Busting 6 Intimidating Myths About Money Most Women+ Believe

Being shut out of the money conversation has left many women+ with no savings, few healthy money habits, and virtually no knowledge of how to invest wisely and grow their money, which is something that men+ do far more frequently than women+. So, today I'm busting six intimidating myths about money most women+ believe.

1) Money management is complicated, confusing, and stressful

It's really easy to build up scary narratives about things that we don't understand. But the truth is that there are just a few simple systems for budgeting, spending, saving, and investing, and all you have to do is learn them. Once you understand those systems, taking care of your money becomes as routine as brushing your teeth, only a lot more fun and profitable.

To be clear, I firmly believe that taking care of your money should be fun and pleasant. You work hard for your money, so everything about it should be enjoyable, from spending it to, yes, even managing it.

That's why I use tools like the weekly money ritual to help myself create pleasurable associations to taking care of my money and create a habit that gets me excited to sit down and look at my week. It's almost like a day at the spa, except that you make money.

2) Good people don't want to be rich

Let me know if you heard that before, because I believed this money myth for a long time.

Most of us have grown up with some pretty negative associations with money. Have you ever heard things like “money is the root of all evil”? “He was filthy rich”? “The Wolf of Wall Street“? Not to mention countless stories of men in power doing unethical and harmful things with their money — Bernie Madoff, Jeffrey Epstein — or the fact that in every movie, the rich successful woman is portrayed as an old, mean, lonely spinster. How is anyone supposed to think that wealth is good when you're being surrounded with those messages?

But the truth is that money simply gives you opportunities to shape the world you want to live in and create a better future for yourself and your children.

You will still be an empathetic, compassionate, and generous person with or without money, but it's a whole lot easier to create the kind of world you want to live in when you have money.

3) My partner takes care of our family finances, so I don't need to be financially literate

I understand this one too. I grew up in a family with very little in the way of financial resources or financial literacy, so when I married into a more financially savvy family, I thought I had it made. I trusted my husband fully, so I thought I was off the hook when it came to our money, and spoiler alert — I was wrong.

In our program, the Million Dollar Year, we often work with women+ who are left in the lurch, if not totally screwed over, by letting a partner or an ex-partner poorly manage their family finances, and they are now left picking up the pieces.

In my situation, I was really blessed that my husband actually managed our finances quite well, even though I wasn't paying attention at all, but I had big goals for myself, my family, and the businesses that I run. And without a baseline understanding of how to budget, save, spend, and invest, I was pretty much powerless when it came to making those dreams actually happen.

On top of that, because my husband and I weren't on the same page — more honestly, I wasn't even reading the book — our conversations about money were unhealthy and unproductive.

However, once we both had the knowledge and the tools to make informed decisions with our money, we were able to do things both as individuals and as a family that were way bigger than I had imagined, like building my dream home, growing a seven-figure business, and owning our first rental property.

(Want to learn more how to take control of your finances? Check out our free masterclass, Think Like an Investor.)

4) Talking about money and salaries is rude and improper

It sure feels that way, since most conversations about money are uncomfortable and whispered behind closed doors. But the funny thing is that many men+ talk freely about money all the time.

Boys are more likely to be taught about money growing up, because they're expected to take care of the family one day. Plus, it's no secret that the majority of people sitting around the boardroom are still men. And what are they talking about around that table? Moola, and how to make more of it.

When women don't talk about their money, they have no perspective, so they're left feeling alone and ashamed about their financial situation. I mean, you likely talk with your best friends about all sorts of deeply personal things, right? You tell them the totally cringe-worthy things that your toddler says, about that little crush you have on the butcher at Whole Foods, about the time you left the gym early because of a bad burrito…

But you don't talk about how much money you make, or better yet, how much money you want to make. You don't talk about how much debt you have or the credit card interest rates you're paying, even if you're not sure if they're too high. You don't talk about how to improve your credit score so you can buy a rental property one day.

The more that we normalize these conversations around money, the more freedom women have to make powerful decisions with their money.

5) You have to be a numbers person to be good at finance

You may be thinking, sure I can add and subtract numbers, but interest rates, loans, the stock market…I left my TI-83 calculator back in high school, thank you very much.

Well, yes, it's true that there are a lot of numbers when it comes to managing your money, but for the most part, it is pretty basic math, and anything tricky that you need to figure out, like compound interest, someone else has already built a helpful calculator to calculate that exact thing. (Trust me — all you need is Google).

More importantly, managing your money isn't just about numbers. All of us bring emotions, past experiences, habits, and values into our relationship with money. When you do the work that you need to uncover the associations that aren't serving you, you free yourself up from the fear and anxiety of money management.

Then, all of a sudden, the numbers don't seem so scary anymore because they no longer hold meaning about you as a person. They're simply numbers, and numbers ain't got emotions. So, when it's just math, then the only thing you need to become a “numbers person” is fourth grade math.

6) You have to be rich before you start investing

Uh, nope. Nuh-uh, no, you do not have to be rich before you start investing. You get rich by investing. (In fact, thinking you need to be rich before you invest is one of the biggest investing mistakes you can make.)

If you make money, you can also save and grow your money safely and securely. I've helped women of all income levels, economic statuses, and circumstances save, invest, and grow wealth, right from where they're starting from.

And if you want to learn more about how to take control of your finances and start building wealth, check out my free masterclass, Master Your Money

So, those are the six myths about money that you can stop believing in right now, because money management doesn't need to be complicated, confusing, or stressful. You can want to be rich and still be a good person. And even if your partner takes great care of your family finances, you still need to be involved and need to be financially literate. It is okay to talk about money and talk about real numbers. It actually helps other people when you do this. And you don't need to be a numbers person to be good with money, and you definitely don't need to be rich to invest. You get rich by investing.

Let me know if any of these myths about money were tripping you up and which ones you are officially done believing in!