I met with a girl last week who is in her twenties, working for a large investment firm. She is polished, professional, well spoken and incredible at sales. She had also been taken completely aback at a recent conference when someone cited that women could not have their own credit card (by the way, they couldn’t even have a bank account without a male co-signer) as recently as 1974, when the Equal Credit Opportunity Act was signed into law.

It struck me, because I have long known this – my grandmothers were not able to have their own bank accounts until this time, and they shared this with me. They also shared that they still didn’t get their own accounts – what argument would they have made to their husbands to open separate accounts?

We act like this is a dirty secret now. What reason does a 20-something have to know that we were discriminating against women as recently as 51 very short years ago? It’s simple to me. She must know, so she can continue to fight. She must know, so she can acknowledge that whatever shortcomings she may think she has in her own financial independence, it is generational and not her personal failing. As unbelievable as it may seem, it’s historic fact, plain and simple. Women weren’t even supposed to be the ones balancing the checkbook – they should rely on husband or father to do it for them.

So where we are today is literally brand new territory. I was born in 1980, and my parents were incredibly young and carving their own way of running a household. I attribute much of this to my mom’s absolute strength, which was likely derived from her father’s shortcomings and her mother’s tenacity to stand up and take care of everything. When my grandma was widowed in 1984, she had already been the sole breadwinner of their home for years. This example, I’m certain, led my mom to be the one running our household finances. But school had taught her very little about this. She graduated in 1978. With no history of credit for women, what would they teach? With no need for a financial education, home “economics” meant cooking, sewing, mothering.

Where do we start, then? While we do provide some basic level of financial education to all students now, it is just that – basic. Even for women who pursue a degree in a financial field, there are few standout predecessors whose success we are to follow. And many of them will cite working “like a man” to achieve what they did. But today, we are in a brand new realm here in the US. As a manager, I no longer demand start times and end times – if we did, we would lose talented folks who are parents. Parental leave is granted to both genders, and parental expectations fall more and more equally on men. This said, while I do not know of any “stay at home” husbands throughout my firm, I do know that several of my colleagues have “stay at home” wives/mothers. It’s still normal, if the man can reach a level of earnings that will support it. Yet women at the same salary level do not ask their husbands to cover the childcare, even if it would save more money than his salary brings in (the argument for many women to step out of their careers).

We are here, like it or not. And if you’re in your 20s, you have all the opportunity in the world to build wealth that was unimaginable to your own grandmother, and likely, to your mother. Even on into your 30s, 40s and 50s, there is still time! Just by saving and investing. Just by being the badass that you are, earning a paycheck, running a household and a life, and taking care of others around you. Even if you’re single, I guarantee you take care of others around you. We MUST take care of ourselves. We must never let it happen again where men are responsible for the financial future of women. We will learn together, invest together, grow together and rise together.

I love talking to women who are ready to invest. I love talking to women who are ready to create a new future for the next generation, one in which they saw their mom be the go-to financial guru in the home. If you’re one of these women, I’d love to talk to YOU. I’m right here.