By: Katie Gomez

What if women’s struggles with money weren’t about willpower but about access to the right knowledge and tools? Despite more women entering the workforce and financial markets in the past decade, millions hesitate to explore the stock market simply because they don’t know where to begin. Historically, most women haven’t been equipped with the financial education and skills often provided to men.

In attempts to break the cycle, Tori Dunlap released her new book The Financial Feminist, offers actionable advice to close the gender gap in financial confidence. Whether you’re a woman looking to take charge of your finances or someone eager to support the women in your life, this guide delivers transformative insights—from resetting your money mindset to conquering the stock market.

Changing Your Mindset Around Money 

Most women’s relationships with money stem from restriction, guilt, shame, and anxiety, as they put too much pressure on the money they don’t have, placing it in a state of lack. Dunlap explains in the first few chapters that before any work can be done or any money can be invested, women must first deal with their relationship with money and how their past may have and continue to influence it. She offers a set of questions (the Five Patriarchal Narratives) to prompt this conversation before you even read her book. 

1. You should know “How to Money.”
2. Talking about money is uncomfortable or impolite.
3. You will be rich if you just work hard enough.
4. Wanting money is selfish.
5. Money can’t buy you happiness.

Once her readers reflect and note how these sayings have negatively impacted their money habits, she asks them to dive a little deeper into their mindset on money by journaling on: What is your first money memory? Sometimes, we find bad habits like chasing hot trends, gambling, or impulse buys stem from following the habits of our peers or parents growing up. Finally, she asks the reader to imagine what their life would look like if that relationship with their finances were to change from a toxic one of the past to a healthy one of the future and how exactly they will make that happen. 

Spending vs. Saving

Growing up, women were engrained with the idea that men were the providers and they would deal with the finances. This explains why so many women don’t participate in the market or even have their retirement fund; we’re not chronic spenders; we were not taught how to be savers. When men try to tighten their finances, they are provided with articles such as “5 Stocks to Invest in or “Why Real Estate Can Save Your Retirement.” On the other hand, women are fed articles and magazine columns that look more like: “Is your coffee addiction preventing you from buying a house?” or “5 Recipes to Help you Budget your Meals Better.” See the difference?

We wonder why women are shamed for being spenders because we’ve been force-fed the idea that we are impulsive spenders, racking up debt and in need of saving (reinforcing the patriarchal notion that women cannot provide for themselves). Dieting does not work, not with food and not with money. Depriving yourself of spending your hard-earned money, like we do with our favorite foods, only leads to the same binge and restricted cycle of disappointment. So, instead of teaching you how to spend less, she teaches you how to successfully save.

The Financial Game Plan 

The market can be incredibly intimidating for women who still need to learn the language and feel like foreigners. Historically, women weren’t encouraged to come up with plans regarding money, so we became more comfortable being dependents. While grocery shopping, budgeting, balancing the checkbook, and shopping the sales might be our forte, when it comes to investing, trading, and setting long-term financial goals for retirement, that’s where women can feel like a fish out of water. However, Dunlap provides an easy-to-execute outline for women to create their plans once they get their mindset right around money and learn to take actionable steps toward those goals. 

Quoting Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich, Dunlap expands on his idea of “invisible scripts” and how they tend to cloud our judgment when formulating our plans. Invisible scripts are what we think we want but have just been passed down. Our brain has digested information so much, and we believe it’s our original idea. Some of the most common scripts include: I should buy a house or go to college. Is that your goal, or do you think it should be? Invisible scripts are an essential notion to become aware of as a new investor or trader because your goals must be aligned with your most authentic intentions and abilities, not a reflection of someone else.

To escape the fog of these outside voices clouding your judgment, start from scratch and get specific to your current financial situation. That can be done in 3 easy steps:

1. Specific dollar amount: (debt you want to pay off, $ you need to retire early, college fund, etc.) 
2. Timely: What time frame are you going to do this? Months/years? Short-term goals (vacation) or long-term (retirement fund).
3. Mission-driven: Why are you setting this goal? What’s your motivation? Why is this important to you? 

These are the three building blocks of your financial plan(s). Now, you are ready to learn how to achieve it through investing. 

Entering the World of Investing/Trading

While I have written many articles on investing and trading hacks for new traders, Dunlap’s clear and concise explanation made investing seem more accessible than ever for women. 

For those not yet enrolled in a 401k plan, Dunlap refreshingly explains how to start investing in the DIY style. You might know enough about the market to get by in conversations at a party but not enough to invest in them. She introduces this chapter by listing the types of assets to invest in in addition to simply stocks and bonds:  

• Mutual funds: A group of stocks tracking a particular part of the stock market that can be traded only when the stock market is open. Actively managed, including fees for fund managers to pick your stocks. 
• Index funds: Mutual funds or ETFs designed to track a particular part of the stock market, such as the S&P 500. Diversified, low in fees, and a more stable choice than individual stocks. 
• Target funds: A popular fund for retirement investments, actively managed, with managers picking investments that become more conservative every year as you approach your retirement date. (Ex: 2024: medium risk picks, 2064: extremely low risk picks) 

Once you familiarize yourself with the product, it’s time to start your DIY Project, building a portfolio that aligns with your long-term financial plan. The top 3 things to consider before picking at random are: 

1. Performance: Examine the investment’s performance via charts and moving averages. Does it show explainable dips or consistently lose value? Look for stocks/funds incrementally moving upward for long-term investing. On the other hand, short-term trading opportunities will require more day-to-day performance reflections.

2. Fees: Ensure you look for the fees associated with the funds you invest in, examining your expense ratio regularly. Make sure you are not getting charged for every buy/sell. If you can’t afford it, reconsider your investments.

3. Holdings/companies: the companies this particular fund invests in. Since a fund is just a collection of stocks, we want to research how the individual stocks might influence the volatility of the fund as well as if your funds are diversified and profitable enough to sustain your portfolio, look into more considerable funds such as VTI, which holds Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, and more).

The best advice she gives in her book, and she reiterates this many times, is to make an informed decision quickly and start investing as soon as possible because the younger you start, the more money you’ll have. You will have questions, reflect, and edit; that’s part of the project! But don’t get so caught up in the perfectionist details that you refrain from investing; you must simply start. Dunlap outlines several more helpful pointers in her book, and I suggest every woman trying to increase her financial savviness (wherever she may be now) read it as soon as possible. 

In conclusion, money management, investing, and financial savviness are lifetime skills you will continue to harness, and they are projects you will be working on most of your life. Any successful investor knows there is always something new to learn about the market. When you keep educating yourself, you open new ways to opportunities and more lucrative rewards instead of remaining stagnant. Dunlap’s epilogue encapsulates that message perfectly, “when you have all you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence.” in other words, you will continue learning and building on the knowledge from this book, and invite others to share in your abundance, teach your girlfriends, your mom, your students, your kids. If Dunlap had kept this to herself, she would have deprived her thousands of readers of becoming the finally savvy women they are now. Visit Trade Ideas today to turn ideas into action and take the first steps toward reclaiming your financial future today; like Dunlap said, ready or not, you simply have to start. 

References 

Dunlap, T. (2023). Financial feminist: Overcome the patriarchy’s bullsh*t to master your money and build a life you love. Dey St., an imprint of William Morrow.