Talking money and millennials with Ashley Lee

Our guest on the latest episode of Girlfunds is no stranger to the podcast world. Ashley Lee is the host of The Financial Key podcast, which focuses on helping millennials uncover the keys to financial independence. 

During the episode, she shares her own debt-free journey to paying off over $40,000 of debt in 22 months, and why she is so passionate about normalizing money conversations among millennials and minority communities. She also shares how listeners can start to have these conversations in their own peer groups and tips on how to reignite your financial goals. 

For some background, Ashley Lee is a money coach and personal finance enthusiast who empowers others to pay off debt, save money and build generational wealth. 

Here’s one Girlfunds takeaway tip from the podcast:

What I always tell my friends is, “We don’t have to pretend that we have it all together.” I feel like prior to me coming into the financial space, I wanted to seem like I was doing okay with money. I’m an adult, I’m living on my own. But I think a lot of times people feel like they have to have it all together, or they assume that everyone else around them has it together.

I feel like we have gotten to a point where we’re comfortable talking about other parts of our lives, and I just feel like money shouldn’t be such a taboo topic and shouldn’t be such an off-limits topic.

I think of even just like the wealth gap that we know about as far as between male and female, or even among different ethnic groups. We wouldn’t know how vast and how prevalent that is if we didn’t have money conversations with our male counterparts, or even with our white counterparts, if you’re a person of color. So just having those conversations, being honest and open, and just really not assuming that everyone has it all together, I think is the best way to normalize that.

Join the two best friends who met as financial journalists at HousingWire, Brena Nath, a twenty-something first-time homebuyer with her husband and pups, and Sarah Wheeler, an empty nester on her third home, every week for our girls night focused on everything from affording your best friend’s wedding to how to turn your side hustle into your main hustle. Each week, Girlfunds will have a special guest join us as we intertwine finance and friendship. And don’t worry, you don’t have to have your finances all together to join our girls nights. We’re all in this together to learn – women supporting women – and in the words of our producer, so we can all be #confidentqueens.