Smart Women, Smart Money

I went to a conference yesterday called Smart Women, Smart Money. There were some good ideas shared and it was just nice to have a get-away day and learn!

Karen Sheridan, a financial planner and author of The Money Mystique was one of the keynote speakers. Besides being informative, she was very entertaining. The 3 things she said that really left an impression with me are:
1. Never, Never, NEVER put anything on a credit card that you can't pay off from your savings account in the same month.
2. Clearly define in your mind what you want. The clearer you are about that, the more likely it is to happen. (She gave an amazing story about this in her life!)
3. Vision without Action is Hallucination! (I had never heard that quote before, but it is so true!)

The other speaker I really enjoyed was Barbara Stanny, author of Prince Charming Isn't Coming. This is another book about women understanding money, and really, taking control of your financial destiny.

She has an colorful life story--she came from wealth. Her father is the "R" in H&R Block. But, she had a husband with a gambling problem that left her with nothing and daddy wasn't bailing her out of her financial woes.

She had to get smart about money, and she did. Four money success keys she pointed out, that I truly, deeply agree with are:
1. SPEND LESS
2. SAVE MORE
3. INVEST
4. GIVE GENEROUSLY

She also had a journalism job, and an assignment to interview 6-figure income women, which is the title of a second book. The funny thing is, she said, that some of these women who make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year aren't very good at managing their money. I guess it takes both the ability to earn it and the ability to save and manage it.

The interesting thing about these 2 women's stories is that the both had periods of major "life crisis" that forced them to get educated about their finances and money.

The lesson to me is get educated about money before you are in survival/crisis mode. Respecting money and understanding it can give you power and peace.

I'm excited to read these women's books and learn more! -Teresa

Figuring It All Out

I'm almost ready to launch my website. I've still got a few form and template issues--but I'm close!

I do want to add a blog to my site, so I'm just figuring out how to do this. I guess the answer is to just try. Just do it, even if you don't have it figured out yet.

So here goes.