Food, Friends and Finances

Last night, I had a scrumptious meal cooked by a good friend. Along with another friend, we sipped wine, busted out the Abbey Ale, and enjoyed the pleasure of each other's company. And to make it a picture-perfect evening, we worked on our taxes.

Yes, it's tax season here in the States and my friends and I turned what's usually an annoyance into a fun night of food, drinks and good company.

For my friend, it was her first time filing taxes and we thought this would be a good way to promote financial independence. Hooray for sisterhood! We were able to coach her through the process and get her feeling more confident about being able to keep her finances in order. In fact, I think this dinner, drinks, taxes combo is a great one that I'll be doing often! Any good cooks out there who need tax help? Or any awesome accountants in need of a yummy meal? I urge you all to start this tradition.

At some point in the evening, I started wondering what it is about women and finances... It shouldn't be the case that we are easily intimidated by our personal finances, and yet I find that - at least in my groups of friends - many women are. My friend, for example, was completely freaking out about her taxes. She had no idea what she was supposed to do, what she needed, or how long it would take and the panic was getting to her.

With the rest of my friends, there are some who take complete control over their finances, making sure to keep their debt down, buying property, investing, etc. The rest are completely lost, in loads of debt, not even thinking about investing or buying anything, etc.

Do you find that the women you know fall into the "don't know anything about money" stereotype? Or do they have their finances in order? I'm curious to see how much of this is an actual problem and how much has finally changed.

(Originally posted on Feministe.)