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Your Job Is Not Security. It’s Familiar · The Financial Feminism Podcast

0:15
Welcome to the Financial Feminism podcast.
0:19
I'm Dr. Tanika Bruce.
0:21
Each week, we have honest conversations about ownership,
0:25
income, freedom, and building a future that can't
0:29
be taken away by someone else's decisions.
0:32
Let's get started.
0:34
I'm Dr. Tanika Bruce.
0:36
And before we talk about money, investing, entrepreneurship,
0:42
marketing, side hustles, retirement plans, business growth, or
0:47
any of the things you might expect from
0:50
a podcast like this, I think we need
0:52
to start somewhere else.
0:55
We need to start with a conversation that
0:57
most women never get the opportunity to have.
1:02
A conversation about ownership.
1:05
Because for most of our lives, we've been
1:08
taught a very specific formula.
1:11
Go to school, get the degree, get the
1:14
other degree, work hard, stay loyal, be dependable,
1:19
take care of everyone else around you.
1:22
Keep your head down and do good work
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and everything will work out.
1:28
Now for some women, it did.
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But for many women, it didn't.
1:34
And what I've discovered over the years is
1:36
that some of the most intelligent, capable, hardworking
1:40
women I know are also some of the
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most financially anxious.
1:45
Not because they're irresponsible, and not because they
1:49
aren't successful, not because they aren't even working
1:53
hard, but because they were taught how to
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earn.
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But nobody taught them how to own.
2:00
And that's why financial feminism exists.
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Now, before we go any further, I need
2:08
to tell you something.
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I didn't create financial feminism because I had
2:13
everything figured out.
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Quite the opposite.
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I didn't create it because I woke up
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one day and decided, hey, I want to
2:21
be this financial expert.
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I created it because I kept seeing the
2:26
same pattern over and over again.
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Not only in myself, but I would meet
2:33
brilliant women, women with degrees and women leading
2:38
organizations and raising children, caring for aging parents,
2:44
running ministries, carrying entire families on their backs.
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And they were also women that everyone depended
2:53
on.
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And behind closed doors, many of those same
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women were worried.
3:00
Worried about money, worried about retirement, worried about
3:05
what would happen if life changed, worried about
3:09
what would happen if the paycheck stopped, or
3:14
if the relationship changed, worried about what would
3:18
happen if they simply wanted something different.
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And I realized something.
3:24
No one was having the conversation we actually
3:27
needed.
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Everyone was teaching budgeting and no one was
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teaching ownership.
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You know, everyone was talking about income, but
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no one talked about power.
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And everyone talked about surviving, but very few
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people were talking about creating options.
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And options change everything.
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So let me ask you a question.
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What would happen if your primary source of
3:57
income disappeared tomorrow?
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No, not next year, not when you're ready.
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Tomorrow.
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Would you panic?
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Would you have a plan?
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Would you know your next move?
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Would your life change immediately?
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You know, most women never ask themselves this
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question.
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Not because they're irresponsible, but because life is
4:21
busy.
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We're working.
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We're building.
4:25
We're serving.
4:27
We're caregiving.
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And we're solving problems.
4:31
We're helping everyone else.
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And somewhere along the way, many women never
4:37
get the opportunity to build something of their
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own.
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Not because they didn't want to, but because
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no one taught them that ownership matters just
4:48
as much as income.
4:50
This episode is presented by the Financial Feminism
4:54
Circle, a weekly community of women building more
4:57
ownership, more competence, more income and more options.
5:03
Join us every Thursday at 8pm Eastern Standard
5:06
Time.
5:07
Details are in the show notes.
5:09
This episode is also presented by the Financial
5:13
Freedom Scorecard.
5:14
In just a few minutes, you'll discover where
5:17
you are today and identify practical steps towards
5:21
greater ownership and financial confidence.
5:24
Download it free using the link in the
5:27
show notes.
5:29
Now let me tell you something that should
5:31
make every woman pause.
5:34
There are women listening to this podcast right
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now whose mothers are were alive when women
5:41
couldn't access many financial tools without barriers or
5:45
permission.
5:46
Yes, you heard me.
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Women gaining independent access to credit is far
5:52
more recent than many people realize.
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Think about that.
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Not ancient history, not hundred years ago, but
6:00
living memory.
6:02
For generations, women were excluded from conversations about
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money.
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They were excluded from property ownership.
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They were excluded from financial decision making, from
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investment opportunities, and also excluded from positions of
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economic influence.
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And here's why this matters.
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Because when people say, just invest, or just
6:25
negotiate, or just start a business, they often
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ignore the fact that generations of women inherited
6:33
financial beliefs that were shaped by systems that
6:36
weren't even built with them in mind.
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The financial system wasn't originally designed around women's
6:44
financial independence.
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That's not an opinion.
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It's history.
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And while we've made incredible progress here, some
6:52
of those messages still show up today.
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Don't ask.
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Don't negotiate.
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Don't talk about money.
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Don't want too much.
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Don't make people uncomfortable.
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But silence has never created freedom.
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Now let's talk about something nobody seems to
7:14
want to discuss.
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The middle class trap.
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Now I want you to picture somebody.
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Maybe it's you.
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Maybe it's someone you know.
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She earns good money.
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Maybe $75,000 a year.
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Maybe even $85,000.
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Maybe six figures.
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And she's got a respectable career.
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So people assume that she's doing fine.
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But she's exhausted.
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Too much income to qualify for help.
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Not enough wealth to create options.
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Paying full price for everything.
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Then helping family.
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Supporting children.
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Funding everyone else's future.
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And quietly wondering why she still feels stuck.
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She's working harder than ever.
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Yet somehow feels less secure.
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And maybe the question isn't why isn't she
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earning enough?
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Maybe the question is why has no one
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taught her the difference between income and ownership?
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Because income pays bills.
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Ownership creates options.
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Income helps you survive.
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Ownership helps you choose.
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Now there's another financial reality that women rarely
8:34
discuss.
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The caregiver tax.
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No it's not a line item on a
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tax return.
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But women pay it every day.
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Women are more likely to take career breaks.
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More likely to reduce their hours.
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More likely to care for children or aging
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parents.
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And more likely to put someone else's needs
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ahead of their own financial future.
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And nobody puts that on a balance sheet.
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No one calculates the promotions that are missed
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or the retirement contributions that are lost.
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The opportunities that may be delayed or the
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dreams that are postponed.
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Yet the cost is real.
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And if you've ever felt financially just behind
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because life required you to care for others.
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Well I want you to hear this.
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You are not behind.
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You are not broken.
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And your story is not over.
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You know one of the ideas that you're
9:38
going to hear me talk about often on
9:40
this podcast is something I call the ownership
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gap.
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Not the wealth gap.
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Not the wage gap.
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Not the any other gap that people talk
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about most of the time.
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We are talking about the ownership gap.
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So ask yourself who owns the businesses?
10:00
Who owns the audience?
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Who owns the systems?
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Who owns the investments?
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Who owns the intellectual property and the assets?
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Who owns the opportunities being created?
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Because ownership changes the conversation.
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A paycheck is valuable.
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A skill is valuable.
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A business is valuable.
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But ownership compounds.
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Ownership creates leverage.
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Ownership creates choices.
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And ownership creates freedom.
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And that is what financial feminism is really
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about.
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It's not about getting rich.
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It's not about chasing status or pretending that
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money solves every problem.
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Because it doesn't.
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It's about creating options.
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Now there's a reason why my book is
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called She Who Owns the Purse.
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Because history teaches us something powerful.
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When women own the purse, they own options.
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When women own the purse, they own choices.
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When women own the purse, they own influence.
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And when women own the purse, they help
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shape families, communities, and futures.
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See money isn't just about money.
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Money is about agency.
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And it's about choice.
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Money is about freedom.
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And money is about having the ability to
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say yes.
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And also having the ability to say no.
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And that's why financial feminism isn't simply about
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wealth.
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It's about power.
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Not power over people, but power over your
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own life.
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And before we finish today, I want to
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leave you with two questions.
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Number one, what do I currently own that
12:09
creates opportunity?
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Maybe it's a skill.
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Maybe it's a certification.
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It could even be a business or a
12:20
personal brand.
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Maybe it's a network.
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But it can also be your experience.
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Maybe it's even your knowledge.
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It could even be your story.
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The second question is, what am I building
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that can't be taken away by someone else's
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decision?
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Now I don't want you to judge your
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answers though.
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Just be honest.
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Awareness always comes before change.
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Thank you for spending time with me today.
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This is only the beginning.
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Every week we'll have honest conversations about money
12:59
and ownership and leadership, careers, entrepreneurship, marketing, visibility,
13:08
confidence, and building a future with more options.
13:13
And if this episode resonated with you, subscribe
13:16
to the podcast, share it with other women,
13:21
leave a review, and join us every Thursday
13:24
evening inside the Financial Feminism Circle.
13:28
Because this podcast isn't about getting rich, it's
13:32
about becoming harder to control.
13:35
It's about becoming harder to silence or becoming
13:39
harder to overlook.
13:41
It's about creating options for yourself, for your
13:45
family, and for the women coming behind you.
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Now remember this, financial freedom isn't about having
13:52
more stuff.
13:53
It's about having more options.
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If today's conversation helped you to think differently
14:00
about ownership, income, or financial freedom, subscribe, share
14:06
this episode with other women, and join us
14:09
inside the financial feminism community.
14:12
Remember, financial freedom isn't about having more stuff.
14:16
It's about having more options.
14:18
I'll see you next time.
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Financial feminism, more options, more ownership, more freedom.