Ladies, Make Sure You Have Enough To Take Care Of Yourself!

Allstate was running an ad awhile back that reminds us of some important facts:

The average woman spends 11 years out of the workforce taking care of family, costing her an average of $659,139 in earnings.

Wow!  Considering that women live longer and make less money anyhow, this is quite scary!

How do they suggest remedying this problem?  The following three suggestions are made:

1)  Make every earning year count in the form of increased participation in 401(k) plans.

2)  Promote Spousal IRAs.

3) Educate: Offer financial seminars for employees and spouses.

Please contact Dollars & Sense Education to bring our seminars to your company or organization!

Dollars & Sense Education – Raising Your Financial IQ!
http://www.daseducation.com
nicole@daseducation.com
215-499-3834

Why Having Nothing To Wear Is Making You Broke

Don’t get me wrong, I love to shop, buy a new outfit or two, but I have never been the type of woman who stands in front of my closet saying…I have nothing to wear.  Maybe it is my oversized sense of self or just my decisive nature, but it is just something I don’t do.  Many of my friends agonize over this decision daily, ultimately resulting in the purchase of more (and more and more and more) stuff.

The thing about stuff is, you will NEVER have enough, there never comes a point where you will say, yep, that’s it.  Anyone remember Amelda Marcos, the wife of a Philipino dictator in the 80s?  She had 3,500 paris of shoes.  Nuff said.

If you are trying to get ahead financially, this infinite money suck, called your closet, is not an asset to your financial health.  My suggestion is, set a monthly clothing number.  You will probably spend it the first week of the month, I always do!  And the number will vary wildly from person to person based on your income and other monthly outlays but setting up monthly limits will tame your inner Imelda and help release your inner Warren Buffett:)

Please contact Dollars & Sense Education to bring our seminars to your company or organization!

Dollars & Sense Education – Raising Your Financial IQ!
http://www.daseducation.com
nicole@daseducation.com
215-499-3834

Interview By Nina Smith at BlogHer

Nina Smith published a 10 Money Questions Interview with me on Friday at www.blogher.org.  Enjoy!

Please contact Dollars & Sense Education to bring our seminars to your company or organization!

Dollars & Sense Education – Raising Your Financial IQ!
http://www.daseducation.com
nicole@daseducation.com
215-499-3834

Landing a Loan for Women Owned Businesses

A recent Entreprenuer magazine talks about women owned businesses and landing loans.  Dana Spain-Smith, a Philadelphia businesswoman, made some excellent suggestions.  Spain-Smith recently took an interesting approach when seeking a 3.5 million dollar loan.  She bid 3 banks against each other.  You must remember, banks are in competition for your business.  Everything is negotiable.  She ended up with a line of credit against accounts receivable and a loan against personal property.  She landed a lower than average rate with no prepayment penalty and no required deposit balance.

There is no fundamental difference between what works for women and men but sometimes out demeanor and sociological norms can create differences.  Women be aggressive and fight for the best terms.

Please contact Dollars & Sense Education to bring our seminars to your company or organization!

Dollars & Sense Education – Raising Your Financial IQ!
http://www.daseducation.com
nicole@daseducation.com
215-499-3834

My Favorite Female Personal Finance Blogs/Bloggers

One of my goals as a personal finance blogger is to increase the general knowledge level and interest that women have about finance.  Many women take on the budgeting role in the household while the man takes on the big investing decisions.  This is a concept that is somewhat foreign to me, as are many gender roles, being that I wasn’t raised in a house with a man.  There were no men to make the decisions. 

My interest in money and finance is innate.  I have ALWAYS been interested in it.  What I struggle with is how to connect with other women because I know I am not the norm. 

One way I start is to take a look at the women bloggers that connect with me.  There are not too many that I connect with unfortunately but these three I really like ALOT.  Light on the coupon cutting advice and recycling your child’s lunchbags and heavier on the nitty gritty like taxes, investment strategies, etc. 

My faves:

Kay Bell at Don’t Mess With Taxes –  THE spot for all things taxes.  This woman knows her sheeeeeeeeeettt.

Nina Smith at Queercents – It’s funny, this site is targeted toward the LGBT community and I’m straight and read it religously.  Nina is insightful and light on fluff

Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials – Not a heavy site but …. a 30 something single mom who is insightful and I think I would be friends with if I knew her in “real life”.

Please contact Dollars & Sense Education to bring our seminars to your company or organization!

 

Dollars & Sense Education – Raising Your Financial IQ!
www.daseducation.com
nicole@daseducation.com
215-499-3834