One of the things I love about the personal finance blogging community is just how many women there are. As women, I think it’s important that we are in charge of our finances and have a key role in managing them. Let’s face it — whether we are partnered or single — women are outliving men, so we need to be prepared to handle our business and keep our financial life in tact — which means we need to be educated and empowered when it comes to our own personal finance.
I feel like I have a pretty firm grasp of my finances. I check my online accounts every day, track my spending, live on a minimal budget, and try to increase my income every chance I get. Of course, I know I can improve in the areas of investing and building wealth. But overall, I feel like I have an active role in my finances.
I remember hearing horror stories of my grandparents’ generation, when men worked and women stayed at home. Men paid the bills, women cleaned. Of course, I’m generalizing here, but I know of women personally who had to experience the shock of learning how to manage finances on their own, after their husband passed away.
Can you imagine not having a clear picture of your finances? Not knowing how to pay a bill? Not knowing the log-in information to your vital accounts?
It’s a scary thought indeed and I’m sure personal finance bloggers are a step ahead of most people. However, I think there is always room for improvement.
As part of Fidelity’s campaign to encourage women to #TakeAnHour and work on their finances, I’m challenging you to set some time this weekend and review your finances. Fidelity “found that nearly one-in-four women report that they don’t take part in the decision-making around their finances at all—a huge concern given that most women will be solely responsible for their finances at some point in their lives.”
This weekend start a conversation with a female friend. Let’s talk about debt, baby. Learn about investing. Start investing. Save $5 a week for some fun money. Write down bad habits you want to change. Round up your debt payments. Max out your retirement. Make sure YOU are in charge of your financial situation, and no one else.
This weekend, don’t forget to set back the clocks and #TakeAnHour to have a money date over some coffee or wine.
For more info, check out this nifty graphic on how you can #TakeAnHour.
p.s. I was not compensated to write about this at all — I just really dig the campaign. 🙂 Go to Twitter and tell everyone how you will #TakeAnHour
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8 comments
I’m glad to say I’m definitely doing this already! I agree that it’s important for every adult person in the household understand what is happening with money. And even when children are old enough to understand, they should too.
Agreed!
Am on this!
Awesome!
As the old saying goes, Knowledge is power.I am fearing that women will outdo men when it come to finances, but I think that its a great idea for everyone to have knowledge on how to handle their finances.
Will that be a bad thing? 😉
Speaking of women running the finances, my parents are a great example… For 20 years my mom deposited both paychecks (NO direct deposit) every two weeks. At the same time she withdrew $100 and gave it to my dad. That’s all he ever spent. No debit card. Credit card only for major purchases. Otherwise she ran it all!
Nice! That’s so awesome. Thanks for stopping by.