Why Taking Control of Your Finances Is Essential to Being An Empowered Woman
Have you ever heard of Serena Williams? Yes, of course you have. She recently starred in an ad about financial abuse.
Have you heard of financial abuse? I hadn’t, until I saw this commercial. And it’s an incredibly important topic.
Let’s watch her commercial together before going any further.
Wow, scary, right?
If you’re like me, and you’re not in this kind of situation, I’m so glad. Helping you avoid this kind of situation is part of why I started this blog.
NOTE: If you’re in a place where you’re experiencing this kind of abuse, I want to say right now: This is not what you deserve. I want to help you so badly, but I’m not qualified to give advice on this, so please seek professional help.
But you know what? There’s a lot of financial quicksand out there to pull you under, not just financial abuse. And you can walk right into them all on your own.
If you don’t believe me, just take a look at these examples of financial quicksand. If they don’t describe you (that’s awesome), but they definitely affect your friends and coworkers.
- Being thousands of dollars in credit card debt
- Having a low credit score
- Bearing the burden of student loan debt
- Forgetting to invest for retirement
- Going into debt to buy a car
- Renting for years because you don’t have enough for a down payment on a home
And there are more. I don’t want to scare you, or make you feel worse if you have these types of things plaguing you — I want to help you.
Here’s the key to getting free and avoiding the quicksand all together.
Avoiding financial quicksand starts with getting educated about your money.
When I was young, I was lucky, because my dad took a lot of time to talk to me about investing, saving, spending, and helped me understand things like the stock market and why early money is good money. (Even though I sighed and huffed about having to have this type of conversation.)
Read more about financial empowerment: Why We Save Money: 6 Reasons to Convince Yourself to Save More
Not everyone has that person in their life, especially women. If you didn’t, you might be getting off to a slower start. That’s totally okay! The good thing to remember is that with the internet, there is soooo much information out there to help you understand money and finances.
The best place to start? This article.
But in case you don’t find what you’re looking for here, these are a few of my very favorite places to learn about money:
- Girls Talk Money: This blog is meant to help women become more educated about their money, hence — more empowered.
- NerdWallet: Need to know what a credit score is? Not sure how to apply for a mortgage? Start here!
- Penny Hoarder: If you’re looking for side hustle ideas, they’ve got a billion.
- The Money Habit: This blogger is extremely knowledgeable and has tons of great ideas about finance and money.
- Mr. Money Mustache: MMM is a renowned money blogger — his thing is achieving financial freedom through “badassity.”
- The Morning Brew: This email newsletter is more of a rundown on the economic and financial news of the day, in case you want to get educated. I started reading and can’t stop! (Caveat: This link is a referral link — because I really want to get that free sweatshirt.
The Take-Control-of-Your-Own-Life-Through-Your-Money Plan
If you’re on board with me and you recognize the need to take control of your own life through your money, the best place to start is by reading.
- Open a blank notebook, a Google doc, or a note on your phone, and start writing down money topics that you don’t understand or want to learn more about. You may not know what to even write down yet, and that’s okay!
- Every day, open up that book/doc/note and read up on just one of the topics you’ve written down. Take 10 minutes and peruse the internet — commit yourself to understanding it. If it’s a big topic, like “the stock market,” break it down into bite size pieces (like “the Fed,” “NASDAQ,” or “what is a mutual fund,” etc.)
- Add more topics to the list as you think of them.
- When you’ve checked everything off the list, well, you probably won’t even need this simple exercise anymore, because you’ll be a guru.
Here’s some ideas on what to write on that list:
- 401K and Roth IRA
- Mutual funds
- Credit score
- Savings accounts, checking accounts
- ETFs
- How to budget
- You take it from here!
Ladies, you can do this. And you NEED to do this. It’s okay to sigh while doing it, but if you make a commitment to educating yourself about your finances, you’ll end up with a much better quality of life. Your future self will thank you for making the choice to start making smart money choices now. Let’s avoid that quicksand together.
Thanks for reading! If you want more, check out my blog on personal finance, Girls Talk Money.
Please note that this article is meant for educational purposes only and should not be taken as professional advice. Please consult a professional financial advisor for formal advice.
