Beyond Net Worth: What Building Wealth Really Means for Women

January is a natural time to reflect, reset, and set goals for the year ahead. It’s when many people take stock of where they are and where they want to go, professionally, personally and financially.

One area that often goes overlooked in this process, particularly for women, is wealth.

Wealth is often narrowly defined in terms of salary or savings, but in reality, it encompasses much more. It’s about access to resources, the ability to make informed decisions, and the freedom to plan for the future with confidence.

For many women, building wealth is not just a financial goal, it’s a way to create stability, independence, and long-term security. Yet despite its importance, wealth remains a difficult topic to navigate. Many women face unique barriers, from systemic inequities to cultural expectations, that shape how they think about and manage money.

Redefining wealth starts with broadening the conversation, moving beyond net worth and toward a deeper understanding of what financial well-being looks like and what it makes possible.

Ultimately, wealth isn’t just about what you have. It’s about what you can do with it:

• The freedom to take risks and make decisions without fear. Whether that means leaving a toxic workplace (relationship), launching a company, or taking a break, wealth provides options.|
  

• The confidence to walk away from what no longer aligns. Financial security allows you to move with purpose, not desperation.
  

• The opportunity to support others and shift systems. True wealth opens doors for more than just ourselves, it empowers us to invest in our communities and drive change.
  

• The ability to plan, not just survive. It’s about long-term vision, not just short-term survival.
  

Why Wealth Feels So Hard to Talk About

Conversations about wealth are often weighed down by shame, scarcity, extraction, or silence. Many of us were taught that talking about money is impolite or that wanting more is greedy. But the truth is, wanting more for yourself and for others isn’t selfish, it’s strategic and necessary.

For many women, especially women of color, conversations about wealth are further complicated by a lack of access to financial education and resources that reflect our lived experiences. It is not simply that we are behind. For generations, we were deliberately excluded.

Until relatively recently, women could not open a credit card without a male co-signer or access many types of loans in their own names. These were not accidental gaps. They were the result of policies and systems designed without us in mind. When we talk about the wealth gap, we are not talking about a failure to catch up. We are addressing the lasting impact of exclusion from institutions that were never built for our participation.

It is no surprise that conversations about money can bring up discomfort, fear, or doubt. These feelings are not personal shortcomings. They are a reflection of what it means to navigate financial systems that only recently began to make room for us.

That is why communities like VEST exist. To create space for honest conversations about money. To remind you that you are not alone in navigating systems that were not built with you in mind. And to reinforce that wealth is not just a personal pursuit. It is a shared effort, shaped by collective knowledge, support, and intention.

If you’re ready to redefine wealth and reclaim your financial power, you’re in the right place.

Apply to join our community of professional women building wealth on their terms, learn more at www.VESTHer.co/Membership