what is anti-capitalist personal finance?

welcome to Queer & Trans Wealth! ✨

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Hello to the 514 hotties subscribed to this newsletter! 

Welcome to Queer & Trans Wealth ✨ I’m your resident finance hoe, Leo Aquino. 

Many of you are here because Colleen Hamilton at Them wrote a delightful profile about me and my work. Thank you for being here! If you’ve been here since the start, I want to thank you from the bottom of my sappy, gay-ass heart for supporting and witnessing my journey. <3

If you’ve ever struggled with your finances, or don’t have anyone to talk to about the struggles you face under capitalism, you’ve come to the right place. Take a deep breath. You’re safe here.

Let me start by answering three of your most frequently-asked questions:

What is anti-capitalist personal finance?

First, let’s zoom out and define each of these terms separately. 

Anti-capitalism is a political ideology that recognizes capitalism as the root of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and many other forms of senseless marginalization. Anti-capitalism is the belief that when we dismantle capitalist structures, we move toward our collective liberation.

Personal finance is a blanket term for managing your money. It can include topics like saving, budgeting, debt management, and investing. Traditionally, personal finance is dictated by the need to “win” the game of capitalism and hoard wealth. 

Combine those two together and you get anti-capitalist personal finance, the practice of making holistic, educated decisions about your money while acknowledging the oppressive systems that exist under capitalism. 

We recognize that dismantling capitalism and managing our money are both efforts that will take time. Anti-capitalism movements have existed before us, and the fight will continue beyond our generation. In the same vein, getting good with money isn’t an instant makeover montage in the middle of a romcom. It’s a time-consuming and eye-opening process that brings you closer to yourself, to our collective reality, to the future we want to create together.

How did you arrive at this work?

With surprise, delight, and a lot of humility.

When I first started writing, I covered topics like beauty, fashion, sex, and relationships. Sex toy sales soared at the height of the pandemic, and I was literally reviewing dildos; writing about lube and anal beads; spilling my guts about getting ice cream eaten off my titties for a modest price of $1,700. (RIP to my jugs lol they lived a good life)

I was lucky enough to be able to financially support myself through my writing, but I had no idea that a greater calling was in store for me.

In August 2020, my grandfather died, and I inherited his journals, most of which were detailed accounts of the money he spent and sent back to the Philippines every single day.

While at the Brooklyn Poets Mentorship Program in 2021, I started writing poems incorporating my grandfather’s journals with my own. As a struggling writer with crippling student loan debt living off of food stamps, I was stunned by the way that his journals mirrored my own two generations later — yet he had an unwavering belief in his own personal agency, his ability to make an impact in the lives of the people he loved the most.

In 2021, I wrote an article for Business Insider about how I couldn’t afford to pay my credit card bills and how that transformed my mental health. The article went super viral, to the point that there were dozens of right-wing conservatives in my inbox. It was clear to me that my writing and truth-telling about money touched a nerve.

Months later, after writing that article as a freelancer, Business Insider offered me a full-time job as a spending & saving reporter on their personal finance team. I fell deeply in love with the stories I got to write, and the people who so generously shared their experiences with me. However, I quickly realized that my work was still not reaching the queer & trans community.

I started sharing my work on social media under the handle Queer & Trans Wealth, and the feedback and support I’ve received has been so overwhelming. I see how much our community needs these resources, and I feel so honored and grateful every single day that my Ancestors chose me to do this work.

How can we support your work?

After a painful round of layoffs and subsequent labor organizing, I no longer work at Business Insider. Instead of looking for a new job, I’ve decided to put all my energy into building this community and embracing independent journalism.

I need your support now more than ever. Here are a few ways you can help:

• Buy me a coffee or send me a monetary gift via Venmo @leo_aquino81

• If you’re interested in receiving financial coaching, please sign up for the waitlist here.

• If you’re connected to any grants or funding opportunities, please send them my way.

• If you have experience with starting, building, and funding a service-based non-profit organization, please have a virtual coffee with me and share your knowledge!

Thank you all so much for your love and support! I’m truly overwhelmed with gratitude & can’t wait for you all to see what’s in store for the future.