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 65
1. Part-Time Work is a Great Option for Parents The Fioneers, by Downsize Your 2080
Carol has long been an inspiration to me in her journey to financial independence – the #slowFI path, in particular. She and her husband are now financially independent, and I love reading about their story because she’s worked part time for most of her adult life. It can feel sometimes like maybe it would be worth working more to make that bigger paycheck, but most of the time I’m very happy to be working less. And then stories like Carol’s help to solidify that fact.
The Fioneers’ #slowFI series is great, and this interview is particularly wonderful. If you’re toying with the idea of taking the more intentionally scenic path to FI, read this one for some more inspiration on the way there.
2. Feelings of Inadequacy During the Holidays Along The Camel Ride
“The financial independence community talks a lot about imposter syndrome, which is nothing more than a socially acceptable way of expressing our vulnerability around feelings of inadequacy.”
Katie shares a story of Lululemon leggings and her young niece, and it’s a great reminder that those feelings of inadequacy and buying our way into acceptance starts early on in life. It’s hard to break out of that cycle, but it’s so important, both for our wallets and the planet. Sometimes, just naming the feeling and the reasons behind the feeling can help take back why a purchase feels necessary when it isn’t.
3. Eight Personal Finance Confessions Our Bill Pickle
Sometimes, months don’t go quite as you hoped they would. And even in the very best of months, there are likely financial decisions you’ve made (either large or very small) that you might – probably – would have done differently looking back on the situation. Beating yourself up about those slip ups does no good, as they’re in the past, though that doesn’t mean ignore or forget them either.
It can feel sometimes like everyone writing about personal finance online has it all totally together, so I found it really refreshing that Tara wrote about what wasn’t going well. Onwards and upwards from here, but I really appreciate the transparency of sharing online. Sharing the not-perfect parts of life are so hard, but it is also so important for those of us who are sharing publicly. No one has it together 100% of the time, and it helps no one if that’s all that we see online.
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.
Featured this week? I’m so glad to showcase your work! Grab a badge for your site!
part time work is awesome. of course it helps if you’re in no huge rush to get to the finish line. we front loaded the pain like 12-14 hour days of work/school for me and mrs. me living in a $300 apartment in the hood for years just to have studio space. along the way we still managed to have ALL the fun and still throttle down the hours/stress in our 50’s.
i’m glad you featured katie. the pressure on kids to conform in the internet age is just crazy. even the “non-conformists” have their own uniforms just for the irony.
it’s fun to write about spending/investing blunders. sometimes i wonder if many people learn from reading about them or just chew it up and go make the same mistakes for themselves? all you can do is put the information out there.
Thanks, Freddy! Like you and Mrs. S, I front loaded too (I still think I’m front loading to an extent). It was extremely hard and painful at times, but I always told myself it would eventually pay off, and it was long before any of these blogs existed for support or ideas.
Amazing how you can have all the fun on less money, huh? Especially when you take care of the big three.
Oh man, the part-time work one was so good. My personal preference is t to work part-time after my husband finishes school, but my work benefits are so good it’s hard to imagine giving them up. I guess it’s good we have a few more years to figure things out!
Fingers crossed you can make it happen! I’m 80% time, so still over the threshold for benefits.
Wow. Katie’s post really stuck me because I have totally, 100 per cent been there. It absolutely does start early — and I can’t help but think in a lot of ways it’s even more amplified today. When I was 12, social media was not the thing it is today. I find it difficult to deal with those feelings (often spurred by social media) as an adult. Can’t imagine what it’s like for kids.
Thanks for the feature! And for getting the exact reason why I like to do posts like that in the first place: we work hard to do the best we can with our finances but…well I spent $50 on a shirt in November so… haha. I try to keep it real as often as I can. Added bonus if someone else finds it useful!
Thank you, Tara! I think all of us have been there and continue to find ourselves there now and then. Thanks fore reading! 🙂
And thank you, Angela, for sharing my article! 🙂 Happy holidays, all!
Happy holidays to you as well!
Thank you!
I can imagine that it’s way harder now with social media. But each generation has its own challenges for sure.
Angela, thanks so much for including my story via the #SlowFI interview with the Fioneers! I appreciate all you do for women on their own personal finance journey, especially letting others know part-time work can be a viable option! Thanks again and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you as well!