Fifty marks the beginning of a woman coming home to herself. Illusions give way to clarity. A woman at this stage in life evaluates all her relationships, in particular the one she has with money.

Maybe this particular relationship has been one of avoidance, conflict, pain, shame, vagueness and a feeling of being out of control. Maybe it’s been a relationship of competence, deepening intimacy, respect and stewardship. Or maybe it’s been somewhere in-between.

You have the power to make your relationship with money fabulous. Standing in your financial power is a right of passage for every woman. Life experiences force some women to enter this passage sooner than others. Life transitions such as divorce, the death of a spouse, caring for aging parents and sudden unexpected illness give us opportunity to become fully present in our financial lives if we haven’t done so already.

You don’t have to wait until a situation is forced upon you. Be present now! Look your finances in the face and create a relationship with your money.

I bet you spend time each week connecting with your friends, talking over coffee or tea about the kids, your hobbies, travels, what’s going on in your life. I bet you love the feeling that connection brings! I do! Now what about connecting with your financial life? Paying attention, creating time and energy to put toward your money is a way of taking care of yourself. Like any relationship, you get back what you put into it. The more time you spend befriending it, the deeper and more rewarding this relationship will be for you.

Steps In Creating Fiscal Fitness

• Create space and time on a weekly/ monthly basis to relate to your money. Establish a ritual. For example, every Sunday morning at 9:30am my husband and I have our money meeting for 30 minutes. We pour ourselves a cup of coffee and come prepared with our “to do” lists and share updates and financial information with one another. The time and energy we spend grounds us, keeps us on the same page and brings harmony to our relationship.
• Establish five basic bottom line money behaviors.
  • Know what your income is, gross and net.
  • Know where your money goes. One of my favorite quotes is by Roger Babson. “More people should learn to tell their dollars where to go instead of asking them where they went.”
  • Know the balance in your checking account.
  • Reconcile your bank statement with your checkbook monthly.
  • Know how much you owe in debt, what it’s costing you in interest and strategize a way to eliminate credit card debt.
• Create a vision and plan for the rest of your life! Write it out on paper. Tell your friends what your plans are. Begin taking action!
• Flex your knowledge muscle and learn something new about money. Read the Wall Street Journal every day or a financial magazine of your choosing! Take a class in investing! Identify your next step in learning and take that step.
• If your partner takes charge of managing your finances, you still have a responsibility to know what’s going on. You need to know where important documents and investment information are located. Know all the members of your financial advisory team and their telephone numbers.
• Protect your assets. Investigate Long Term Care Insurance. Establish a Will / Living Trust. Talk with your Financial Planner to help walk you through this process.

So, what’s your next step to deepening your relationship with money? You are at a very important junction in your life to take action. Do it now!