Women of Color: 5 Steps to become Financial Savvy in 2019

Women of Color it’s time to jump into Financial Planning

There is power in numbers. Women have the ability to get shit done if they work with a loving and supporting tribe. There are a lot of decisions being made in the public eye not by women, if we learned a thing or two from Iceland, it’s that in order to make big changes we must get into financial formation. 

Here are some quick tips to help women get started on making that money. 

1. Find your Financial BFFs. 

All boss babes have financial best friends. Do you have a house, business, or job? If you can answer yes to one or more then you might get a lawyer. Lawyers get a bad rep, but they can be great financial bffs. Getting a lawyer, may be as simple as requesting a consultation which are 99% free and building a rapport with someone who is a professional. There will always emergencies, having a lawyer can help ease any legal issue that pops up. 

If you can’t get to a lawyer in place at least have Legal Zoom in your wheel house. Legal Zoom helps women with many legal options, from drafting a will to starting a business legally. Legal Zoom offers a flat fee for each legal designation. 

Accountants are another financial best friend. Personally, I was terrified of accountants. Little did I know that accountants are gangsters. Have you ever had a relative or a friend that would go to a store and haggle for a cheaper price? That is what an accountant does but for your budget. 

2. Hold a forgiveness party 

This is probably the most woo-woo request out of all them. As women, we were always taught to hold our emotions in. Always smile and be nice. These emotions are translated to money too. We all have money story from our mother, father, etc., but how do we actually feel about our money story? Are we crushing it? Or are we constantly, trying to put a financial smile on. These are the questions that we have to start asking ourselves. 

This is where a forgiveness party takes place. 

A forgiveness party is a party where you and your friends write down your money story down and burn your story. For those of you that are unaware of money story, it’s where one writes down their past experiences. Writing down your money moments allow you to visually see what real thoughts you have about money. Writing through life has a week worth’s of money story writing prompts to help you figure out your money story. One of most, memorial writing prompts is: 

If money was your lover, would you still be dating them? 

After you write down your thoughts about money, read the thoughts out loud. Reading your money stories, will be one of the humbling experiences that you will have. One of the reasons is that money creates vulnerability around people. Having you a-ha money stories is just as important as any moment. After your story. Burn that mother up! 

Burning letters have a significant feeling 

As someone who is an ENTJ and doesn’t like to get woo, woo. I realized that writing down my money story was just important as writing as resume. When I first wrote my money story about two years ago, I realized that there were some positive money moments in my life but…. I also realized that I had a fear of abandonment with my money story. 

My first thought about money is that money was going leave me. Some people that have abandonment issues stem from divorce or a parent moving away. Learning about my money story also helped me with my relationship story. Anytime I dated someone I tried to sabotage the relationship before it even started. 

3. Write a Job Reflection 

Updating your resume is good. Writing a Job Reflection is even better. It doesn’t matter if you’re a business owner or a server, you acquire skills every day. Be it conflict management, or coding, we often times forget simple things as learning how to send an autoresponder via email or learning how to meal prep (that’s an organization skill, y’all). 

Writing down a list of things that you’ve learn on a google doc or a piece of paper will help you understand that your skills are valuable. You have valuable skills that you should celebrate. Have coffee with a recruiter. Ask around recruiters, to see what are the job responsibilities of your job? See if you have acquired those skills. Uncover what people get paid to do your job at other companies. 

4. Start a Money book club 

Book clubs enhance your community and conversation. Starting a money book club helps you enhance your money muscle. If you already belong to a book club recommend a money book. If money book clubs are non-existent in your community. Hop over to our Facebook group Money and Flow book club. We are reading The Broke and Beautiful Life by Stefanie O’Connell. 

5. Understand your Financial Ladder 

If you’re sick you go to the doctor’s office. If you get in a car accident you call your insurance agency. Why not look at your money if you’re feeling stuck on the financial train. There are different ways to seek help and guidance for money. 

There’s a Financial Coach, Adviser, or a Certified Financial Planner. There’s a difference between each of the financial cheerleaders, and together we’ll break them down. 

Financial Coach 

A financial coach looks at habits and systems. They analyze your budget and help you understand and unlock your money habits and expenses. They typically have a pretty affordable rate to help. 

Financial Adviser 

A financial Adviser is someone who is more on the transactional side. Financial Advisors have a wide spectrum of services, but it mostly product-focused. has at the other end of the spectrum are services provided by financial advisors that may be hands-off and purely transactional or product-focused. If you want to get mutual funds you could speak to someone that works for Vanguard. 

CFP 

Certified Financial Planner swore under oath to look after the clients best interest. Like a Lawyer, CFPs must take a financial test with a board. CFPs have the ability to look at habits and systems and offer recommendations based off of your goals. 

I’m always on Instagram if you want to chat. We’re going to talk more about topics like these and more on the Money and Flow Podcast