Women's Money Wisdom
Balancing careers, caregiving, and personal well-being is no small feat—especially for women who often carry the weight of multiple roles. From supporting aging parents to raising children and managing demanding careers, financial planning can easily take a back seat. But your financial future deserves attention, and we’re here to help you take charge.
Welcome to Women's Money Wisdom, the podcast designed to empower women with the knowledge and confidence to build financial security and achieve their dreams. Hosted by Melissa Joy, CFP®, founder of Pearl Planning, each weekly episode offers practical financial insights, expert guidance, and real conversations about money.
Join us to enhance your financial literacy, make informed decisions, and take the next step toward financial freedom. At Pearl Planning, located in Dexter, Michigan, we’re committed to helping you navigate every stage of your financial journey.
Subscribe now and start your path to financial empowerment with Women's Money Wisdom.
Investment advisory services offered by Pearl Planning, a DBA of Stephens Consulting LLC., an SEC registered investment advisor. Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Pearl Planning, or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this Podcast will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this podcast serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Pearl Planning. To the extent that a listener has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. Pearl Planning is neither a law firm, nor a certified public accounting firm, and no portion of the Podcast content should be construed as legal or accounting advice. A copy of Pearl Planning’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at www.pearlplan.com. Content represents the opinion of the speaker and not necessarily that of Pearl Planning.
Women's Money Wisdom
Episode 184: The Role of 'Girl Money' in Financial Literacy for Women
Welcome to season 4! Co-hosts Melissa Joy and Melissa Fradenburg discuss the significance of ‘girl money’ and ‘girl math’ in shaping budgeting and making financial decisions. The concept of 'girl money' and 'girl math' is currently trending on Tik Tok. Can these ideas really play a role in financial decisions and budgeting? Can they change the way we perceive purchasing and spending? What is the underdiscussed stigma surrounding these concepts? in this episode, we exchange views on differing spending priorities for various people and families, and the crucial role women often play in managing household finances. We highlight the necessity of researching and budgeting for purchases, and fearlessly confront the potential damage caused by stigmatizing ‘girl money’ and ‘girl math’.
Resources:
- Learn more about Pearl Planning .
- Read about TikTok’s viral ‘Girl math’ trend is fun but don’t let it fool you - The Washington Post
- Listen to Episode 182: Turning the Back-to-School Season into a Financial Reset
- Register for our Year-End Planning Webinar.
Links are being provided for information purposes only. The information herein is general and educational in nature and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to change, which can materially impact investment results. Pearl Planning cannot guarantee that the information herein is accurate, complete, or timely. Pearl Planning makes no warranties with regard to such information or results obtained by its use and disclaims any liability arising out of your use of, or any tax position taken in reliance on, such information. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation. Please note, changes in tax laws or regulations may occur at any time and could substantially impact your situation. Pearl Planning financial advisors do not render advice on tax matters. You should discuss any tax matters with the appropriate professional.
The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only. No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING’s investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https:...
Welcome back to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. It's Melissa Joy here, joined by my co-host, Melissa Freidenberg. Hi, Melissa.
Speaker 2:Hi Melissa, I'm so excited for this.
Speaker 1:Yes, and just as a reminder, we announced last week. But we have changed our name, rebranded from the 52 Pearls Weekly Money Wisdom Podcast to really a name that, I think, is the essence of what our podcast is all about. And so we are now the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast and we want to be inclusive of all of our audience. But what we know from anecdotal feedback as well as stats, is that most people listening are Gen X, millennial, young Boomer Women, and we want a place for them to listen and we want them to be able to find us. And so, with the new name, new logo, new look and feel, but same old money wisdom, we are excited to kind of rebrand and relaunch.
Speaker 2:Great work, melissa, and this episode, oh, thank you. And this episode kicks off season four. Can you believe that we have had and actually season three went a little long, since we were rebranding and working on this for some time but I can't believe that we have a podcast with this many episodes almost 200 episodes and we've come a long way, which is one of the reasons for the rebrand is just, if you think about how we started, neither of us really knew much about podcasting and we just kind of went with it. And now we've certainly not. I wouldn't say we're experts. We're getting better, our audience is growing, but now we're really just trying to perfect it and really make sure that we're speaking to the people that are listening to us. We're expanding a little bit beyond just money and investing into other areas that are related to finance and money in your life, but that'll open up a whole new door to some new speakers and guests that we're super excited about. So I'm just so excited for season four.
Speaker 1:You know as we expand to your whole life, and how you can live that life and how you make your money work for you. That's really the work that we do as financial planners at Pearl Planning as well, so it feels right at home. You know, yesterday I told someone you can spend more money. Why don't you, when you go to that next sporting event like upgrade your tickets sit a little closer to front row? And these are the kinds of conversations we want to have. I have talked to somebody who's an expert in remodeling that we're going to have come on and we just want to, like, be real in real life, just like we know our conversations are, and we know that's what you need when it comes to personal financial expertise. So we're excited to be a little more authentic, a little more of ourselves and still have, you know, a lot of power and a lot of, you know, growth and advocacy for your financial confidence when we talk with people on the show.
Speaker 2:I love that financial confidence because that's really what it is, especially working with women clients. I love that transformation from the first meeting where they know they need to take some ownership or figure out what they have and why, but as that relationship progresses, really knowing that they understand what they have, but really the confidence to make decisions when it comes to anything financially related because that is somewhat related to our topic today I think women are perfectly capable of making these decisions and personally I might be a little bias, but I think sometimes better At making financial decisions. But we often lack confidence and this, like stereotype is, is fed by men and women in society.
Speaker 1:So, yes, Well, we just come from a generation and that actually leads right into our topic. We, historically, if you look back, and it's shocking to realize that women Legally could not have their own checkbooks in some states, even in the seventies. So there's both a historical perspective where the money, you know, maybe the bills were paid by women, but the Big financial decisions were not made by women. Not that that's what's happening today, but I do think there's some residual, because you were raised by people who are raised by people, that that was the case, and but then also, just culturally, we don't always talk about money. So when you need to change the topic or change the you know, mindset, we need, we need to be able to talk about it, which leads into we're going to go like on a little bit of a dive into a tick tock trend.
Speaker 1:A couple of them girl math, girl money. There's this trend of talking about Finances, personal finances, rules of finance and rules of money. That is, you know, all of your teenagers and maybe your parents are also listening to it. On tick tock, I'm not a big tick tock user myself. I do do some Instagram reels, but I read an article In the Washington Post and a couple of experts that I really respect were quoted in it, and it was called girl math. Is the latest financial trend going viral on tick tock, where purchases under five dollars don't count and big ticket items should be measured by their cost per where.
Speaker 2:And yeah, and I had actually not heard of this when you suggested this topic, but I had watched videos. I just didn't follow the hashtag or no, really what it was about. But I did some research in preparation for this and I was Appalled and blown away at the same time. I was like what is this?
Speaker 1:I mean, I also just want to have my own tick tock feed. There's a whole story of why, like financial advisors, have difficulty talking, just spewing information, and it has to do with where legally obligated to make sure the information we provide is rock solid, not, you know, promissorial. And the world of tick tock is just full of a lot of misleading financial and money advice and also a lot of good advice.
Speaker 2:Yes, I absolutely agree, and I even see us someday maybe on the podcast Instagram when that gets Going a little bit up and running. I love when people in our business or any industry or experts do like where they share things that are just totally made up and be like no, this isn't true.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we could actually have like an exactly like let's.
Speaker 2:Is this verified by by a women's money wisdom or not? So we'll see if these are good wisdom tips. But yes, I did some research in looking at some of the tick tocks and such to prepare and I've seen a hashtag girl money and a hashtag girl math. Prior to you bringing it up, I had only been familiar with girl dinner, which I found hysterical, like a little tongue-in-cheek girl dinner thing that really didn't offend me. But the girl math, girl money I just it feeds into, like I feel, the stereotype that works against us sometimes. So I don't know if you want to share some of the tick tocks or explain what they are. I can share some of the ones that I saw.
Speaker 1:But yeah, well, I'll start. You know I I first saw it because I do use Twitter, now known as X, and one of my friends was like, oh, this headline girl math. And then the article talked about like kind of rationalizing, maybe faulty spending strategies with some quote unquote girl math. Now I come down on two sides of this because you know it's a summer of Barbie, I'm I don't mind a little bit of girl stuff, girl talk, although we are women and I actually loved listening during the women's World Cup for soccer I'm a huge soccer fan A podcast that talked about kind of gal talk, kind of honoring that we're not, we're not teenagers, we're not children, we're not girls, we're women or gals.
Speaker 1:But you know so, first you got to get over that like kind of diminutive. There's not boy money or bro money, you know. So just kind of figuring that part out of what's the right label. But also, is the advice good? So, for example, some advice is like why you should buy, you know, a $3,000 bag because you're going to carry it so many times that it's really like $3 per carry because you're going to use it for five or 10 years. Well, you know, first you need to start with a budget. And if the budget doesn't work, it doesn't matter that you're going to use the $3,000, $5,000 handbag for ever, because you just don't have the money to pay the bills and just like carry Bradshaw and sex in the city. You don't always want to be chasing your tail of figuring out how you can pay for your manolas. What which one stuck out to you.
Speaker 2:Well, so I saw one it was it was girl, girl money slash, girl math and it was a woman getting a large Starbucks and she was like oh, and it just I think it was her voice and everything, but she, just she kind of had this like dumb thing about like I know, it's so expensive and I don't understand why. Like you know, I think that people come down on buying these coffees that are so expensive when you can drink coffee at home. But it just makes me feel good and how I feel like you know. And then she was talking about spending $300 on her hair and it just seemed like she was not, she wasn't tongue in cheek. If it were tongue in cheek then it would be okay, but it was complete like, oh my God, like girl money, this is like how I spend my money and this makes sense to me.
Speaker 2:And then, as far as the math, there was a woman explaining how she saved $150 a night on these really nice hotel rooms for their family vacation and so, since she saved that, it was basically like over eight nights, it was like $800 in math and, excuse me, it was like saved their family like $800 by getting the discount, and the husband was actually in the tick tock as well and he was like this makes no sense to me.
Speaker 2:He was like explain this to me how did we save $800 when we're paying like 600 a night, like? But her math was that while I got a discount or it was on sale when I booked it, he's like but we still spent the money and it just I didn't like the way it was sort of discounting, because I think there is like a lot of stuff that goes into whether it's booking a family vacation or buying back to school clothes. It there is a method to like saving money, whether it's, like you know, a discount at a store or a discount on a hotel room. So I think there's some truth and value there. And to downplay it be like oh my God, this makes no sense. This is like how I do things. That was sort of the gist of the videos that I saw, which was like this makes no financial sense, but this is my like girl money. This is how I manage my work finances.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's me was irritated because I think we a lot of times, even if we're not making big financial decisions, I do notice that women manage household finances and while they get the rap for being big spenders because they're usually buying things for the house, there's a lot of work that goes into it. That I just Not the stereotype. But I know my husband personally is not up for like if it comes to like you know, by two pairs of pants, get one half off, he's buying one pair, like that's it, like he's not even gonna deal with the girl money, math or whatever. I'm like saving for the discount which I get. The concept like if you only gonna go by one pair, buying two doesn't save you and then you get like another one half off.
Speaker 2:But I do think that there the women are savvy, they know what they're doing, they're not all like. This makes no sense. You know I don't like that attitude because I see my family a lot of money and it's not girl math, it's Careful research before making a purchase and making shirts, you know, make sense. Waiting for something to go on sale, I don't know. Yeah, I think.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, when you do those videos that kind of make you seem less than make you seem like you don't understand. Looking for the algorithm, maybe everybody clicks, or it's because of you know what the sound was in the background or who your lips thinking to. Whatever. I don't love that. I do love you know. Here's what my question would be if I post that video and then had my comments I don't even know how to be the you know face in front of it to say here's what I'm thinking but Well, what was your budget for this vacation?
Speaker 1:Was the budget two thousand dollars or ten thousand dollars? Because she did save money if the budget was ten grand and you have more money for experiences or things like that. So if you start with no context and there's no budget, like where were we starting? The budget was zero. When he says we're still spending six hundred dollars nights. So give some context and also think like everybody's. You know, everybody's favorite thing is not the same. So if your idea of a great vacation is luxury and you want to stay at the reds and you can afford it, that's great. As far as I'm concerned, I love budgeting twenty thousand dollars a year for vacations. Just not every client Can afford that, or, you know, it just depends on the family and you know, for me, right now I'm Loving my dolly is that are going in the garden and my like splurge, maybe ordering two birds that cost twenty five dollars.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna play next spring and hope they come up For somebody else. It may be the spa or a luxury vacation, all of that's okay, but I think we need to have the girl math or you know, the gal talk. Be about. Hey, what are the basics that you can afford to do more and afford to live on your own terms. And then you don't need to explain to anyone, you don't need to be ashamed if you got the fancy latte.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and the biggest misconception of financial planning or budgeting. The b word that's good, get such a bad rap.
Speaker 1:Don't like that word myself to.
Speaker 2:I like to feel like I'm on a budget, but by figuring out what your baseline budget is, you're figuring out how much you can spend on those things that bring you joy and happiness. And Back to the starbucks. I agree with starbucks. I love nothing more than going to the target that has a starbucks in it on the weekend, getting myself a nice big Then day something or other you know, now this season pumpkin something and strolling through the store. And I Don't consider that, you know, girl money. I mean that can, that's like, that's what brings me happiness. And I will say that To your point. There's no bro money hashtag that's trending right now, but men spend money on dumb stuff all the time too.
Speaker 1:It's just not studies. Men often spend bigger ticket items. So you know they're making and I'm stereotyping here, so this is a generalization but you know the car decision or the big remodel, the so they tend to make those bigger financial decisions and that's one of the interesting things, like a lot of the things we're talking about. If you're talking about a small purchase, it can fit into the budget and and I often think I don't get myself in trouble because when I do, kind of the more Impulsive buys their smaller item, ticket items versus. You know, I get a new car every two years or something like that.
Speaker 2:Well, let me share an example of one of the Tiktoks that I saw when I was researching for this podcast. This is a bigger spend and it seemed to be a professional looking woman. She was on a business trip right Overseas and she was. She just was exhausted. She wanted to leave the trip early. She had to come back home, probably to care for her family and do something for her spouse or something.
Speaker 2:But she ended up looking on her Delta miles and she had 30, a $3,800 credit, so she got herself a first-class ticket. She spent all $3,800 on this ticket and she's like, when I got home, my husband was like that makes no sense. She's like but I didn't pay for it, it was all in points or whatever. And he was like but that's real money. And the thing is like that may seem dumb, but that's a. I get that math right. Like you have these points, it's not coming out of your monthly budget. If you can afford to do it. And you were not even using God knows those miles expire. Like maybe she was never even going to use them or forgot that she had them and she was working.
Speaker 2:She was, she had a long trip, she needed to come home and she just wanted to sit in first class and I think down playing it by, like, oh, this is such a dumb financial decision. Men do that kind of stuff all the time.
Speaker 1:Hey there's a big relationship challenge because Even there's very few couples that have mind melded to the extent that they just think exactly the same and, frankly, you know, it's good to have individual personalities and you still need to navigate. How do you kind of honor both of your preferences, because it's not always going to be, you know, the spending on the same thing. My husband would be fine at the residence in and unfortunately, or fortunately, due to professional travel, that's not my preferred hotel accommodation, although I love it if we can get, you know, two-bedroom suite or something like that. So you know it's, it's a negotiation, it's a conversation. This is the one thing that I love about the trend is is it is talking about money and whether it's. Then you watch it and, with your girlfriend, say this is ridiculous, you need to watch this video and make fun of them, or hey, this is a good idea. I do like that part. I.
Speaker 2:Love that part and I love that the conversation is trending at all. Yeah, I just want to make sure that there's a counterbalance to kind of the poke fund and make it sound like we don't know how to do math or make financial decisions that are. You know that we're competent in making financial decisions. But, yes, agreed, and I think that is a lot with social media algorithms, whether it's on tiktok, instagram, is that shock value more? The more ridiculous your video is, the more hits it's gonna get and people are gonna comment. And that's actually a tactic that people use to grow their audiences to say something completely ridiculous so that people jump on there and comment. So that may be part of what's going on. And I do love the mindless. You know that's what it's for. Like, at night, I scroll through the mindless videos and the more like outrageous or silly, my algorithm picks up that. I like that and that's what I'm getting more of and I'm okay with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's totally fine, and it may be for entertainment purposes. Just take a step back and, you know, take it all in. I also Think of another you know trending term, at least in my life, which is adulting.
Speaker 1:Which I mean we're all adults so you can talk about like, yeah, that's what it's expected. But, you know, just make sure that there's a measure, if you're getting some of your advice from tiktok, of some money adulting, some financial adulting, where you're like, nope, you got to put on your big girl dress and Start to make the big decisions and not let your life be owned by, whether it's an algorithm or somebody else making your decisions. So I would love to see a little trend there I don't know what the term is or the hashtag, but where women can really start to do some big confident. You know, kind of hey, this is how I made, got a promotion, this is how I got a big raise. This is how I started to save, I will say, one of my former co-workers, who's just a rock star a little bit younger than us, abigail Fisher, has a, an Instagram account. That's your friend in finance that is talking adult.
Speaker 2:And I love her. I didn't even know you knew her, I'm a big. I used to work with her.
Speaker 1:She'll hopefully be a future guest on the podcast and she's just a rock star Instagram and the show. Please, let's do yes.
Speaker 2:Let's do it and I want her to know that we're a big fan because I actually follow her and she's one that I look at for good advice and, again, that like counterbalance to the funny, like make fun of you know some of the things that women do when it comes to spending or money decisions, and she is actually legit like that. Hey, those are, those are good advice and they're fun and entertaining too. So I think we can find that balance.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. Make sure you're giving some you know, some good algorithm clicks, some popularity to Sound advice, and then also let us know what are you hearing, what's your favorite or least favorite video? Feel free, when we post on socials, to share some of yours and, if you don't mind, get the word out about our new rebranded podcast, because we'd love to have broader conversations with a wider audience.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I will tell you right now. We will link everything in the show notes. But if you could follow us if you're not already, if you're listening but maybe you just kind of you know, see on social media an episode here, there that is relevant if you could go to wherever you listen to podcasts and hit, follow and Let us know, give us some feedback on what you think on the show and the rebrand. This all helps again with the algorithms of things so that more people can find us, and it just really helps us out. So we really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Melissa, have a great week.
Speaker 2:Thanks, melissa, you too.
