On financial literacy bypassing.

If I haven't mentioned this before, I am currently obtaining my facilitator license to officially be a trauma-informed financial educator. 🎉In our class this week, we discussed the many disparities QTBIPOC face when it comes to their financial wellbeing. From slavery to redlining, predatory loans, subprime mortgages, and sadly the list goes on…there is a lot of work to do.

My teacher shared a term called “financial literacy bypassing” which is something I have grappled with for being in the industry for years now. I have always felt that financial advice is emotionally and spiritually bypassing, and the education that most individuals receive in regards to their financial wellbeing can be dismissive of your financial situation and/or experiences. Not everyone has the privilege to automate their savings. Not everyone has the privilege in their current financial situation to save for an emergency fund. Not everyone has the privilege to even open a high yield savings account. The shame that wreaks havoc in not being able to do these things can be lethal to ones financial wellbeing. 

A past client of mine said there was no point in investing in her financial wellbeing because it quite literally was impossible. At the time, she could not do any of the things she was advised to do when it came to her finances so she felt defeated. Her previous advisor told her to get on a budget and cut out things that are not “necessities”. I looked at her spending and she was already spending on JUST her basic needs. 

Hate to break it to most financial advisors out there, but I am not one to put someone on a strict rice, beans, and cup of noodles only diet. 

In her case, this was not a spending issue. This financial advisor was not attuned to her financial needs and to be honest, they aren't taught to be! This was an income issue, which most financial issues stem from. Our focus was getting her a higher paying salary, which she did and guess what?

She's living her best financial life now, has an emergency fund (I like to call these Freedom Funds), and can automate her saving goals easily and effortlessly. 

But most importantly, our collective goal wasn't to have these privileges. That was of course, a part of it. However, our collective goal to her financial life was that she feels empowered, secure, and at peace. That is true financial wellbeing right there.

Because you can have these privileges and still feel anxious, shame, and fear when it comes to your finances. 

No matter where you are at in your finances, you are worthy of the fullness that financial wellbeing can bring to your life.

I mean what I say, and I say what I mean. You are.