Where to Start When You Don’t Know Where to Start
I’ve spoken with dozens and dozens of women and one thing I hear SO often is “I don’t know where to start.” And I get it. The world of finance can be so overwhelming. There are so many weird terms and concepts and a Finance Bro seemingly at every corner of the internet talking down to you about every single one of these topics.
It hurts us a lot that none of this is taught in schools. Think about it - you were taught to play a recorder in school, but did anyone at school ever teach you anything about taxes? Or even how a credit card works?
Very often, too, people feel like they can’t rely on their parents for financial education. Perhaps their parents made their own financial mistakes or that their parents didn’t feel comfortable talking to them about money. It’s really tough and, in many ways, it’s not their fault. No one ever taught them about money. And to make matters worse, they were told that talking about money is impolite or taboo and, so, they didn’t talk to their kids about money either. I’m sure often they felt embarrassed about the topic in general.
But make no mistake, none of the above is by accident. The current financial industry benefits tremendously from your lack of education. Case in point, have you noticed that when you go to pay a credit card bill, there is always this very obvious “pay minimum” button available? Financial institutions encourage you to pay the minimum balance on your credit card while making a ton of money charging you a 25% interest penalty for carrying over a balance. This system isn’t designed for you to benefit from it. It’s designed to make sure “the house” (aka the institutional banks) always win.
Step 1) Be kind to yourself about where you’re at
Let me be the one to tell you - it’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong. You don’t need to feel embarrassed or even a single ounce of shame about a lack of knowledge around financial topics. It’s ok and I’m here to help.
Before you can change anything in your financial life, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on your past so you can see how it’s influenced your present. How did you parents act around money? Were there any “financial lessons” good or bad that you received earlier in life? How has that impacted you today?
This is not the moment to call your parents, but rather to just reflect on how it was you got here.
But let’s talk about going forward. Has the little voice in your head ever said to you: “You’re bad at numbers” or “This is all too complicated” or “You’ll never figure this out”?
The way you talk to yourself plays a very big role in how you address your finances. I’d encourage you to adopt a little Roxy voice in your head. Try this shift:
“You’re bad at numbers” >>>> “I use this awesome old school calculator that I love whenever I need to crunch some numbers”
“This is all too complicated” >>>> “Everything is figure-out-able. It’ll just take a little bit of trying.”
“You’ll never figure this out” >>>> “If idiot Brian in the next cubicle can figure this out, then so can I!”
If you see an aspect of your financial life that needs improvement, seek expert guidance in sources you can trust - like this blog! It’s important to not be too hard on yourself and to start anywhere you can.
For the continuation of this and to see Step 2, check our my article of Budgeting here: