6 (Totally Wrong) Ways We've Had Money Mansplained to Us
On a scale of one to 10, how much do you loathe mansplaining?
Personally, it’s an 11, taking the top spot over manspreading and bropropriating but barely squeaking past manterrupting.
Just thinking about the unsolicited — or downright wrong — advice us women sometimes have to listen to sends chills down my spine. It’s especially bad when it comes to financial advice. Studies show women are increasingly becoming the major financial decision-makers in their homes. So thanks, but we’ve heard enough “oh, sweetie” and “let the men handle it” for a lifetime.
Here are some of the most nonsensical financial mansplanations we’ve heard in person and online — yes, they’re real — and what us financially savvy women know to do instead.
1. ‘Cash is King, So Don’t Pay Your Credit Card in Full.’
Sounds like this guy is just attempting to regurgitate (incorrectly) what his leader Dave Ramsey drilled into his brain. Yes, having cash on hand is great in case of an emergency (that’s why you have an emergency fund), but you know what’s a really fast way to drain it all?
Paying an insane amount of interest on your credit card balances.
Some credit card companies these days are charging a whopping 36% APR, which could wipe out all that cash this Ramseyite worships.
One way to actually preserve your cash long-term is to get rid of your debt as fast and as cheaply as possible. (If Mr. Know-It-All had actually paid attention to his idol, he’d know this). Then you can stop wasting your money on interest.
A website called Fiona could help you pay off that credit card debt as soon as tomorrow.
Here’s how it works: Fiona can match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every credit card balance you have. The benefit? You’re left with just one bill to pay every month, and because the interest rate is so much lower, you can get out of debt so much faster. Plus, no credit card payment this month.
If your credit score is at least 620, Fiona can help you borrow up to $250,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 2.49% and terms from 6 to 144 months.
Fiona won’t make you stand in line or call a bank. And if you’re worried you won’t qualify, it’s free to check online. It takes just two minutes, and it could save you thousands of dollars. Totally worth it.
All that credit card debt — and the anxiety that comes with it — could be gone by tomorrow.
2. ‘Don’t Try to Negotiate — If You Really Wanted It, You Would Pay the Full Price.’
Even millionaires and billionaires don’t pay full price if they don’t have to — what kind of bro thinks he looks cool by showing off his sticker-price items?
Not one we’d want to take financial advice from, that’s for sure. In fact, we would prefer to have someone tell us when we’re about to overpay for something, then show us where we could get it cheaper.
That’s exactly what this free service does.
Just add it to your browser for free, and before you check out, it’ll check other websites, including Walmart, eBay and others to see if your item is available for cheaper. Plus, you can get coupon codes, set up price-drop alerts and even see the item’s price history.
Let’s say you’re shopping for a new TV, and you assume you’ve found the best price. Here’s when you’ll get a pop up letting you know if that exact TV is available elsewhere for cheaper. If there are any available coupon codes, they’ll also automatically be applied to your order.
In the last year, this has saved people $160 million.
You can get started in just a few clicks to see if you’re overpaying online.
Capital One Shopping compensates us when you get the extension using the links provided.
3. ‘Let the Men Handle the Negotiating, Sweetie. We Get Better Deals.’
Oh, come on. Not only is this wrong — it’s down right rude. Not to mention it totally contradicts the last guy’s advice. Sometimes all it takes is knowledge, confidence and holding your ground to get a killer deal.
But other times, you only need to know the best places to go. Like when you want to get the sweetest deal on car insurance, use a website called EverQuote.
EverQuote is the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US, so you’ll get the top options from more than 175 different carriers handed right to you.
Take a couple of minutes to answer some questions about yourself and your driving record. With this information, EverQuote will be able to give you the top recommendations for car insurance. In just a few minutes, you could save up to $610 a year. That’s a darn good deal, sweetie.
4. ‘Open Up a New Credit Card, and Don’t Pay it Off Entirely to Bring Your Credit Score up.’
Why do all these mansplainers think an unpaid credit card balance is going to help them reach their goals? Ugh. Holding too much balance on your credit card will likely have the opposite effect.
Instead, we know to trust the experts when it comes to keeping tabs on our credit score. After all, it’ll play an essential role in any big purchase you want to make — whether that’s a home, a car or even opening a business.
So if you’re looking to get your credit score back on track — or even if it is on track and you want to bump it up — try using a free website called Credit Sesame.
Within 90 seconds, you’ll get access to your credit score, any debt-carrying accounts and a handful of personalized tips to improve your score. You’ll even be able to spot any errors holding you back (one in five reports have one).
James Cooper, of Atlanta, used Credit Sesame to raise his credit score nearly 300 points in six months.* “They showed me the ins and outs — how to dot the I’s and cross the T’s,” he said.
Want to check for yourself? It’s free and only takes about 90 seconds to sign up.
5. ‘You Only Need to Invest in Tesla.’
Tesla has shown to be a profitable stock to own, there’s no doubting that. And if you listened to this mansplainer and only invested in Tesla in 2010 (with a starting price of $3.84), you would have made a massive profit by now.
But back here in 2021, not everyone can afford a $650+ stock — and not everyone should put all their money into it, anyway. Diversifying your investments, even small ones, is a smart way to grow your wealth in the stock market. So don’t put all your electric eggs into one Model 3 basket.
If you feel like you don’t have enough money to start investing, though, you’re not alone. But guess what? You really don’t need that much — and you can even get free stocks (worth $2.50 to $200!) if you know where to look.
Whether you’ve got $5, $100 or $800 to spare, you can start investing with Robinhood.
Yeah, you’ve probably heard of Robinhood. Both investing beginners and pros love it because it doesn’t charge commission fees, and you can buy and sell stocks for free — no limits. Plus, it’s super easy to use.
What’s best? When you download the app and fund your account (it takes no more than a few minutes), Robinhood drops a share of free stock into your account. It’s random, though, so that stock could be worth anywhere from $2.50 to $200 — a nice boost to help you build your investments.
Kari Faber is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her husband knows better than to mansplain her finances to her.
*Like Cooper, 60% of Credit Sesame members see an increase in their credit score; 50% see at least a 10-point increase, and 20% see at least a 50-point increase after 180 days.
Credit Sesame does not guarantee any of these results, and some may even see a decrease in their credit score. Any score improvement is the result of many factors, including paying bills on time, keeping credit balances low, avoiding unnecessary inquiries, appropriate financial planning and developing better credit habits.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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