Women’s Personal Finance: Wednesday Roundup October 27, 2021

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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, 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.

Women’s Personal Finance Weekly Roundup #20 (Actually, 157)

1. We Did It – We Reached FIRE Eat Sleep Breathe FI

“We’ve reached FI (financial independence) and plan to live what most would consider an RE (retired early) lifestyle. To me, retirement (whether early or traditional) means:

1. No longer having to work for money.
2. Any work (paid or unpaid) is optional and purely for enjoyment.

M and I meet both those retirement ‘requirements,’ so I’m comfortable labeling ourselves as FIRE. (Go ahead—come at me, Internet Retirement Police!)”

2. Stay At Home Mom Jobs: Scams, Lies, and MLMs One Frugal Girl

“And therein lies the problem. Most stay-at-home moms are searching for jobs because they need cash. They don’t need it three years from now when their business takes off. They need it right now to buy groceries, put gas in their cars, or pay their mortgage.

If you are a stay-at-home mom in need of money, most of the jobs listed above won’t help you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim to create your own business or strive to become an internet sensation. 

It means you should understand why these jobs appear on the internet and how to spot their false promises.”

3. Should A 30 Year Old Plan For Retirement? Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance

“Compound interest or returns makes saving for your ideal retirement easier. The way compound interest works is simple: it pays out interest not only on your original investment, but also on the interest and capital growth that has collected over the years.

In the chart above, Investor #1 begins saving for retirement at age 25. She invests $5,000 per year for 10 years and earns an average 8% return. In sum, she’s invested a total of $5,000 x 10 years or $50,000. After 10 years, she stops her investing. At age 65. she has $787,180 in her account.

Investor #2 waits until age 35 to begin investing. He contributes $5,000 per year for the next 30 years and also earns an average 8% per year. He invested $150,000 by the time he reaches age 65. At age 65, Investor #2’s account is worth $611,730. He contributed $100,000 less than Investor #1 and yet has more than $150,000 less at age 65 than Investor #2.

And that is the power of time, investing and compound returns.”

Thanks For Supporting These Women Writers!

As always, if you’re looking for a categorized list of self identified women writing and speaking about personal finance, here is the comprehensive guide to the Women of the Financial Independence Community.

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