Amanda Steinberg wants you to stop saying that women are risk-averse

DailyWorth CEO and Mount Airy resident, Amanda Steinberg, recently released a book called “Worth It: Your Life, Your Money, Your Terms.” After eight years of running a finance media platform for women, she wanted to further dismantle the idea that women are incapable of achieving financial independence and success. The book tackles topics like the difference between passive and active investing, a comparison between self worth and net worth and other essential financial information.

We talked to Steinberg last month for a look behind the book’s inspiration, her new startup and what’s planned next.

What was it like writing a book compared to writing content for DailyWorth? Did you always want to write a book?

It’s obviously a lot more intense because you’re making a much bigger argument. The longest thing I’d ever written was probably a term paper, which is about 50 pages when you’re in college. To stress such a large argument is obviously far mar nuanced simply because of the depth required.

I wrote a book because I finally had a massive argument that required a book’s length. It took me eight years to get there. It was moreso a response to the same questions over and over again, but the answer needed to be laid out in a book because things have permeated our cultural narrative around women and money that people assume are true but aren’t. [Those misconceptions] needed to be refuted in depth.

How has the climate of women and economic strength changed since you launched DailyWorth in 2009?

It’s no longer a taboo. When I first started in 2009, people thought I was weird. People might still think I’m weird, but now they understand what I do. I would go speak at conferences and the money panels would be one-eighth full. Now, it’s getting momentum.

You started your startup, a savings and investment platform called WorthFM, in 2015. How has it grown in two years? Where is it at now?

We started talking about it in 2015, but we didn’t even launch until a month ago. It launched in 2017. It’s great. We already have about 500 clients and about a million and a half in deposits. We’re not aggressively marketing it yet. We’re watching for feedback.

We have other revenue streams in the company, so fortunately, we can grow WorthFM more organically. On DailyWorth, it’s our online classes.

Have you been involved at all with the Women’s March on Washington or a Day Without Women?

I joke that every day for me is a Women’s March. I’ve been very involved with it from a media standpoint: covering it, reporting on it. I have two little kids at home and because of my travel schedule with work, I try not to leave the house and participate virtually and contribute that way.

What’s next for you?

I’m in Atlanta next week, New York City after that and all over the place to promote the book. What’s next is the conversation brought forth in the book, which is helping a generation of women transition from traditional ideas of femininity that counter engaging in one’s finances. That’s created a lot of dependence and difficult situations for women later in life.

I’d love to know, given the women’s rise in earning power, inheritances and more, what it looks like when women develop a new relationship to money. Everything I do is an extension of that: the book, DailyWorth, WorthFM. Whatever I need to do to help facilitate women to transform their view of money into something that makes sense to them is what I do.

I’ve spent eight years dissecting all the misnomers and misunderstandings around women and money. “Women are hardwired to be nurturing.” “Women are risk averse.” All of this stuff is completely false. It might sound like a compliment to women, but it isn’t. That’s a social atrocity.