FAT Tuesdays – Special Edition – Up Your Financial Game With These Resources

We’re closing out the month of April with a special edition of FAT Tuesdays, this month’s weekly financial advice column designed to help you conquer your finances and attain the financial freedom that you want and desire. In our last post of the series, we’d like to equip you with some great tools and resources to further your financial knowledge so that you can up your financial game.

One of the most important things you can do to improve your financial health is also one of the easiest – educate yourself.  And, while it’s easy to find a book, a podcast, or a radio show clamoring for your time, attention, and, let’s be honest, your money to teach you about your money, it can be very difficult to wade through the noise and tune into experts and resources that offer practical, accessible financial education that you can trust.  

So, I’ve taken the work out of that for you by providing a few of the resources that I love and trust as I continue to learn more about managing my money, decreasing and eliminating debt, and increasing my wealth.

Brown Ambition Podcast

I first learned of Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche while attending Essence Fest two years. As a featured speaker and panelist, Tiffany’s candor and practical advice impressed me and helped me think about my financial future in a way that I hadn’t before. Also, Tiffany’s story of going from a pre-school teacher making 35K/year to an entrepreneur whose companies, as in plural, now pull in $10M per year, is nothing less than extraordinary. And her willingness to share how she paid off her debt and raised her credit score while being unemployed is a true testament to the saying that where there’s a will, there’s always a way.

Flash forward to 2021, and I happily stumbled upon the podcast that she hosts with Mandi Woodruff, Chief Consumer Advocate for Ally Financial. This podcast features career and financial advice that’s easy to digest and implement.

What I appreciate about this entire podcast is the fact that they provide thoughtful, pragmatic advice that never speaks down to people. They’re compassionate and mindful of people’s individual circumstances. And, as two black women, they often speak to the unique challenges that women of color face. They’re one of my favorite financial education podcasts, and I tune into them a few times every week.

Clever Girl Finance

Clever Girl Finance is another one of my trusted resources for financial advice that’s easy to understand and implement in my life. Founded by Bola Sokunbi, a Certified Financial Education Instructor and author, this website is a dynamic personal finance platform for women. With the goal of helping women “become accountable, ditch debt, save money, and build real wealth”, Clever Girl Finance is all about helping women like you and me increase our financial literacy. By offering free, yes, FREE resources such as personal finance courses, worksheets, free mentor calls, budgeting and investing resources (to name a few), plus blog articles covering a wide range of common and not-so-common personal finance questions, Clever Girl Finance is changing the game by helping us up ours when it comes to all things money.

Quit Like A Millionaire

If you’ve ever dreamt of quitting the rat race to live life on your terms, then this book is for you. Author Kristy Shen retired at the age of 31 as a millionaire. And she did it without the help of rich parents (in fact, she grew up in poverty), becoming Insta-famous, or becoming a real-estate guru. The book, co-authored by Bryce Leung, is touted as a step-by-step guide to gaining financial peace, stability, and prosperity. It’s also a great example of what grit, smarts, and taking the time to really understand your finances can do to help you achieve the life that you want.

Get Good With Money

Tiffany “The Budgetnista” is truly the incredible gift that keeps on giving.  Get Good With Money, 10 Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole is a real-life guide that helps readers achieve their financial goals, regardless of where they are in their financial wellness journeys. For example, if you’re a recent grad, this book provides useful tips and worksheets to help you budget properly, save where you can, and help you figure out what to do when an inevitable financial emergency arrives. For those who are further along in their financial wellness journeys, this book provides investing strategies to help grow your money, along with advice around other money needs such as assessing your life, disability, and property insurance needs.

Earn Your Leisure Podcast

Looking for something that’s wildly entertaining and big on financial education? Then check out the Earn Your Leisure podcast. Hyped as a “college business class mixed with pop culture”, Hosts Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings provide entertaining discussions around financial trends along with inside views of the sports and entertainment business models that drive success.  

With the goal of helping people understand business and finance, the duo has amassed an impressive following on both their podcast and social media channels due, in part, to sharing the financial backstories and advice of entrepreneurs, athletes, and entertainers. You’re sure to find their whip-smart commentary just as insightful, informative, and entertaining as I do.