I remember when I realized how it’s important to own your financial privilege if you write about money on the internet.
The headline drew me in right away with its promise to explain how the writer saved a large sum of money while earning a very low wage. Who wouldn’t want to check that out?
I clicked read more.
The writing was solid and the steps the writer took to save money made sense.
Still, I felt like something was missing as I read.
Fourteen paragraphs in, I found it.
Financial privilege and credibility
The writer lived at home, rent-free, the whole time. Needless to say that piece of information, presented 2/3 of the way into the story, changed the way I viewed the entire article.
In the comment section, readers made their feelings clear: by failing to disclose that significant privilege, it was difficult to take the writer seriously.
I understood that feeling. I felt the same way.
Before we go any further: I don’t have a problem with people who live at home to pay off debt and save money. It can be easy to lose perspective when you’re struggling to get by and you don’t have the option of cutting your living costs down to nothing, but living at home does require sacrifice – not the least of which is setting aside your ego. If that’s an option available to you, and you’re willing to make that kind of sacrifice, that’s great.
The trouble in this case came from not being transparent about it.
Failing to be transparent about your financial privileges undermines your credibility.
I am not an expert by any means – this is a personal finance blog, with heavy emphasis on the personal. However, I do want you to know you can trust me.
So, in the interest of transparency, I wanted to begin this journey by disclosing the financial privileges that have helped us along the way.
Our Financial Privileges
- We live in Canada
In my opinion, this is the privilege from which all our other advantages flow. Canada is not perfect, but living in this country has given us advantages others don’t have. General political stability, access to education and free/affordable health care are a few examples of things that have contributed to our success thus far.
- We are DINKs (for now)
Dual income, no kids. My husband and I both have university degrees, which helped us land well-paying jobs. We both work full-time and we both receive benefits (health, dental and pension) through work. Our expenses and debt obligations means we still live pay cheque to pay cheque, but our combined incomes have made it possible to make progress.
- We only have one student loan
Post-secondary education opens doors, but it is expensive. I graduated debt-free – and it’s important to be honest about that. I had a full-tuition scholarship and paid off a small loan (used to pay for residence) before graduating. The only school-related debt we carry is the $50K-ish from my husband’s degree.
- Our non-school debt is manageable
Other than the student loan, our only other debt at the start of our debt-free journey was a small credit line with an OK interest rate. We paid off our car loan before launching this blog (details here) and we don’t have any credit card debt.
Update: We finished paying off the credit line in November 2018. Read about that here.
- We are in good health
Neither of us have significant health problems that require costly medications or limit our ability to work at this time. We both have health benefits through work and the ability to access (largely free) medical care when needed.
Final Thoughts
One of the first decisions I made in planning to launch this blog was to write a post like this. Ensuring our cards on the table from day one matters to me. I want you to have the context you need to make informed decisions about the content you see here. Disclosing our privileges and advantages helps make that possible.
What are your financial privileges?
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