It happened overnight. My eight year old daughter woke up with a lot of questions: How much money do you have? How much money do I have? How can I get more money? What do I do with my money? So began the conversations around regular chores, extra paid chores, allowance, and bank accounts. Honestly, I am making it up as I go along, but here's what's working so far. We started by counting the coins in her turtle bank. As a second grader, she has learned the basics about money at school and can now do mental math and accurately count coins.  Right away, I ordered her (and her best friend) a ..read more

Even intelligent people can make stupid decisions when it comes to money. I’ve never met an adult who hasn’t paid a bill late, lost money, bounced a check, given too much away, sacrificed health and relationships for work, gambled, overspent or regretted something in their financial life. No wonder money is one of the biggest sources of stress for Americans. Yet, many people don’t realize that money related anxiety is directly related to brain function: how it thinks, feels and operates.  Too many people are convinced that affluence is complicated due to lack of education, seeing negativ ..read more

The Wealth Gap According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in the United States women still earn less than men. This gender wage gap has been getting worse in recent years, with women making about 83 cents for every dollar earned by men for comparable work. This means that women have to work an extra 39 days to make what men do in one year. The good news is that the gap is slowly but surely narrowing. In 1980, women earned just 62 cents for every dollar earned by men. So while there’s still a long way to go, women have made progress in terms of earning power. The gender wage gap is ..read more

Freedom from Stereotypes and Misconceptions Many women grow up in environments with pervasive misconceptions about money. Families treat their children in ways that make it difficult to talk about finances, even though money plays an essential role in adult life. There is a common belief in our culture that girls and women don’t have to worry about money as much as their brothers and fathers do. Young girls are encouraged to marry someone with money. Barbara Stanny Huson debunks this myth in her outstanding book, Prince Charming Isn’t Coming. The truth is that believing that someone or someth ..read more

I’ve been grappling with my home improvement want list. I’ve been living in the same house for five years, a record for me. As you can imagine, merging households with my mother in law has been a slow process. I am very much a "do it now, closure, impulsive spender” type person, so it’s hard to wait. It’s really hard to wait. This year, we built a new office for me once my husband and I realized we could no longer share our home office (bedroom) during the pandemic. I want rugs, art, plants and dishes for that space alone, not to mention many other empty walls and several large projects like ..read more

I tend to live my life in extremes. For a long time, I was so money avoidant, I convinced myself I could “feel” when bills were due and tried to move through life without the stress and hard work of taking care of much less ever looking at my money. The fog was thick. The consequences of denying this responsibility were pretty clear: withdrawing from retirement to pay for credit card bills, anxiety, health problems, a chronic inability to save, still being treated like a child in my family of origin on all business matters and constantly avoiding difficult conversations in my relationships. S ..read more

I recently went on a true vacation. Three mom friends and I went to Hawaii for eight days, without our partners or children. We stayed at my friend’s house in Kilauea on the northshore of Kauai. Our very generous host provided an Oprah-level experience: first class plane tickets, a convertible rental car, private yoga, two on-site massages, and a three day juice cleanse. There was even a mystical albatross on the property. We hosted a party for her local friends! The resort-like spacious home had a hot-tub, warm pool and private beach along with abundant fruit trees, breathtaking flowers perf ..read more

My mom died two years ago and while I miss her immensely, I still feel connected to her on a daily basis. Her death reinspired my spiritual life and I talk about her all the time, especially when I see a rainbow. Born in 1944 and severely disempowered in terms of financial education and literacy, she had a sorted relationship with money. On one hand, she paid the household bills and could handle all the paperwork to keep the business of life orderly for our six person family. On the other hand, she constantly fought with my dad about money. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what a grand s ..read more

Everyone’s lives have been impacted in subtle and overt ways since the pandemic struck and the world events around racial justice. Even amidst all the upheaval, people are finding gifts, blessings and silver linings as well as a lot to be grateful for. I am inspired by these stories of individuals and families doing whatever it takes to make adjustments and find hope, joy and integrity. Here are just a few of the fascinating life journeys I’ve witnessed this year: One woman is planning to sell or donate her family's estate, which is a historical landmark, due to its roots as a plantation. A c ..read more

I remember a particularly awful tax season when I spent about a week straight in absolute anguish trying to get the paperwork done. I spent countless hours staring at a pile of crumpled receipts and a year's worth of bank statements. The transactions swirled around in my head and I felt paralyzed and ashamed. I had no idea what to do or how to complete the tax questionnaire for my H&R Block accountant. The questions seemed impossible. At the time, I was completely ungrounded in dealing with money and other areas of my life. For tax prep, all I had to go on was a series of scribbled notes ..read more