Women have historically been left out of financial conversations and barred from basic financial rights.

The financial gaps are even worse for women of color, who face additional bias and challenges.

Women today can be empowered to control their own finances and improve their sense of security.

Women have historically been kept out of the conversation on personal finance.

In the U.S., it wasn’t until the 1960s that women could open their own bank accounts, and in 1974, women were legally afforded the right to manage their own finances and apply for loans without the need for a male cosigner, thanks to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

To this day, men are reported to possess greater financial confidence (Davydov et al., 2024), and women tend to score significantly lower than men on financial literacy tests. Though the average life expectancy of women is longer than that of men, women tend to accumulate over $100,000 less wealth, impacting their financial security in later years (Conley, M., & Liao, H.-W.).

Intersectional research shows that women of color often face compounded disadvantages—Black and Hispanic women experience both the gender pay gap and racial and ethnic gaps, impacting retirement savings, credit access, and investment opportunities (Yakoboski et al., 2020).

Amanda Holden began her career in investment management in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and stock market crash. “My job was basically letting old rich guys yell at me about their money,” she said. “It was a wild experience for a 25-year-old woman.”

Realizing that all of the wealthy investment account owners were men inspired Holden to dedicate her career to empowering women with the financial knowledge needed to successfully secure a future of their own. “My goal was to make investing education accessible to folks who have historically been left out of conversations about money and building wealth,” she shared.

Her book, How to Be a Rich Old Lady, is the culmination of the most commonly asked questions of the more than 25,000 students who have come through Holden’s educational programs. Her aim is to make financial literacy accessible and inclusive, empowering women and people from historically marginalized and excluded groups with once-gatekept information that can lead to financial security and freedom.

Q: In what ways has personal finance information been historically gate-kept from women and minority groups? What has been the impact of this?

Amanda Holden (AH): I would say it’s not just personal finance information that is gate-kept; it’s the ability to have money at all! And if you have no money of your own, or you grew up understanding that you acquiesce to the financial decision-making of male partners, there is certainly no need for financial education or inclusion in conversations about building wealth, power, or individual security.

For as far as we have come, we still live under a patriarchy, a system that completely normalizes the domination of women. Financial autonomy is still, to this day, framed as antagonistic because, historically, women asserting financial equality disrupts this existing hierarchy. (The same can be said for other minority groups, especially those that challenge white supremacy.) Prenups, having a separate, private bank account, having control over the family’s investment accounts, and having a financial education—these are still frequently framed as antagonistic or are understood as a challenge to male control (rather than a basic condition of safety).

Women are still very much playing catch-up after centuries of economic disenfranchisement. (And unfortunately, we are experiencing major setbacks in progress over the last few years, between the widening gender pay gap, stripping of reproductive healthcare, dismantling of protections for families, etc.) There is a return to traditional thinking around gender roles, and it’s much more sinister than just: women should get to stay home, if they want! It is the notion that women should be in positions of subservience. We even see these ideas carried over into “progressive” relationships, where men still do the majority of the financial planning.

Q: How do you work to break down these barriers so that more people can achieve financial success?

AH: I am always providing information in the context of our economic and political systems. Our economic model, capitalism, is inherently exploitative. It is hierarchical, meaning that for someone to be on top, someone else has to be on the bottom. It is precarious by design. I encourage readers not to internalize failures or setbacks in a system designed to produce them.

I also explicitly invite people in; I let them know they are more than welcome—they are needed. Let me give you an example. I routinely have students who are immigrants or the children of immigrants. They find my work because first, they know I make content just for them, and second, because I publicly and actively work toward a world that respects and values their existence. (I was recently arrested at an anti-ICE rally and have shared my experience.) This builds real trust as a teacher, which is essential given the widespread and very warranted distrust of the financial system.

Q: What is the best place to start for someone interested in getting a handle on their finances?

AH: Although what everyone needs to do next will depend on where you begin, an important first step for everyone is building what I call a financial foundation.

1. Audit your income and expenses from 2025; all money coming in and all money going out. Not as an exercise in shame or regret, but simply in knowing thyself! Our goal here is to identify whether our income exceeds our expenses. If it doesn’t, that’s okay! But this is where we need to begin. We can strategize to reduce expenses, increase income, or both. If you do have a surplus of income, which I call “The Gap,” the next step is to put it to work. (For more, see Chapter 2: What First.)

2. Build an emergency fund, cash that you hold in an accessible bank account, ready to be used for life’s inevitable bullshit! Cash in the bank is your first layer of financial defense and essential to building financial security.

3. Work on paying off high-interest debt, like credit cards, which are designed to keep users in financial precarity. If the goal is to increase financial stability and grow wealth, we want to do our best to avoid using financial products that charge a 22 percent interest rate.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from spending time with How to Be a Rich Old Lady?

AH: A confidence they never thought possible! A belief in their own capacity to be “good at money!” The feeling of calm that comes from knowing that they are doing what they can, right now.

The world of finance can be intimidating and feel endless. Luckily, what we need to know is not truly endless. Yes, it does require getting past the learning curve! Because think about it, you are learning a new language, the language of money. This takes practice and sometimes, hearing these concepts explained in a few ways. (That’s why I use so many metaphors!) But once you get past the learning curve, you can set up your investments so they don’t require constant fretting or monitoring.

In fact, investing is best when it is fully automated! As I say in the book, get your investments set up and then get your ass outside, because life is meant for living. To me, investing is only useful to the extent that it allows us to live more beautiful lives. Therefore, the strategies you will learn in this book are reflective of that belief.

Davydov, D., Eskner, K., & Jarkko Peltomäki. (2024). Gender gap in investment performance revisited: The role of attention. European Financial Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/eufm.12518

Blanco, L. R., Garcia, C., Baely Gulbins, & Gutierrez, R. (2024). Systematic review of racial/ethnic and gender differences in financial knowledge in the United States. Journal of Financial Literacy and Wellbeing, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1017/flw.2024.10

Yakoboski, P. J., Lusardi, A., & Hasler, A. (2020). Financial Literacy and Wellness among African-Americans: New Insights from the Personal Finance (P-Fin) Index. The Journal of Retirement, 8(1), 22–31. https://doi.org/10.3905/jor.2020.1.070

Conley, M., & Liao, H.-W. (n.d.). https://longevity.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Closing-a-Gender-Gap-Financial-Literacy-is-not-Enough.pdf

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