Jill Biden's Wise Financial Advice to Young Women Comes From Her Own 'Harsh Lesson'
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First Lady Dr. Jill Biden has something to say to young women about their finances: protect yourself. She’s imparting a story from her own experience from her first marriage where she wed at the age of 18 and found herself penniless after they got divorced. She doesn’t want anyone to experience the same situation, so she hopes everyone takes her story to heart.
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At a White House event last Wednesday, via MSNBC, Jill shared the wise advice she tells her students at Northern Virginia Community College. “[I tell the women] I mentor at my community college … they have to be independent, because you never, ever know where what’s going to happen in life,” she noted. “You have to be ready and be able to just be independent, have your own money,” she added. My mother always said, ‘Always put money aside for yourself. Make sure that you have that.’”
The first lady didn’t listen to her mother when she got married just out of high school to Bill Stevenson in 1970. Within five years, their marriage collapsed, and she found herself without a home or a job, and without any money to support herself. Her parents jumped in to offer her a room at their home so she could get back on her feet, but Jill decided that she needed to finish her degree and get a job so she could rent her own apartment. It wasn’t the easiest time in her life. “After going through a divorce, and having to be dependent on someone else, I was in college,” she explained. “So, I learned very quickly. And it was a very harsh lesson.”
During Joe Biden’s years as serving as Barack Obama’s vice president, and now during his time as President of the United State, Jill has kept her teaching job at the community college. Those hard economic times in her younger years have stuck with her, and it’s likely one of the reasons why she’s kept her teaching job despite the heavy demands of Joe Biden’s first term in office. She’s made the history books as the only first lady to hold a paying job outside of the White House.
Kate Andersen Brower, author of First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies, explained to Good Morning America in 2020 why holding onto her teaching job was so important to her. “It is unusual for a second lady to work but unprecedented for a first lady,” she said. “I know from talking to the campaign that there is an understanding that she doesn’t know if she can balance both teaching and being first lady quite yet, but there is a sense of this is her hope and this is what she wants to do because she loves teaching, and it’s the career that she’s carved out for herself that is unique and different from her husband’s.”
Jill has, so far, succeeded in her mission to mentor the next generation of leaders while maintaining her independence outside of her husband’s administration — it’s a tall order, but she’s tackling the challenge head on.
Before you go, click here to see our favorite photos of President Joe Biden’s big family.
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