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Financial Feminist: Overcome the Patriarchy’s Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love is HERE!

The must have book to help you level up financially in 2023 is here, on shelves, in the audible app, and at your local libraries.

This book has been a labor of love, and we’re so excited to finally share it with you.

As a celebration, in today’s episode, Tori is sharing the introduction to Financial Feminist, read by her, as a special sneak peak just for our podcast listeners. This is the audio directly from the audio book, so you’ll get a little taste of what to except from this book.

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Transcript:

TORI DUNLAP:

Financial Feminists, today is a big day. Probably one of the biggest days of my life thus far. Today my debut book, financial Feminist; Overcome the Patriarchy’s Bullshit to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love is here. Woohoo. My goodness, I’m so fucking excited. It is on bookshelves everywhere.

Maybe it’s already in your hands or on your phone, or your e-reader as an e-book, or maybe you’ve already started listening to the audiobook. Read By Me. I have spent four years really longer than that, working on this book from its ideation to pitching, to signing a book deal, to research and writing and editing and editing some more.

And believe it or not, editing some more after that. So it has been a labor of love, but a labor nonetheless, and it would mean the world to me, truly mean the world to me and. Would just mean the most for this movement of financial feminism. If you went today and bought a copy or two, makes a great New Year’s gift.

If you are trying to navigate the next year of your life and you’re like, okay, this is the year I’m finally going to get my financial shit together, this book has everything. You need a one stop shop. It is all. How to overcome your financial trauma, how to start saving money, how to spend according to your values, how to budget without wanting to die, how to start investing.

How to negotiate your salary and earn what you’re worth. And most importantly, how to make financial feminism a lifestyle which includes voting with your dollars, using money as a tool to build not only the life you want, but also the community and the world. You. And part of building the world that we want is supporting our local independent bookstores.

So if you can please purchase Financial Feminist from your local bookstore. What you’re about to hear today is an excerpt from the introduction to my book. This is the intro as read in the audio book. So in it, I share my manifesto for this book, the why behind writing a book About Money for Women from a Feminist perspective.

We’re gonna walk you through exactly what you can expect from this book. It’s a perfect little teaser and it is the actual introduction. So if you are wondering if this book is for you, if you’re like, is this book gonna say anything that I haven’t heard on this podcast already? I mean, the answer is yes.

I’m going to give you every single thing that is covered as well as really the thesis and the why behind this book. Fun fact. The introduction was the thing I wrote last. I wrote about 12 editions of it because it was the hardest thing to write by far. I just felt so fulfilled by it when I finally wrote it, and it’s, there’s a fun little Easter egg when you get to the end of the book.

That relates back to the intro too, and I hope you see how much work went into it just by listening to this introduction. So, without further ado, the introduction to my debut book, Financial Feminist.

 Introduction. I was about to become unemployed and I had never felt better. In late 2017, I decided to leave my first stable job out of college as a social media marketer for another position. I had ignored all the red flags during the interview process and took the job anyway, big mistake. After only a week, my boss called me into her.

I barely had a chance to memorize the code to the bathroom, let alone work out how the company operated. But as I sat in her office taking notes, she told me to my face how she was worried that she would regret hiring me. I spent the next 10 weeks crying almost every day, panicked at the thought of looming termination on Christmas day.

I had to excuse myself from my family dinner to stare at my computer screen with complete. Finishing up a project that I was told would determine my fate at the company. I felt completely powerless. She had made me feel scared and small. If you picked up this book already knowing a bit of my story, the last words you’d use to describe me are scared or small as the founder and c e o of the financial education company, Her First $100K.

I’ve spoken in front of thousands of people. Currently host a chart topping business podcast.  and I’m regularly featured in bright lipstick and a leather jacket on platforms like The New York Times and the Today Show. I don’t do scared or small, but during that time in a toxic job, I felt deeply ashamed and paralyzed with my anxiety at an all time high.

Then I checked my bank account For the past two years, I had diligently saved a portion of my paycheck for an emergency fund. I was slowly growing my first a hundred. The personal origin story of the company. I started on the side. This money’s job was to sit patiently and wait for a flat tire, an unexpected medical bill, or a toxic job.

I realized I didn’t have to spend another day at that job because I had options. So on a chilly day in January, I got to politely say fuck off to a bad situation. I walked out the door standing a little. Smiling for the first time in months I was in control as opposed to being controlled. It felt good.

This is the feeling I want for every woman. I was lucky enough to have parents who gave me a financial education. I saw my dad routinely call our cable company to negotiate our bill. I saw my mom balance the checkbook on the 13th and 21st of every month using software from the 1800. They taught me how to be a smart saver, how to use a credit card responsibly, and how to use money as a tool to build a life you love.

We worked together. My parents carefully saved, and I had three jobs well in school so that I could graduate debt free from college. They didn’t grow up with much, so they were committed to providing both an emotionally and financially stable life for me. And because I didn’t know any different, I thought this was the case for.

I
thought everyone had this kind of stability and guidance, but as I grew older, graduated high school and went to college, I realized that financial education was a luxury only those with access to financial resources could pass on to their families. Having a financial education was a privilege. Being a cisgender, straight able-bodied white woman with a middle class upbringing was a privilege, and with that privilege came respons.

I graduated from college in 20 16, 5 months before Donald Trump was elected. As I came into womanhood, learning how to navigate my life and career in a society rooted in systemic oppression, I was deciding on the person I wanted to be and what I stood for. I began to unpack my own privilege and wanted to use that privilege to help others.

It was the push 22 year old me needed to build something larger than he. So I founded her first a hundred K to fight financial inequality by giving women actionable resources to better their money. Nothing inspires me more than to see a woman standing in her own power. It’s my favorite fucking thing.

But when I entered the workforce as an adult, I saw sexism everywhere to the point where women were so beaten down that they doubted their own. . I watched friends get paid less than they were worth. I saw women of color continually get passed over for opportunities. I learned that women hold the majority of debt in America and that they invest less of their money for retirement than men.

Though we live seven years longer, a financial foundation provides choices. Small, yeah, impactful choices, like the ability to take a revitalizing vacation purchase, little luxuries without.  or donate to causes you believe in and big life stuff. Choices like starting a business, having children, or retiring early.

And most important, the choice to exit toxic situations like leaving an emotionally abusive relationship or an anxiety-inducing job. Back in 2017 when I felt powerless and scared in a toxic situation, my bank account was the. My financial foundation meant I had options. We live in a patriarchal world, a system that aids and abets inequality in this system that has gate kept financial information and tools from marginalized groups.

It is an act of protest to be financially independent. It is an act of protest to overcome negative beliefs about money. In order to save payoff, debt, invest, and find fulfilling. It is an act of protest to prioritize rest instead of hustle, abundance rather than scarcity and generosity and place of stockpiling.

In a world that actively works to keep us plain small, it is an act of protest to be stable content and powerful. It’s deeply important to acknowledge that there’s only so much of our financial experience we can. Personal finance is about 20% personal choice and 80% circumstantial. Yet historically, money experts advice has suggested that if you’re broke in debt or financially struggling, it’s entirely your fault.

We cannot discuss personal finance money or economics without discussing systemic oppression. Outside forces, including but not limited. Racism, ableism, homophobia, recession, natural disaster, and lack of access to healthcare, paid leave or child support are much to blame for why you might be struggling financially.

Financial feminism doesn’t hand wave away the structural problems in pursuit of individual women’s success. This book does not solve inequality. It does not solve or support capital. It’s not I did it so you can do it too. Inspiration Porn or a pedestal for hustle culture rather, it’s a survival guide.

While we work to change the system that currently exists, we must navigate it to the best of our ability. We still have to pay our rent, buy groceries, and take care of ourselves. A Financial Feminist is someone who embraces the power they already possess in order to help themselves and those around. To reach financial equality.

Once you are taken care of, are stable content and thriving, you will not only have a full cup, but also be able to fill other’s cups too. I’ve seen how financial feminism changes women’s lives through my work at her first hundred k. Danielle, a woman who approached me outside of an art museum in Florence, rescued herself and her daughter from her abusive husband.

Started her own business and was on her eat prey love trip to Italy. Moji, who had always felt scared to negotiate her pay now asks for her worth and asserts herself as a black woman in the largely white industry that she works in. Liz went from having to take a second antidepressant because of her demanding nine to five to owning her own tech.

She now makes $60,000 more than she made in her former job and feels more confident than ever. This book is yours throughout. I will encourage reflection and to-dos, so make sure you have a Google Doc open or a notebook close by. We also have accompanying resources, tips, and guides at her first hundred k.com/book resources.

These are included with the purchase of your book, so please use. This book is intended to be listened to slowly over multiple sit downs and will work best for you if you actually implement change. Do not try to listen all the way through in one sitting, you will get overwhelmed and never pick it up again.

Give yourself grace and take breaks. In the same vein, please do not be a passive listener. Use the material to actually make changes in your. It may be tempting to skip sections, especially if you’re financially struggling right now and you’re just trying to find a quick fix. But I intentionally wrote this book in the order.

It is written to help you to see a shift in your relationship with money in the long term, so please listen to it sequentially. Woven throughout the book are interviews with experts and stories from the Her first hundred K community. I did this for a few reason. First, I wanted to showcase and amplify different perspectives, especially from marginalized groups during moments of vulnerability like learning about money.

It adds a layer of comfort and inspiration when someone shares an experience that might be similar to yours. And second, I’m not the be all and end all authority on everything. So I brought in some other experts to help financial feminism is best summed up in one of my favorite quotes. When you have all you.

Build a longer table, not a higher fence. The mission of financial feminism is to do everything in your power to create a sturdy, beautiful table for yourself and then invite others to it rather than gate keeping that abundance. And when everyone at the table is nourished, we start to tear down the fences others have built when we are taken care of, only then can we work to change the system that disenfranchises.

So, This book is here to give you the tools to help you navigate your financial life so that when you are financially stable and financially well, we can fight against the system together. Welcome to my table, financial Feminists. Let’s dig in.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Thank you. Truly, thank you for your support. I truly believe that this book is a resource that can change the world or help change the world, especially in your hands.

You don’t need to be empowered. You already have power. I just need you to learn how to use it, and I think that this book can be a tool, can be a catalyst for you to use this power to build a life that you truly love, and then work to make change in our systems to help other women use their power too.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you’re ready to grab your copy of Financial Feminist head over to wherever books are sold, or you can go online, her first hundred k.com/book. We can get you to the local bookstore or the nearest bookstore that stocks it. There’s also an ebook version as well as the audiobook version that you’ve just heard read by me.

And if you’re reading, highlighting, journaling, please take a photo, make a video if you see it in your bookstore. Literally, y’all, again, I’ve said this before, you heard me say this a million times, but the only thing that has been keeping me going this past year of just absolutely like banging my head against a wall trying to get this book done is the realization that you.

Are going to have it in your hands that I’m going to be able to see its impact that I, I wanna see your takeaways. I wanna see what you’re highlighting. I wanna see where you’re bookmarking or I just can’t wait to see it. So please post on Instagram, tag us. It’s a great way to share the mission of the book, and it just makes me all giddy inside.

Another way you can help us is by leaving a review of the book, especially on good reads. If you’re unsure what to write, maybe share your biggest takeaway or your favorite chapter of the book, or maybe what you learned while doing the homework. , and if buying a book isn’t in your budget, please check out your local library and ask for a copy if they don’t have one already.

And yes, you can still review on Good reads if you get your book from a library or even borrow from a friend. Thank you all. As always, cannot thank you enough for your support of the book. I hope you enjoyed this little teaser.

Tag us in your takeaways and I will see you next week. Thanks for being here. Thanks for being financial feminists and I’ll talk to you soon.