Read on Twitter
I think I finally got closer to pinning down what bothers me about a lot of financial planning advice: it's the same thing that bothers me about a lot of business advice.
The way you run a business or use your money is a highly personal thing and people have very different lifestyles, values, situations, cultures, etc. And people tend to examine none of that and often default to quite oppressive systems because they sound simple, easy, or normal.
In the case of financial planning, I see so much wrapped up in either ignorant classism or poor/harmful coping mechanisms someone developed from their trauma of poverty and are now trying to harm others with to justify their specific habits and lifestyle.
We see this in business advice too-- for instance, the "hustle culture" that often comes from people who know how it's like to struggle, but that doesn't mean that advice is good. Someone is not bad or lazy or unsuccessful for not wanting to live that life.
Both strict budgeting and hustle culture feeds into the classist myth that if you work hard you'll succeed. It is deeply saddening for some to discover that a lot of "successful" people don't plan or work so diligently, and that's normal, not a fluke. But I also find it freeing.
My income comes in very unreliable spikes and I like giving a lot of it away and I have been learning not to find safety in money but in community. I don't work a lot or stick to a strict schedule in my business. I deviate a lot from the "norms" of advice.
And for a long time I tried to push myself into following the norms but with distance I'm starting to see more clearly why exactly they felt so bad.
"Poor people are experts on rich people, they have to be. They know how to budget far better" a recent BLM speech said.
I think you should trust your abilities and gut more before thinking you're doing it wrong or have so much to learn from others who aren't you. It's your life.
I think you should trust your abilities and gut more before thinking you're doing it wrong or have so much to learn from others who aren't you. It's your life.
Some more specific examples of clashing values would be "you have to hire employees to grow" or "you need 'passive income streams' to be safe like renting properties." No, I do not want to be a manager or a landlord. It's ok if you do, but there are also so many ways to live.
Some examples of lifestyle clashes would be that I have no strong desire to buy or live in a house, have an office, own luxury goods, get married, own a car, etc. Some would say these are markers of success or happiness, but again, there are also so many ways to live.
I hesitated to give specific examples because I don't want to shame anyone for wanting those things. It's okay if you do! My point is not to live like me-- that would be following the same structure of advice as what I'm trying to go against-- but to free you to live like YOU.
Another example: I don't care about building good credit, at all. I have no plans on taking out big loans or purchases and can make deposits on things like utilities. Some would say "But you might want to!" but people also tell women "One day you'll change your mind about kids!"
