Millennial Women & Money: How To Build A Good Money Practice With Stefanie O’Connell

In a September 2018 Forbes article, Megan Gorman writes a piece entitled “Millennial Women Are Poised To Be The Most Financially Independent Women in History.” To support her argument she cites research from Pew stating that millennial women are more likely than men to have finished at least a Bachelor’s degree and Twine also found that one-third of women in this group are investing outside of a 401K.

This is great news for our generation, compared to decades past when women were forced to be subservient housewives. But, how did we get here?

How did we move from a society in which women making financial decisions was rarely seen to one in which millennial women are becoming the movers and shakers of our economies?

As we sat down with Stefanie a few months ago in late 2018 these were some of the questions we had in mind, but more so sought practical guidance on how more millennial women can own their financial destiny and find freedom from the continuous cycle of debt, poverty, and working for a pension payout.

When Did Money Become a Priority for You?

Our conversation started with Stefanie explaining the pivotal moment when she started becoming money conscious, and as you’ll hear in a few seconds, it is somewhere we have all been.

Why Are We So Scared of Money?

This was the next question we had for Stefanie. For many of us, thoughts and conversations around money trigger a lot of anxiety and stress. According to a 2016 study by financial services company Northwestern Mutual, 85% of Americans reported feeling some level of anxiety around money; a majority said there were negative impacts on their health, social lives, and careers.

Here, Stefanie explains why…

Money can’t be that hard!

Living The Life You Want

The whole purpose of developing good money habits is not only to pay our bills on time and be able to put food on the table, it is more so to live the lives we want. To create comfortable and sustainable financial security as we get older and start to build families and grow our careers.

What role does money play in helping us design our best lives?

Why Do Women Have To Focus On Money More?

Even in 2019, on average, women are still paid 20% less than their male counterparts. This means that women not only have to focus more on obtaining money but also on keeping and growing it.

Here we asked Stefanie about steps millennial women can take to become financially secure and avoid learning about money when it’s too late.

Millennial Women & The Gig Economy

According to a recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report on individuals in alternative work arrangements, 16.5 million people now make up the gig economy. Plus, 59% of U.S. companies are now using flexible workforces to some degree.

With this surge in the industry, should millennial women consider gigs or side-hustles an effective means of making money?

How Should Millennial Women Get Started Creating Good Money Habits?

Developing good money habits take practice and Stefanie delves more into how we can start adopting healthy financial wellness for life.

Hit Rock Bottom? How Do You Recover?

Hitting rock bottom is a reality for many millennial women. Not only is it hard to make money, but the fact that we’re not making enough coupled with rising day-to-day expenses creates a harsh reality in which many women are living paycheck to paycheck.

How can we recover from hitting rock bottom and what are the things we should be paying attention to?

Asking for a Raise! The Age Old Issue We Still Grapple With Today

As Stefanie just mentioned, to effectively asked for a raise you need to be equipped with the relevant data. Here she expands some more on how to do this and alternative steps to take in the event your boss gives you the cold shoulder.

Stefanie is a millennial woman who has lived through financial hardship and found her own way to develop a money practice that took her from stressing over $1,800 to building a six-figure personal finance business working with both individual and business clients such as Capital One and Visa.

The hard truth is, if she did it, there is nothing stopping you from taking these same actionable tips and start creating financial security and independence for yourself.

To learn more about Stefanie, check out her details below: