I haven’t posted an article in a long time but I’ve been busy. I’ve been giving Personal Finance seminars and workshops (Barnard College, Athena Center for Leadership, Lark Theatre, Playwrights of NY) and have been working with female founded start ups. After so many of you asked about my next article, I decided it was time to connect again! If you are part of an organization that is looking for a Personal Finance speaker, contact me HERE!
After a recent workshop I gave this summer, I was blown away by some of the comments:
"Why hasn't anyone taught me this before?"
"I've never talked about my money like this?"
"Is it ok to discuss money matters with my friends?"
"It was so easy to talk about money during the workshop, what next?"
While my colleagues and I have been working with individuals for more than 15 years, I realized an advantage of a workshop is it provides community to your money and shows that you aren't alone in your money thoughts. It gets us to talk about our money and move forward with our goals!
But it's hard to talk about money! Especially true if you don’t work in finance, haven’t taken many (or any) finance classes and haven’t been raised with parents who taught money skills.
So Why Even Bother?
* Talking about money and taking control of your finances leads to higher self esteem and more confidence
* Taking control of your personal finances leads to increased professional success
* This means asking for raises, more money and higher fees in projects
How To Start Talking About Money
* Ask your friends if they are maxing out their IRAs or 401K
* Talk about no-load Index Mutual Funds
* Compare fun ways to save or spend smarter
* Ask a family member if they have a favorite personal finance book or blog (I like Your Money NY Times by Ron Lieber and Art of Money by Bari Tessler)
* Ask your spouse or partner where they would like to be in 5 years financially