How I feel about the #girlmath trend

I'm sure you've seen the #girlmath trend going around, basically making fun of how females think about money. One I've seen often is that you make a return at Target or something and so because you returned it, you made money or it's free money and people laugh and make fun of that.

And if you ask me, it's just not funny.

I have so many thoughts about this. But to sum it up, it is making fun of women when they think differently about money. It bothers me so much because my job, and what I do day in and day out, is to help female entrepreneurs understand their money. I help them understand how to change their life with their money, understand how to just manage their money, understand what their money is telling them, etc. We work through their education, upbringing, the way that they think about money, their mindset about money, their limiting beliefs about money, and all the things.

Why? Because you might not have really learned it (and applied it) in high school. Financial education in schools is getting better, but even college they don't teach you a lot about money. And so it kind of goes back to: What did our parents teach us about handling money? How did they educate us? And if you didn't have that, then your knowledge about money might not be where you want it to be. And that is okay. That is 100% okay.

Why I *really* don't like this trend

But the goal is to support you so that you do understand finances and money. When you look at what the girlmath trend is doing, especially for women and female entrepreneurs, it's knocking them down time and time again. It's telling them that they're not smart with their money. It is telling them that they are not capable of making wise financial decisions. That they are not capable of handling money. My friends, it wasn't even that long ago that women could not open up a bank account, they could not buy a house, and they could not have a credit card without their husband's signature.

While I love my husband dearly, women need to have that right to be able to go do those things. The Equal Opportunity Act passed in 1974 and it allowed women to go do that. But we are still having to deal those old belief systems, even right now in 2023. It was in my parents' generation that the Equal Opportunity Act passed and that is mind blowing to me! I want to be able to teach my kids and my daughter that we can handle money and that we are able to do this and that we need to do this.

My husband and I share the responsibility of handling our money, but I have a lot of friends and a lot of people that I know that only the husband handles the money. There's a lot more I could say about this and I'm going to go on a bit of a side rant. But if you are not smart with your money, if you don't understand what is going on, and if you're depending on other people to help you (whether it's your spouse who handles the money or someone else)... If they die or if something happens, what are you going to do? As women, we need to be in control of our money. We need to know what is going on in our personal finances. We need to know what is going on in our business finances.

You ARE smart and capable with your money

You absolutely CAN have the knowledge and be educated with your finances, both business and personal. You don't have to listen to this narrative that women are dumb because they go to Target and they go to Starbucks. I'm sorry, but it is really driving me crazy! And what's worse is seeing finance professional accounts that are supposed to be educating women, post about this stuff. Instead of building them up, it's breaking them down. I'm not trying to attack or judge people that have done this, I'm just sharing my perspective that that's not building up your audience and who's listening to you. Instead, it's breaking them down and belittling.

I'm not talking about anyone in particular. I've seen it over across multiple different finance and business educator accounts thinking that it's funny, hilarious, and that we need to all laugh about it. And yes, sure. We can laugh at it. Some of the videos are a little funny. But that is not our goal as finance experts and educators. And honestly, it's not a laughing matter. It is not a laughing matter. Handling our money is something that we are called to do. And as a Christian and a believer, we are supposed to be stewards of that money. And so laughing at the fact that we're being dumb with our money and that we don't understand it, it is not cool, and we need to stop it. So that is my rant for today.

What to do instead

What I want you to do instead is feel empowered around your finances. Learn, educate yourself, teach yourself how to handle your finances, both in your personal life and your business life. Learn what is going on and learn what's going in and what's going out, what you're making, what you're not making, how it can impact your life, how it can impact others lives, how you can just impact everybody around you. Learn from experts. Learn from women who have done what you want to do.

Once again, do not buy into the idea that you are dumb and that you're not educated enough to be able to handle money. I want you to be able to look at your financial reports and your business and make good decisions that's going to impact your personal life. And then I want you to look at your personal finances and make wise decisions. Learn from that so that you can impact others around you and impact your kids. Women can have an incredible impact on themselves, their families, and the people around them. So please, please, please, let's break that down and call people to stop sharing stuff about making fun of women with girl math.

I would love to hear what you guys think. I really want to have a conversation about this, because it's so important! I've had some great conversations on Instagram (you can find me at @loriannkuntz.co or @profitpriority) and you can also email me at loriann@profitpriority.co!