Financial expert Tori Dunlap says talking about money is ‘a form of protest’ | Private Equity Weekly

Agents have been talking loudly about commission lawsuits for months.when we celebrate women’s history monthI want to advocate that women in our industry need to speak out about their financial issues.

Historically, starting in 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act Women have been able to have their own bank accounts, credit cards and homes. That’s right, just 50 years.

Today in 2024, women across all industries, including ours, still face challenges around pay gaps and equity in leadership roles. Why is this still an issue?

Women have become accustomed to talking softly about finance and financial experts Tori Dunlap Says it’s time for women to speak out and create wealth and financial security for their futures.

Dunlap is New York Times #1 bestselling author financial feminist. Through her podcast, Her first 100,000she has helped more than 4 million women manage their finances.

Tori Dunlap

A few years ago I discovered Dunlap’s content, which was refreshingly different from anything Dave Ramsey or even Sucio Orman had ever recommended. It’s realistic, achievable, and it points out the most important truth of all – going into debt or admitting you’re in a financially difficult situation doesn’t make you a bad person.

You should not be punished for having debt; however, you need education and support.

Women don’t need lessons from those who never experienced growing up with student loans, single parents, poor economic conditions, and the inevitable wage gap.

Dunlap’s perspective is like putting on a pair of glasses and finally being able to clearly see why, despite your best efforts, you’re still struggling to make ends meet.

Change the way you think about finances

With 1.9 million Instagram followers and New York Times Best-selling financial expert Tori Dunlap is educating women on how to live their best life with financial security.

In this exclusive Q&A, she shares her best advice for women in real estate at this critical time, and why it’s time to start talking louder about money.

What challenges do women face financially?

Women everywhere have to save money to pay off debt or defraud their personal investments in order to succeed.

Unfortunately, a lot of the conversation focuses on personal choice. This is roughly 20% of your personal financial equation that you have personal control over, and 80% is situational.

What is taking advantage of the situation? Two examples are the multi-trillion dollar student debt crisis we face and the many minimum wage families living in America.

All of these questions and more can have a greater impact on how you manage or navigate your money. So, my real focus is not just teaching women how to control the things they can control, but also teaching us how to use money.

“Achieving financial independence is an act of protest in a system that gates financial information and tools for marginalized groups. It is an act of protest that seeks to overcome negative beliefs about money in order to save, pay off debt, invest, and Find fulfilling work. It’s an act of protest that prioritizes rest over busyness, abundance over scarcity, generosity over hoarding. Staying steady in a world that actively strives to keep us small Being content and powerful is an act of protest.” —Tori Dunlap, financial feminist

Many women working in real estate experience stress to the point of burnout. This is a common theme among women in general. What can we do to solve this problem? How can women break free from ingrained financial beliefs?

To women, if you’re struggling, it’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong. It’s not something you can do better, more, or harder. Like this: Unfortunately, this is a requirement of your time and your labor.

You can’t be afraid of your money. You have to look, and you have to keep checking (with your money).

One of the strategies I use as an individual and business owner is what I call “money dates.” This means sitting down and taking a designated half hour to look at your money, examine your finances, see where money is coming in and out, and start making financial decisions instead of just saying: “I’ll use the two minutes between meetings to check in.” or “I’ll look at it later.”

Set aside a designated time at least once a month to sit down and think about: “Where does the money come from? Where does it go? What do I want to do with it?

(The belief) that talking about money is a taboo, a narrative.

It’s designed to keep us underpaid and overworked. This is to keep us small. We are more likely to talk about any other uncomfortable topic—sex, politics, or religion—before we talk about money, because when we talk about money, we gain power and community.

We don’t know that when we don’t talk about money, there are other people who make twice as much as we do but have far less experience. We feel ashamed of our debt, even though some other people in our circle of friends also have debt.

So talking about money is a form of protest. The simplest thing you can start doing is to have financial conversations, which don’t necessarily have to be hHow much money did you bring last year? How much money did you make? It might just be, “Hey, I have this financial goal. Are you working on something this year as well?”

Or, “I’m stressed out about my student loans,” or “I’m stressed out about everything going on at work right now. Can we talk?”

Or, “I just sold this incredible house. I got a huge commission; can we go celebrate?”

This is a conversation about money.

All our lives we have been told that asking for money is greed and pursuing wealth is wrong. I emphasize this narrative in the book.

But again, this narrative is there to keep you small. It’s designed to put you in a box and keep you in control when you’re not pursuing wealth.

What you are pursuing is not your own freedom, but the freedom of your family, your community, and women in general.

The money is not bad. It is essentially neutral, morally neutral, not inherently good or inherently evil. This is a stack of government-issued documents. —Tori Dunlap

Sixty-two percent of real estate agents are women Work as an independent contractor on a commission basis and combat wage gaps, high interest rates, and inflation. The average age of real estate agents is 60 years old. What advice do you have for the current volatility that real estate is prone to? Where do women start if they feel overwhelmed?

We’ll have some months where we make more money and some months where we make less money, and we have to figure that out. If you do know you’ll be able to sell more items in a certain month, try planning around those seasons.

Now is the time to start putting away a reserve in case you ever need to sell that much. This way you can start to predict some trends in your business.

This may sound obvious if you’ve been doing this for a while, but especially to new people who don’t know, there’s no tax on any money you get. This can cause problems when tax season rolls around. you find, “Oh, where’s the money coming from to pay these taxes?”

About 30% of any money you (earn) should be set aside immediately to pay taxes you don’t cover. You can open a high-yield savings account and start saving there. The money you see is not yours. It’s not like a 9 to 5 salary, where what you put on your payroll is what you actually get.

As far as more tips on inconsistent income, like I said seasonality, like, see if you can save a base amount or a base amount every month and then if you do get more, cool, add to That pile. If you don’t have more flexibility to add more content during the month, that’s fine too.

When thinking about the future and how to discuss finances with our children, what are some important things that women can convey to the next generation to help create healthier relationships and financial education than we have been able to provide for generations?

Do your best to set an example of good behavior.

I think one of the things my parents were really good at was that sometimes, of course, as a kid I wanted something and they were like, “No, we’re not going to buy you that. “

But there is always a reason for their rejection. “We’re going on a family trip together that we really value,” (for example). Therefore, they focus on using money as a tool to build the life they want and create memories for us.

I did learn value-based spending from my parents, but there are things they don’t spend a lot of money on so they can spend the money elsewhere. This is a really great thing.

It’s like teaching your daughter you teach your son. I think your daughters need it more because they won’t get it when they grow up. We have lots of resources in the podcast and book for you to start teaching them.

If you are talking about money, make sure they are not ashamed of it. Make sure they are not about what we cannot do, but about how we use money as a tool.

Final thoughts?

There are a lot of people who are rich but terrible, and there are a lot of people who are rich but great. Are doing great things with it.

I think the world will only be a better place if women have more money, so if you feel bad about making money, that’s completely normal and it’s adapted to you.

I encourage women to explore this more. Realizing that having money means having choices, options, and freedom is how I want every single woman to feel.

Rachael Hite is a former broker, business development professional, fair housing advocate, copy editor, and currently perfecting her long-term home selling game in a retirement community in Northern Virginia.You can contact her about life, marketing and business at Instagram.