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 48

1. The Costs of Immigration Policy Free, Fun, Family

Immigration policy is certainly a hot button topic in this country right now, and I’m sure this wasn’t an easy post to publish. I’m so glad she did though, because I believe only the personal stories have a hope at really changing people’s opinions. Unless we give it a face, it is too easy to brush it off or pass judgement when it’s something that doesn’t impact us directly.

Someone close to me married a foreign woman and I’ve now just gotten real glimpses about how hard it is to become an American citizen, even when you do everything “right” and have the means and the time to wait out the very long process.

So with that, please go read this. It is long, it is detailed, and your stomach will sink to your shoes if you can put yourselves in their place. But it is an absolutely necessary read this week.

2. The Value of Happiness: Why I Walked Away From $40k Owning the Stars

I missed this post when it was first published, but it is too good not to share now, a month later. I’ve said any number of times that once you hit a certain level of financial security, you really should then be considering happiness and balance next, before looking to the next dollar.

It’s easy to say that as a theory, but it is a lot harder to actually follow through when a situation arises where you have the ability to choose: more money, or a better life. We don’t often hear stories where people have made these choices, and I think it’s important to amplify them when someone does and shares their experience.

3. Meaningful Side Hustles Misadventures in fire

I’d have to say, I’ve never read about the history of the term “side hustle,” but it’s fascinating. Even as recently as the last decade, I generally used the term “second job” whenever I did, in fact, have a second job, however part time. I think it’s only in very recent years (or at least since I’ve been more entrenched in the online personal finance community) that side hustle has become the term of choice for any money made outside of your day job.

And that term usually means trading some amount of time and effort for money, and there tends to be very little discussion about side hustles that bring meaning. I had one of those for six and a half years as a park ranger, and the meaning of the second job makes a heck of a difference in how it feels to trade away more of your time. On the flip side, it can be then much easier to value away your time because it’s something you enjoy.

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.