The old financial rulebook — get a job, buy a house, let it appreciate, retire comfortably — isn’t working the way it used to. And women across every generation know it.
In the first episode of HerMoney’s new three-part series, From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck, in collaboration with AARP, Jean Chatzky brought together four women representing Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers for an honest conversation about how they’re building wealth.
Here’s what they had to say.
The Financial Rulebook Has Changed, And Younger Women Know It
When Jean asked Hannah Williams, founder of Salary Transparent Street, whether the financial rulebook her parents followed should just be tossed, Hannah didn’t hesitate.
“A hundred percent,” Hannah said. “The things that I would say are totally not followed anymore: loyalty pay at a job, don’t talk about your pay, don’t talk about [money] with your husband, let your husband control things. It’s completely different now.”
For Hannah, financial literacy isn’t just about knowing the numbers; it’s about having the confidence to talk about what you make and what you’re hoping to achieve. “Women, I think, feel more empowered than ever. Not only are we allowed to talk about [money], but we also have the information out there to feel confident about what we’re talking about. We know that talking about money gets us more money.”
Viviana Vazquez, creator of OverGenPoverty, grew up seeing a different side of financial literacy. “I like to consider myself a first-generation wealth builder because I grew up low income,” she said. “My parents didn’t talk to me about money. They didn’t teach me anything about money. And actually, some of the things that they taught me were wrong.”
She recounts the moment she realized how much the gaps in financial literacy that get passed down through generations, often with the best of intentions, cost us. “My dad took me to the bank and told me, whatever you do, just pay a little bit more than the minimum balance because that’s going to build up your credit,” she said.
“I got myself into a lot of credit card debt during college because I didn’t know I was supposed to pay the whole statement balance off. What my dad taught me wasn’t correct, but he didn’t mean to put me in a bad financial situation. So I think there’s a lot of understanding and learning and growing.”
The American Dream Of Owning A House Is Complicated
Financial literacy today also means rethinking what building wealth looks like. And for many women, letting go of the idea that homeownership is the only path forward.
Ashley Parker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer at The Atlantic, spent her career navigating one of the most unpredictable industries there is, journalism, which gave her an early lesson in financial flexibility and the importance of having a fallback. She bought her first home at 35, and was candid about what she found on the other side.
“My family of five — and now a dog — occupies three overpriced hallways, stacked one on top of the other,” she said. And the hidden costs caught her off guard. “When you need new windows, it’s something like $20,000, and you’re not even overhauling a kitchen. All you have are windows that function so you’re no longer freezing.”
But she was equally clear that not owning a home is nothing to be ashamed of. “I don’t think it is necessarily the American dream to own a home. And I don’t think people who can’t own a home should feel bad, because you don’t know other people’s situations. And so you shouldn’t feel like you’re not succeeding because all these other factors are totally out of your control.”
Jean Chatzky offered a nuanced perspective drawn from her own experience, reframing homeownership as a long-term forced savings plan. “If you keep paying a mortgage, then you have a pile of cash at the end of the road that you can use to do something else,” she said.
The Surprising Thing Everyone Agreed On: Hope
Perhaps the most unexpected moment of the conversation came near the end, when Carly Roszkowski, Vice President of Financial Resilience at AARP, said she was surprised by what she heard from the younger women at the table.
“I’m surprised about the hopefulness,” she said.
Ashley agreed immediately. Hannah laughed: “Should we not be?”
Carly’s answer was grounded in the data she sees every day, including that 7% of retirees are returning to the workforce just to afford everyday life, and 48% say they’re doing it for the money. But the optimism around the table was real, and for good reason.
As Hannah put it, financial literacy is finally spreading in a way it never has before. “We have really good role models. We have diverse role models to look up to who talk about [money] and create content about it. And I think that’s a really powerful thing. To have women that look like you tell you, this is what you should do [with your money].”
MORE ON HERMONEY:
- Homeownership Is Expensive – Here Are 6 Ways To Save
- The Gen Z Guide For How To Retire Early (And Why the Old Rules Don’t Work Anymore)
- Stop Keeping Up With the Joneses in Retirement
This is the first episode of From First Paycheck to Forever Paycheck, a three-part series in collaboration with AARP. And don’t miss Jean Chatzky’s new book, The Forever Paycheck: The New Retirement Strategy to Spend More, Worry Less, and Never Run Out of Money, available for pre-order now.
Whether you’re looking to save money, manage debt, or prepare for retirement, AARP has resources and tools to help you prepare for your financial future to reach your goals. Get started at aarp.org/buildwealth.
