The world of personal finance and financial literacy has historically not been known as an inclusive space. It's been primarily dominated by male figures who share traditional advice about financial matters.

Now more than ever, we're seeing an inclusive culture forming in the personal finance space and this is certainly refreshing as more Americans, especially more young Americans struggling to find relatable financial advice, can see themselves represented and their experiences and lifestyle reflected. 

Yesterday's blog post, 5 Ways to Build a More Inclusive Classroom, was a great dive into several strategies and resources we can use as educators to create a similar culture of inclusion in our financial education classrooms! When Gen Z is not in school or focused on academic responsibilities, they're spending lots of time on social media and online!

I'm providing this list of influencers and resources that you can check out (and hopefully reference during your instruction) to bring more awareness to issues that impact the LQBTQIA+ community and overlap with topics like money, business, entrepreneurship and personal finance. 

Next Advisor, in partnership with TIME, recently shared an article highlighting 5 financial experts we should all follow. The link to the full post is provided here, but I'll also recap the highlighted financial experts who identify as LGBTQ+ below.

• Suze Orman
  • (Happens to be the first point of entry for me into the world of personal finance!) At 23 I had $20,000 of credit card debt and no knowledge of how money works. Suze's book "Women and Money" was the first one I ever read about money! It is now her well-known podcast “Women & Money” and she is also a contributor to NextAdvisor. Most people know her as one of the most powerful and influential voices in finance. She has written 10 consecutive New York Times bestsellers about personal finance, won two Emmy Awards, and eight Gracie Awards during her career.
• Gay Husbands on FIRE

  • G and J are the married couple — that prefers to remain anonymous — behind Gay Husbands on FIRE, an acronym that refers to “financial independence, retire early. Both are in their early 30s, living in NYC, and planning for a life of financial independence by 2031. J is a public relations consultant originally from Colorado and G is a lawyer originally from Colombia. They met in Philadelphia in 2013 and got married in 2017. Since marriage, they have combined all of their finances and paid off $100,000 in student loans!

• Carmen Perez, known as @MakeRealCents
  

  • Carmen and her wife Elise are dear friends on mine! Carmen is the creator of Make Real Cents, a personal finance platform dedicated to helping people achieve financial independence and avoid the money mistakes she made early on. She avoided dealing with her student loans and was eventually sued due to those very student loans. She posts content on instagram and YouTube!

• Daniella Flores
  
  • Daniella Flores is a queer and nonbinary financial expert and the founder of @iliketodabble, a side hustle and money resource website. After paying off $40,000 of debt with their wife, they fell in love with the idea of side hustles — or “dabbling” as they call it in their online community — and the idea that they could leverage their creative energy to pursue financial freedom.
• Lexa VanDamme
  • Lexa VanDamme started The Avocado Toast Budget back in June of 2020 while facing unemployment shortly after graduating with a master’s degree. It started as a blog, but shifted to TikTok in September of 2020 when she started to share her journey paying off $20,000 in credit card debt in a year, and how she repaired her relationship with money. She now shares all of her tips and resources for free across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. 

A few others to check out: 

• Gaby Dunn
  • Dunn is one-half of the YouTube channel “Just Between Us,” which she runs with comedian Allison Raskin. The funny friends also both earned the title of New York Times best-selling author, thanks to their book "I Hate Everyone But You." Dunn is the host of the popular podcast “Bad With Money,” a series that sheds light on conversations about money and sparked another book deal. She’s a TV writer and actor and has racked up more than 138,000 followers on Twitter!
• Ryne Vickery
  • Newer on the social media scene, @LBBTQ_money posts on instagram, sharing a lot of resources and content. Here's his recent article about questions regarding investing, that come specifically from the LGBTQ+ community.
• Modern FImily
  • This couple hit Financial Independence in 2018 for a family of 3 at ages 32, 30, and 1! They went from owing $110,000 in debt to amassing over $1 million in net worth over the course of 9 years!
• Debt Free Guys
  • John & David are husbands who paid off $51,000 in credit card debt and now host the Queer Money podcast. Their mission is to help people Live Fabulously - Not Fabulously Broke.

Finally, check out Nerdwallet's LGBTQ+ Financial Planning Guide and Investopedia's Guide to Finance for LGBTQ+ People for more on this important topic!

About the Author

Yanely Espinal

Born and raised by Dominican, immigrant parents in Brooklyn, Yanely is a proud product of NYC public schools. She graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in 2007 before going on to receive her bachelor's degree at Brown University in 2011. As a Teach For America corps member, Yanely taught third and fourth grade in Canarsie, Brooklyn. She received her master's degree from Relay Graduate School of Education in 2013. She spends her spare time making YouTube videos about personal finance on her channel, MissBeHelpful. Yanely also loves to dance, sew, paint, listen to podcasts, and babysit her 10 nieces and nephews!

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