5 Great Places to Get Queer Money Advice

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LGBTQIA+ Americans have unique financial needs, and are particularly vulnerable to money problems. Read on for a few resources to help you manage your money. 

It’s a sad fact that if you’re part of the LGBTQIA+ community, you’re more likely to struggle with money. We earn less on average, to start with — the Human Rights Campaign found that in 2021, the LGBTQIA+ wage gap leaves us earning an average of $0.90 per $1 earned by a straight American. These money struggles go beyond just less access to the green stuff, though. Research from The Ascent showed that queer Americans even feel less prepared to make smart decisions to further financial goals (just 24%, versus 34% for straight Americans).

Plus, a lot of us were raised with someone else’s idea of who we should be and what should be important to us. You might be on a journey to unlearn these messages, and in the meantime, you likely need some help figuring out the life you want to live alongside making better financial decisions.

John of the Debt Free Guys (more about them below!) offered this piece of advice for queer folks who are just starting out with personal finance management: “If we can discover what we truly want — the most important things for us — then we’re less likely to chase happiness through mass-consumptions and overspending, and it’s easier to create and stick to a budget knowing that.”

Thankfully, there are some excellent resources out there you can turn to for money advice that takes your unique needs and circumstances into account. Let’s take a closer look at a few of them.

1. Bitches Get Riches

For an honest look at personal finance without any sugar coating but with a strong queer and feminist bent, you’ll want to check out Bitches Get Riches. The content creators, finance gurus, and podcasters behind this outlet go by the handles Kitty and Piggy, and they absolutely revel in living their lives on their own terms, which is inspiring.

Their website and duly-named Bitches Get Riches podcast cover a wide variety of topics, from becoming a freelance worker, to learning to live on your own, to various guides for money topics like down payments to buy a home or a car. The resources for young queer folks are especially great (even though it makes me sad that they have to exist at all). For example, if you aren’t finding the support you need from your family, you might need to find ways to cope. Bitches Get Riches has a wonderful guide for that.

2. Queerency

Are you an aspiring small business owner or fervent supporter of them? Then you absolutely need to know about Queerency. Queerency is the source for LGBTQIA+ business and economics news you can use. Want to know which lesbian-owned brands are making waves? Or which fintech companies are focusing on meeting the needs of queer folks (and our finances)? You’ll find all kinds of stories on Queerency’s home page, or you can subscribe to “The Balance Sheet,” their newsletter.

3. The Debt Free Guys

David and John are also known as the Debt Free Guys, and they are a pair of husbands on a quest to teach others how to live a happy and fulfilled life without sacrificing financial security. In addition to maintaining a blog and recording a podcast (Queer Money), they offer resources to help you pay off debt, learn to budget, and improve your credit score. It’s all based on their own experiences of paying off a ton of debt and getting their finances in order (and as someone who has done the same in the last year, that speaks to me).

And don’t think you’ll only find dry money topics on their site! On the contrary, the focus on embracing a fabulous life (without going broke) is both fun and refreshing.

4. SAGE

For a horse of a different color, take a look at SAGE, and specifically, SAGECents. SAGE is an advocacy organization for older members of the LGBTQIA+ community that was founded in 1978 and now also has a strong web presence. SAGECents is one program it offers. It’s a digital platform to help older community members and their caregivers navigate financial matters. You’ll find tools and resources for all kinds of financial topics from increasing your credit score to signing up for Medicare.

There are also a ton of resources available on the SAGE website that deal with the complexities of money management alongside gender, age, marital status, and other factors that may be outside the societally prescribed norm for LGBTQIA+ people.

5. Life Kit

Finally, I want to recommend the NPR podcast Life Kit as an excellent all-purpose resource for all aspects of life — straight, queer, and beyond. Life Kit covers money topics frequently, and does so with a focus on inclusivity and easy, actionable tips that anyone can follow. The show also features diverse voices and perspectives, and episodes are released a few times a week.

They’re also all really short (often less than 20 minutes long), which means you can squeeze in an episode while you’re running a quick errand or doing some boring chore at home, and end up learning something new. If you like podcasts and are short on time, this one is worth following, and listening to the episodes that catch your eye.

Being LGBTQIA+ and struggling with money can be really isolating. You feel as if no one quite understands the issues you face, and the traditional personal finance community might not make you feel welcome. If you’re feeling alone and in need of financial advice, retirement planning, and more, give these resources a try.

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