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.

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 106

1. How Your ACE Score Affects Your Money Habits Eugenié George via Femme Frugality

“Imagine grocery shopping one sunny afternoon. You have all the right ingredients in your grocery cart, and you’re ready to purchase.

But you have a taste for Honeycrisp apples. 

You look at the price tag and see that the apples are $3.49 a pound. That’s, like, a dollar more than any of the other apples! You have money to purchase the product, but you experience a weird uneasy feeling in your gut. Your brain is running several ideas: 

Girl, don’t waste your money on that! You can get cheaper apples at Kroger.

But on the other hand, apples are healthy, and you know what they say about apples and doctors.

You don’t have any money at all. 

If I had a man (or woman) who supported me, I could buy apples. 

I bet White people don’t have this problem. 

We can’t afford that because papa is looking for a new job. 

Now in the 35,000 thoughts that we run through our brain, which thought was the weirdest?

It was probably, “We can’t afford that because papa is looking for a new job.” 

Why was that thought in your brain, you might ask? It’s because even though we are deciding on an action in the present, our minds can be triggered by Financial PTSD.”

2. (Cheating At) Not Buying Clothes For A Year Tortoise Happy

“And then there’s what you learn from doing a challenge. Will I value my clothes more? Will I consume less in general? Will I save more money than I’m really expecting to? Will I finally pick up my sewing kit to sew the pocket back on my dressing gown? (Probably not, the corner has been torn for about 18 months now, but who knows?)

The bit where I persuade you to try a clothing ban

Except I’m not going to. I think a clothing ban is something you need to decide yourself you’re ready for. Until you decide for yourself, it feels impossible.”

3. How To Invest On A Low Income Moriah Chace

“Don’t get me wrong, it was daunting at first. Money management is coded as masculine in our culture, and while women are fully capable of rocking money (check out Tori Dunlap and A Purple Life if you want to see women KILLING it), I know I had some anxiety tackling something that I didn’t feel I could do. And the gender gap made me feel worse about it. I didn’t want to be seen as dumb or ask stupid questions. So I broke it down into smaller steps. And now I’m an investing pro.”

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!

4 thoughts on “Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays: Week 106 Roundup

  1. I wish I could pursued everyone to invest (at any income). I started a Roth IRA at 19 (a whooping $25/month!) and gradually increased the amount to the annual Roth IRA max + another 12% of my income towards retirement. It’s entirely possible if you’re willing to pass on the nice things and start saving early. 🙂

  2. I work for the state (CA) and am part of the UCRP retirement system and am 43 years old. I automatically have 8% of my gross paycheck taken out for a pension plan. 3% I contribute for Roth IRA. How much should I be putting away towards a 403b? (no match as Im a state employee). This past year I put away a little more than 6% I have 12k in car loan is the only debt. I currently have about $50k in the 403b. HCLA so a large mortgage payment and property taxes are expected. Health care will be supplemented in the retirement package.

    1. What interest rate on the car loan? Any dependents? Working partner? Shoot me an email if you want to talk details! 😄

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