Personal Financial Wellness

𝗜 𝗗𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸. 𝗜 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝘆 𝗠𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗮𝘆 When I got my first job, I was all set to reward myself — new clothes, weekend café plans, and of course, Swiggy on speed dial. But my mom said one thing that completely changed how I looked at money: “Write down every rupee you spend. You’ll thank yourself later.” And I did. For the last 1.5 years, I’ve tracked every single expense — from major bills to ₹99 impulse buys. Here’s what that simple habit taught me (and why I think every young professional should start early): ✅ 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙 The first month I tracked my spending, I realized 30% went to things I didn’t even remember buying. Tracking created awareness, and awareness led to control. ✅ 𝘽𝙪𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 — 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 Once I knew my fixed costs, I started setting non-negotiables (savings) and guilt-free spends (fun). 📌 I didn’t stop eating out — I just planned for it. ✅ 𝙄 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 I set a standing instruction to save 20% of my salary the day it hits my account. What’s left is what I live on. And trust me, when you see your savings grow month-on-month, it feels better than any impulse shopping spree. ✅ 𝙄 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖 “𝙉𝙤 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙁𝙪𝙣𝙙” Not an emergency fund. A fund for learning, travel, upskilling — things I won’t regret spending on. Even allocating ₹1,000/month made it real. 📌 It’s not about how much you earn. It’s about how early you learn to respect your money. If you’re just starting out, here’s my simple suggestion: 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 → 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 → 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 → 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 It’s not boring. It’s empowering. LinkedIn LinkedIn News India LinkedIn for Marketing #FinancialPlanning #MoneyHabits #YoungProfessionals #BudgetBetter #PersonalFinanceBasics #CareerTips

Do you need to track your expenses if you have a low income? People often think that they can avoid budgeting if their income barely covers the cost of living. But that isn’t true. When you're living paycheck to paycheck, a budget can help you control your finances and reduce stress. It ensures that every rupee has a purpose, you are meeting ends and are also prepared for unexpected expenses. This is how you can take control of it: → Before you create a budget, you need to know where your money is coming from and where it’s going. Calculate your net income (after taxes) and tally your regular expenses, including essentials like rent, groceries and utilities. → You can use several budgeting methods to manage your money effectively like the 50/30/20 rule where 50% of your income is to needs, 30% to wants and 20% to savings. Choose a method that aligns with your earnings and is more realistic. → Reducing discretionary spending can free up more of your income for savings, emergency funds or debt repayment. This might mean dining out less, canceling unused subscriptions or using free entertainment options. → Find ways to boost your income like asking for a raise, taking on overtime, or starting a side hustle. Simultaneously find ways to make the most of every rupee by using coupons, buying in bulk and reducing utility costs. When funds are tight, it's important to ensure your basic needs are covered before spending on non-essentials. You need to be disciplined, patient and make tough decisions to build a secure future. The progress might be slow but your efforts will pay off in the long run. Do you maintain a budget to track your finances? #income #budget #finances

In 2021, I became the first woman to head a unicorn in Israel, AKA Startup Nation. In many parts of the world, women are excluded from even the most basic financial services, so leading a fintech company is far from their reality. United Nations data estimates that 3.8 billion women live in the world, 50% of which are adults. According to the World Bank’s Global Findex Database, 1.4 billion of those 1.9 billion adult women, are unbanked. That’s 73.65%. Visit that statistic again. It represents a disturbing gender gap in financial access, with women being far less likely than men to have bank accounts or access formal financial services. This financial exclusion has personal impact. It diminishes women’s economic empowerment by restricting access to education and limiting their potential for personal growth and independence. It makes women more financially dependent, and therefore, more vulnerable. There's economic impact, too. Research by McKinsey highlights the economic loss due to financial exclusion of women, noting that closing the gender gap in labor force participation could add trillions to global GDP. Financial inclusion isn’t just a matter of equality – ensuring the same opportunities for all. It’s a matter of equity - ensuring women have the tools and access they need to fully participate in the global economy. That’s where technology enters the picture to level the field. The rise of mobile banking is a great example of innovation enhancing financial inclusion. According to a report by the International Finance Corporation, mobile money accounts are more popular among women in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, where access to traditional banking is limited. Various fintechs provide financial literacy resources, helping women understand financial products, budgeting, and saving strategies. Other solutions include AI-driven platforms that offer personalized recommendations and advice, empowering women to make informed financial decisions. Aside from personal apps and solutions, fintechs can facilitate community-based lending and saving initiatives, allowing women to support each other through group savings or microfinance schemes, fostering a sense of solidarity and shared purpose. This International Women’s Day’s theme is "accelerate action". In my mind, nothing accelerates action like innovation. As we mark International Women's Day, let’s advocate and innovate to enhance financial inclusion for women worldwide. #IWD2025 #financialInclusion Papaya Global

For a long time, the story has been that women struggle with money because they lack confidence. This report asks a different, more honest question: what if the problem isn’t women at all, but the conditions they’re navigating? It looks at the psychological and structural forces shaping women’s financial futures. From mental load and time scarcity to how we imagine our future selves, it shows how long-term planning becomes harder when life is already full, uncertain and unequal. One of the most powerful takeaways is that financial behaviour changes when people feel they can act meaningfully. Not when they are told to be braver, smarter or more confident. When systems are designed to reflect real lives, confidence can follow. This research was authored by Emily Shipp, a behavioural researcher specialising in future thinking and financial self-efficacy from Edinburgh Futures Institute at The University of Edinburgh. The report is also supported by Edinburgh Innovations and Evelyn Partners. It’s worth a read if you are interested in money, wellbeing, and what genuinely helps people plan for the long term. Link in the comments. #ItsNotAboutConfidence #womenandmoney #financialwellbeing #genderwealthgap #mentalload

Let’s talk about something that doesn’t get enough attention: Financial abuse is domestic violence. And I didn’t even have the words for it until after I survived it. In I Came to Slay, I share how I was cut off, controlled, and made to feel like I was “less than” because I didn’t control the money. I wasn’t just being kept in the dark… I was being strategically disempowered. Because that’s what financial abuse is: A method of control. A form of punishment. A way to trap you in silence. It can look like: 💰 Being denied access to shared accounts 💰Having your spending monitored or “approved” 💰Being blocked from working or forced to give over your paycheck 💰 Not having your name on assets you helped build 💰Being made to feel “ungrateful” for asking questions about money And it disproportionately affects Black women. According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR), more than 4 in 10 Black women experience physical violence, sexual violence, or stalking by an intimate partner—and financial abuse is present in 99% of domestic violence cases. (Source: IWPR, The Status of Black Women in the United States, 2017) So when you ask, “Why didn’t she just leave?” Understand that many of us couldn’t. Not without risking everything. Our safety. Our children. Our survival. I shared my story not to relive the pain but to name it. To make sure other Black women don’t suffer in silence. To let survivors know: it’s not your fault, and you’re not alone. If we’re going to talk about protecting Black women, we need to talk about economic abuse too.

AI may come for your job. But it won’t come for your house. I’ve been thinking a lot about these “AI will take our jobs” conversations making the rounds. Not the sensationalism, but the structural shift underneath it. Because if work becomes more unpredictable, more automated, more fragile… then relying on income alone becomes increasingly risky. And in that world, ownership becomes the real safety net. Here’s the uncomfortable part: women are structurally disadvantaged in exactly the place the future is telling us to get strong. A few numbers: • Women currently control around 34 percent of global investable assets • Globally, women hold less than 20 percent of the world’s land or land titles • Globally, women own less than 20 percent of businesses • And overall, women still hold significantly less than half of total global wealth And this matters because income and ownership are not equal. Wages grow linearly, if they grow at all. Equity has the potential to grow exponentially. Wealth has rarely (if ever?) been built through income alone - and in a future of even more fickle careers, it will be even less so. The pathway to resilience is shifting from what you do to what you own. So, when AI destabilises careers, “just work harder” won’t bridge the gap. The future is tilting toward those who own something: a piece of a company, a product, IP, equity, land, or financial assets - not just those who earn. And if women continue to be shut out of ownership, the gender wealth gap doesn’t shrink in the AI era. It accelerates. This is why I care so much about bringing more women into investment, cap tables, founder seats, and shared ownership structures. Not because it’s empowering (though it is), and not because it’s “nice to have.” But because in an economy where income is unstable and automation is inevitable, ownership becomes a form of resilience. And resilience shouldn’t be a privilege. If AI is going to reshape work, then women reshaping ownership isn’t optional. It’s strategy. #WomenAndWealth #OwnershipEconomy #GenderWealthGap #FutureOfWork

Yesterday was International Day of Rural Women , a day that rarely trends, yet these women are the central actors of Africa’s economy. The theme this year, “Rural Women Rising – Shaping Resilient Futures with Beijing+30,” is a reminder of how much resilience lives in Africa’s rural heartlands. While my reflection today is not about the aspirations of Beijing+30 per se, it’s about the women who till the soil, trade in open markets, process food by hand, and keep entire communities running often without ever being recognized as “entrepreneurs.” Across the continent, rural women contribute up to 60–80% of food production, yet most remain locked in subsistence cycles : producing, feeding, and surviving, but rarely scaling. The barriers are not just financial; they’re systemic. Limited access to credit, gendered land rights, exclusion from digital finance, and low participation in value chains keep many of their enterprises from moving beyond survival. But the story is not all grim. Over the years, I have witnessed incredible transformations from women’s cooperatives in Nigeria that pooled savings to start cassava processing centers, to smallholder farmers in Mozambique who are now supplying formal markets after gaining access to tailored financing to a young female chili farmer in Nyanza that has gone beyond owning and cultivating 1 plot of land to half hectare. These stories matter because they demonstrate that with the right combination of finance, capacity, and policy reform, women don’t just lift their households, they lift entire economies. If we want “resilient futures,” then rural women’s enterprises must move from subsistence to significance. It is time we stopped treating their contribution as charity and started recognizing it as the powerful economic engine it is. So, as we celebrate Rural Women’s Day, let’s do more than applaud resilience , let’s fund it, formalize it, and scale it. Because the future we are building in Africa is only as strong as the rural women holding it up. #InternationalDayOfRuralWomen #WomenInAgribusiness #FinancialInclusion #GenderFinance #AfricaRising #BeijingPlus30

Two millennials started together. By their 40s, they were £722,000 apart. What happened? Alistair and Ben started their adult lives on equal footing. They had the same degree, the same ambition, even the same starting salary in London. But one crucial factor changed everything: one had early financial support from family. Alistair was fortunate to receive a £70,000 gift from his parents in his mid-twenties, enough for a deposit on his first flat. Plus, he had been living with his parents whilst working in London, saving him from the rent trap. This gift allowed him to enter the property early and start building equity. Over the next decade, his property increased in value, his mortgage shrank, and his wealth grew steadily, all while he continued working hard. Ben, on the other hand, had no family help. Forced to rent in London’s expensive market, he faced rising rents that matched his salary increases. Despite careful budgeting, unexpected costs regularly wiped out his savings, keeping him trapped in the rental cycle. It took him until his early 40s to scrape together a deposit, which meant a large mortgage and very little financial safety net. This story shows how parental help isn’t just a short-term boost. It acts like compound interest, multiplying wealth over a lifetime. The Bank of Mum and Dad has become a major factor in widening the financial gap between young people, even when they start with the same qualifications and work ethic. How much do you think early parental financial support shapes the wealth gap among millennials and Gen Z today? - 👋🏼 I'm Eliza Filby, a historian of generations exploring how demographic shifts are changing how we live and work. Follow me & subscribe to my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eKJw5hFv #Inheritocracy #BankOfMumAndDad #FamilyWealth #Millennials #ParentalWealth

When climate finance 💰 overlooks women, resilience becomes an unfinished equation. Because the real question isn’t how much money is available. It’s who gets to use it, and for what ⁉️ Climate resilience is built on more than field-level adaptation. It’s about how institutions design, deliver, and govern access to finance. That was a key message in the FAO report “Empowering Women in Egypt’s Livestock and Dairy Subsectors: A Gender-Transformative Approach to Climate Resilience and Economic Inclusion.” One of the strongest recommendations? 👉 Expand tailored financial services and credit for women in agriculture. Here’s why that matters ⤵️ Climate finance is often imagined in billions 🤑 global pledges, large-scale projects, and infrastructure funds. But resilience often starts with smaller, local decisions: 👉 a woman farmer 👩🌾 taking a loan to buy solar-powered cooling, 👉 a cooperative accessing microcredit to reduce waste, 👉 a dairy producer investing in drought-resistant feed. Yet only 2% of rural women in Egypt have access to agricultural credit. That’s not a funding gap. It’s a systems gap. When finance mechanisms overlook women’s realities, they weaken the very resilience they aim to build. And this isn’t unique to Egypt. As the Gender and Climate Finance report shows, global funds still struggle to translate gender commitments into measurable results with limited data, scarce dedicated funding for women-led initiatives, and uneven accountability for outcomes. Working across government, development, and academia, I see this gap often the space between frameworks and lived experience. Designing finance that actually reaches women, and trusts them as economic actors, is where real transformation begins. Because climate finance that includes women isn’t just fairer. It’s more effective. It builds stronger markets, communities, and systems of resilience. 💡 The strength of any climate system depends on who it’s built to serve. (The timeline below, from the Gender and Climate Finance report, tracks how far international climate funds have come in integrating gender and how far there’s still to go.) #climatefinance #womenempoerment #womeninagriculture #financialinclusion #sustainability #genderequality #developmentfinance #climateaction ODI Global Climate Vision Consulting

Men in Spain can get 15% bigger loans than women. Even though in our Fintonic dataset women often show strong budgeting habits and fewer erratic payment patterns than men, their credit score still reflects the credit gender gap: they are 28 points below on average. The real drivers are income and financial literacy, as lower salaries translate directly into lower credit capacity, and gaps in financial knowledge make it harder to compensate. 👉🏼 Spain’s own Survey of Financial Competences (ECF 2021) confirms this, showing persistent gender gaps in financial knowledge across age, income and education. 👉🏼 Another study (Aguiar-Díaz & Zagalaz-Jiménez) also finds that women, even when they manage household finances, often score lower in financial literacy. Women face more financial stress, smaller loans, and fewer opportunities to invest or build. But this gap is not fixed. With better data, fairer scoring, more transparent lending practices and tools like our upcoming Credit Builder, we can expand access and break the cycle. The opportunity is to build a system where credit reflects real behavior potential, not just structural inequality. That’s the future we’re working toward, let’s close the credit gender gap together. (links to the full sources in the comments).