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Welcome to the Women’s Personal Finance Wednesday Roundup! We started this series back in 2018 on TreadLightlyRetireEarly.com to showcase the fabulous women in the online personal finance community who are talking about money online. Even now, there is 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 our way of doing a small part to change that perception. There is 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.
Why does it matter? Because representation matters. Because reading and hearing stories from those who (may or may not) look like us show us that yes, we too can figure out this money thing, that we too have important stories to tell. And that we too know quite a lot about money and are experts worth listening to.
Since Women’s Personal Finance has grown up to get its own website, it’s time to transition these roundups over here to the dedicated website. Same great content, new home!
Our Women’s Personal Finance Facebook group on Facebook 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 and nonbinary folks, 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, we will be continuing this series every week to showcase some of the best of the new content we read. If you ever read a post you think we absolutely need to consider for this roundup, please let us know! We are always open to reading new blogs and want to celebrate those newer voices as well as the more seasoned ones.
And with that, here is the best (in our opinion) content by women and nonbinary folks this past week. Let us know what you think in the comments! We love discussion.
Table of Contents
Women’s Personal Finance Weekly Roundup #89 (Actually, 228)
1. The Road Trip – What Almost Everyone Gets Wrong on the Journey to FI Money Flamingo
“Most people who learn about Financial Independence and decide it is for them will create a plan that takes into account these four ingredients.
However, two of them hardly ever get questioned and are usually accepted as set in stone: the destination (Brisbane, aka Financial Independence) and the road to get there (in this case, the highway).
Once a new FI enthusiast has set up their plan, they usually give most of their attention to the other two ingredients: fuel (income) and their chosen vehicle(s) (investments).“
2. How to Figure out the Real Cost of Everything You Buy Rich Frugal Life
“Sometimes, this analysis gives me an excuse or permission to indulge (like my sweatpants). Other times, it helps us to overcome the hurdle of a more expensive option that we know is probably a better choice. For example, when we remodeled our kitchen a few years ago, we had a 3-year old and were both still working full-time. Although the remodel would have been much cheaper if we had DIY’d it rather than hiring a general contractor, we didn’t want to devote the extra hours or deal with the added stress of taking it on ourselves and being without a kitchen for months. At the end of the day, the estimated cost difference was only about an extra week or two of work at my job, so I just pushed out my quitting date to feel better about the decision.”
3. The Truth About Women and Debt Nafeesah Allen, Ph.D. and Lisa Milbrand on Real Simple
“In media and popular culture, women are often pegged as the household shopaholic—buying shoes, clothes, and other luxuries that stretch family budgets. But while it’s true that women do drive the majority of consumer spending in the household, the reality is they’re not shopping just for fun; they’re carrying the mental and financial load of making sure the home and family run smoothly, whether that’s buying the kids’ school supplies or a replacement toaster when the old one is on the fritz.
In fact, research has shown that women’s relationship with debt isn’t about frivolous spending at all. Instead, economic uncertainty brought on by the pandemic and a lack of universal maternal leave are compounding women’s already heavy student debt burden.”
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As always, if you’re looking for a categorized list of self-identified women and nonbinary folks writing and speaking about personal finance, here is the comprehensive guide to the Women of the Financial Independence Community.