There is an ongoing argument in the personal finance space about whether or not politics or race should be brought into the conversation. Many personal finance content creators will bring up the actions that we can all take to better our money. Actions such as: paying our bills on time, managing our debt loads effectively, using our credit cards wisely, and more. Basically, the conversation is often focused on the habits of money and rightfully so. If you can manage yourself well, you can manage your money. So, with that in mind people are reluctant to talk about the other 20% of money. The stuff that you can’t control such as being hired and getting paid a lower wage than less qualified colleagues. But, you have no idea that is what happened because there’s no wage transparency at the organization. Or, you’re trying to get a home loan in the Chicagoland area and wonder why no one that you know is getting approved for a loan. You think that it might be because you’re black but feel like you’re having crazy thoughts. Then, your thoughts are verified when a study is published in the Spring of 2020 confirming your intuition. The reality is that 20% of money experiences that are influenced by other people matters. Think about it, in an election when a 3% margin of error is the difference between winning or losing. Or, the 3.5% rule can change the world as we’ve seen with the Black Lives Matter movement. That 20% can make or break your financial world and that 20% needs to be called what it is: access. In this episode I want to reflect on access vs. habit and why white women and people of color are creating communities that address this issue.
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Show Notes
- It’s incredible to think about all of the tools that have been created to help people manage their money.
- Ibotta for saving on groceries and booze.
- Acorns for investing in small increments
- Ellevest to help women get started with $0 minimum
- The internet has opened up access to tools and resources that many people may not have had before. If you have a cell phone, you can use these tools.
- I’m a member of a number of different financial groups and I can tell you that the conversations are nuanced based on the community. Here is a cross-section of the different groups that I’m a member of:
- Elevate Community-A community for personal finance influencers of color. The notion of access comes up in almost every conversation.
- Women’s Personal Finance (Women on FIRE) a community filled with women from all walks of life pursuing F.I.R.E. Emotional support, feedback and guidance is at the heart of the way that this community communicates.
- Women of Color Pursuing F.I.R.E. I love the conversations in this group because it’s not unusual to talk about how our families affect our financial decisions.
- ChooseFI Denver focuses on the intersection between location and money.
- These communities validate the following:
- Personal finance is personal. Many personal finance content creators may not have experienced issues with access. How can you write about something you’ve never experienced?
- People are craving validation of their personal financial experiences and points of view by seeking communities with like-minded people.
- The narrative that we’ve been fed about money: if you would just save your money and invest it overtime isn’t addressing the nuances of people’s actual lived experiences.
- I’m going to share some of my lived experiences:
- My parents divorced when I was 6 1/2 almost 7. My dad declared bankruptcy and my mom went from a stay at a home mom to primary caregiver of two during the process.
- My mom worked several jobs at a time while attending university. I remember her working at Safeway. What I didn’t know was that she fed a man for a year with the food that was thrown out each night. He was living in the parking lot at that time and had been a lawyer.
- I started working when I was 16 years old after begging my mom for permission to work. She told me that once you start working you never stop. My mom talked about all of the soft skills needed to be a great employee. We never talked about saving for retirement, avoiding debt, or managing credit. These weren’t conversations that my mom had in immediate family. So, we didn’t have them. Interestingly, she did experience her parents opening up their home to other relatives who would save their money and roll their coins into rolls and saving to buy a home.
- College-each year I was called into the financial aid office to sign for my financial aid check. It was the biggest check that I had ever seen. They would then pay everything and give me the left over $2,000 after paying my tuition/fees/room and board.
- We had a maid when I was a senior in college. This was a service automatically given to the students who lived in the senior section of the university. This made no sense.
- During college I would get my first credit cards. A visa and an Express clothing store card. They would be maxed out immediately because I didn’t have financial management skills. I had soft skills but I didn’t have financial skills.
- These lived experiences are just a tiny screenshot into my financial life. None of these moments shared are really about habits.
- At the heart of Michelle is Money Hungry is helping my readers and podcast listeners gain access to conversations, tools, and financial mindsets that would be difficult to access in their home, town, or community. There is a reason why I speak with people making money selling what they already know online. Then, I share the intangibles of money related to mindset, access, and knowledge.
- Even if you’ve never had a lack of access experience, I think it’s important for you to be open to the fact that your lived financial experience is not everyone’s. By the way, having a different lived experience doesn’t invalidate your opinions and knowledge. It just opens up an opportunity to have more nuanced and detailed conversations about money.
When thinking about access:
Here are some things to consider…
- At least twice a month in one of the women’s finance groups that I belong to a woman will share that their husband has taken away their access to their money. It’s 20freaking20.
- Equal Pay Day for women has been created for a reason.
- We’re experiencing world wide Black Lives Matter protests. The second area of focus aside from police violence and the state of policing in the US is a conversation specific to financial equity and access.
- People are just discovering the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and how generational wealth was destroyed in Tulsa and beyond as a result of what happened. Please note: there was more than one African-American town destroyed in this way.
- We’re in a pandemic and women with children are being put in the position of deciding if they can work or if they need to stop working in order to care for their children. Or, how can they afford the cost of childcare for their children and work during a pandemic?
- Some communities don’t have banks or ATMs.
- Mindset and community is so important when focusing on finances.
Some Solutions to Access:
- Share these communities with people needing a community of like-minded people.
- Talk about digital tools that people can access from their phones:
- Online banking
- Savings apps
- Investing apps
- Budgeting tools such as Personal Capital and Mint
- Understand the importance of financial gatekeepers. Know who to connect with and how to support people based on the role that you work. I’ll share the link to the episode that I recorded about Financial Allies and Why They’re So Important.
- Share your financial story! There is a reason why I continue to share my story. I feel like my experience is bigger than me and I’m on a mission to help others. One person at a time.
It’s Time
To have these nuanced conversations about money. It’s lazy in my view to only talk about the mechanics of money. The emotion of money, the ability to negotiate for more, an employer’s ability to affect an employee’s earnings, taxes and more are huge topics that require constant reflection and commentary.
Money isn’t just about avocado toast and overspending on shoes. If you’re willing to talk money be willing to have deeper conversations.
Remember, the 3.5% rule can change your world.
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