Hey She Spends fam! Last night was amazing. We had a great time talking personal finance at New Women Space in Brooklyn with Denae Famada of Debt Free Denae, Ally-Jane Grossan of Moneysplained and Kristen Euretig of Brooklyn Plans.
We’re gearing up for more events in the very near future (drop us a line if you want an event to come to your city), but in the meantime, we wanted to share a few major points from our first event that we think could help our community.
One of my favorite points that each of the panelists made is the disconnect between our professional lives and our personal lives when it comes to finances.
Kristen said she has clients who manage major budgets for their employers, yet struggle to get out of debt on their own. Ally-Jane and Denae noted that many of their friends have experienced that same problem, and my own personal experiences points to this disconnect: I covered business news for almost two years before really getting my finances under control.
We also talked about resources that helped us understand the financial system in the United States.
Our favorite by far? Helaine Olen’s book, The Index Card. It’s such a smart way of looking at personal finance. There really are only a few rules, and they can fit on an index card.
Beyond that, I recommended the personal finance reddit page, which is a great resource to dig through if you have a lot of time. I love Ellevest’s PDF guide to salary negotiation, as well as books like Too Big To Fail and The Big Short to understand the post-recession stock market.
Ally-Jane recommended the NPR podcast Planet Money, as well as a book called The Un-Banking of America by Lisa Servon. Planet Money is a great place to get news on wonky money topics, while The Un-Banking of America tracks the American financial system and explains why our banking system looks like it does today.
Denae had an awesome book recommendation as well. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, she said, changed the way she views money. It discusses the psychology behind pricing in consumer settings, and it seems like a super interesting book to dig into!
