#Save10 The Guy Who Leaned In

Yesterday, I had a long conversation with a friend and passionate leader of financial literacy. We were discussing the savings movement that we are trying to create. I gave my pitch for battling the ubiquity of credit cards and other forms of debt by making a savings campaign somehow equally as ubiquitous.

After an hour and a half, a young man who had been sitting next to us at the coffee shop, leaned over as we were wrapping up. He said, “I am sorry, but I was listening to your whole conversation. I wish I was a woman. I need that help, too.”

We all laughed, and my friend and I assured him that no dudes would be left behind in this process.

“So why women? Why young women, in particular? The answer to this is that women feel particularly alienated by the financial industry.”

Our core belief is that if we can get formal and informal messaging to young women in college or just starting their new jobs out of college to save 10%, to avoid credit card debt, to pay down those loans, and more importantly to feel confident out of the gate, we think they will feel a lot less alienated in their finances. They will be a lot more confident.

And to the very kind and eager guy listening in on the conversation, this one’s for you. For the 40 year old woman who is just as scared and just as behind, this is for you, too. You will get to see that the odds were stacked against you when you needed advice the most. Often getting over fear and shame is enough to at least start somewhere, maybe at 10% now and then increase little by little over time.

This campaign is for everyone, but we believe that by focusing on young women and girls that we can better program an entire generation to be savings driven and debt averse. We can reverse generations of financial mistakes and the pain caused by them. Let’s channel our hope into this new, green generation.