why is finance different for queer & trans folx?

yearlong iced coffee budget ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7-minute slow read. There is also a recording of this newsletter above for accessibility. Please let me know if you have any other access needs.

Hello to the 572 hotties who subscribe to this newsletter!

When I tell people about Queer & Trans Wealth, I get asked the same question from well-meaning allies and some members of the LGBTQ community: Why is finance different for queer & trans folx? Isn’t money the same for everyone regardless of your gender identity or sexual orientation?

Besides having a yearlong budget for iced coffee in every tax bracket (this is a joke lol), queer and trans folx have unique financial needs because of the ways we are marginalized by capitalism. Our communities play by our own economic rules crafted by transcestors who did what needed to be done to survive the AIDS epidemic and decades of keeping our identities hidden for safety.

To set goals around budgeting, saving, and debt repayment, experts typically recommend using SMART goals, which stands for:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-bound

For example, instead of saying, “I’m gonna stop eating out to pay off my student loans faster,” a SMART goal would be, “I’m going to save $75 a month on eating out for 6 months to pay off my student loans faster.”

The time boundary of 6 months allows you to look back and reassess if $75 a month is doable, or if your goal is too easy to achieve. Cutting back $75 a month is way more realistic than never eating out with your friends. I’ll probably write many future newsletters about using SMART goals, because this method gets results.

During workshops, though, I tell students that my biggest issue here is with the word realistic.

Historically, capitalism has forced our queer and trans ancestors to do unrealistic things in order to survive. We move to big cities like New York and Los Angeles, even if we can’t afford it, in search of more accepting communities. We raise thousands of dollars in just a few months for gender-affirming surgeries. We delay saving for retirement to give mutual aid to those who need it. We survive in cash economies and deal with housing instability when institutions refuse to acknowledge our correct name and gender marker.

Please indulge my Virgo placements by reading this list of other ways finance is different for queer & trans folx:

• Having children costs more money. I’ve spoken to families who have gone into six figures of debt to pursue in-vitro fertilization and surrogacy — and they would happily do it again to have a second child. Adoption is typically only available to queer & trans people who earn high incomes and who have a clean mental health record. (Side note: A therapist at Nodku Therapy once asked me for consent before diagnosing me. They informed me that certain mental health diagnoses can prevent folx from adopting children. More on this in a later newsletter.)

• We have different family structures. Polyamorous families within our communities split their expenses differently, especially when they have children together.

• Retirement looks different. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, 1 in 5 LGBTQ adults ages 50 and up experienced poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of discrimination and our subsequent underemployment, it has been harder for queer and trans folx to have the stability required to have healthy retirement savings.

• We have different saving goals. Yes, we save for trips, clothes, and housing just like everyone else. But we also need to account for big-ticket savings goals like gender-affirming surgeries and aftercare.

• Financial systems have not adapted to include gender-affirming legal name changes. For transgender people who choose to change their name and gender marker, accessing financial services can be complicated. Our credit reports are split, making it harder for us to access credit or housing. In my experience, I’m often accused of stealing my deadname’s identity (lol it’s actually the other way around, buddy) when trying to do simple things, like transferring the electric bill to my name after moving into my apartment.

• Besides regular emergencies like car accidents, layoffs, and deaths in the family, our emergencies may include fleeing our home states because of anti-trans legislation. Journalist Erin Reed, who has been tracking anti-trans legislation for three years, reports that 130,000 to 260,000 trans people have already fled their home states to move to other states where their basic rights are still protected. Fleeing from oppressive legislation is both emotionally and financially traumatic and destabilizing. Truth be told, some of us won’t be able to afford it.

This all sounds bleak, but I urge you, dear hotties, to orient yourselves toward hope and solutions.

Governments and financial systems may fail us, but we have each other’s backs. Despite unrealistic and inhumane circumstances, we will keep building the economic reality we need to survive and thrive.