Girls Invest

by Jordan Stevens

Girls Invest is a community seeking to simplify finances for your modern girl. I was inspired to create this to give women a place to take a deep breath about the overwhelming stress of finances and get real and open about where they were financially—and where they wanted to go in the future—but also to find answers and community to help promote accountability along the way. This is why our hashtag is #alrightnowladies… like alright, now it’s that time of the day to get real about how we have been behaving financially or to get real and talk about the things we don’t know much about. It’s all about holding each other accountable to our goals. We want to see women win in every area, and finances are a key factor to stability and legacy. It wasn’t so much about the information I had to share from working as a financial advisor for a Fortune 500 financial services firm or even the knowledge I gained from my own money mistakes but about teaching women how to do the work—it’s the ‘doing’ that makes practical tips seem impossible.

 Girls Invest is a cornerstone community, for women to come and gather through digital platforms and have a place to find their financial answers. More importantly, we gather as a sisterhood of women all trying to achieve their financial goals and obtain financial literacy.

Where do I want to see the community go? I want to see Girls Invest break down barriers of financial inequality and give women across the globe the opportunity to have the financial freedom that they never could have imagined, and with worldwide mediums like the internet and social media, it is possible. The goal is to give women across the globe the opportunity to gain financial literacy and education, and access a sisterhood rooting for their success and holding them accountable for their your successes and failures.

#alrightnowladies so let’s talk a little bit about our behaviour in finance. You’d probably be shocked to know that in the United States women statistically have higher investment returns than men—even though as the wealth gap continues to grow, women are holding onto more cash. Women are hoarders. We are the keepers of safety and control. I know because I am one. I love to know that whatever I own is safe—including all my coins! Our brains work like this: ‘I know that this savings account is FDIC insured so worst case scenario I get my money back.’ Well yeah! But it’s been sitting in a dying savings account for 10 years making $1.00 per year... but it was a ‘safe’ choice so we feel like we are doing ourselves a service. Really, there are better options that can still give you the safety you want while yielding higher returns. We want to put away for a rainy day—which we should do—but hoarding does not produce additional income.

Obtaining wealth fast makes you rich… investing keeps you wealthy.

What is the best financial advice I can give you for 2019? Have a mindset of disciplined stewardship. It is not the information; it is the consistency in doing that will change your life. The same discipline we have to consistently get up every morning, take a shower, brush our teeth, go get our coffee, and go to work needs to be the same discipline that we put into our 2019 financial goals. Get our paycheck, give generously, pay ourselves first through saving (for future investments), pay our credit cards down before they report, etc. Give. Save. Invest. REPEAT. 

If you would like to learn more about how to be your best self financially, check out thegirlsinvestmentgroup.com and take our free financial personality quiz. It’ll show you where you are and help you gain some tips to get you where you ultimately want to be financially. ■