Women’s Personal Finance: Wednesday Roundup July 28, 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 #7 (Actually, 144)

1. How I Left a Toxic Job and Discovered Financial Independence Dollars Jar

“Financial independence means different things to different people. It’s most often referred to as the point at which your savings and investments can support you without working, and associated with retirement. 

But in my perspective, financial independence exists on a spectrum. You can become financially independent from debt, from a toxic job, a relationship, or working for money in general. And it even might mean different things to you at different times of life. 

For me right now it means independence from the fear I won’t be able to survive an emergency situation and the freedom to choose my work not only because of how much it pays but also because I am on board with the mission and vision of my employer.”

2. On aging The Frugal Girl

In a similar way, I am pretty sure that I will always prefer my young, no-under-eye-bags look to however my eyes look when I am 80. And trying to say otherwise feels sort of disingenuous to me.

However, I do not think this perspective is necessarily dooming me to a lifetime of sadness about my aging looks. 

Here’s why:

I don’t have to think aging is beautiful. I just need to realize how little it matters.

3. Spending Big Money When You’re Low Income Life at 23k

“I don’t know how, but a lot of people forget that us poor people have literally zero ability to change the price of anything. We can’t change rent, child care, healthcare or food prices. Not gas prices or the cost of a car. Literally nothing. 

Yet, a lot of people like to think we can control these external factors and just find the cheapest option and anything above the cheapest option is us being irresponsible. Sweet children that is just not how it works and there’s a very simple reason why….Inflation. Which again, we can’t control.”

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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