Tori Dunlap is fighting the patriarchy and making you rich.
I don’t remember how I stumbled upon the Financial Feminist podcast but I can say with certainty that it has changed my life and how I think and feel about money. In the early days of binging her podcast, I found myself unlocking my own limiting beliefs about money and seeing for the first time the hold it had on me. And I cried. I cried a lot. I had no idea how much it had been holding me back, and the reach that it had, permeating almost all aspects of my life.
Tori Dunlap is a financial educator whose body of work focuses on money management and how money affects women differently than men. Her website HerFirst100K.com, podcast and book both named ‘Financial Feminist’, are dedicated to sharing information that help shift mindset, create systems that work to help manage finances, but also educates her audience on the systems that exist that are set up to work against us and what we can do to get the most for ourselves from a broken system.
“Money is Psychological. I’ll repeat it: money is psychological. Our financial decisions are directly impacted by our mind-sets and how we’re feeling in a certain moment, and in turn those financial decisions directly impact our long-term outcomes.” -Tori Dunlap (excerpt from her book, Financial Feminist)
Dunlap’s approach to money is a refreshing change of pace from the normal narrative that looks a lot like traditional diet culture: deny yourself the things that you want and feel shame when you can’t follow through.
Her strategy begins with acknowledging your own relationship with money as those core beliefs dictate just about everything we do. Through interviews and research, she shares where these beliefs may have come from and teaches ways to change our narratives, giving ourselves support and grace in lieu of criticism and shame often espoused by financial experts that educate from more militant, self-denial-based formats.
“Personal finance is personal.” -Tori Dunlap
Like any sustainable habit, money management is not ‘one size fits all’ and Dunlap’s methods demonstrate that individuals will vary widely in the ways they spend money.
There was a time when I avoided outings and made excuses not to participate in experiences and meals with my friends, and I felt a tremendous amount of shame thinking there was something wrong with me for not wanting to spend time with them. But what I’ve learned about myself since discovering Dunlap is that certain things just don’t fit into my spending priorities, and that’s ok.
I don’t need to lie or feel ashamed about not wanting to participate- it’s just that I would rather save that money and put it towards a trip out of town or a house project. Unless it’s a special occasion or I’m away from my hometown, meals out just don’t move the needle for me like they used to.
In the last year the term ‘loud budgeting’ has been used to describe this phenomenon. Other people call it ‘value-based spending’, but no matter what it is called, ‘personal finance is personal’ and where you spend your extra cash is your business and it will be different for everyone and there’s nothing wrong with that.
For those looking for an action plan to get your finances in order, her New York Times best-selling book is an absolutely wonderful resource. It has a chronological action plan that is easy to understand, gives support and guidance and tackles financial behemoths like salary-negotiation, debt and investing for first-timers or beginners. Her website offers resources, a variety of programs including ones to teach you to invest, and includes her entire catalogue of podcasts.
Her podcast is rated the top financial podcast in the world and has been an invaluable resource for me. She interviews guests from a broad range of disciplines that have themselves become some of my favorite thought-leaders. Her teachings have fundamentally changed the way I think about money, and I move through my life with more purpose, a sense of control and confidence.
“Women who do not negotiate their salaries miss out on more than $1 million during their lifetime compared to women who do.” -Tori Dunlap
Tori Dunlap is helping rewrite the financial script for women-identifying people and marginalized communities. The reach of her teachings is already having a profound effect- people using her investing platform have invested over $80 Million since its debut, many of whom are first-time investors. The confidence she is building in the community around financial health is inspiring and she has no intention of stopping her mission any time soon. She has been critical in helping shape my goals and remove shame and judgement that have held me back in my pursuits.
Cheers to Tori and her endless fight against the patriarchy and her mission to make your rich!
Find my favorite podcast episodes and a link to her book on my Resources page here.
Here she explains what Financial Feminism is and why we need to give a fuck:
