Having grown up on a remote farm in Arkansas with ten siblings during the Great Depression, she was a primary influence in me creating Financial Woman; she was a woman ahead of her time, being financially savvy and forever the queen of positive cash flow at a time when finance for women was completely unheard of. How was that so?

As a teen, Mama borrowed $50 from her uncle to take the train to Memphis and get a job instead of doing what was expected; marrying a local farmer. Years later, she married my dad, and later created this rich lifestyle for us that she could have only done by having her tough past. Here are a few special nuggets of gold that I learned from my mother.

1. Be resourceful. When you want something, instead of automatically thinking “I can’t have this because”, ask “how can I make this happen?” My mother’s resourcefulness included assembling and “antiquing” bedroom furniture, putting together an amazing stereo from a kit and designing and sewing beautiful and stylish outfits.
2. Always keep a marketable skill. Even though my mother stayed home with my brother and me, she created a little sewing business making dozens of stunning costumes for the students at the dancing school I attended. Additionally, she kept her up her top notch typing skills that could have always secured employment if needed for maintaining positive cash flow no matter what.
3. Choose bravely. My mother was the first girl to graduate from high school in her family. She walked alone along a dark road in the wee morning hours to catch the train so she could attend that high school miles away. She made a choice and did what it took.
4. Dare to be different. She did what she needed to do to have the life that she wanted, not just what was expected of a woman in the 1940s.
5. Define what you want and live from that place. She knew what she wanted, and, contentedly, she created consistent positive cash flow so my parents could put aside money to grow.
6. Be happy. My dad teased that my mother awoke singing, and she did.
7. Give to others. In her eighties (I’m not allowed to reveal her exact age), she still volunteers, and always has.
8. Live with style. Mama always had beautiful flower beds that she planted and tended; we designed and created outfits from only an idea; she served Oysters Rockefeller and artichokes long before they were common. These were just a few of the ways she made every day special but uniquely stylish.
9. Honor your blessings. Because of her challenging childhood, Mama “gets it”. Every day was and is still filled with things to appreciate.

Not only did Mama grow up in a time when finance for women was discouraged, women still actually left the room when money was discussed! Yet, she planned and spent wisely and with gratitude for what she had.

And speaking of gratitude, I realize that not everyone was blessed with a mother that modeled these values. Thank you for allowing me to share mine with you at Financial Woman this week.

The post Finance for Women-Are You Kidding? appeared first on Financial Woman.

Part of living rich is thinking creatively and beautifully within your long term money plans.  As a giver and a receiver of Mother’s Day gifts, I’ve learned that something that is unique and from the heart has much more value than something that is expensive.

Here are 9 awesome ideas for Mother’s day gifts that are sure to be cherished!

The post Totally Fabulous Mother’s Day Gifts appeared first on Financial Woman.

For Saturday’s Savvy Rich Art, I created this Financial Freedom Checklist.

What is Financial Freedom for you?

Define it….then create it!

The post The Financial Woman Financial Freedom Checklist appeared first on Financial Woman.

It’s the psychology of money that sabotages us. I believe it’s because money affects our entire existence….where we live, how we live, what we do, what we wear, and even what we eat.

Money provides our primary needs for food and shelter, so the thought of being without it hits us at our very core. How can we overcome this?

Think of money as a tool. Money is made of paper and metal. Use those tools to create the life you want.  When it’s a tool, you make better money decisions.

Ditch the psychology of money. And use money to create the life you want.

You may also enjoy my post Is Your Money Getting Some Good Love?

The post Ditch the The Psychology of Money appeared first on Financial Woman.

It’s funny that money is the only area where we let someone totally manage one of the very most important things in our lives but we don’t check to see if they’re doing a good job. And it sort of makes sense and here’s why…

I get it; we’re all busy. And when the finances are going well and the income is rolling in, it feels most important to focus on keeping those income streams. This makes a lot of sense.

But here’s the big reason I think we tend to neglect our retirement accounts and other traditional investments. When we pay someone for a job, that’s the checkpoint for measuring performance, right? At least this is true for me. Evaluating job performance happens when I write the check for the pool guy, or pay the graphic designer online. The money is going out, so my mind goes automatically to “let me check and see if this is money well spent”.

This is a natural time for making a decision for giving this person money and continuing to pay that person for the service they’re providing.

But what happens with our investment accounts? We don’t write the check or make the online payment in most cases because the payment for money management services is conveniently deducted from our retirement accounts or other traditional investment accounts…whether or not they are growing.

Here’s a shocking fact that I read recently in a revealing Barron’s article by Beverly Goodman entitled Why Laggards Stay Too Long. Based on a study, 401K mutual-fund administrators are more likely to put their own funds in the retirement plans they manage.

Here’s the really bad part; they tend to not remove poorly performing funds, and those funds underperform by an average of 3.6% a year. On a $200,000 retirement account, that’s $7,200 every year!

What can you do to protect and grow your money that’s in retirement accounts or other investment funds?

1. Set regular quarterly dates to evaluate how all of your accounts are performing.
2. Once a year, measure the performance of any investment that you have by comparing your fund’s performance to the performance of a related index, called a benchmark. (This is simple; it takes five minutes tops; it’s something I show my clients how to do.)
3. Own that no one cares about your money as much as you do, and be a leader in your wealth accumulation.
4. Know where your money is by knowing the very basics of investing. It’s just not rocket science. Don’t be intimidated by the lingo and the enormity of the topic. You only need to know a tiny fraction to be a leader in your wealth.
5. Live from your goals. Know what you want money for. This will help you move beyond the sometimes mundane world of financial mumbo jumbo to the excitement and reward of creating the life you want. Isn’t that what money goals are all about?

If you have money in a retirement account or any investment account, you’ll definitely want to act on these few steps that will take about an hour a year. If you’re married and your spouse has a retirement account, all the more important that you take these steps to become a financially empowered woman.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also like my Money Goals article@ http://www.financialwoman.com/?p=6942

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Being raised an independent, money conscious, Southern woman, I definitely have DIY in my blood in a big way. I think a lot of women do. I’ve prided myself on being a DIYer, since it is the essence of independence, or so I thought.

What I learned is this: When it comes to home decorating projects during play time, DIY can be great fun! When it comes to overall life and time management, DIY is not always the best strategy.

The older I get, the more aware I am of the ever increasing speed with which time seems to pass, making it more feel valuable than ever.

And the more life and business opportunities present themselves, the more important it is to use my time wisely so that I can be the change agent I want to be through the work I do as a business and money coach.

For me, the big aha was that I really can “create” more time to do what I want to do if I give up some things of lesser value. Time is like a jigsaw puzzle; it’s just about trading pieces of it.

I learned that achieving both a balanced life and financial freedom are easier when we let go of the DIY syndrome. Everyone says that you can’t trade time for money, but you can. And here’s my simple formula for this life enhancing solution.

Time – Delegated Tasks = More Available Time

I know that right now your mind is going to the cost of hiring someone to delegate to, and wisely so; here’s the money formula:

Your hourly rate – Outsource rate = Additional Income

Realizing that many higher level tasks don’t equate to or earn an exact hourly rate, we can still assign a value to them to demonstrate this idea. Let’s say that we assign a value to your time or a higher level task of $100 an hour.

There are many people who would be happy to run errands for $10 an hour. This is a great job for a student who may otherwise be earning minimum wage.  By outsourcing errand time, you’ve cleared a smooth $90 an hour with your time or higher level productivity.

You can apply this formula toward any higher level or income producing activity. While you may not be meeting with a client or directly earning money during otherwise errand time, you may be doing other higher level activities that are required to grow your money or business more optimally…or even make your life better. Isn’t that what we all want?

This principle applies to running a business, as well as spending time as the leader and overseer of your money and your LIFE. Everyone’s higher level activities vary, but some examples are:

Tracking cash flow

Life or career planning

Evaluating your personal or business finances

Developing life or business strategies to accomplish your goals

Business or life analysis

Meeting with your financial advisor

Reviewing your net worth

Setting or reviewing life and financial goals

Learning information that will help reach your financial goals

I like to tell my clients to think of the highest level of work that they do, (and this is probably one they really enjoy) and then plan time to do more of it. Sometimes this means that we let go of, or trade, other, lower level activities that we “sort of” like to do, like grocery shopping, for example.

It all really comes down to a choice of deciding which one you want more…to do that specific lower level task, or to reach your life goals. While a few trips to the grocery store may seem very insignificant, for example, goals are reached by little actions taken consistently over a period of time. And reaching life goals feels pretty darn fantastic!

As a money coach, I like to ask my clients this: What are the higher level activities that you’re not finding time for that could change your life? Write a book? Create a new income stream doing work you love? Develop a new skill? Track your money?

Are there any activities that you can “swap” in order to create the life you really want?

I’d love for you to share the activities that you’d like to swap below. What will you stop doing and what will this allow time for?

If you liked this article, you may also enjoymy other articles: http://www.financialwoman.com/whose-in-charge-of-the-money-in-your-home

and http://www.financialwoman.com/creative-ways-to-increase-productivity-and-joy

The post The Money Coach Formula to Trade Time for Money appeared first on Financial Woman.

In the maddening busyness of life today, with constant cell phones buzzing, text messages and endless “to do’s”, how can you live from a beautiful place of calm and serenity?  And in addition to the time factor, how can you feel okay about spending money on self-care when you’re focused on longer term financial goals?

A few years ago I participated in an in-depth yearlong entrepreneur training program. A small group of women from all over the country met, along with our mentor, to strategize and brainstorm projects and plan their implementation.

Half way through the program, I realized that organization and time management were the most common saboteurs that I encountered in my life goals, not strategy, information or even skills. Suddenly, this epiphany made anything that I wanted to achieve feel easily doable; manage my time and my stuff, and I manage my life-sounds simple enough!

But I experienced that powerful paradox once again; simple isn’t always easy. From my own life, and in working with numerous female clients in helping them create and implement smarter income strategies to achieve their financial and life goals, I’ve seen that this is one of the most common demises of many brilliantly laid plans.

It’s not the expertise, the passion or the purpose; it’s just the lack of organization of time and stuff. (This is why I love getting and giving coaching; we can get loads of information from a book, but it’s the implementation that brings results, which is the life we want.)

This paradigm applies to everything, whether it’s a business strategy or a lifestyle shift that projects peace and calm. (At Financial Woman, the two actually go hand in hand.) Either includes elements that need to be scheduled and planned in order to actually happen.

Have you ever noticed that, for some reason, many women eagerly schedule work meetings or endless activities for their children, but when it comes to scheduling time or money for events that promote balance and beauty, such as self-care or rest and reflection, it can seem indulgent to actually feel entitled to include these things on an already overcommitted calendar or spending plan.

But self-care luxuries don’t need to be about spending a lot of money. Here are some suggestions to ease into a life of beauty and calm that will lift you right out of havoc and into a better life, with a few smart money tips that cost little or nothing.

1. Allow restoring activities to be a priority in your life.
2. Set aside half an hour or so every Friday or Saturday to plan your life for the upcoming weeks. This will invite clarity and peace. Dare to include the actions of self-care in your schedule to invite balance and beauty.
3. Actually schedule time for beauty and relaxation activities such as manicures, wardrobe pruning, bubble baths and long walks in the woods. What doesn’t get scheduled usually doesn’t happen.
4. If your current spending plan doesn’t allow for a day at the spa right now, search online for home recipes for facials and body scrubs that you can use at home on a designated “spa” evening. Exchange wardrobe consulting with a girlfriend. And here’s a great money tip: Get a facial at a beauty school. Don’t make excuses, rather make a way instead.  Be creative and proactive about incorporating beauty and restoration into your life.
5. Your wardrobe is a reflection of your style and your image, thus make time to give your clothes some TLC. They present you to the world; feel great about the way that you portray yourself so you can radiate beautiful confidence. Schedule a date with your closet to make sure it’s orderly and that your clothes fit and are current to ensure a pristine wardrobe.
6. When was the last time that you threw out old eye shadows, makeup and mascaras? Do you open the drawer containing your current beauty items and see chaos, or do you see a well-organized drawer inviting you to play and look your best?

Be beauty; be balance; be order. Let these traits reflect your lifestyle and the essence of you. In so doing, you’ll also receive the beautiful gift of lifting others. The amazing benefits will spill over into every area of your life, including your ability to think and earn smarter.

If you liked this article, I think you’ll like:

http://www.financialwoman.com/creative-ways-to-increase-productivity-and-joy

http://www.financialwoman.com/can-style-and-positive-cash-flow-go-hand-in-hand

How do you create balance and beauty in your life while being time and money savvy? I’d love to hear in the comments below.  

The post Time and Money Tips for a Peaceful Life appeared first on Financial Woman.

Do you know how to invest that money?

While many people think that finding the perfect traditional investment fund in stocks or bonds is the answer to growing wealth, there are many other factors to consider.

Choosing a traditional fund with a market beating return and low fees for an investment in the stock or bond market is only one part of your money pie.

Here are a few other factors beyond simply knowing how to invest.

1. Do you have debt with a higher interest rate than what you’ll likely earn on that money? If so, would it make sense to pay off some debt instead? Or would it be better to use that money to create wealth?
2. Consider what type of investment offers value now. If you’re looking to invest in the stock market, for example, see what the market’s done over the past few years. While exact tops and bottoms are impossible to predict, simple tools can guide you to recognize an exceedingly overpriced or under priced market, signaling that you may want to buy, ease into a market over time, or wait before investing in it.
3. Many people think that bonds are safe investments, but the value of bonds go down when interest rates rise, especially longer term bonds. The question to ask is where we are in the interest rate cycle, high or low. While bond interest rates vary depending on the type and time frame of the bonds, this will also be a guide for how much interest you’ll earn from the bonds.
4. You may want to consider alternative investments, which can include real estate and even your own business. Could some of that money be used to fund a new income stream using your skills while also lowering your tax bill?
5. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Consider any new investment as a piece of your money pie, and make sure all of the parts complement each other when viewed as a whole.
6. Know what you could possibly and probably lose from any investment. Then evaluate, should that worst case scenario happen, if and how long it would take to recover.
7. Look at your money reasons, or those things that matter most to you in life. How can you use this money to support those bigger picture near or long term life goals?

 Remember, money is just a tool to create and get what you want in your life. As the leader of your wealth, make smart and strategic decisions about it from an unemotional place. This will help you know how to invest any “money tools” that come your way to create the rich life you want.

The post How to Invest $10,000 appeared first on Financial Woman.

The article, written by Richard C. Morals and based on an interview with Mark Jordahl, president of U.S. Bank Wealth Management, and overseer of $37 billion in “rich-folk assets”, wisely reasons that by watching the behaviors of the very wealthy, new trends can be spotted. Morals explains that many once new ideas, ranging from hedge funds to IRA’s, became mainstream after getting their footing among the wealthiest.

Investing Lesson 1: The noted trend from the article is that the wealthy investors are borrowing money and investing it to capture opportunities in areas such as real estate and other markets. Investing Lesson 2: They are seeing the slim possibility that a 10-year Treasury bill will offer a positive real return over the next ten years. Remember, a real return is the return after boring but money evil inflation; it’s expected to rise during the next ten years.

The borrowing interest rate mentioned in the article was 3%.

I know that’s really low, but remember, the wealthier you are, the less it cost to borrow, because there’s less risk for the lender. Banks lend easily and cheaper to people who don’t need loans. This leads to….Investing Lesson Three: This is the same principle supporting lower borrowing costs for higher quality credit scores, which we can all aspire to take advantage of through good money habits.

Bear with me, because this is an important point for all financially savvy women….

Investing Lesson 4: While the negative is that debt increases the cost of anything over time, it can be also used as a tool, especially when rates are low. The main point I want to make is how the wealthy investors are being strategic with debt. Investing Lesson 5: They are taking advantage of low interest rates by locking them in, probably for as long as they can. Investing Lesson 6: Then they’re using that money to make more money. That’s called leverage.

Here’s how leverage works. You borrow at 3%, and invest in a way that earns a return of 10%; or borrow at 5% and earn 8%, or borrow at 4% and earn 12%. You can play with the numbers all day long; it’s the same principle. Leverage also works for time, by the way, and I teach this with my private business strategy clients for promoting smart delegation.

Am I suggesting that you go borrow a bunch of money and throw it into the stock market? Of course not! For one thing, I don’t give financial advice. What I do suggest is consider being strategic with your money and the tool of debt in relation to long term interest rates.

Occasionally  a woman will tell me with such pride that she’s recently completely paid off her mortgage to become “debt free”, often following a  course teaching that all debt is voodoo. Nothing is good or bad all of the time, and I have to wonder about programs that teach that it is.

Remember, interest rates were around 20% in the early 1980’s. Now that would have been an excellent time to pay off a mortgage!

Long term trends in the economy and financial markets drive the opportunities to create more wealth, and blindly ignoring these cycles can destroy the best laid investing plans.

With interest rates near an all- time low I would have to wonder if paying off a low interest mortgage is the best use of capital for someone seeking to create wealth. Not only this, but since the government encourages debt by allowing us to use mortgage interest to reduce our tax bill, this typically huge tax expense is usually lowered through home borrowing.

Look at the big picture. Be strategic. Think like the wealthiest to create wealth. Use their smart investing lessons, wherever you are on your money journey.

If you liked this article, you may enjoy: 6 Tips for Choosing the Right Investment Advice   and Lessons from my 1974 Volkswagon Bug

The post Investing Lessons from the Wealthiest Families appeared first on Financial Woman.

We all know that the cashmere coats are going on that last clearance rack as soon as we head into spring. You know, the fun rack with the multiple or red stickers. In the world of shopping, market pricing is tied to the seasons or trends.

In the world of investing, market prices are usually tied to trends in the economy.

Many investment courses don’t expand on market cycles due to the potential complexity of the topic, but I think that’s really holding back on one of the most basic financial principles that can have a potent and profitable effect for any investment plan.

Value is value, and money is money. So, don’t we want to get the most value for our money, whether we are using it for that cashmere coat or for an investment in the stock market, the real estate market or any other market for that matter? I know that I want good value for my money.

What I’ve learned is that when I’ve bought at good value, it has been a profitable investment. And when I have bought without considering value, it’s usually been to the detriment of my investment plan.

While my rustic drawing may look like the Colorado Mountains that I skied last month, it’s actually a simple depiction of the stock market. A picture paints a thousand words, and so does a stock chart. How simple is this? Yet it’s an incredibly powerful little tool for any smart investor!

What’s it saying? The first mountain peak is the stock market in 2000. Then the market went down. The second mountain peak is the market in 2007. Then the market went down. The peak from the third move up is the market in March of 2013.

When the market reaches the previous peaks it has pretty predictable behavior. It will often hang out in the area at the top of the mountain for a while deciding whether it’s going to literally break through the last peak, or head back down. Then it will go one direction or another.

What does a savvy rich financial woman do with this knowledge?

• Know where the long term cycle is when you buy an investment.
• Be more cautious at the top of the mountains.
• Ask if taking some investing profits at the top of a mountain makes sense.
• Work with financial advisers who factor this crucial element into managing your money.

This same principle applies to all financial markets, including real estate; markets tend to move in trends. Sure, hindsight is always 20-20, but you can see how helpful a visual of previous market moves can provide valuable insight that can easily help guide investors. 

When buying that cashmere coat in September, you know you’re paying full price, and the prices are almost certain to fall. While they probably won’t go up, prices just might go up just ahead of Christmas. 

But, we all know that the real value will be in March when coats are on clearance. The trend for coats, in other words, is not perfectly predictable, but a very useful guide for a girl with limited funds who wants to buy a cashmere coat with less money. Financial markets have probable trends as well.

This isn’t something that an investor needs to check every day.

It’s not day trading cycles that we’re looking at here. As you can see, these are multiple year long term investment cycles that can have a huge impact on your investment plan simply by being aware of them when you invest your sweet money.

The post If Your Investment Plan Includes Stocks You’ve Got To See This appeared first on Financial Woman.