MoneyWiseWomen

Welcome to Money Wise Women Blog

I created the Money Wise Women Blog to educate and empower women to live financially healthy. We are now partnering with Forbes.com to reach more women. Money Wise Women also offers free monthly teleseminars with professional experts on a variety of topics. Learn more and listen to the teleseminars online at www.moneywisewomengetsmart.com . Attend a Money Wise Women Conferences in Washington state. The next conference is in Tacoma, WA at Universtiy of Puget Sound on Saturday, September 15. The first 50 registrations are being offered at half-price ($19.50) thanks to our amazing fundraiser (Girl's Day Out). Register Online

Marcia Brixey will be speaking at the Body and Sol Expo in Tucson, AZ on May 4 and 5 and the Nevada Women's Money Conference in Las Vegas on June 2 and Reno on June 9. 

If you're ready to live financially healthy, you must take action. Money Wise Women offers you a variety of methods to help you get educated and empowered.

Feedback from Money Wise Women participants: 

• Money Wise Women is one of the most valuable resources I have found for educating women about the fundamentals and psychology of finances.Small steps can be significant and have an impact. 
• I thought I was attending a workshop with great financial information. This was so much more -- you should rename it -- Wise Women's Network.
• It opened my eyes to know that I can get my finances in order and be confident that I can reach my goals. Be realistic.
• The conference taught me many ways to save, empower myself and most of all look deep within myself.
• I feel empowered to create positive change in my life and now realize I cannot afford to wait any longer.
• I had not made financial awareness a priority. I had no idea why I should make it a priority. Now I know. And, I feel I have been give enough information to continue my education and manage my finances.

Why Throwing Spaghetti at the Wall Doesn't Work

The internet is seductive. It is so much easier to believe it holds the answers to life’s mysteries, than to imagine what it would be like without it. Granted, it really does hold a HUGE amount of information, but it still cannot replace our feelings, values or perceptions of what we hold dear. You might be thinking: what in the world does this have to do with business? And I would have to say: almost everything.

Creating Gloriously Boring Savings (and a Money Ninja trick to pull it off)

We’ve all been told to save money. But for what? For that proverbial rainy day? (It always rains where I live, by the way. Seattle.) Can we ever touch our savings? When? I find that many people have a hard time saving because they are not sure what they are saving for, and then they feel really bad if they ever touch their savings.

So let me demystify something for you. There are three TYPES of savings, with different purposes, and we need all three. In this article, I will describe the first type—it’s called “Periodic savings” and it will alleviate your stress faster than you can say “periodic savings.” (And since you’re curious, the second kind of savings is your safety net and the third kind is your long term investments.)

Where Should I Go To Get My Taxes Done?

This is a question I get asked a lot by friends, clients and other entrepreneurs. I have an easy answer for my clients: Mike. I’ve known Mike since my Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) days. He’s honest, dependable, smart and fair-priced. If a client were to get audited three years from now, I know he’s still going to be in business. He’s going to stand by his work.

When a new client asks me, with a tilt to her head, “Is he…creative?,” I say “On a scale of 1 to 10, Mike is a 5.” What I mean by that is that he’s a middle of the road guy. He’s going to get you the tax deductions you deserve but he’s not going to stretch any rules too far, make anything up or do any funny math. And I believe that’s just the kind of tax preparer you want.

Practice “Do no harm spending”- of boots and vacations

Let me start with a deep thought: You are the most important person in the world. There is no one more important than you. And you have to take care of yourself. No one will attend to this sacred duty as well as you. And are you taking care of the woman you’ll be in 30 years? If you are not taking care of her, who is?

So, when you are out shopping, I want you to practice “Do No Harm Spending”. Can you say to yourself, “I was not financially harmed in this shopping expedition”? Because really, as in all money matters, this is about self-care. Will your spending cause harmful debt? Will your spending leave you unable to take care of needs such as dental work or retirement funding?

The Secret of 1,000,000 Followers: Karen Hutton's Story

I would be thrilled for any client to reach 1,000,000 followers, but it has been exceptionally thrilling watching photographer Karen Hutton reach the 1,000,000 follower milestone on Google+. While it is a great accomplishment, that’s not what has made it thrilling. The thrill has been that she reached the 1,000,000 mark without seemingly trying. It’s not your typical story, but not much about Karen is typical.

What does it take to reach 1,000,000 followers?

Most of the entrepreneurs I know believe that it takes the right investment, the right guru, the right system that will firmly place them on the path to entrepreneurial success. Most have invested tens of thousands of dollars into marketing, consultants and coaches. They’ve spent hundreds of hours of time implementing strategies, launching ideas and working, working, working very hard. Karen, much like her photography, has taken a different approach.

Does Your Brand Match the Promise?

Many people seem to believe networking is only about visibility, i.e., the more people that know of you, the more successful you are. Visibility to a targeted audience may come through a dressed up LinkedIn profile, personal website, FaceBook page, resume or through conversation (blog, group post or in person), but it doesn’t automatically result in “relationship”. Nor does visibility necessarily lead to an accurate representation of a promise or the development of trust.

Effective referrals tend to be based on trust and the existence of a relationship that is deeper than a superficial social networking connection. A referral is typically most useful when the referring party can speak first hand to the skills or behavior of the referred party. The referring person needs to trust that the referred person can provide what has been promised. Additionally, there is a level of trust assumed by the 3rd party that the referring person will represent the referred person with accuracy. To develop trust of this nature, there must be evidence of consistent, repetitive behavior that is witnessed over time.

Tell Your Family You Love Them -- Write Your Will

USA Today recently had a front page story – Two exes, a spouse, kids, stepkids – Now try drafting a will. In today’s society there are more and more blended families, which makes having a will even more important. But your family dynamics really don’t matter  having a will should be a priority. According to attorney Les Kotzer “Everybody need to plan because we’re all going to die. It’s not if, but when.”

Approximately 70% of Americans don’t have a will. A will is a fairly simple document to create so why do so many people avoid it? Just a few reasons might include: I don’t have anything to leave to my heirs; I’ve got plenty of time to write my will; bad things don’t happen to good people; I can’t afford it, etc.

Is Your Teen Experiencing School Fatigue?

There was a time when fatigue and burnout were problems reserved for high-powered executives, doctors, and other professionals who worked more than they slept. Today, however, the race to get the best grades and participation in the right extracurricular activities bring burnout problems into teenage classrooms. Today's kids are all trying to outdo one another. Parents who want the best future for their children are unintentionally pushing them harder than ever before, which had led to rising numbers of teenagers experiencing the symptoms of school fatigue.

Should Adults Have an Allowance?

Many families teach children about money management and responsibility by offering them an allowance but what about adults, should they have one too?

An allowance (for those of privilege reading) is not an imaginary thing but rather a pre-set small sum of money a child receives regularly to spend on new toys, clothes, books or whatever. It could be a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly payment depending on how the parents set it up. Think of it as a trust fund, without the fund or all those extra zeros.

Allowances teach children to save and plan for purchases and form the foundation of a valuable life skill, one that many adults really need.

Average America vs the One Percent

If the Occupy movement does nothing else, it has at least introduced a new set of terms into the American vocabulary to talk about the distribution of wealth in America. Until recently, most average people had no idea how wealth was distributed in the country; most people had a vague idea of a wealthy minority, but they rarely grasped the full extent of income disparity between classes. Now, most people are aware of the notion of the 1 percent, although they still may not know exactly what it means or how that unequal distribution of wealth applies to the rest of the country.