At The Financial Gym Advisors, we believe that everyone deserves financial health. But the reality is that people face different challenges depending on a multitude of factors—including sexual orientation and gender identity. Last year, David and John of the Debt Free Guys (and hosts of the Queer Money podcast) spoke to our team about some of the challenges that LGBTQ+ folks may face in their financial lives.
Safety, Wellbeing, & Rights Under Threat
It’s hard to thrive financially when you don’t feel safe. Considering the history of violence against the LGBTQ+ community as well as current events, many folks feel anxiety about their safety and even their basic human rights. That anxiety can trap you in survival mode, and understandably, make it difficult to focus on improving your financial health.
Community in High Cost of Living Areas
Along the same lines, everyone wants to live somewhere they feel accepted so many LGBTQ+ people have flocked to communities where they feel welcome. Most of these communities happen to be in very expensive cities like San Francisco, New York City, Portland, and Miami. Where you live has a huge impact on your finances. It affects the cost of your housing, transportation, and food—the biggest line items in most people’s budgets. These higher costs affect your ability to save in the short term and make it harder to create long-term financial security in retirement. While people do live in high cost of living areas for other reasons, feeling safe and accepted shouldn’t have to be one of them.
Less Help From Family
Help from family can play a major role in your overall financial health. When families are not supportive of their LGBTQ+ children, they might not help pay for college or contribute to a wedding, even if they have the financial means to do so. They also may cut a queer child out of a will. All of these choices put a higher financial burden on queer folks that they likely wouldn’t have had if not for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Cost of Gender Affirming Care
Gender affirming care is an added cost for many trans and non-binary people. While some health insurance companies cover services such as hormone replacement therapy and gender affirming surgery, not all do, and trans folks are more likely to be uninsured in the first place. Bans on gender-affirming care now affect 30% of all trans youth. Even before some of these bans took effect, about half of trans people seeking gender affirming surgery traveled out of state for it, significantly increasing their out-of-pocket costs.
Cost of Starting a Family
Most queer couples need some type of medical assistance to have a biological family—a potentially massive expense. If a queer couple does not have the cash to pay for these expenses, they are often encouraged to take on debt in order to expand their family. An additional debt payment can add to a budget squeeze, especially considering the additional day-to-day expenses of having a child.
