Why Don't More Personal Finance Content Creators Talk About Policy - youramericanmoney
Author: Michelle
Description: In 2023, I took an unintended basically 12 month break from working on Michelle is Money Hungry and releasing written and podcasting content. I was dealing with long-COVID symptoms that included fatigue and just a general brain fog that just wouldn’t go away. In fact, I didn’t realize how bad it was until it went […]
Date: 2024-01-16T17:00:00+00:00

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# Why Don’t More Personal Finance Content Creators Talk About Policy

posted on 16 January, 2024

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In 2023, I took an unintended basically 12 month break from working on Michelle is Money Hungry and releasing written and podcasting content. I was dealing with long-COVID symptoms that included fatigue and just a general brain fog that just wouldn’t go away. In fact, I didn’t realize how bad it was until it went away-8 months after my initial COVID infection. What struck me during that time was all of the free resources for the past 4 years that I was able to access to combat what I believe is an ongoing epidemic. Resources such as-vaccinations, boosters, in-person shots and at home kits.

All free.

What’s wild is that this wasn’t the first time that the American government provided me free medical care that saved my life. That’s a whole different story. I started toying around with the idea of talking about how policy impacts American money. It just seemed so obvious that sometimes people’s money issues weren’t related to budgeting, earning more or mismanagement of money. I would often ask myself why so many people disliked the idea that other factors, outside of our control, could impact our money in both positive or negative ways.

As I began to feel better, I would sit and think about how could I bring this conversation to a broader audience in an impactful way that would be fun for me to do? I’d covered the student loan forgiveness policy in 13 weeks worth of content and learned so many lessons from that project. With those lessons in mind, I’ve decided to cover the idea of policy and money in a series that I’ve decided to call “Vixens, Virgins and Vigilantes: The Impact of Policy on American Women’s Money”

In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.

## Listen to the Episode

## Thank You to My Initial Supporters

When I attended FinCon23 I decided to begin crowdfunding this project. It was clear that this was not an appropriate project to reach out to brands for. Instead, I wanted to connect with the audience who would resonate with this content. I want profusely thank the following 10 initial supporters who knew me or were new to me and said “yes” to this idea. I also would like to acknowledge that the timing was bad to make this request because the season would begin being released at the beginning of 2024.

- Ben L.

- Samantha A.

- Jared E.

- Jerry B.

- Stephanie A.

- Afros and Audio

- Stephanie M.

- Jillian A.

- Renee C.

- Lissa P.

Your faith in me and this project is humbling and I hope that this project reflects the thoughtfulness and care I would like to bring to this season and this conversation. If you’re interested in supporting this project I’ve included the donation link which is:

https://michelleismoneyhungry.com/support

## The Definition of Policy

At the end of 2023, as I continued to work through what the type of content I wanted to include in this season-I realized that it was important to share a more expansive view of what policy is.

There’s the different nuanced definitions as shared by the Merriam Webster Dictionary (online):

b: management or procedure based primarily on material interest

## noun (2)

2 a : a daily lottery in which participants bet that certain numbers will be drawn from a lottery wheel

Then I think about financial policy, policy related to conduct at work or policies that are created with particular outcomes in mind. Those outcomes could be to empower people or disempower others.

Then I realized something. This definition is too narrow for the conversations that I want to have. There are the unspoken policies that are unique to the spaces that we live, work and play in. With this broadened idea of policy I’m hoping to expand our view of activities that we all participate in, intentionally or unintentionally, that influence the financial decisions that we’re making as individuals, communities, work places, and in the other spaces we show up in.

My goal is to talk about the following types of policy:

- Historical

- Current

- Unspoken

- Governmental-Local, regional, state and national

- Social-The surprising policies that influence our lives.

It’s going to be a wild ride this year. I’ll be talking about pop culture, financial policy and more. This entire conversation will be held from American women’s perspectives.

## Vixens, Virgins and Vigilantes: The Impact of Policy on American Women’s Money

Why on earth did I pick this name? I’ve noticed that women are placed into different identities and roles that influence how people interact with us.

- Vixens-This woman may be considered to be flirty, fun and sexually empowered.

- Virgins-These women are pure, untouched and often times considered malleable.

- Vigilantes-The people who fight against the powers that be. This can be in a good or bad (against the law) way.

I often think that women experience being one or all of these identities at different moments in time. How do these identities impact your money and people perceive you in that moment?

## So, Why Don’t We Talk About Policy

In personal finance content? I have a lot of thoughts and here are a few.

- People who’re creating content haven’t been negatively impacted by policy.

- Folks don’t feel that policy has influenced their money decisions or personal choices.

- Because self-control, shame and focus are deeply inter-woven into our talking points about money

Having conversations about policy would force us to rethink what we think to be true. While there are definitely people who are open to that…many folks aren’t excited about that prospect.

## Next Week’s Episode:

How Taylor Swift’s IP Victory Will Change the Business of Music

There are a few pop culture and money policy conversations that I’ve wanted to cover for awhile and Taylor Swift re-recording her masters and the broader implication for other artists is one of those topics. Basically, the unspoken behind the scenes policies that influence contracts and musician management. I even spoke with Avidan Smith, an East Coast based music producer for his thoughts about Taylor’s victory. Is the victory solely Taylor’s or will there be a ripple affect across music in good and bad ways for other artists? What are the broader implications for creatives looking to pursue music as a career?

## Your American Money

If you would like to stay connected with the project sign up for Your American Money, a free newsletter with expanded coverage related to the season, pop culture and money takes and more.

Go to

https://michelleismoneyhungry.com/american-money

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- Bio
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#### Michelle

I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.

#### Latest posts by Michelle (see all)

- How to Design a Boycott Strategy That Works for YOU - 6 February, 2025
- How Work Policies Against Black Women Birthed a Love of the Soft Life - 20 March, 2024
- How Taylor Swift’s IP Victory Could Change the Business of Music - 28 February, 2024

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