Personal Finance is Political
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How many times accept you seen a personal finance author, blogger, podcaster, etc. say that they don't discuss politics on their platform? How many finance groups, on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and anywhere else, have a rule that talking politics is strictly prohibited? It seems like every single i has taken this stance, and honestly, I don't empathise it. Personal finance is political. To pretend that it's not is to pretend that regime policies don't touch on our daily lives. They do, probably more than we imagine.
Personal Finance is Political
The matter that people don't sympathise (or ignore) is that personal finance is very political. Every time we vote, we are voting for policies that impact our finances, in ane way or another. It'south how the world works. Hither is a curt list of examples of political topics that bear on personal finance:
- Healthcare
- Many different politicians have plans for reducing the costs of healthcare through policy. Currently, existence sick is a privilege in the Us that the poor tin can rarely afford
- Wages
- Minimum wage policy is ready by local governments. Wages are stagnant, but policies can be put in identify that would help elevator wages
- Education
- Anyone suffering from horrific student loan debt knows that didactics is a financial topic. Governments can make policies to reduce the cost of a college pedagogy, if they made it a priority.
- Tax Policy
- Information technology's easy to run across how taxation policy is financial and political. Certain policies volition increase your taxation burden, while others will lower it. Increased taxes aren't always a bad thing though, sometimes that increased revenue goes to fund these other vital programs
- Social Security
- Will social security be available when you reach retirement age? Is it something you should plan to receive, or program to lose? This is an extremely of import aspect of retirement planning, and too incredibly political.
- Social Programs
- Some will argue that social programs aren't fiscal – but I think they are. Social welfare programs exercise a lot to keep families from financial ruin. They are incredibly of import to the people who receive them, but at the aforementioned time, they are often very limiting (read up on the welfare cliff). If we want everyone to be able to achieve financial independence (and I practice!) we need to have that social programs are both financial and political.
- Infrastructure
- The infrastructure of the United States is in shambles. Information technology shouldn't be political to fix it, but it is. And the reason it's political is money. Information technology'south going to toll a ton of money to repair our aging roads and bridges, and that leads dorsum to tax policy, which is of course, securely related to personal finance.
- Merchandise Policy
- Trade policy has a drastic impact on consumer prices. You might exist paying more than for certain items due to higher tariffs, and you might even lose your task due to lower tariffs. These policies direct impact citizens every day, but if nosotros aren't paying attention, we will never really notice.
- Workers' Rights
- Government policy is what gave us the 40-hr work week and banned child labor. It besides gave people the right to unionize and need higher pay and safer working weather. These things are all related to personal finance. These are the things that made it possible for us to even take free fourth dimension to blog or side hustle afterwards work.
- Involvement Rates
- Yes, the Fed mostly controls interest rates, and they attempt to be apolitical. Merely they exercise make decisions on interest rates based on financial policy, and how it'southward affecting the economy. This means that the amount of interest you earn on savings accounts, and the amount of involvement y'all pay on debt, is all political when you dig deep enough.
Every bit you lot can encounter, the intersectionality between personal finance and politics is huge. It affects all aspects of our lives. And still, there are yet a ton of people who refuse to admit this stuff on their platforms.
Understanding the Ban on Politics in Personal Finance Communities
Only, even at that, practise understand the blanket ban on politics in virtually of these forums. Our political affiliations are incredibly important to use, and sometimes we get overly emotional about our opinions. A political disagreement tin can devolve into a cage match of insults and bullying. Nobody wants that in their group. It's difficult to moderate while maintaining a semblance of impartiality. And none of us is truly without bias.
Political discourse over policy can as well morph into partisan politics. A elementary statement about healthcare can turn into an anti-liberal or anti-bourgeois diatribe. This type of vitriol has no place in a group that wants to be open and inclusive of people from all walks of life. It's easier to create an all-out ban of these topics than it is to facilitate good for you, thoughtful, and near importantly, kind conversations about these topics.
Respecting the Decision to Avoid Political Content
Those reasons that lead to outright bans on political discussions on financial forums are the aforementioned reasons why many influencers in the finance sphere choose to avoid the topic altogether. Anybody can get value from a post on how to budget, for instance, regardless of political leanings. There are tons of topics we can write about that don't have a political slant, and I don't blame anyone for sticking to those topics. It'southward hard to publish content that might be taken poorly past any segment of the population – it'southward easier to stick to safety topics. I get it.
No one wants to get "canceled" by any portion of their audience by having the wrong political view. So instead of causing waves, we avoid the topics and write nearly stuff that anybody can concur on, like index funds are great investment tools, and information technology's a great thought to accept an emergency fund. That stuff is super safe, and helpful to pretty much everyone.
Don't Pretend its Not Political
But the thing that gets me is when people pretend that personal finance is not political at all. That'due south just disingenuous. There are tons of policies in place that affect people's coin. These policies have different impacts based on a diverseness of factors, including as race, gender, and class. Pretending that isn't real hurts the people that we are trying to help.
Pretending that anybody is capable of achieving financial independence is unfair, and it hurts the communities that take been left out of the conversation. Fifty-fifty saying that everyone can build an emergency fund, or spend less money, or notice a better task, or any other basic finance principle that'due south often touted as "piece of cake" shows a blatant disregard for the fact that there are people who literally tin can't practice those things.
If you're not sure what I mean when I say that there are systems in place that actively forbid people from achieving these aforementioned goals, check out this postal service on the poverty trap. It'southward a very existent phenomena that'due south happening right now in the United States. Heed to this podcast from Journeying to Launch nigh the Black Tax, and larn about how systematic racism has prevented people from gaining wealth. This stuff is all very real – merely it's considered political so we shy away from information technology; ignore its existence. I don't think we can practice that anymore.
What Should We Practice Instead?
Over again, I become non talking nearly. I may seem similar I don't, only I really practice. It's difficult to accept these conversations, and information technology's hard to sell some of the things we, as bloggers, publishers, podcastors, and creators are trying to sell when we brand allowances that it's non achievable for everyone.
Only that doesn't mean we should ignore it. Instead, we should acknowledge the unproblematic fact that all of our advice may non piece of work for everyone. That'south all I'm asking for. And stop with the "well I did this, and y'all could also if you weren't (lazy, uneducated, defective desire, etc.). The fact that someone out there did the thing does not mean that anybody is capable of doing the same thing. Our differences in that are what makes us unique, and it's important to acknowledge.
Vote
The most of import matter we tin practise though is vote. Nosotros all know that at that place are policies in place that go on people poor. Some are specifically meant to target certain races and ethnicities (I'm looking at you – War on Drugs! But there are plenty of others). Then permit's use our votes to dismantle these policies. Let'south make sure we become to the polls, and sympathize where each and every politico stands on these issues earlier giving them our vote – regardless of the petty letter adjacent to their name.
But we can affect change before that. We tin can call our representatives and need that they change the policies. Our voices affair, if we use them. Nosotros don't fifty-fifty have to chance our blogs or our livelihoods past writing almost it.
Personal Finance is Political
I know this came off as a piddling ranty – and I apologize for that. Simply I'1000 tired of people pretending that these two things aren't related. And I go that it's hard to talk near it, to write about information technology, to address it in any manner without risking our audiences and potentially our livelihoods. Simply if your platform is really well-nigh helping people, isn't helping everyone by drawing attending to these things and working to change them 1 of the biggest things you lot can do? Wouldn't that assistance the near people?
I think information technology would, even with my tiny picayune platform. So I will go along writing about the political aspects of personal finance, and hopefully you lot volition join me. Hopefully together, we can influence alter in our lodge, and assist ensure that everyone who would like to seek fiscal independence has a path towards information technology.
Source: https://partnersinfire.com/finance/personal-finance-is-political/
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