MoneyWiseWomen

Creating Your 2011 Goals

 

I can’t believe it’s that time again -- time to determine my goals and create my 2011 Dream Board. I’ve spent the last few days reviewing and reflecting this year’s goals and accomplishments. I finally accomplished my 2009/2010 theme – Nurturing My Balanced Life. I spent a lot more time this year taking care of Marcia and spent more time with family and friends. I perfected saying “No” to too many commitments – both professional and personal.

The $20 Christmas Gift that Can Change a Life

I have a great Christmas idea for the home improvement enthusiast on your list—the DIY Project Calculator for Dummies, available for under $20.00 at The Home Depot.

I know what you’re thinking. “How does a calculator change a person’s life?”

The project calculator doesn’t. But it’s the tangible thing you put in the box, along with instructions for the real life-changing present—directions to the online retirement calculator at www.choosetosave.org/ballpark

How to Give Your Money a New Job

What's money’s main job in your life?

I’ve come up with four titles that sum up money job descriptions I’ve heard over the years. Here they are with their main tasks in life and their mottos:

Security Guard: to keep you safe, to protect and maintain. Motto: “Safety first; it’s all fun and games until someone loses their retirement savings.”

Personal Stylist: to make you look good, feel valuable/powerful/lovable. Motto: “Without me, you’d be nothing.”

Genie: to grant your wishes and fund your dreams. Motto: “Your wish is my command.”

Day Laborer: hired one day at a time with no guarantee of future work. Motto: “Here today, gone tomorrow.”

Consciously or not, you gave your money whatever role it’s playing out. You began interacting with it in specific ways, expecting certain things from it (or not), and creating a pattern that persists over time. Perhaps you entered into that contract long ago. The terms of that contract may be holding you and your money back.

Conscious Spending - Ho Ho Ho Let The Joy In

This time of year holds so many dualities for us. Tis the season to be filled with joy, yet so many feel stressed with all the things that "need" to be done to make the holiday season perfect.

What would it be like if we really felt joy during this time of year?

What would it take to let go of the nagging need to: spend so much time, energy and cash to fulfill both our conjured ideas of society norms which are often both our own and others expectations of what a perfect Holiday Season looked like? Instead, what if you spend some time in quiet and asked, what do I want to feel – both give and receive in my heart? What if you trusted the answer?

If you're reading this nodding your head in agreement , or possibly feeling angst or thinking – but I have to and who is she to tell me what to do, please keep reading. What if before swinging into action you answered some questions like:

Who are you really buying the gifts for? And am I spending within my means and do I feel joy in my actions (as well as will feel joy when the credit card bill comes in) or am I spending because I feel pressure to buy and I worried that I've spent too much am an dreading when that credit card comes due?

Create a Healthy Financial Life

I've been educating and empowering women to live financially healthy since I founded Money Wise Women eight years ago. We have only to examine a few statistics to understand why it’s important to get educated on financial issues and take action to get our finances in order:

• Women lose approximately 15 years from the workplace to take care of their children and parents resulting in fewer promotions, smaller paychecks and smaller pensions. It takes five years to make up for every year out of the workforce.
• According to one study an average caregiver loses $659,000 over a lifetime in reduced salary and benefits.
• Approximately 50% of first marriages end in divorce.
• Approximately 58% of marriages end with the husband’s death and the average age of widowhood is 56.
• According to the 2000 Census women are more than four times likely to be widowed than men.
• Women outlive men by an average of seven to ten years.
• 80% of widows living in poverty weren't poor before their husbands died

Dec 17 ~ Free Shipping Day

Money Wise Women who may be last minute shoppers, just wanted to remind you (or let you know about) Free Shipping Day on Dec 17th.  This is the 3rd annual event where numerous popular stores offer free shipping and guarantee arrival by Christmas eve.  Go to www.FreeShippingDay.com for details.  There are an estimated 1,000 stores to choose from.  Plan a head...;-) and then do all your out of town shopping in one easy 'mall' trip.

Abundant Blessings!

Suzanne Kincaid

Author, Financial Freedom On $1 A Day
www.investworks.net

Make a Commitment to Reach Your Career Goals

Too often, people establish career goals the same way they make New Year’s resolutions. The problem with resolutions is that they fade away, are forgotten, and are only a distant memory by February. To actualize your desire for a change, exchange your resolution for a COMMITMENT to action.

Why a commitment and not just a wish?

Achievement of a goal doesn’t happen overnight. Job seekers are confronted with many issues beyond their control—economic conditions, competition, HR, and internal politics for a start. These issues can be very daunting and discouraging. The fact is you can’t reach your goal until you choose to face these challenges head on, with a plan of attack. Making the COMMITMENT to do so is within your control. Your goal becomes more than a “wish”.

Take charge - stay committed!

Don’t rely on your employer, market conditions, or your family obligations to dictate what happens to you (or doesn’t). Make a decision about what you need to do, commit to it, then adjust as events occur. Commitment to your goal and acting on it is more likely to produce the results you want than sitting idly as you wait for things to change.

Make a commitment to reach your goals by first being committed to the process, no matter what. 

• Keep yourself in check for things you can control. Recognize that you can make a choice each and every time something comes up that presents itself as a challenge.
• Write out your goals. Make them specific and measurable.
• Proceed through your outline of specific actions that lead to your specific goals.

 

What kind of resolutions are you planning for the New Year that could more effectively be treated as a goal?

Sherri Edwards

Sherri@resourcemaximizer.com

www.resourcemaximizer.com

 

Eating Humble Pie: Please Keep the Lights On!

I have been working in financial education for over 10 years, but I must profess that I am not always on top of my own financial game. Take for example today when I found myself standing in a very long line at the Pacific Gas and Electricity Company (PGE) office, desperately trying to pay my electricity bill so that the lights would still be on by the time my kids returned from school. Panicked, embarrassed, humbled, and disappointed in myself were just some of the few emotions I experienced waiting in that line.

Long story short, life has been a bit hectic lately and somehow, that darn bill got misplaced in a pile that I just found this afternoon while trying to get organized! I had tons of excuses that I was prepared to give to the person working behind the PG&E customer service desk as to why I was late on my payment. But, I quickly surrendered to a money lesson that I already know so well intellectually.

This is what I say when I speak in front of audiences, “Money does not know your age, income, education, background, or upbringing. It only knows if you pay the bill on time or not.” And so there I was, standing patiently in line with everyone else who all probably had very good reasons why they were late on their payments, too!

Fortunately, I did finally pay my bill before the PG&E office closed and tonight, my kids and I basked and reveled in the warm and beautiful lights that lit up our home. Let’s just say, I will never take Thomas Edison and his invention for granted ever again.

So, here’s me eating humble pie and admitting that even someone who works in financial education and SHOULD know better, didn’t. This was a wake-up call to me to slow down, take a breath, and be more careful about how I treat all my mail. Secondly, I pay all my other bills online but somehow was still sending in a check to PG&E every month. That is now changed. I filled out the paperwork for direct payment from my bank account to PG&E so that this hopefully, never happens again.

This is definitely not one of my proudest moments. But, perhaps this humble pie is exactly what the doctor ordered for me to fully understand and appreciate that you can’t rush too quickly or carelessly in life or you will inevitably make a mistake. Now, if I could only get into yoga and meditation, I would definitely be on my way to a more centered and calm existence. But, for now, I will just be happy there is heat in the house and I can happily type this blog on my computer!