This question runs the undercurrent of my thoughts as I get my blog up & running and thinking of content that would be of value to readers. I follow some great personal finance blogs and think – why do we need another one? Is what I am providing any different? There is already a lot of great content on the blogs I follow; how to save more, how to make a budget, how to refine your budget. How to save up for a down payment. None of these are taught in school in any structured way yet they are incredibly useful information in daily life. I hope to join these bloggers in creating a valuable resource for my readers. I finally decided that we do need another personal finance blog when I realized a few of the important points below.
- Lack of Investing Education
A subject that is not taught in school is how to invest. I got a 2-week introduction to “the markets” when my math teacher was trying to teach us about compounding. We used formulas for compounding and applied it to our bank accounts, to stock quotes in the newspaper (dating myself here a bit :)) But after the 2 weeks, we moved on to other concepts and investing was not touched upon again.
As adults, we know we should invest, but often we are confused from beginning to end; where do I start? Am I on the right path? How are my investments doing? Will it get me to my goals? We piece together information from various sources, some information from financial institutions, some from personal finance books, investment articles here and there. But ultimately, most of us don’t feel we have the framework to make decisions on investing.
- Conflicting advice
We have come across this “oh I heard a tip from my brother-in-law about this hot stock!” Whether that hot tip is Facebook, Apple, Enron or Nortel, how do you know if it’s legit or a lemon?
It could be straight out of a movie like Boiler Room for the electronic age, advice that turns viral because the tip is doing so well. But behind the scenes, people are manipulating the market to create a certain facade. It’s a game of musical chairs until the investor is left without a seat.
Sometimes, it’s not scandalous at all. It could be as simple as advice from an “Advisor” from your financial institution. They give you information and advice, but how do you know if it’s really right for you and your situation? Are they promoting it because the Bank is having a campaign for that product and the advisor will get a commission from your sale?
- The Gender Divide
It’s no secret that Finance is male-dominated. Historically this has been the case and while women have made great strides in the workforce, the halls of banking are still predominately male. This has led to a marketplace that speaks only to men. Marketing campaigns are directed at men. Advisors direct their questions to the man of heterosexual couples. Many women are made to feel “dumb” for asking questions like they should already know the answers. More resources are needed for females, whether single or coupled, to empower them in their financial future.
Recently, Sallie Krawcheck noted many of the women who spoke up in the #MeToo movement have financial resources. I imagine the hundreds and thousands who did not speak up because they need the job security. To truly have equality in the workplace, we need to also have informational equality.
- Investing leads to wealth building
Sometimes saving just isn’t enough. Savings depends on how much you earn and that might be out of your control, we might not know when our next promotion is coming. Savings also depends on how much you can cut expenses and sometimes that is out of our control too – the price of gas comes to mind. Investing is another way for you to increase your net worth, it’s like a passive side hustle. Creating and having multiple sources of income has come to the forefront in the last few years. A peek into how the top 1% of Americans earn their money shows that investing is a significant source.
In light of these issues, we do need another personal finance blog. Finance and investing resources are scarce, yet this information is key to building wealth and creating equality. As our world tackles issues such as gender pay gaps, racial equality, wealth distribution, the additional access to independent information is needed to further each of these.
I agree with you! There are obviously a lot of options out there but obviously not all of them are great. We started our own to better educate people on not just saving or investing, but also for credit repair as it’s a big part of life as an American.
Unfortunately it’s very tough to get real-world education in most schools, especially when it comes to finances. Too many Americans are just not prepared for the real world.