Courtesy of Jilian Knighten
Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to talk to boys, learn about money, or skip church. In my world, women were taught that God would provide through a man. I always questioned that.
I remember spying on my grandparents as they balanced checkbooks and printed 401(k) statements. Without them, I would have been clueless about money growing up.
Even as a kid, I knew I wanted more. I dreamed of being a businesswoman, working in a high-rise building, driving a Rolls-Royce, and not waiting on a man for permission.
These days, I lead a team that helps business owners grow equity and exit profitably through my consulting company, Millennial Strategies.
Getting to this point, however, was a challenge. And I’m raising my kids differently from how I was raised, so they don’t face the same struggles I did.
My financial awakening
Starting out, my career path was unclear. The turning point came in my mid-20s.
I met an ex-pro athlete who pulled up a financial article on his phone and casually said, “You should buy gold, my buddies say the price is going to shoot up.”
A few months later, I heard the same advice from a commodities trader I met. He even gifted me a thin gold bracelet and said, “Hold on to this.”
I thought, “There must be more to this gold thing.”
I Googled “How to buy gold bars” when the price was around $600 in 2008. I started small, buying from Goldline.com; $200 here, $300 there.
I was a broke single mom of two, but I used my child tax credit to invest. When I couldn’t afford physical gold, I looked to gold miners or ETFs.
I started selling my position to local gold buyers around 2011 and exited during the 2013 correction, banking almost $2,000. The realization hit me: You can make money while you sleep.
I spent the next several years investing in financial literacy seminars and courses. I’m now licensed to help guide others.
How I’m teaching my kids about money
My plan didn’t start out perfect, but budgeting my finances got better over time, and the more I learned about money, the more I realized my kids had better start investing early.
We hold family money meetings to review our budget, explore investments, and contemplate business ideas. We also reflect on experiences, agreeing upon what money means to us and what we’re willing to do for it.
Both my kids have made money offering social media services to my clients, and my daughter does paid digital art commissions online.
Every time they get paid, 10% gets auto-invested into their High Yield Savings Account.
From Roth IRAs to selling options on our stock holdings, we manage it all together.
I used to lose sleep at night worrying how my kids would survive if anything happened to me. Now, I sleep confidently knowing that my money literacy gives us all a chance to grow, protect, and pass on the money we make.
I’ve learned that money is freedom
I used to feel like every other month was a game of catch-up. Now, we can actually enjoy things like flights to Europe, fine dining, learning guitar, and the freedom to work jobs for passion, not just to pay the bills.
I’m not here to be another finance influencer online. I’m here to give voice to every woman who was told to be quiet, sit pretty, and wait for a man.
The number one lesson I’ve learned is that money is power. And power in the hands of a confident, educated woman changes everything.
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