It Makes Good Cents

If you already understand that you should be your own best financial advisor and manager, good for you! Some women still operate under the misguided notion that a prince has or will come to take care of her for as long as she might live.

Your partner may have the best intentions in the world, but stuff happens, and money is always a touchy subject. (Most women would rather talk about their underarm odor than their finances.) The good news is more and more women are functioning independently and are eager to take care of themselves. Women are now proactive about their own financial situations. Single mothers raising children, and women who are unmarried have an even greater need to be financially responsible on their own terms.

There is, in fact, many ways a woman who desires to gain control and confidence of her money can put herself into that process. And, amazingly, it can be great fun, not to mention a means to feeling pretty darned comfortable with where your financial life is taking you. We will explore some of these ways in the weeks and months to come, so get your checkbook, turn on your computer, and jump in! We’ll learn the differences between mutual funds, stocks, bonds and the importance of financial “savvyness.”

The availability of information at an instant via the Internet has made financial management much easier for women. A few decades ago what to do with our money was held tightly to the chest by a group of “experts.” Nowadays if you know how to Google, you can easily find out which stocks, companies and trends can potentially make you money. We’ll explore opening a discount brokerage account from the comfort of your home. (You can print up an application online, send it in with a check, and then access your funds to buy and sell as soon as the account is activated. You don’t even have to spend gas money to go to an office to make this happen!)

Another source of information for women is an investment club, a pooling together of resources such as money and information among a group of other interested ladies. Every month the group makes decisions as a group as to which companies you want to buy into … you learn together, and you profit.

Controlling your own financial destiny provides the confidence and control you are meant to have over your own dollars.