I was deep in the throes of postpartum depression when I got hooked on personal finance podcasts. I’d also just turned in my PhD dissertation and there was a huge vacuum in terms of my learning energy.
I’ve been a casual listener of Kate Kennedy’s podcast for several years and she did a collaboration episode with Money with Katie in March 2024 about the ways society views women spending money. It hit the sweet spot for me because of my ongoing passion about the unique ways women experience the world and this new layer of how women interact with money specifically. While nursing and snuggling my newborn and in between chaotic attempts to potty train my toddler, I devoured over 100 hours of personal finance podcast material, zoomed through a dozen audiobooks by women in finance, and read what I couldn’t listen to.
Though my PhD in German sounds a bit niche, I learned so much on a general level about how to research, consume and simplify information, and design courses. I’ve spent the last decade getting young adults excited about German grammar and modern European politics. Making faraway concepts feel close and meaningful. My post-PhD life suddenly became the same life but with a different focus.
One theme I noticed in the finance materials I consumed was how important it was to have a place to talk about money. If you feel like money is taboo, you can’t get better at money. If you feel self-conscious or ashamed around sharing your experiences with money or financial goals, it’s much harder to get where you want to be.
I love how Money with Katie opens up her show with “Hey rich girls and boys” because it makes me feel like I’m part of her community (and because it made me feel rich, even if I wasn’t quite there). Tori Dunlap does something similar in calling us her “financial feminists.”
As much as I appreciated these podcast “conversations,” they weren’t exactly conversations. My material would talk at me, and I would nod or shake my head rigorously. When all that I’d been learning really came alive is when I could talk about it with others. When my fellow PhD friend asked me what about finance I suddenly found so interesting, I was thrilled to share some “fun IRA facts” (which my husband has insisted I simply call “IRA facts” because they aren’t that fun). I started my own Money Circles group with friends and acquaintances who were interested in money, inspired by Cassandra Cummings’ Stock Sisters. It’s so empowering to bring people together with different money backgrounds and talk about their money memories, feelings, and goals while also providing financial education.
It can be so helpful to know you’re not the only one who doesn’t know how to get started investing, or is working through debt, or is totally rocking all of their financial stuff so you know it can be done.
Money Circles is here to grab your besties and make space to talk about all the money things that you’ve either been shoving in a closet or have been living rent free in your head without any room to develop or grow into resolutions and actions.
Community is here to make you live your best life, so grab a comfy chair and friend and start talking about your experiences with money.
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