Why talking about money helps women build wealth

For women, talking about money seems to be fraught with emotional landmines, especially in social situations. For example, you’re not likely to admit, to a casual friend who appears to have her finances in order, that you’re struggling to pay off credit card debt, let alone invest in the property market. Therefore, you don’t feel comfortable asking her for advice, whether it’s from embarrassment, insecurity or the desire to stick to more ‘socially polite’ conversations.

On the flip side, unless you’ve got proof that this friend is happily sailing along in financial freedom, you’re basing the assumption on the fact that she seems to be. Perhaps she never complains about the expensive wine, always wears designer clothes or travels overseas five times a year. Outwardly, she appears to be doing well with money, but she could be where you were five years ago - racking up credit card debt she’ll eventually have to deal with.

Because women don’t like to bring the topic up, the forum in which learning takes place remains, sadly, closed. Here’s what can happen when you take the plunge and bring on the money talk over coffee.

You realise you’re not alone

For many women, it can seem crass, rude or downright boring to ask a friend about money or even instigate a related conversation. Meanwhile, men have been talking dollars to death, from day dot. In this day and age, this mentality leaves women at a serious disadvantage, as you stand alone in the face of outdated belief systems and lack of financial knowledge. When you take money talk out of the taboo zone and bring it into normalcy, you get to drop the awkwardness surrounding it. This leads to benefiting from everyone’s experiences, strategising together and growing.

You discover wealth-building information

Have you ever asked for a pay rise? Across the years, many studies have indicated that women feel much less comfortable doing so than men, for a variety of reasons, one of which may simply be a lack of talking about it. Imagine that, following an honest discussion with a friend, you find out that she makes much more than you, working less hours in the same role, at a different company?

Without this information, you might never even consider you could be earning more for what you do. If you don’t have anything to measure goals against, it’s pretty hard to realistically aim higher. Talking about money leads to discovering beneficial information, which leads to more empowered choices.

You start to prioritise building financial independence

Chances are, you spend a lot of time doing things for other people. As women tend to place a great deal of emphasis on nurturing and multi-tasking, wealth creation gets left behind as a mere thought while driving to the next appointment. Talking about money with everyone in your life brings it to the forefront of your experience. It creates an opening for you to glean knowledge and information from those around you.

This leads to dropping emotional issues that might be holding you back and gaining valuable tools, tips, insights and wisdom towards wealth creation. When building wealth becomes more of a focus in your world, you’ll be surprised at how easy it can be.