Women & Money: The Shit We Don't Talk About!
Women & Money: The Shit We Don't Talk About!
The Money Moves You Wish You Made Sooner with Bola Sokunbi
If you've ever felt guilt around money decisions, or unsure of how to take control of your finances, this conversation is going to speak right to your soul.
Bola Sokunbi is a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI), finance expert, bestselling author of the books, "Choosing To Prosper", "My Wealth Plan Workbook", and the 3-part Clever Girl Finance Book Series, speaker, and founder of Clever Girl Finance, one of the largest personal finance media/education platforms for women in the U.S.
She gets honest about her early savings journey (yes, while working a demanding consulting job), the “treat yourself” purchases that felt good until they didn’t, and the moment she realized her closet was literally stacked with missed investment opportunities.
We also talk about the quiet but powerful influence of her mother, a woman who paved the way by choosing courage, moving across the world, and starting over so Bola could have more opportunities. And now? She’s helping women everywhere rewrite their own stories with real tools, zero shame, and an unapologetic reminder that you deserve to live life on your own terms.
01:08 Meet Bola: Founder of Clever Girl Finance
02:02 Inspiration from My Mother's Financial Journey
05:35 Lessons Learned
12:13 The Importance of Financial Knowledge and Consistency
16:34 Creative Strategies for Saving Money at Work
17:55 The Realities of Extreme Budgeting
20:59 Reflecting on Financial Mistakes and Lessons
22:48 Empowering Women with Financial Resources
Quiet, consistent money moves are where the real power lives. Join us for Money Talks on July 24 and learn how to build wealth behind the scenes- no drama, just solid strategies that put your values and your future first. Click here to register for FREE and bring your questions!
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barb: [00:00:00] Maggie, it's amazing how many times when we talk to women who've become financial professionals or have some kind of role in the financial industry, how they have realized that they needed to get a hold on their finances. Couldn't find resources and so many said after work, I'd go to the library. So many have said I'd go there so often the librarians would know me. I'd go right to the finance section and I'd go sit down and just read as much as I could about finances. Same is true with our guest bola today who said, she was insulted when talking to a financial professional, again, talked down to, was insulted by them and just, she left his office and said, I'm just gonna figure this out on my own. She went to the library, right? And she got two books. One was written by a man on how women can save and invest, and she loved it and she read it to pieces. And it's just interesting how often women looked for resources and fast [00:01:00] forward how there are so many more resources available to women today, which I love love.
And of course, purse strings is one of them, right? We at every point in turn, give women free resources through our podcast, always through our money talks, through all of the downloads that we have through anything on our website. We have tons of resources on our website, and so does bola.
Bola has books, wonderful books that she gives out or you can purchase, but she has tons of resources on her website for free. So we see. As women needing to learn more about literacy, about finances, and realizing, gosh, there are really no resources out there for us. So what do women do? Mothers the necessity of invention.
So they go out, they learn what they need to know, and they start making more resources so that other women. Have what they need for free in their fingertips so they too can learn what they need to know to make good financial decisions.
Maggie: Yeah, [00:02:00] it is interesting how it's very common. We hear kind of that same thread of story over and over again and. Granted, I don't think it was the time of technology that we have today where everything can be on your phone, but it was a place where yeah, a lot of people hang out. It's a great free resource just to get, your hands on those books.
And it's kind of that first like great financial move to make is to use the free resource to get the free books, get in that knowledge's, a place that's usually got some AC going on if it's the summer, and save a little bit of money
barb: What I love is that starting from parlaying from a few bits and pieces of information about finance typically written for men because the audience was always men and women. Out there saying, I'm gonna learn this. I'm gonna take it upon myself to learn this. And leveraging those few resources. And they would just study whatever resources came their way, and then they would turn around and then they started creating resources. Yes, along came [00:03:00] the internet. There's more information out there. I think it started unveiling where, investing wasn't just for men. It wasn't everything behind this, secret. Vast wall of confusing information, although it still can be these days, but so many people have access to all this information to really understand investing. So what my. Call is for women to really step forward and leverage these tools. Start learning, start understanding that you have access to all of those fantastic resources. Ebola has put forth that purse strings has put forth that you can put. Look on the internet in lots of different invest topia, lots of different places to really start learning how to make good financial decisions because, and you'll see as bola and her amazing story about getting started and what she did to really save money. And, it wasn't a magic wand. It wasn't just like she sat in a yoga position and manifested it overnight. She [00:04:00] did the hard work. She gave up a lot of things in order to save a hundred thousand dollars and she was only making
$54,000.
Maggie: can't give away the whole story before we dive in.
barb: Well, let's tee it up and get started.
Maggie: All righty then. Today we are thrilled to introduce Ebola. And Ebola is the founder and CEO of Clever Girl Finance. She's named one of Money's most influential women by Go Banking rights in the recipient of the 2021 Financial Education Instructor of the Year Award. She's a four time bestselling author of the Clever.
Finance book series and Choosing to Prosper Mission. Choose a four-time bestselling author to the Clever Girl Finance book series and Choosing to Prosper. Her mission is to help women ditch the debt, save the money, and build real wealth. Let's dive in.
Bola: / I got to the point where I'd saved over a hundred thousand dollars and I was like, oh, I have all this money. What can I buy? And I [00:05:00] was like, oh, you know what? Everybody talks about how every girl has to have one classic bag in her collection. I should get a Chanel handbag. So I went and I bought a Chanel handbag, and at i've saved enough money. Six months later, I should buy another Chanel handbag. So I went and I bought another one with $2,850. And before I knew it, every six months I'm like, I should buy a handbag. That was my treat yourself habit, buying a designer handbag. I did the math and I would've had $30,000 if I had invested that amount of money.
Gloria Steinem once said, we will never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth. Barbara Provost and Maggie Nielsen are the team at purse strings that will help you navigate the ins and outs of financial independence so that you can be financially fearless. This is women in money, the shit we don't talk [00:06:00] about.
Maggie: We are so excited to have bola on today founder of Clever Girl Finance. So before we dive in, bola, could you introduce who you are and what you do to the audience?
Bola: Yes. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I'm excited to be here. And like you said, my name is Bola. I'm the founder of Clever Girl Finance. We're an online financial education and empowerment platform. Focusing on women, and the goal is really to empower women to do well with their money make the right decisions and live life on their own terms. I'm also an author author of five books, currently writing my six books, so the Clever Girl Finance Book series my Wealth Plan Workbook, and my book about my personal story called Choosing to Prosper. So I'm really excited to be here, as I mentioned.
Maggie: Yeah, we're excited to have you, and I know we're gonna dive in today a bit about like your personal story as well is that kind of was your foundation or your impetus on getting started. And so I know your story highlights how your mother's financial [00:07:00] sacrifices really inspired you to pursue that wealth building.
So what kind of lessons? From her journey can help women make kind of these bold financial decisions in 2025?
Bola: So I'll give you some background on my mom's story just for context,
Just to kind of help you understand why her story inspires me. But my mom got married very young. She was 19 years old. She had her high school diploma. That was it. My dad was. Much older, but I guess at the time that was the norm. My dad was in his thirties. I have a lot of friends moms who got married in their late teens, early twenties to 30 something year old guys who was a different generation. And so, she went on to have. Four kids housewife homemaker, caretaker of the children. And as she started to get older, she started to observe things that were happening with her friends that she just was not comfortable with. And I was born, my mom was in her early thirties, and so I was kind of in that witnessing stage of her seeing things happening. So I remember [00:08:00] being a little girl and being in the corner of our living room. And her having friends come over with suitcases and they needed to spend the night and they would be there with their suitcases and with their kids.
And they needed to spend the night because they couldn't get me back home. And I realize now that they had been abusive marriages and they didn't have any option but to come to my mom. They didn't have any money. They didn't have any way out, but they needed to find a way out. And my mom was they're safe healing. There were situations where I saw her friends who had lost. Their spouse and there would be the conversations about how the family had come in and taken everything because he had left everything in their name or in his
name and nothing in her name. And so my mom just never wanted to find herself in that situation where she had nothing, no money to leave a bad situation, no money in the event that my dad was not there.
My parents have been married for over 50 years now.
But that was kind of her mindset. And so my mom said that she wanted to go back to school, and that was a challenge for my dad because the way he was raised and the way our society was, is that the man is a caretaker.
He's, he [00:09:00] takes care of his family.
He brings in the income. And why should your wife be out there working? How does that make you look as the provider? So I meant provider, not caretaker. How does that make him look as the provider? And so there was a bit of, I guess conflict between both of them around that. My mom eventually went on to get her undergrad degree.
I went with her to all her college classes. I was, she was the mom in the class with a little child and she was always telling me to shh. And then she went on to get her master's degree and then other certifications and she started making her own money and, started working in investment banking, opened her own businesses.
She used to have Coca-Cola franchise, a hairdressing salon. She opened a girls' secondary school, girls' high
school, and my mom was just very, she had a very entrepreneurial spirit within her because she always wanted to be able to have her own money and contribute to our household. And that was a really good idea because fast forward several years, my dad ended up having to retire early. From his job due to health issues. And my mom became about 15 years earlier than he had planned to retire, and my mom became the main breadwinner. This was at a [00:10:00] time where I was going to college as an international student. That cost a lot of money. Right. And there was a lot of other expenses with my siblings, my older siblings as well, that my mom ended up, supporting us through. And so. A lot of the advice my mom gives me and even my dad gives me, is about being able to stand on my own two feet no matter what. My mom always would encourage me to be independent, and my dad would always tell me. Don't marry a liability and don't ever let anybody be a liability on you. So my, so, so my mom, the way her, I guess what I learned from her would be relevant to women today would really be to empower yourself to earn your own money. No matter where you are, right?
My mom was a housewife. She was taking care of kids and she decided that she was gonna go back to school. She started that way, and even when she was a housewife, my, my dad would give her a monthly allowance. My mom would get really entrepreneurial with that monthly allowance, selling her friends little goods and services, like, if you help me do this, and I'll babysit for you, and you gimme this. So she [00:11:00] was always trying to figure out how to make it work because she just wanted to have a sense of security for herself not because she was hoping that. One day she would be in an abusive marriage, or one day my dad would die. But just because you never know, and in her situation, it was becoming the breadwinner unexpectedly, right? And so, I think it's for us being able to stand in our own two feet, being able to involve ourself in our family finances, if we're choosing to be homemakers or that's, what we're giving to our family. Being aware of where things are. Knowing that it's okay for us to ask for our names to be on the house title and on the bank accounts because we are part of the team that makes our households whole. And so those are the lessons I would say from her journey are relevant to me and to other women today.
barb: That is such a powerful story and what a beautiful mentor your mom was and a teacher showing you how important it is for you to be independent and on your own. And your father supported that as well. It sounds like he gave you that same messaging, which was terrific.
Bola: he got on board [00:12:00] eventually.
barb: Yeah. You got on board, huh?
Maggie: And it's also amazing just to see how much she was helping all these other women and kind of knowing like, I have to support myself 'cause I don't know who else will need me out there. And the opportunities that she was able to give and give that safe space, it's just so powerful, especially as a young woman kind of seeing how she helps the community.
And I love that you also had to go to school with her. So did you walk across the stage, when you
were
As well, or.
Bola: No, I don't. I was definitely at her graduation. I had a little cap and gown situation going on. I don't remember if I walked across the stage with her,
but I was there. I remember being told, shh. That's what I remember the most about the whole experience. And what's really funny is that my mom was in college in her early thirties, and I ended up going to the same college as her.
And we had the same psychology professor. But I didn't know it. And in the class, the professor would say, there's just something about you that's so familiar, I can't place it. And she would ask me questions and I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. She's like, there's something about you. [00:13:00] I just can't place it.
And then one day I was talking to my mom and I'm like, there's this woman in that teaches psychologist. She keeps saying that she can't place it. There's something about me and mom's like, oh my God, I used to take you to her class. 20 something years ago.
barb: Wow,
you knew all the answers.
Bola: Right.
barb: That's wild. Boy, you must have been a patient little girl to sit through all those classes.
Bola: I remember being under tables a lot.
barb: That's crazy. So it sounds like you picked up some amazing financial habits and strategies. You even saved your first a hundred thousand dollars on a modest salary by building some habits like saving half of your income and. Starting a side hustle. Sounds like you learned a lot from your mom. So what small actionable steps can women take from this to replicate some successes?
Like, what did you learn, what did you do? What can you share for [00:14:00] other women?
Bola: So if I think back to me getting started with my financial journey, it was really graduating from college and getting my first real paying job. So when I graduated from college, I didn't get a job immediately. I finished college in March. I didn't have any classes until graduation In May, I finished. My classes early and I remember I was so anxious to get a job, but nothing was forthcoming. So I end up getting a job at CVS and working at the photo department
processing photos, and it was minimum wage. And at the time, I think minimum wage is about $15 now, but at the time it was like $5 or $4 and 85 cents.
It was not, but I was so desperate to have a job that. I just wanted to do anything and I got the job at CVS while I was still applying, and so the first thing I started doing was just saving as much as I could. 'cause I'm like my parents because my dad had to retire early. My mom became the breadwinner. My mom took on a second career to support me through college. So my mom I [00:15:00] mentioned was in investment banking, had her MBA in finance and all of that. But then my mom ended up moving here and. Initially when she moved here, she was a caretaker for other people's children a nanny, and then she eventually went on to become a nurse because she wanted to support. Us. And she did this when she was in her fifties.
So I had this, I felt this obligation to just make my mom proud 'cause she sacrificed all these things. My parents had delayed their retirement so I could go to college. I didn't qualify for any student loans as an international student. I had some partial scholarships, but I just wanted to make them proud.
So that was the motivation behind getting the CVS job. And so it was just saving as much money as I could. And then when IE eventually to get my corporate job, a few months later earning $54,000 before taxes, I realized that there were things I didn't know and my parents couldn't help me with them. My parents were immigrants.
I'm a first generation immigrant. They didn't know about credit. They didn't know about 4 0 1 Ks. They didn't know about the us. Stock market or investing. So I had to learn all these things. And I remember going into, I had saved [00:16:00] us an amount of money, I don't remember how much it was, maybe like $10,000 or something. And I went to a financial advisor's office and I wanted help as to how to invest because I was told that, if you have money, go to a financial advisor to help you. And he was like, where'd you get this from? Do you have a boyfriend? Are you married? And he's asking me all these random questions about what man is funding my. Saving that. I got nothing out of it, but I left angry
and so I was like, you know what? I'm gonna figure this out on my own. I'm gonna learn as much as I can about finance. And I started, I went on Google and started reading different finance blogs. I went to the bookstore. At the time, I only found two finance books, one by Susie Orman, and it was on wills and trusts. And then one by David back about a Smart Woman Finished Rich.
And that book became my Bible. I read that book to shreds until it was falling apart. I bought it again. And I just, I found it so ironic that there was a man that was writing a book
on financial women, but I was like, you know what?
If he's the only one that's talking about this right now.[00:17:00]
barb: Yeah.
Bola: So, and it was a really good book. I still love that book. I still have a copy of it. And so. I learned as much as I could. So I would tell you know, anyone, learn as much as you can. Empower yourself with knowledge so that when you go into the financial advisor meeting, you don't feel like you're being taken for a ride.
You don't feel like you don't feel weird or embarrassed. And you can also do things on your own. You can create your budget on your own. You can create a financial plan on your own. You can invest on your own. You don't need to rely on anybody else. And a lot of times women, the most common trend I see with women is telling ourselves that, oh, I'm bad with money.
Nobody told me how to be good with money. And that's I understand that, right? Because generationally money was not a woman's thing.
We all
have a good recipe from our grandmother on how to make something, a cake, a pie. A main dish, something, and that was a thing back then, passed down recipes and it's great, right? But sons were taught about family business taught about, money and buying a house. And, [00:18:00] it was, I think it wasn't up until the seventies that a woman could open a bank account by herself.
So generationally, money has not been our thing. But in today's world, money has to be our thing because we can have our own bank accounts. A lot of women are choosing not to get married, sole
household earners, breadwinners, single mothers. And we're also earning more money than our grandmothers did, even despite that gender wage gap. So we're in this position where. We have this money, we need to know what to do with it so that we can build a good life for us.
Knowing for ourselves, knowing that on average we live longer than our male counterparts, and we are the ones that are having the children that we now need to empower with
financial knowledge to make it better for the next generation. So definitely learn as much as you can and then don't think that an amount is too little to save. I remember with my savings journey, I was just so. Focused on trying to save as much as I could that I remember having a spare $1 and I drove to the credit union, I had an [00:19:00] account to make the deposit, and the teller was like, did you really drive all this way to deposit the $1? Like the gas, it costs you to come here, girl. And I was like, I just need to stay consistent. Like. For me it was the consistency of knowing, okay, I had the spare money this week, I need to, because if I skip this week, and I'll probably skip next week and I'll probably skip the next week. I just had to bring the dollar here. That's what I had to do.
And at the time that credit union did not let you transfer. You had to go in person to make your deposit, and so. Saving what you can. When you can, as you can, those small amounts add up, and that consistency matters because when you're saving consistently, when you start earning a lot of money, which a lot of people say they're waiting for, I wanna earn more money so I can save. When you start earning a lot of money, then savings becomes, it's inherent to your nature. It's already part of what you do naturally, right? So saving what you can and then investing. That is so important. Investing is how you grow your money. This is your money working for you when you're fast asleep.
This is your money taking advantage of compounding and appreciation [00:20:00] and dividends. And this is key to building wealth. And just, the future when you look, you think with your mind's eye of where you imagine yourself 10 years from now, 20 years from now, how you imagine your dream life investing is what can get you there. So empower yourself with knowledge. Save what you can. And then start investing.
Maggie: These are just such great tips and we've had a couple different women on here who were, first generation. American and it's so confusing to learn all the new finances and the verbiage and the acronyms. Everything has an acronym these days. And so it's just so important just to, learn and tell yourself that you can do this because no one else is gonna come and teach you and sit down and have that lesson. And so if you want it, you've gotta do it yourself. And you really showed that even, 54, thousand especially today is not a whole lot, it's hard to find some to say, but you did that consistently.
And it is just about getting in those reps as I know sometimes it's like, well, it is just $5, what's that gonna do? It's like, well. [00:21:00] 7% over 20 years, it's gonna turn into a little bit more, but it is just getting those reps because eventually, if you kept saying, oh, that's not enough to save, it's never gonna be enough to save, two 50 won't be enough, a thousand won't be enough.
And so you've just gotta start and keep that habit going, and I love that.
Bola: Yeah. I mean, $54,000 after taxes is 40 K. About 40 K in New York City is not a lot. And so
you have to get, and people hear, they're like, oh, how? But then how did you save a hundred K? And it's like you said, I had a side hustle. I got creative with my savings. I was like, okay, how can I eat lunch at work every day? How can I make sure that work? 'cause I used to work in consulting and if you were at work, I think over 12 hours they would pay for dinner. I was like, how can I stretch? Myself to stay at work every day beyond 12 hours
so I can get free dinner. I'm like, who's having a baby shower today so I can go and get free lunch?
I would tell the admins at work, if there's a baby shower, there's a birthday party. Retirement party tell me, and they it get it. Got to a point where they just knew to email me bola a free food at a conference room [00:22:00] and I would.
Okay, this, it was lunch and dinner and they just knew to contact me about that because I was like, if I don't have to buy groceries this week, what could I do with that extra money? Right? If I don't have to pay for this bill this week, if I could get it for free at work.
What could I do with that extra money?
And that's what I was thinking. And I started doing a side hustle photography business on nights and weekends. And I was barely ever home because I was trying to figure out how to make more money. And that's what really helped me. Save, I contributed to my 401k. I took my employer's free match. The tax returns I got, I saved all of them. The little bonus I got at work, I saved all of it. And I always tell people there is, you can do certain amount of things for short periods of time.
Could I have been? And my grocery budget was ramen noodles and my treat was coke. So I would go buy the 20 pack of ramen noodles for like, I don't know what, $5. It, probably still $5 [00:23:00] today or $10. And I'd buy a case of Coke, and that was my grocery shopping for the week. So, horribly un nutritious, terribly bad for your health. And I would try to buffer it in with food from work.
And for me it was like, how can I save? And I did that intensely for three and a half years or so, but, and I tell people, well, you can do anything crazy for a short period of time, but you have to make it worth it. And for me, saving that money was worth it because when I saved the first 10,000, I was like, wait a minute, girl, you can save 10,000. And then I saved 20. I'm like, wow, I saved 20,000. And I look at my 401k and there's 40,000. I'm like, oh my God, I have $40,000. Like I was blowing my own mind.
And so it was like, let me see what I can do. And I didn't have any kids at the time, right? Kids are expensive.
I wasn't married. I didn't have any big financial obligations, and it was just me, myself, and I.
And so I had this opportunity to really focus on just me [00:24:00] and being. 'cause I can't imagine that even if I was married, that my husband would be like, oh, let's eat ramen noodles and coke every night for day. So,
barb: You made some sacrifices.
Bola: Exactly. It sounds exciting, but there are some days where I was like, this is stupid Paula.
Maggie: I was gonna ask you if there's ever, like, 'cause like you said, you can only stick to something so long before, after a while you crack and you're like, I'm done here. And so I was gonna ask, is there like a treat yourself that you would always get? And so that was kind of a coke for you.
Bola: Yeah. So Coke is look.
Maggie: There she goes.
Bola: Coke is my favorite thing. Now it's Coke Zero. And be mindful. But at the time for me, I was so busy. I worked in consulting. I was traveling every week. I was so busy that I didn't really have the time to treat myself for that period of time. I didn't really have the time 'cause I was so busy that I started the side hustle.
But I got to the point where I'd saved over a hundred thousand dollars and I was like, oh, I have all this money. What can [00:25:00] I buy? And I was like, oh, you know what? Everybody talks about how every girl needs to have the has to have one classic bag in her collection. I should get a Chanel handbag. So I went and I bought a Chanel handbag, and at the time they were $2,850. So I bought one and I was like, you know what? I've saved enough money. Six months later, I should buy another Chanel handbag. So I went and I bought another one with $2,850. And before I knew it, every six months I'm like, I should buy a handbag. My handbags are not $2,050 anymore. And so I got, that was my treat yourself habit, buying a designer handbag. And then I got to a point where. And I still love the designer handbags today. I still have them. But I got to a point with that particular brand of bag that I looked at my closet and I realized the only bag that I actually used was the first one I ever bought.
And all the other ones are just stacked up in my closet. And one day my HUS husband, who at the time was my boyfriend, said, this just looks like a pile of money sitting in your closet.
And I was [00:26:00] like, I need to let me do some math. And so at the time the bags had been increasing in price. So the 2,800 and 2008 $50 bag I bought maybe was about $6,000.
Then I was like, yeah, but my bag has appreciated, I spent some money, but then I went and I did the math on an online calculator. I was like, if I had taken this money for all these bags and I had bought Amazon stock, how much would I have had? If now I have 6,000 minus 28 50, right? But mind you, this is not a brand new bag anymore. It's a beat up used bag. They've been sitting in my closet. They're not current season, so they're really not worth 6,000. I did the math and I would've had $30,000 if I had invested that amount of money. So I was like, you know what all of these bags, they gotta go.
So I sold them and a lot of them I made more than I bought them for a lot more than I bought them for. But if I had invested the money, it's kinda like crying a risk spill milk,
I would've made a lot more. So that bag I bought for 28 15. Now today is, I think $12,000 now
with price increases and inflation. But still, if that bag is $12,000, [00:27:00] imagine what my stock market investment would. So, yeah, it's like I can't cry over spilled milk. Right. But I did sell most of them, including the first one I bought because I was like, you know what? This doesn't make any sense. And eventually I did get back into buying bags I love, but at a more, a different pace and with a different mindset. So that was my treat yourself.
Maggie: I love that. And it's true. I mean, everyone does need like a good purse, their go-to bag. So it sounds like you did get some good wear out of them, a good learning lesson and if you save that much money, I'm glad you did. Just treat yourself too a little bit more than a Coke.
barb: And it all started with getting the right resources in your hands. You went to the library, you got a few books. But I wanna circle back to the resources You are providing women now around clever goal finance and all the free resources that you provide women because now you're the expert.
So share a little bit about the re the resources that now you've turned [00:28:00] around and you're providing women to build their re their wealth.
Bola: Yeah, so I always, I, when I was in the process of creating resources, writing books, I always asked myself like, what would bola who. Got upset with that financial advisor who was asking her stupid questions. What would I have wanted to know? What support would I have wanted to have? The BAH who was reading the book by a man
about personal financial women. What would I have liked to have that could have helped me? And so that's kind of like. The premise of what clever finance is based off of. What would, what type of resources as a woman would I find helpful to guide me, to not make me feel ashamed about not knowing something, to not make me feel embarrassed about money, mistakes I've made, like my Chanel handbag collection. Listen I did a podcast episode once and we talked about the same story, and when they did the intro. And I listened to the intro of the podcast that had been released. They were like, Hey, we have a ridiculous story to share with you [00:29:00] about a woman who, and I was like, wow. They basically shamed me. They basically shame me for having this handbag collection.
But everybody makes mistakes. And you know what I would even say that if I decided, if I had chosen to keep that collection over the years in which I bought it, it would've been okay too, because I had saved a significant amount of money. I had worked hard for them, and it wasn't taking away from anything.
Maggie: It is funny how they still kind of wanna put that shame in there and
it's like, I've done so much and overcome so much, and it's hard to shake the shame. I mean, even if we shake it from ourselves, there's still people out there who wanna put it back on us. And so it's like, you gotta continue just shaking it off.
Bola: Yes. Because when a guy goes and buys a watch or a fancy car, you're like, they're like,
wow, what a cool dude. But when women do this, it's like she's a shopaholic, spendaholic, irresponsible sugar daddy. For anyone who's listening to this, if you love designer handbags, if you have a [00:30:00] thing you love and it's not taken away from anything, please go ahead and keep it if it's not bothering you.
For
me was more of like, that was a me thing, the reason why I sold them. And like I said, I still have my collection of bags today. Whole different story. But going back to the question you asked me so I wanted the resources. To be, to not be shameful, to make you feel comfortable about money, and also to realize that money is a tough topic.
And so you have to be able to laugh about it because if you can't laugh about, if I can't laugh about somebody shaming me on a podcast or my back collection, I'm gonna sit here and cry with you like, oh my God. So we offer over 30 plus free courses. They're all bite-sized courses, all foundational finance courses, business investing, raising your kids with money, planning a wedding updating your resume for LinkedIn budgeting just a bunch of. Of content around the finance universe. There's also worksheets Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, principles. We have over 40 of them. Debt repayments, budgeting worksheets, investing worksheets. And then there's our website. We have a ton of articles on there that [00:31:00] get updated very frequently. Our newsletter.
And I forgot to mention, our courses are all free. The worksheets are all free. The newsletter, you can join that as well, that is also free. And then we have a paid substack newsletter. It's a nominal fee $5 a month for our discussions on current money topics. And then obviously there are the clever finance books, which I mentioned earlier.
So there are five books in the series right now. There's a first book called Clever Finance Ditch Debt, save Money On Build Real Wealth. That's the foundational book there is Grow Your Money, which is the investing book. There's a side hustle guide, which is all about side hustles. There is my Wealth Plan workbook, which helps you create your own financial plan.
And then there's my personal storybook called choosing to Prosper. And then I'm working on my sixth book now, which comes out next. Spring, summer, and it's called Clever Girl Millionaire. And so that is our universe. And there's also a podcast called Clever Girls Know and the Clever Girl Finance YouTube channel. And again, the whole premise is really empowering women and our allies [00:32:00] to be confident about making money decisions, having money conversations, and getting to a point where you can say, you know what? I'm. I'm confident about what I'm doing and I'm getting to a point where I'm living life on my own terms.
Nobody's, it's not about standards, about when I should get married, when I should have kids, or who says I should do what This is about me and me being ultimately happy and how I can leverage money as a tool to get me to achieving my goals, so that those are the resources that Clever Finance offers. And then we also have planners as well.
Maggie: Awesome. You got it all. I love it. And it's so many good tools. I love, it's so awesome when you can kind of channel that like your younger self or who you used to be of like what I needed at that time, and kind of go back and create that resource. Because sometimes you see these resources and it's like, all right, this is written from an.
Expert who's always been an expert or who has a lot of money, it's all in jargon. It's like, we're not doing that anymore. This is just the foundations what you need to know. No extra fluff, just straightforward and getting to the point.
Bola: Yeah, and sometimes I go back and I [00:33:00] listen to or read what bola would tell bola to do.
So for example, I recently had a trip to Paris and I went shopping. And so I went back and I found the video that Bola made on how to put yourself in a shopping band.
And I watched that video. I was like, yo girl.
Maggie: I should take that more often.
Bola: Exactly. So, it's just, it's, I feel like sometimes people put finance in a square box. You cannot spend money to make yourself happy. If you are spending money and enjoying yourself, you're irresponsible. You, it's, but like life is meant to be lived.
And money helps you do that. And so there's a lot of guilt women carry and even I carry that guilt sometimes just because of the way society has impressed this upon us. Like, if you are too happy, then you're being irresponsible with your money. But what is the point of money?
barb: It is crazy the way that women are, the money messages that we've been [00:34:00] given that we have to unpack and reframe and. Get rid of. And I don't know. It's tough. It's tough for women. And I think your resources are fantastic. I'm so glad to meet other women that are out there providing these resources for women free so that they can, live a beautiful life like we all want for women. But we always have one last question, Bola, that we would love for you to answer. We ask everyone the same question and that's, what does financial freedom look like to you? Bola.
Bola: Financial freedom to me is having options to do what makes me happy without being tied, obligated to somebody else's intention.
It means, and that's part of why I started my business and that's part of why wanting to build wealth was so important to me, especially as I had kids. It meant not having to ask my boss permission to go to all of my kids' plays and all of my kids' events at school. That's, to [00:35:00] me, is an option and that is freedom. And in the earliest days of my. Business as a mom with young kids, I could had to pick which one I
was going to this month because it was such a stressor to go ask my boss, can I take half Another half day during the busiest time of the year da.
So that it's options. It's being able to walk away from situations that don't serve me. I work for myself now, but if I was employed walking away from a job that did not serve me, it means that today I can walk away from business partnerships to business deals that no longer align. It means that I can say no to things and be okay about it and sleep well at night and not worry about how to pay my bills. It means that I can leave a legacy for my children while I teach them how to be responsible about money. So financial freedom to me is all about options. And it means being able to support causes that are
meaningful to me.
Because, many things happen in this world and many things are out of our control, [00:36:00] and sometimes we are powerless in terms of what has happened,
but we can, we are empowered with our dollars and putting our dollars towards causes that are meaningful to us that can impact change. So that's the way I think about financial freedom.
Maggie: I think that's a great answer. I love it. Yeah, that's perfect. And so I just wanna know, can you share a little bit more about how guests can be connected? I know we'll have all the links in the show notes, but just, where they can, register for your newsletter. And I know your book is anywhere where they sell books.
I've seen it in Target all the time.
Bola: so, you can find out about everything. Our free courses, our podcast newsletter@clevergirlfinance.com. We're on social media on Instagram. At Clever Finance, YouTube, clever Finance, and we have a podcast called The Clever Girls Know Podcast. I host this. You guys should be guests as well sometime. I'll email you separately. But clever girl finance.com, you'll find that everything about our universe and I love for folks to join us over there.
Maggie: [00:37:00] Awesome. Well, thank you so much Bola, for coming on and sharing your story and your expertise. I feel just like extra motivated after this one, just to go out and get it, and maybe have a Coke as well, and so.
Bola: Coke Zero.
Maggie: We appreciate you coming on. Everyone connect with bola, check her out. She's got so much great stuff going on and it's amazing to be surrounded by so many powerful women.
So thank you for coming on and being our guest today, and we'll talk to everyone again soon.
Outro: You've been listening to Women Money, the shit we don't talk about. Now it's time to take what you've learned and make bold moves towards financial independence. Stay in the know by joining our newsletter for exclusive tools, resources, and updates that keep you financially fearless. Head to PurseStrings. co and sign up today. Need a financial professional who gets it? Turn to PurseStrings Curated Directory, your go to resource for financial experts who know how to put you first. Love this episode? Leave us a review and help us empower even more women [00:38:00] to own their financial power. Until next time, be financially fearless.
