Following up on my post, To My Girlfriends: How to be an Independent Woman in a Relationship, and how much it’s been shared – privately, and a lot on Facebook, which makes me happy because it’s a topic we should be talking about more. I wanted to share some additional resources to add to your regular personal finance rotation. You can also see past posts about some personal finance books I suggest and my financial advice on an index card.

I’m subscribed to a few finance blogs but I’m not yet at the stage where I want to recommend them. I’m really enjoying the podcast format because I can listen while doing other things, but also because there’s a multitude of viewpoints from the guests vs. just one person’s viewpoint.

Though some of the advice sounds the same, managing your finances is not one-size-fits-all; you need to find what works for you, so I really enjoy getting a lot of perspectives and sifting out the advice and information which sounds more relevant to my personality, situation, and goals.

Farnoosh Torabi’s “So Money” podcast

This is regular listening for me and she has been doing it for a long time – more than 500 episodes so far! Her guests are interesting and range from financial specialists to notable individuals or celebrities who talk about their relationship with money and finances. Many of the topics are aimed at women but the advice and tips shared are normally gender neutral. Once a week she answers questions sent in from listeners. Frequency: 2-3 episodes a week.

A few episodes to start with:

• Episode 327: Kailei Carr, Power Presence Expert
• Episode 423: Daniel Shapiro, “Negotiating the Non-Negotiable”
• Episode 453: Dr. Daniel Crosby, “The Laws of Wealth”

Jean Chatzky’s “Her Money” podcast

It’s obviously aimed at women, and her guests are a majority but not 100% female and the topics do speak to women directly. At ~30 minutes an episode, it’s both bite-sized + packs in a lot of information. Jean has been a journalist and editor of several financial publications, including the financial editor of NBC’s Today show, writing for Money magazine and the WSJ as well as authoring a few of her own books. She often answers questions from listeners on the episodes, and she also sends out a weekly newsletter with some other tools and tips. Frequency: 1 episode a week.

A few episodes to check out:

• Episode 28: Call Your Girlfriends!
• Episode 17: Brené Brown Makes Sense Of Why Money Makes Us Feel So Vulnerable — And How To Deal
• Episode 11: When A Spender And A Saver Say ‘I Do,’ How Do They Manage The Money?

Budget/Expense Tracking: You Need a Budget (YNAB) and Expensify

I use both of these software to help track what I spend – I use Expensify to quickly categorize credit card expenses for some year-end reporting for taxes, but I spend most of my time in YNAB, where I bring together all my different accounts.

Note: YNAB is definitely better for someone who has debt and it’s built to ‘put every dollar to work’ so you’re budgeting against future expenses even before they happen. I actually don’t have any debt (since 2004!) so I’m not the ideal user, but it works for me, for now. They also have a ton of classes and tutorials to help you get your budget in order.

I’ve been considering switching to Mint or Quicken but I like that YNAB is offline (so I’m not connecting every account to something in the cloud) and it gives me a quick way to view and categorize all my expenses as well as see my other off-budget (investment) accounts.

Refinery 29’s Money Diaries

This series is a bit like voyeur money porn: women share a week inside their monetary lives, including their recurring expenses and salaries. Getting an in-depth look at someone’s spending habits over a week may not sound that interesting, but it is fascinating to see where people are valuing their time and money accordingly. Not everyone who submits is a perfect spender, and ages, salaries, occupations, expenses, and debt obligations wildly vary as do the locations (mostly US, but a few international locations as well).

I may submit mine…one day. 🙂

A few to get started:

• A Week In NYC On A $230,000 Salary 
• 7 women who earn $100,000+ in America 

• A Week In The Midwest On A $52,000 Salary

Bonus

Did you know the (U.S.) Social Security Administration has a whole site for Social Security for Women? This PDF, What Every Woman Should Know, is good reading and covers a lot of situations from changing your name, to retirement, to benefits for your children.

Any resources to share? Comment below.