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 73

1. Never Enjoy Anything Ever Partners in Fire

There are certain personal finance experts/gurus that talk about the deprivation that you need to put yourself through in order to reach debt freedom. While debt freedom is great and all, life is more than that, and I absolutely hate that advice.

Melanie tackles this unhealthy advice head-on, and I love her for it, especially the fact that she discusses the structural parts of life that make it much harder for some to get out of debt than others. Putting everything down to mindset and “wanting it bad enough” isn’t the discussion we should be having. Yes, let’s celebrate people taking control of their financial lives and getting debt free, but let’s not celebrate it to the detriment to every other part of life.

2. Saving for Retirement: Interview #2 Baby Boomer Super Saver

This post is from back in November, but I only read it this month, so I’m including it in this roundup. While I try and curate really recent content on Wednesdays, I sometimes find posts that got by me the first time and know I want to share them regardless. This is one of those (especially because it’s a series).

Kathy highlighted this post for me to read when I tweeted that I would read – and comment – on any blog posts people shared in the thread that day. I’m so glad she did, because it’s a great idea for a series, and it reminds me of The 76k Project’s Finances Over 40 series. Personal stories of women over forty – and especially those who started saving for retirement late – are so, so important. If we are going to reach the women who feel they are behind (or too late) and convince them otherwise, then having stories they can relate to is vital.

3. Microaggressions And Giving Up On My Favorite Company A Purple Life

I can’t speak to the microaggressions that Purple has faced at her company, which is exactly why this post is so important for me to share. I’m so frustrated and disappointed for her, but not surprised. If you listen to people of color, this kind of thing is still rampant in our society, as much as we might like to pretend it doesn’t.

The part that really hit me was the question about how many people of color the company had hired. I hadn’t considered that on its own, but perhaps I should have. I’m often the one or one of the few women in many meetings and board rooms, and you notice. This post has me pondering the company I work at as well, and how we can be more proactively welcoming rather than simply not negative.

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!