Financial Adulting

CHAPTER 2Equity and Personal Finance

You might be wondering why a chapter on equity comes before any of the financial how-to in a personal finance book. After reading this, I hope you'll wonder why it's not the first thing covered in every single personal finance book.

Because, when the minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009 while prices of goods have gone up 27% since then,¹ it doesn't matter how well you budget.

When you have an overall racial wealth disparity of 8 to 1,² and a gender wealth disparity of 3 to 1 for women, 50 to 1 for Black women, and 100 to 1 for Latinas,³ explained by the enslavement of Black people and systemic oppression, that's not going to be resolved by investing alone.

When mothers are paid 30% less,⁴ just for being mothers, are offered no paid leave, and childcare prices are astronomical, women continue to struggle and those who can drop out of the workforce by the millions.

The Idea That You Can Pull Yourself Up by Your Bootstraps Is a Scam

Black people are paid less, the things they own are worth less, but then you tell me to pull myself up by my bootstraps.

—Tiffany Aliche, The Budgetnista

Oof. This quote stuck with me during our interview. Tiffany Aliche (a.k.a. The Budgetnista) is a financial educator, bestselling author of Get Good With Money, and a Black woman. You'll be hearing a lot more from her (you're welcome). I was very intentional about featuring different voices, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise ...