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 97

1. Surround Yourself With Inspiration Modest Millionaires

“Dreaming about this grand plan is one thing but meeting people who have executed it is another. These are real people who have seized some opportunities and overcame some of their fears that come up along the journey and reached this objective.”

The blogging community has been such a big deal for me as well. While it’s possible to find those same inspiring people without it, the online personal finance community has been absolutely integral for me, and for Mel as well. Surrounding yourself with people who inspire and encourage you can be the big difference between success in failure in reaching your goals. 

For me, it’s not just been about reaching my goals, but also understanding and working on living in the now and being content with the journey. While it’s easy to read the get-rich-retire-early-quick stories, I find real inspiration in the people who are intentional in their lives, who use money to make their best situation now and in the future.

2. Advice for 2020 Grads From a Millennial That Graduated in 2010 Keeping up With The Bulls

“While it’s tough, there are still ways to thrive. I graduated in 2010 and saw a lot of this first hand. We had less paid internship opportunities in college. Entry jobs didn’t begin opening up until much later. We also saw many of our friends who graduate a year or two above us get a job offer and then have it revoked, get laid off after only months of working or struggle to get that first job after graduation. Based on what I saw during the Great Recession and how we all took control of our jobs and our finances in the decade since here is my advice for graduates.”

I graduated in 2009, and that first year and a half post graduation was ROUGH. I lucked out and landed my current job after that, and while the salary was still low, it launched me into the career I have now. Had I this kind of advice early on after graduating, I may have made different choices that would have made things easier.

No matter what, graduating into a recession is hard, and it’s easy to get discouraged. But school was worth it, and you’ll get through this.

3. Worrying and Your Locus of Control Firebird Finance

“Worrying seems to be part of everyone’s way of life right now, myself included. With everything going on, it’s hard not to take it all in at once and just worry. The mantra that we hear over and over again is “Worrying doesn’t help.”. Today, I wanted to talk about how this statement is true but, more importantly, how it’s false. We’re all going to worry, so let’s try to see the positives of that worry and then see if we can’t focus it into useful endeavors. This comes down to worrying and your locus of control.”

Yep, worry is definitely a daily part of life right now. I like that Emily focuses here on the fact that worry exists, and that it’s okay to exist. It can even be helpful, if it’s directed in ways that can matter.

Right now especially, I appreciate conversations that don’t dismiss how hard life is right now, but understands that fact and looks to how we can work through this really hard time.

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.

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