
That being said, a decade later, I’ve seen a number of friends get married and have been in a couple weddings myself (but have somehow never been forced to buy an expensive matching bridesmaids dress). The idea that there is an expectation to drop four figures just to be in someone else’s wedding is mind boggling to me, and I love that Stephanie writes so publicly about why she’s going a different route. No less love, but also a heck of a lot less money.
3. How To Financially Prepare For The Climate Crisis Money After Graduation
While the optimist in me hopes that things won’t get *quite* as bad as Bridget describes in this post, I have to admit, those things are on my mind as well. At best, we’re all going to be impacted by climate change to some degree. At worst, it’s going to be a whole lot worse.
As much as I love talking about money and women’s money in particular, there’s a reason this blog is named “Tread Lightly” – if we all don’t make some serious choices and changes soon, early retirement may not matter so much. Above all else, we need to protect this planet. And individually, we should also be preparing for if and when this really start to rock the current status of the Earth.
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 Financial Independence Community.
