Girls Just Wanna Have Funds » Money

7 Savvy Ways To Be A Financial Asset In Your Relationship

Ginger — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:39:18 +0000

When talking about women and money, we are often portrayed as financial risks. This is because of the perception that we we either shop too much or know little when it comes to utilizing money to create long term wealth and security. So today I’d like to discuss the issue of being a financial asset in your relationship. No partner wants a woman who shops too much and isn’t financially responsible with bad credit. You’re as much of a risk as the man with a bankruptcy and continued financial irresponsibility if those are your cards. So how do we become a financial asset?

[Edit] Some of you have already commented that you are surprised by the gender assumptions made by the article. It is based on this Bankrate.com article which I found pretty eye-opening in that they specifically indicate the differences in approach to money by men and women. I don’t want you to think that I am using this article to paint all women with one brush, just understand that not all of us are working towards financial freedom because we havent been taught how to do so as the article implies.

Men and women spend and save differently:

Women, trained to nurture and seek acceptance, view money as a means to create a lifestyle. Women spend on things that enhance day-to-day living. Theirs is a now-money orientation.

Men, trained to fix and provide, view money as a means to capture and accumulate value. Men don’t spend, they invest. Men don’t want something, they need it. Theirs is a future-money orientation.

Embrace The Frugal Lifestyle

Before you turn your nose up at the idea, this isn’t about being cheap. This is about getting the best price you can for whatever you buy, remember, if it isnt free then it isnt on sale. It is also about figuring out your needs vs. wants, do you need that pretty fuschia sweater at Bluefly? Your partner will be able to appreciate this quality because you won’t present as a spendthrift, but as a woman informed about her buying power and not at all dedicated to buying crap and coming home with nothing to show for it. Believe me, I know

Invest In your Career and Education

I don’t care what your life plans are. Some of us want to stay home and take care of our children and some of us want to run out and conquer the world, whatever you decide, invest in your education and/or something that you are able to do in the event that you have to earn a living on your own. A man is not a financial plan and prince charming doesn’t exist. Sh*t happens. Be smart and protect your self. Having an education even if you don’t pursue the corresponding career (English major becoming and English teacher), shows your partner that you are invested in yourself and that is the best investment that you could EVAH make.

If you’re a career woman, map out a 1-3-5-7-10 year plan and revise it yearly as it is a working document. You’ll be a better woman for it because now you’re bringing to the table a woman who is focused and intent on her success.

Keep Up To Date On The Latest Financial News

Read and be informed around current and ongoing financial issues. I’m not at all asking you to go out and subscribe to Barron’s but reading sites like Girls Just Wanna Have Funds (shameless plug), Consumerism Commentary, CNN Money, MSN Money MasterYourCard and others will give you both an insiders and main stream media view of what’s going on with your wallet. Be aware of current savings and loan interest rates, take an active interest in making the most of your money no matter where it is. A financially motivated woman is a woman who is in control of her destiny.

Engage Your Partner On Financial Issues

How much does your partner understand about the current bailout drama? Do you meet regularly to discuss house finances such as your household budget and current debt load? Make these conversations a regular part of relationship to ensure that you remain on the same page.

Maintain An Open Door Policy: Communication

Need I really say this ladies? Communication is key. Don’t haul off and buy that $400 dress without talking to your spouse if your rules dictate as such. Some people need to consult for a $7 purchase and others a $200 purchase, different strokes for different folks. Whatever yours may be, keep the lines of communication open.

I’m the shopaholic in my relationship but I make sure to tell the husband unit of any purchases over $300 that sits outside of our regular budgetary items.

Be Financially Responsible Around Debts And Money Habits

Cut that shat out! No partner wants a woman who is irresponsible around her debts and overall money habits. In his/her eyes you become more of a financial risk, especially if you have no idea on how or if you’ll pay it all back. Debt is slavery and we really don’t want to be enslaved to a perpetual debt now do we? Get a plan, read a book like The Automatic Millionaire, Young Fabulous and Broke, Smart Women Finish Rich or Total Money Makeover.

I’m not saying that you have to go into your relationship or marriage, debt free but the first step is a change in mindset and a plan to make it happen. A woman with a plan makes for a happy man. Cheesy, I know but true.

Be Charitable By Giving To Others

Give and ye shall receive. You can do through tithing, charitable work/donations and/or community service. Any service given to those who have less than you is an indication of the quality of your character. This tells your partner you are willing to part with your time and money in the service of others, can’t go wrong with that!

Question: Have I missed anything? How do you think a woman can be a financial asset in her relationship?

Group Writing Project: Personal Experiences with Loans

Ginger — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:00:19 +0000

photo credit: Derek Farr ( DetroitDerek )

This month’s group writing project is about our personal experiences with loans. I’d say that with over 100l in student loan debt I’m quite familiar with the subject.

My experiences with loans includes the following:

Student Loans

After a BA in Criminal Justice and 2 MAs in Forensic and Counseling Psychology I am facing over 100k in student loan debt set to begin repayment in January 2010. Am I concerned or worried? Not really. Our plan is to continue living off my husband’s salary while I use mine to sock knock down at least 75% of it within 3-5 years. Tough but it works and we won’t be facing paying this sizable debt for the next 30 years.

Auto Loan

I’ve only had one auto loan. My first car upon moving to the area after graduate school. I got a great interest rate but a longer term. My rate is around 5.99 percent and I still have less than $2k to go in paying it off. Since we are buying a second car this month, I am planning to throw this month’s blog revenue towards the payoff of the current car. I really hope to pay it off by December because I don’t want two car payments. We would sell the current car, but DH wants to keep it “just in case”.

photo credit: lumaxart

Mortgage

Our mortgage was obtained June of last year. We bought a 4BR 2.5BA house, 3000 sq ft with a finished 1000sq ft basement. Our interest rate is 5.375% which is pretty sweet. We were able to go through ACORN and get the mortgage one point below market. Our mortgage guy told us about being able to get our principal amount written down so we are looking into that as it would amount to around a $200 payment reduction per month. $500 would sweeten the pot. We’ve lost around $60k in value since moving in so that would be a welcomed plus for us since it seems that foreclosures and short sales are going on all over our area right now.

Credit Cards

Probably the bane of my existence but working on it. I recently started branching out in diversifying the types of credit I have because I’ve only had one credit card for the longest time. So this summer I applied and got a card through another company (sorry I dont give out specific personal finance info on the net) and it’s been pretty good. First experience with a cash back rewards card so Im looking towards that end of year check.

Question: What are your experiences with loans? Good ones? Bad ones?

The Smart Woman’s Guide for the Soon to be Divorced

Ginger — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:00:10 +0000

What do Juanita Jordan, Halle Berry and Sheila Johnson all have in common?

All three came out on top in their respective divorce proceedings. If you’ve been under a rock and aren’t familiar with the final decisions, Juanita Jordan was paid $168 million dollars when all was said and done. You read right, $168 million dollars. After Sheila Johnson’s divorce was finalized she walked away with $670M after taxes, which several published sources report she has successfully parlayed into a portfolio in excess of one billion dollars. Due to Halle Berry’s iron clad prenup, she avoided having to support Eric Benet in their divorce.

Are you in a situation where you’re soon to be divorced? I won’t play therapist in this post but if you’ve made up your mind but there are some things to consider. I hate to entertain this line of thought but the reality is that everyone won’t live happily ever after and we need to protect ourselves and our ASSets in the event divorce is a reality.

Straightening out your Finances

Gather all of your important financial papers and purchase a lock box if you haven’t already done so. Secure’ all important papers such as birth certificates, passports, retirement papers, bills, bank statements, tax returns and the like. You can also find more information about separating your finances here along with other solid divorce resource information.

Make sure that all major financial accounts, read savings accounts are in both of your names. Many women have been screwed by their partners due to not insisting that both their names be on all major savings accounts.

Start saving for the financial cost of the divorce. If you are able to remain in the situation and save money for the financial cost of the divorce then do so. As you will soon discover, divorces are expensive and will take its toll on you both financially and emotionally. Prepare for this by saving your money even more during this time. You will need to consider that you don’t have your spouse’s income anymore and will need to stand on your own financially and hire your own attorney which will be expensive.

If you’re a stay at home mom/wife then now is the time to consider getting back into your career or perhaps beginning your career. Again you will need to be able to stand on your feet financially independent of your husband and create/restart your identity financially, professionally and personally.

Iowa State University lists the following financial responsibilities

1. Gathering information
â€¢ Keeps legal bills down
â€¢ Helps you learn family finances
â€¢ Prepares you for financial decisions

2. Negotiating property division
â€¢ Calls for equitable distribution
â€¢ Requires determining needs
â€¢ Includes income tax consequences
â€¢ Involves legal issues
3. Managing debt
â€¢ Calls for prompt action
â€¢ Requires listing unpaid balances
â€¢ Affects your credit rating

Are there children involved?

If so then start to prepare them for the reality of a possible divorce. Maintain an open dialogue with them and be especially open to processing any feelings they may be feeling such as anxiety and depression. Indicators may lie in falling grades, changes in behavior at school and loss of motivation for activities they were once heavily involved in.

I know that as adults its easier to assume we know how children feel, but we don’t unless we pay close attention, please include your children’s feelings during this time in every decision you make. And please, for their sake and in order to maintain their respect moving forward, please don’t unload your ill feelings about your soon to be ex on them. They are children, let them have a choice in the matter. I won’t detail the many cases in which children are torn apart because of the selfishness of their parents during a divorce.

Take the high and responsible road. You know where it is, don’t let your emotions get the best of you.

Take Care of Yourself

It’s probably best to start seeing a therapist, if nothing else for the purpose of having someone to confide in and make sure that you’re remaining psychologically and emotionally healthy as divorce can and will take its toll on you. You can often reduce the cost of this by seeing someone on your health care network, EAP-Employee Assistance Program or through your local church. If the idea of talking to a counselor doesn’t suit you then find another confidant, someone you trust who will listen to you as you open your heart about the ongoing process of separating yourself from your partner. Please don’t underestimate the toll this process can have on your mind and body, take care of yourself during this time.

Sex? Money? What do you fight about more?

Ginger — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:00:53 +0000

CNN asked, so I’m asking, what do you fight about more?

photo credit: ganessas

Free money? What shall we do?

Ginger — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:00:00 +0000

I’ve gotten a few emails and chatted this up somewhat ad nauseum with friends about the money coming our way from Bush’s economic stimulus plan. *sigh* Let’s be real here folks. We are in a recession. However, remain optimistic and protect yourselves. If you get an extra check from Uncle Sam this year, here are 3 tips on what to do with it.

1. Save the money

Put it aside and SAVE IT. Please don’t spend it thinking that this somehow helps the overall situation going on with the economy. If you are in one of the industries projected to see lay offs then you might want to pad that emergency fund. I can’t stress this enough. Be smart. Don’t make plans to buy a new TV or get yourself into more debt, see this as an opportunity to save your money and secure yourself in the event that things get worse.

2. Pay down debt.

If your emergency fund is at its goal, then pay down debt. Don’t get into more debt, but pay it off.

3. Necessities
If you must purchase something, then make sure it is something that has long term value such as a needed kitchen appliance, auto repair etc etc.

My thoughts? This is just money that we give them during the year anyway, they are just giving us more of it back this time around. I fully believe that we will pull through, we just need to be patient and wise during this time.

Short and sweet. Hey, its a no brainer. Protect yourselves first.

What are your plans if you get an extra $800 or $1600?

Do You Need a Financial Advisor?

Ginger — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:00:15 +0000

It’s the new year and hopefully you’re giving careful thought as to your financial goals for 2008. Are you planning to save for a new car? Contribute fully to a retirement fund? Save towards an emergency fund? If you are, then you should consider meeting with a financial advisor.

Retirement

Will you fund a ROTH or Traditional IRA?
How much can you afford to contribute?
What kind of lifestyle do you want when you retire?
Have you thought about the correct mix in your portfolio as you prepare for retirement?

Savings

Do you have an emergency fund? If no, why not?
What are your 2008 savings goals?
Are you saving at least 10% of your income?
Will you be saving for your child’s college education?

Debt

Is your debt manageable?
Do you have a plan to pay it off?
Has it become overwhelming?

Wills/Trusts?

Have you created a will?
How about a trust?
Do you know what they are?
Who will care for your children when you are gone?
Who will receive your estate once you pass away?
Have you made any preparations in this regard?

Mint gives these tips on what to ask when interviewing a financial advisor:

What licenses they hold, in which states

What services they provide

Their investment strategy

How they would prepare and implement your plan

Who their existing clients are (ask for references)

The average size of their portfolios

How their portfolios have performed

Their fees and/or commission fees

If they sell ï¬nancial products

These are just a few questions to get you started. Of course, even if your answers to these questions prove that you know little about your fifinancial situation, you don’t need to run out and get a financial advisor. There are tons of personal finance books, blogs and articles on the Internet to help you find the answers to the above questions, so no worries. However, keep in mind that unless the person giving the advice is licensed in the area of personal finance they are unqualified to give advice. We can share tips, strategies and the like and some may even work for you, but in the end it is best to seek the advice of a professional who can run numbers, give advice specific to your situation with experience and education to back it up.

Do you have a financial advisor? Why/Why not?

Eating Junk is Expensive!!

Ginger — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:00:15 +0000

Eating junk now leads to chronic illnesses later which means trips to the doctor, time off work which then means losing wages if you end up exhausting sick leave. This leads to stress about missing work due to illness which then leads to lower productivity which leads to sleepless nights which begins the cycle again. Let’s not forget deductibles and copays when you do go to the doctor. Make no mistake, you will have these expenses if you think eating healthy is too expensive.

Breathe.

I think you know where I stand on this issue. Eating healthier NOW cuts your lifetime health expenses in the long run.

Leading Causes of Death in Females, 2004

All Females, All Ages	Percent*
1) Heart disease	27.2
2) Cancer	22.0
3) Stroke	7.5
4) Chronic lower respiratory diseases	5.2
5) Alzheimer’s disease	3.9
6) Unintentional injuries	3.3
7) Diabetes	3.1
Influenza and pneumonia	2.7
9) Kidney disease	1.8
10) Septicemia	1.5

(Source: CDC)
Reconsider for a moment as you begin to think about the higher food prices, and fix your mouth to tell me about Whole Foods prices being way outside of your budget. Just how expensive is eating junk food?

Chronic Illnesses

As the chart aboves states, the number one killer of women in the United States is heart disease. Women are less likely to survive a heart attack than men. We are at higher risk for death when we suffer a heart attack and there is no known reason why. The important health factors are smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history and age. But since this is about the cost of eating junk, lets have a stab at it:

Health Care/Health Insurance

When you’re eating unhealthy food on a consistent basis this opens the doors for health problems. But we know this right? This may show up in the form of obesity, high body mass index described as over 35%, breathing problems, a waist size over 32, which then leads to a higher chance of stroke and heart attacks. Health insurance companies don’t like people they consider to be a high health risk and often refuse to insure them. But what about those of us who are insured? Well we have to take time off work to go and investigate the chest pains we’ve been having for the last 2-3 months. This means repeated trips to the doctor and having to pay high copays along with fulfilling deductibles. That gets expensive.

Work

While you’re busy going to doctor’s appointments, you’re missing work. Your boss is pissed because he/she has to account for your time off and maybe even assign your work to someone else. You’re taking time off and for some this leads to taking unpaid time off from work depending on how serious the condition. You’re not getting paid and if you’re living paycheck to paycheck that means a bill won’t get paid. What’s the harm in that? The lights being shut off or a late payment reported to the credit bureau which then leads to higher interest rates. When you are at work you’re too stressed out about the high cost of your prescriptions and how you’re going to incorporate taking hypertension and high cholesterol medications and possibly insulin injections into your daily regime. Your productivity is reduced because when you do return to work you have to play catch up and put to the back of your mind your declining health. This leads to stress and sleepless nights which only intensify the cycle.

This post was actually inspired by our trip to Trader Joes today where we made out like bandits!! We paid a total of $99.59 for 4 full bags of groceries! This would have been closer to $150-$175 easy at Harris Teeter or Giant.

I agree that Whole Foods is expensive but consider Trader Joes as a less expensive alternative. We also have our fruits and vegetables delivered weekly by Door To Door Organics. Depending on where you shop for groceries it is more expensive but think of it as a long term investment in yourself, your body, your family and your livelihood. Dropping dead from a heart attack while celebrating your 45th birthday is so unnecessary and puts you and your family through hard times. How you take care of yourself from this day forward impacts not only you, but your children, spouses, significant others, family and friends.

Choose life and choose to live it well. Live it not giving more money to the health insurance machines betting you on your health insurance application that you will lose. Guess what? An average of 30% of us are losing that battle, don’t let it be you or someone you love. This isn’t only about money and the high cost of eating junk, but about your livelihood.

I wish all of you health and vitality in the new year!

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Technorati Tags: higher food prices, Whole Foods, health problems, hypertension, high cholesterol, Trader Joes, Door To Door Organics

2008 Financial Goals

Ginger — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 12:00:10 +0000

Ive struggled with this for a few days now and I’m still figuring it out. Every book I’ve read and Podcast I listened to all say to write it down. So this is what I’m doing. I need to be accountable in 2008 so this is my plan starting in February. Why February? I am expecting some cash pay down debt substantially and we are still recovering from the holiday season.

I am also feeling bad because I feel like we should be farther along than we are in the area of saving money. We have both been in graduate school for the last 3-4 years since graduating college and my husband just finished his masters program in December. But I don’t want to make excuses anymore. We are a six figure income household and after meeting with a financial advisor back in October, she gave us a plan and said everything else was within its limits (mortgage, debts etc etc). We told her flat out that we needed to take control of our finances and be more responsible. I also needed her to give us a plan on what to do even though they are things we know already. Do we pay down debt first, save or contribute to our 401k? These are things we hadn’t learned as children and it was so apparent after looking at our spending patterns and trends in 2007. In 2007 we exhausted our savings due to buying a new house which included buying down the interest rate, new furniture, and a few family emergencies. Anyhoo, so I’m taking control and the first step by writing it down.

Wish me luck! I will post the 2008 budget and goals when I nail it down. I want it to be specific, attainable and measurable.

“Mint Addiction”

Ginger — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:00:51 +0000

I signed up with Mint.com in September but didn’t fiddle too much with it until a few days ago. This is due to their system not being able to access our bank account because of the security prompts. Im not sure when it was fixed but I’d sent in a ticket and I just happened to log in the other day and I saw that it accessed everything just fine. Moving on—>The best part about this program is their account integration, expense tracking and web-based system. I didn’t have too much invested in Money Plus so this made the transition easier.

Account Integration

Mint pulls information from your bank accounts, organizes and lets you analyze it. Hubby and I are able to log in from separate locations and see the same information. We had a mini budget pow wow over the phone while logged into Mint and were able to get some things accomplished. I think he was really cautious at first about allowing a program (an online one at that!) to access our information. But after reviewing their security protocols he felt a bit more comfortable. We established a debt reduction and savings plan in about an hour after assigning categories to some of the line items. Mint does this for you based on the name of the charge but little things like Everlasting Life, a vegan restaurant we frequented had a Life Insurance tag. It takes way less time but after not logging in for so long we had to assign categories in order to get an accurate spending report.

Expense Tracking

Just like the other budget programs, you are able to track your spending and then break it down by category into neat little charts. Mint will also analyze your spending and tell you where you can cut back or switch services to save money. Granted these are partnerships but after check out a few myself, I would have saved money based on their recommendations. Keep in mind, you know your situation better than a computer. So while they recommended I stay with Verizon and get a cheaper phone/plan, I still made out better with ATT with the iPhone..

Software vs. Webware

In this case the webware wins! Nothing to download I can log on from any computer with an Internet connection to check our accounts. This makes it easier to track my spending when away from home or at work where I don’t have my laptop. I found that even with Money Plus I still liked the updated and intuitive features of Mint.com. The bright modern user interface is easy on the eyes and keeps you coming back.

Ease of Use

The program is very intuitive and we found that it resolved many of the issues we had with Money Plus such as not being able to batch assign transactions or spending categories. Imagine having to go through each and every transaction for the last 3 months when you make it every day? Example, Au Bon Pain, I would have to either keep up and assign this category weekly in Money Plus, while in Mint, I am able to batch assign the category at the end of the month and create a rule to assign the same category for all future transactions. *insert cheesy smile here*

Cost

Mint.com=FREE

Microsoft Money Plus $49.95

Need I say more?!

Geezeo.com, Wesabe.com and Mint.com are the main online personal finance software programs out there right now. I am really impressed with the ease of use and how intuitive the Mint.com program is with regards to daily account management.

Kudos to their developer for such a wonderful program!

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ACORN changes

Ginger — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:00:35 +0000

I talked with our former ACORN representative today to get up to date information on how the housing crunch has affected their program. Prior to the recent sub prime issues ACORN had a pretty decent program, here are the details in a snapshot:

Now the program has been stripped to:

3% down
620 credit score (Wasn’t credit score driven prior to this change)
74k income limits (Limit was 106k prior to the change)

What does this mean for you?

SAVE SAVE SAVE!

For instance, if you are considering purchasing a 250k home, you will need at least a $7500 downpayment and funds towards closing costs and other items such as earnest money, home inspection, taxes etc.

Debt reduction and clean up is a must!

Let’s face it, debt isn’t hot at all. Owing thousands on various credit cards with nothing to show for it means you are throwing your money away and not steadily building for a secure future.

Lower your utilization rates and cut the credit card spending to a minimum. What’s the minimum? If you can’t pay it off by the end of the month then you can’t afford it and shouldn’t spend it. Idally they should be less than 30%
Pay off your balances on time
Pay more than the minimum payment each month.
If you have a decent FICO/VANTAGE score then transfer your balance to a low/no interest credit card and pay it off within that period.

The banks are tightening their belts and so should you. Let 2008 be the year that you get your act together and take it to the road! Your goal may not be to purchase a home this year, but it can be to save more, spend less and pay down debt!

Make it happen!