Episode 200: You and Your Money
/“The example that was set for me and probably for so many women is that we don’t need to worry about it. We don’t need to think about money in the same way that men do.”
Me (l) and kristine beese (R) during our interview, complete with her Broad Experience T-shirt
“If you look at women’s magazines, they talk about budgeting...they talk about keeping your money safe. It’s really restrictive when it comes to money. And then when you go to magazines targeting men, it’s about ‘the sky’s the limit!’”
Shame, guilt, trauma…these are just some of the words that came up in my conversations for this show on women’s relationship with money. Why IS that relationship so complicated? Two women with quite different money backgrounds, knowledge, and expectations, help me delve into that question.
My first guest, Sarah Wolfe, grew up with little knowledge of how to handle money and a mother who told her she didn’t really have to worry about it. She just needed to find a guy who would. But that advice didn’t work out so well.
Kristine Beese is CEO of Untangle Money, which helps women plan, save, and spend. Her own life experience and years in the financial services industry taught her just how poorly it caters to women. Yet women tend to work less over a lifetime, earn less, and live longer than men - if anyone needs solid monetary advice, it’s us.
This show came about thanks to a social media thread many listeners were part of - thanks to everyone who contributed!
The final episode of The Broad Experience will come out in the new year.
You can also read a transcript of the show.
More resources: Kristine is a fan of Canadian author and financial planner Shannon Lee Simmons, who has two books on handling your money.
She also mentioned British author Annabelle Williams’ book Why Women are Poorer than Men, and What We Can Do About It.
Kristine and I also talked offline about Ellevest, which like Untangle Money is aimed at women. Its founder Sallie Krawcheck has been on this show in the past. Ellevest invests your money, whereas Untangle Money helps you plan for the future.