Latest / The Financial Feminism Podcast / You’re Making Money. But Are You Building Power?

Transcript

You’re Making Money. But Are You Building Power? · The Financial Feminism Podcast

• 0:16
  Welcome back, I'm Dr. Taneka Bruce and I'm
• 0:18
  recording Financial Feminism just a little differently this
• 0:22
  week.
• 0:23
  I'm away from home doing a little missionary
• 0:25
  work and I had a choice, I could
• 0:27
  skip this conversation this week, or I could
• 0:30
  use episode 10 to do something I think
• 0:33
  we probably need to do a little bit
• 0:35
  more often, stop, look back and ask whether
• 0:41
  all this information is actually changing anything.
• 0:45
  Because we've now had nine conversations about women,
• 0:48
  money, ownership, work, choices and power, but information
• 0:53
  alone does not create financial freedom.
• 0:56
  So before we go any further, I want
• 0:58
  to ask you something.
• 1:00
  You're making money, but are you building power?
• 1:03
  And I don't mean power over somebody else,
• 1:06
  I mean the kind of financial power that
• 1:08
  gives you options.
• 1:10
  The power to say no, the power to
• 1:12
  leave, the power to wait, the power to
• 1:16
  invest, the power even to help somebody without
• 1:20
  financially destroying yourself, the power to make a
• 1:24
  decision because it's right for you, not because
• 1:28
  your bank account left you and no other
• 1:30
  choice.
• 1:32
  That is the conversation that I want to
• 1:34
  have today.
• 1:35
  And we're not going to talk long today.
• 1:38
  I didn't prepare a lot of things for
• 1:41
  us, but what have we actually been talking
• 1:44
  about?
• 1:45
  And when I started Financial Feminism, I didn't
• 1:48
  want to create another place where women were
• 1:50
  told to save more money, spend less money
• 1:54
  and make a budget.
• 1:56
  We have enough of that.
• 1:58
  I wanted us to have a much bigger
• 2:00
  conversation because women can be educated, successful, responsible,
• 2:08
  highly paid.
• 2:09
  They can be in leadership, running a business,
• 2:12
  taking care of a family.
• 2:13
  They can be paying every bill and still
• 2:16
  have less financial power than her income would
• 2:19
  suggest.
• 2:20
  And that is a problem.
• 2:23
  And over the first nine episodes, we've started
• 2:26
  pulling that apart.
• 2:27
  And if you are new to Financial Feminism,
• 2:30
  this episode is exactly a great place to
• 2:33
  start because there are five things that I
• 2:36
  want you to take away from everything that
• 2:38
  we've talked about so far.
• 2:40
  One, income is not ownership.
• 2:44
  This may be one of the most important
• 2:46
  distinctions that we have.
• 2:48
  Earning money and owning something are not the
• 2:51
  same thing.
• 2:52
  And I want women earning more, absolutely.
• 2:55
  I want us negotiating, building businesses, moving into
• 3:00
  leadership, charging appropriately and creating multiple streams of
• 3:05
  income where it makes sense.
• 3:07
  But I also want us to pay attention
• 3:10
  to what happens after the money arrives.
• 3:14
  Because you can make more money every year
• 3:17
  and still build very little ownership.
• 3:21
  You can have the salary, the title, you
• 3:23
  can have the car, the house, the vacations,
• 3:28
  the appearance of success and still have very
• 3:31
  little financial breathing room.
• 3:33
  So I want you to ask yourself, what
• 3:36
  do I own because I earned what I
• 3:38
  earned?
• 3:39
  And that's a very different question from how
• 3:42
  much do I make?
• 3:44
  And the second thing is money should create
• 3:47
  options.
• 3:48
  And this is where Financial Feminism really becomes
• 3:51
  much bigger than the personal finance.
• 3:54
  Money affects your ability to choose.
• 3:58
  And I want you to think about that.
• 4:00
  Could you leave a terrible job?
• 4:03
  Could you survive an unexpected expense?
• 4:07
  Could you take time away from work?
• 4:09
  Could you walk away from a business arrangement
• 4:12
  that don't even serve you any longer?
• 4:15
  Right?
• 4:15
  Could you say no when somebody expects you
• 4:18
  to rescue them financially?
• 4:20
  Could you take advantage of an opportunity that
• 4:24
  required you to wait six months for the
• 4:26
  return?
• 4:27
  You see, sometimes we think financial freedom means
• 4:30
  being rich.
• 4:32
  I think we need another definition because sometimes
• 4:36
  financial freedom is simply having enough financial strength
• 4:39
  that every decision is not an emergency.
• 4:43
  That matters.
• 4:44
  Because when you have no financial margin, somebody
• 4:47
  else often gets to make that decision.
• 4:51
  It's your employer.
• 4:53
  Maybe it's your bills.
• 4:54
  It can be your debt.
• 4:56
  It could be your circumstances.
• 4:59
  Maybe your family or whatever emergency that you
• 5:02
  have.
• 5:03
  And financial power creates room for you to
• 5:06
  decide.
• 5:08
  The third thing is more money doesn't automatically
• 5:11
  fix the problem.
• 5:13
  And this one can be really uncomfortable.
• 5:15
  I get it because sometimes we think if
• 5:18
  I can just make another $20,000 or
• 5:21
  if my business could make just another $50
• 5:24
  ,000, right?
• 5:26
  Or if I just get this promotion or
• 5:29
  if I could just double my income, then
• 5:31
  I will finally feel financially secure, right?
• 5:35
  Maybe, but not automatically.
• 5:39
  Because if every increase in income creates an
• 5:42
  equal increase in lifestyle, your salary can grow
• 5:46
  while your financial vulnerability stays almost exactly the
• 5:50
  same.
• 5:51
  You simply become more expensive to maintain.
• 5:55
  And that's why I've said more money can
• 5:58
  finance a more expensive version of the same
• 6:01
  financial vulnerability.
• 6:04
  So yes, earn more, you know, I want
• 6:07
  that for you.
• 6:08
  But when the more comes in, I want
• 6:11
  you to decide what the increase is supposed
• 6:14
  to accomplish before your lifestyle decides for you.
• 6:18
  And then four, your money needs a job.
• 6:22
  And last week we talked about the ownership
• 6:24
  budget.
• 6:24
  And I want to bring this one forward
• 6:26
  because it connects so much of what financial
• 6:29
  feminism is about.
• 6:31
  Your money has four jobs, live, so what
• 6:35
  does it cost to operate your essential life,
• 6:38
  protect, what is creating breathing room and resilience,
• 6:43
  own, what is building something for your future,
• 6:47
  and enjoy.
• 6:48
  So what are you intentionally choosing to enjoy
• 6:51
  now?
• 6:53
  Notice that enjoy is there.
• 6:56
  And financial feminism is not about making women
• 6:58
  afraid to spend money.
• 7:00
  I don't want you building wealth and then
• 7:02
  being miserable.
• 7:04
  I want intention.
• 7:05
  There's a difference between I can't spend this
• 7:08
  money and I decided where this money belongs.
• 7:13
  You see, one is restriction and the other
• 7:15
  one is agency.
• 7:17
  And if you haven't listened to episode nine
• 7:20
  yet, I want you to go back after
• 7:22
  this one because I want you to do
• 7:23
  the ownership budget exercise.
• 7:26
  And then the fifth one, ask the five
• 7:29
  year question.
• 7:30
  And this may be the question I want
• 7:32
  you to carry into our next 10 episodes.
• 7:36
  Look at the way you're handling your money
• 7:38
  right now and ask if I repeat this
• 7:41
  exact financial behavior for the next five years,
• 7:45
  what will I own?
• 7:48
  Sit with that.
• 7:49
  Not what will I earn?
• 7:52
  What will I buy?
• 7:54
  What will my salary be?
• 7:57
  Or what will people think I have?
• 7:59
  What will I own?
• 8:02
  And maybe your answer is a lot or
• 8:06
  good.
• 8:06
  Maybe just, just enough.
• 8:09
  That's good.
• 8:10
  I want you to keep building.
• 8:14
  Maybe your answer is not enough.
• 8:17
  Okay, good.
• 8:19
  But now we know, and maybe your answer
• 8:21
  is, I have absolutely no idea.
• 8:24
  Okay, good.
• 8:26
  Now we know that too, because zero is
• 8:30
  information.
• 8:31
  Not knowing is information.
• 8:34
  And seeing something you don't like is information.
• 8:38
  We don't need to shame to change a
• 8:40
  number, right?
• 8:42
  We need visibility.
• 8:44
  And then we need a decision.
• 8:47
  So here's what I want you to do
• 8:49
  for episode 10.
• 8:51
  I don't have a new worksheet for you.
• 8:54
  I don't have another download.
• 8:56
  I want you to use what we've already
• 8:58
  built.
• 8:59
  Take five minutes and answer three questions.
• 9:03
  And remember, we're not going live in the
• 9:06
  Thursday community.
• 9:07
  So make sure you do this one if
• 9:09
  you haven't already.
• 9:11
  So question one is, what is the one
• 9:14
  thing financial feminism has made me think differently
• 9:17
  about?
• 9:19
  Question two, what is the one financial behavior
• 9:22
  I have actually changed?
• 9:25
  Not learned about, changed.
• 9:27
  And then question three, if nothing changes from
• 9:30
  today forward, what will my financial life look
• 9:34
  like five years from now?
• 9:37
  That last answer may tell you exactly what
• 9:40
  you need to work on next.
• 9:43
  Where we go from here is because here's
• 9:47
  the thing.
• 9:48
  Now we're going to go deep.
• 9:50
  We're going to talk about debt and shame,
• 9:53
  and why debt is not always evidence of
• 9:55
  a character flaw.
• 9:56
  We're going to talk about financial safety nets,
• 9:59
  and why stability is a strategy.
• 10:02
  We're going to talk about investing.
• 10:04
  Why women wait.
• 10:05
  Why some of us believe we need to
• 10:08
  feel rich enough before we begin.
• 10:11
  We're going to talk about the financial cost
• 10:13
  of being polite.
• 10:15
  About earning more without apologizing for wanting more.
• 10:20
  We're going to keep coming back to the
• 10:22
  difference between income and ownership, because I don't
• 10:26
  want financial feminism to be another podcast you
• 10:29
  listen to, and then agree with, and then
• 10:31
  forget.
• 10:32
  I want something to change.
• 10:34
  So yes, I'm away this week.
• 10:37
  I'm serving.
• 10:38
  I'm working.
• 10:38
  I'm seeing the world from a very different
• 10:41
  place than where I normally record this podcast.
• 10:44
  But maybe that makes this the right week
• 10:47
  to say this.
• 10:49
  Life moves quickly.
• 10:50
  We work.
• 10:51
  We earn.
• 10:52
  We take care of people.
• 10:53
  We solve problems, right?
• 10:55
  We move to the next thing.
• 10:56
  And if we never stop long enough to
• 10:58
  ask what all that working is building.
• 11:03
  Five years can really, really disappear very quickly.
• 11:08
  So before episode 11, stop, look, and answer
• 11:13
  this for yourself.
• 11:14
  You're making money, but are you building power?
• 11:18
  And if the answer is not yet, good.
• 11:21
  We have work to do.
• 11:22
  So come into the financial feminism community and
• 11:25
  tell us one thing.
• 11:27
  Not your salary.
• 11:29
  Not your bank balance.
• 11:30
  Not anything private.
• 11:32
  Tell us what is one thing you're going
• 11:35
  to do differently during the next 10 episodes.
• 11:39
  I'll see you there.
• 11:40
  And I'll see you next week for financial
• 11:42
  feminism.