My grandmother was one of the most important people in my life. She was also trapped in a way I didn’t fully understand until I was much older.
I grew up watching my grandfather abuse her. Emotionally. Physically. Financially. And it was the financial part that kept her there. She didn’t have her own credit, her own money or a way out.
When we talk about women’s health, we talk about sleep and hormones and mental health and preventive care. The bank account almost never comes up. But ask any woman who has stayed in a marriage she needed to leave, postponed a doctor’s visit she couldn’t afford or laid awake at 3 a.m. doing math in her head, and she’ll tell you the truth. Your finances live in your body. They show up as stress and high blood pressure. They shape what you’re willing to spend on your own care.
Financial health is women’s health.
My grandmother lived this every day. The law made sure she had to. Until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed in 1974, a woman could hold a job, pay every bill in her household and raise her children, and still be told she needed a husband, father or brother to co-sign for a credit card or a loan. 1974 isn’t ancient history. Whole generations of women still alive today remember being denied credit in their own name.
I was born that year, which makes this personal in more ways than one.
I founded Savvy Ladies in 2003 in my grandmother’s memory. It’s how I honor her, and it’s my promise that no woman should ever feel backed into a corner she can’t escape, whether that corner is a marriage, a medical crisis or a housing emergency. Understanding your finances is a cornerstone of safety, stability and freedom. It gives women options. And options are what keep women well.
In the two decades since we started, what women need from us has shifted. We still get the questions about investing and retirement. But a fast-growing wave of younger women is asking the most foundational questions of all. How do I use credit in a healthy way? How do I build credit from scratch? Which loan should I pay first?
Those questions matter more than people realize. They dictate what kind of life a woman can build. Your credit determines whether you can rent an apartment, qualify for a mortgage, even what you pay for car insurance. It shapes the interest rate you’re offered, and those few points add up to thousands of dollars over a lifetime. Increasingly, it’s showing up in hiring decisions too. That’s how the system works right now, whether we like it or not, and women deserve to know that.
The other thing I hear quite often is what I call the confidence gap. Women tell me they’re anxious, embarrassed, afraid of making the wrong move. They say, “I don’t even know where to start.” That anxiety isn’t just emotional. It lives in the body too. It’s the knot in your stomach when a bill arrives or the sleep you lose before payday.
I get it. I was in this position too. No one had taught me either. So let me say what I wish every woman could hear. There is no shame in what you don’t know yet. Asking for help isn’t a weakness. It’s how we actually figure this stuff out, together.
That’s why Savvy Ladies exists. Our Free Financial Helpline matches women one-on-one with experts in budgeting, credit, as well as tax and financial planning, who give real answers without judgment. We also offer courses, workshops and tools, because women learn in different ways and deserve options there, too.
I can’t do this alone, and I never wanted to. For example, Synchrony has been one of our most committed partners, working together to spotlight the vital truth that financial health is women’s health. Their employees volunteer directly on our Helpline, sitting with women in the middle of real financial decisions and offering expertise people usually have to pay for. Our work continues year-round, to make sure every woman knows there’s a real resource she can lean on. We both believe financial literacy belongs to every woman, not just the ones who can afford an advisor.
Because when a woman understands her money, she sleeps better. She makes different choices about her health. She has a future she can plan for.
My grandmother didn’t have these tools. You do. And the door she never had is open, waiting for you.
MORE ON HERMONEY:
- Building Your Legacy: Why Investing Is A Women’s Power Play
- Financial Planning For Single Women: How To Beat The Single’s Tax
- The Key Reason Women Shouldn’t Defer Money Management To Their Spouse
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