Budgets and bank balances only tell half the story. The people around you may be shaping your money more than you realise.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!We tend to think of wealth as a solo project: a salary, a savings account, a set of personal goals. But the people we live with, socialise with, work with and trust have a quiet hold on how we spend, save and picture our financial future, often without our noticing. They can strengthen our financial wellbeing or quietly undermine it.
“Your people are part of your financial plan.”
Building wealth is a team sport. Families, partners, friends, mentors, colleagues and communities support and guide us, emotionally and in the decisions we make about money. For women especially, these relationships can shape what we spend, what we aspire to and what we believe is possible. Money is relational, and every relationship rests on trust: the belief that the people around us have our best interests at heart, not just their own.
The small decisions add up
Consider the friend who always orders the priciest dish and the best bottle of wine, then expects the bill to be split evenly, knowing full well you can’t afford her taste. Or the friend who books an exclusive spa weekend you can neither afford nor easily decline. Each moment seems minor, but they chip away at the good financial choices you’re working to make.
Choosing a partner is a financial decision
Few of us think of it this way, but choosing a life partner is one of the biggest financial decisions we make. Shared attitudes towards money and the future create emotional and financial stability, while mismatched values can pull a couple in opposite directions. Emotional safety and financial responsibility aren’t mutually exclusive. The strongest partnerships have both.
If the people in your life don’t share your outlook on wealth versus worth, it’s worth asking whether they belong in your inner circle.
That doesn’t mean abandoning friends. It means being more intentional. If someone consistently diminishes your sense of worth, reconsider the role they play in your financial life. Set new boundaries and be honest about what you can and can’t afford.
The right network opens doors
The reverse is just as true. The right people build confidence, share knowledge and offer practical support. Networks create opportunity, and women’s financial communities are evolving to reflect that. The traditional grocery stokvel is growing into something bigger: collectives that help members reach major goals, from family holidays to property ownership.
Even our relationship with technology has a part to play. AI could become another ally for women, easing administrative burdens, widening access to information and making it easier to work and build a business. But women must also help shape these tools, bringing a female perspective into systems that would otherwise carry old biases forward.
Advice from someone who understands
Trust matters most when it comes to financial advice. Women are more likely to engage when guidance comes from someone they trust and relate to, rather than from a process that feels designed for somebody else. In an industry long dominated by men, advice that understands the context of women’s lives can matter as much as the advice itself.
That’s the thinking behind Momentum’s approach. The company recognises the roles women play, the burdens they carry and the hopes that keep them going. Its aim is not only to help women accumulate wealth but to understand their lives, priorities and ambitions, and to offer the knowledge and guidance that support the woman each of them is becoming.
Forgiving the financial you
Momentum’s recent She Owns Her Success initiative explored the idea that real life is about real experiences, including self-forgiveness. We don’t always get relationships right the first time, and that includes our financial ones. We choose based on what we know at the time and only later see what we might have done differently. There’s value in forgiving yourself for not knowing earlier what time has since taught you.
Experience changes more than what we know about money. It changes what we value, who we trust and the kind of life we want to build. Women’s resilience is their secret weapon, and Momentum’s is understanding what women need to build the lives they want.
The takeaway
Financial confidence isn’t something you have to build alone. Choose your people, and your financial partners, with the same intention you bring to everything else that matters.
