Did you know that 90% of women will be financially responsible for their own well-being at some point in their lives? That means we need to be competent money managers. This includes the most basic of skills like keeping a checkbook register, planning our spending and saving, and hiring the right financial professionals to help guide us with our investments.
Often, women shy away from learning about money. Sometimes the feelings we have about money distance us from wanting to learn more. Money certainly isn’t a common topic of conversation over coffee or lunch. Rarely do we share the areas of our lives in which we feel inadequate, and we don’t talk about our wealth either. Many of us learned that it wasn’t proper for women to discuss anything to do with money. It’s private, personal and no one else’s business. We talk more easily about sex than we do about money. We need to begin talking about money and to get comfortable with the topic. Talking and sharing with other women will help us tap into our potential and allow us to grow. Listening to another woman’s experience of wrestling with her finances and overcoming obstacles will then give us permission to do the same. Listening to how another woman built her business and created wealth gives us insight into what we can do, in our own lives, to create the same. Women grow by sharing their stories. Stories inspire us, they activate our strengths and give us hope.
Talking and sharing helps us to re-invent ourselves. I’m sharing with you the conversations I’ve had, or information I’ve found in books, that helped me prepare for this month’s column. I hope they give you some things to think about and ways you can begin re-inventing your financial life.
Embrace Your Fear
“Do little things that scare you, accomplish them, and then develop a belief in yourself that you can do bigger things,” says Susan Crandall, author of Thinking About Tomorrow: Reinventing Yourself at Midlife. Doesn’t this sound exhilarating and fun?
What little thing scares you about money? Is it that you don’t understand the language of investments? Maybe it scares you to raise your fees or to ask for a raise. Maybe it scares you to ask your partner to show you all the financial statements of your assets and debts?
Whatever your fear is, take a step into that fear and dissolve it! Baby steps can include reading one article a week on money, rehearsing a script out loud in front of a mirror that you will later say to your boss in asking for a raise, or writing down any debts you have and brainstorming with a friend on how to eliminate them.
When my mom turned 60 she decided she was going to enhance her and my dad’s retirement savings by aggressively playing the stock market. She knew nothing about investing and had never done anything like this before. So, she read some books and then asked a trusted financial planner to hold her hand for a year and to teach her how to invest. She’s done very well in the market. Her famous words are “you can do anything you set your mind to.”
Create A Money Group
Money groups are popping up all over! It’s a new, fun way to have money conversations because that is the purpose of the group; to learn and to talk about money. These groups break the conspiracy of silence around financial matters, and we know silence leads to inaction. One group in Canada call themselves the “Smart Cookies.” This group of five women says that sharing equates to saving. It’s a group of women all around the same age. They share checking account balances, debt balances, salary information and financial goals. They hold each other accountable and are each other’s biggest cheerleaders in celebrating financial accomplishments. They share tips and knowledge to help each other save money!
To reinvent your money life you can get a bunch of your trusted friends together to share, solve and brainstorm solutions to financial concerns so that you can reach your financial potential. You can compare insurance plans, get tips on how to live well on a fixed income, find out where the best bargains are, brainstorm ways to bring more abundance into your life or how to leave your grand-daughter a legacy.
Invest In Yourself
You know yourself better than anyone else. Look inside and discover what your passion is. What energizes you? Discover what things you want to experience or accomplish and do them. This may mean you need to go back to school and get that law degree and find a way to finance it. This may mean for once in your life you put yourself on the front burner and everyone else on simmer. This means that the money in your life finances your needs and wants before other people’s needs and wants.
If you have other ideas you want to share please email me. I’d love to hear from you.
