As someone who’s passionate about personal finance, I’ve been asked a few times by friends if I’d be willing to give a bit of a 101 session to help them take control of their money a bit more. We host these sessions on Friday nights, and call them “Financial Fridays.” Turns out we’re not the only ones who do this – not even by a longshot.

You don’t have to do Financial Fridays the way we do it, with the sessions being mostly one-way information sharing. It works in our group because the knowledge levels vary pretty widely from person to person. But I also know other friends who do their own Financial Fridays and make it like a show-and-tell type of scenario: everyone goes out and learns at least one new thing about personal finance, then shares it back with the rest of the group. That way, folks with similar levels of knowledge and experience can learn and grow together.

I love this concept because it simplifies and gamifies what can often be a scary topic for many people, making it more approachable in the process. This is awesome, because it makes people less likely to avoid talking about it. When it comes to your finances, burying your head in the sand and hoping all will turn out well is not the strategy you want to be following. Hell, it’s not a strategy, period.

So if you want to start hosting Financial Fridays (whether virtually or, if it’s allowed in your area, in person), how might you go about it?

Make it feel like an event.

Open a bottle of wine and set out some nice cheese. Play some casual music. Pull out the fancy glasses. Maybe some chocolate-dipped strawberries, I don’t know. You get the idea; make it feel like a special occasion!

When you treat the events this way, you’ll have that little something extra to look forward to each time. The key is to make it fun – personal finance doesn’t have to be boring! It’s like oatmeal – by itself, it’s pretty bland. But if you dress it up with some berries, banana slices and honey, it can be really tasty 🙂

Keep it casual.

This one is key. Keep the language casual and approachable for everyone, and if you’re going to dress up for the events, make it an outfit that is distinctly different from what you’d wear to the office. The goal here is to dispel the stigma that being interested in finance is only for suits. There may be some apprehensive folks in your group, and you want to do everything in your power to help them feel comfortable.

Pick a format that works for your group.

Maybe one person in your group has more knowledge than everyone else. Maybe you’re all starting from a similar place. No matter the scenario, pick a format that works for you. In my group, I take more of a lecture-style approach, with Q&A all the way along. I’ll prepare topics on my end, or I’ll focus specifically on topics that my friends are interested in.

I like the show-and-tell approach for groups where the knowledge levels are similar. You can set it up so that everyone chooses their own topic, or you can mix it up, where everyone throws a topic into a hat, and you pick your topic to research from out of there.

You can get as fancy or be as simple as you want with the format; the important thing is to make sure everyone feels comfortable with it.

Wrapping it Up

Just like with your career, the reality is that nobody is going to advocate as hard for your own finances as you will. It’s up to you to take the reins. Financial Fridays are a great way to take control of your financial situation, learn more about how money works, and get one step closer to making it work as hard as it can for you.

Do you run or participate in Financial Fridays? I’d love to hear about how your group does it in the comments section!