First blog topic!
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November 1, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Here’s an interesting discussion of a book called “The Smart Cookie’s Guide to Making More Dough”
It’s about a group of women who formed a group to help them make smart decisions about money. I’m including excerpts from a review article from the New York Times,
November 1, 2008 by RON LIEBER.
“Mortgage brokers deserve their fair share of blame for the foreclosures haunting the housing market right now. And plenty of banks allowed too many people to take on too much debt.
But it was individual consumers who ultimately took on those loans. So as we consider how to avoid this collective financial mess again, one question keeps rolling around in my head: How much better off would the world be right now if people had their own personal finance committee to consult before making big money decisions?
I’ve long lamented the fact that there aren’t as many money clubs as there are book clubs. Plenty of us would be more successful in meeting our financial goals if we met regularly with a small group of like-minded people to lay our finances bare, from incomes to debt to our spending foibles. It would be one part Debtors Anonymous and one part Weight Watchers, a bit like the investment clubs that were popular in the 1990s but with every part of our financial lives under the microscope.
What I didn’t do, but should have, was try to inspire an international movement around the idea. That’s what five women from Vancouver are trying to do with their new book, “The Smart Cookies’ Guide to Making More Dough” (Delacorte Press), and Web site, smartcookies.com.
Much of the book offers fairly basic financial advice, and it will probably resonate best with young women. The silly name, meanwhile, might turn off serious-minded people.
But that would be too bad, because theirs is a story of guts and grit, of five women who leaned on one another to rein in individual money habits that were fairly destructive.
Their example ought to be enough to inspire others to form or join money clubs, though this isn’t the first time that people have suggested it. An organization called the Women’s Institute for Financial Education already holds a trademark on the term “money club” and has helped people form them in the past.
So why hasn’t the movement taken hold? Many people are afraid of admitting their financial cluelessness to others, or they’re ashamed of their bad decisions. Plenty of others are simply uncomfortable talking about the topic. Money is the last taboo, even when sex or your shrink is fair game for polite conversation.
But now should be the time when we all get over our hang-ups and join the emerging national conversation about our borrowing and spending habits.
The five women in Vancouver started their own conversation in March 2006. Andrea Baxter, who worked in marketing, had run up $18,000 in debt beyond her mortgage. (One of her creditors eventually turned her account over to a collection agency.)
Ms. Baxter happened to see an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” about going on a debt diet and she recruited others to slim down with her. Four others eventually signed on, including two colleagues from work. “It was scary to go and tell them what my financial situation was at the time,” she said. “I thought they would think less of me.”
…….
“It was super-intimidating at first,” said Robyn Gunn, another Smart Cookies member. As a social worker, she knew the group could accomplish much more through open communication than if everyone tried to sort out their problems on their own. But the first step still wasn’t easy. “At the first meeting, we had a bit of wine, and once you start with something so disarming, like sharing bank statements, you build trust pretty quickly.”
…………
For people who prefer to go it alone, you can simply fine yourself for not meeting savings goals or reallocating your assets regularly. A site called stickk.com lets you state your intent, identify a referee who can verify whether you hit your mark and pay penalties if you don’t succeed. The fine can go to an anticharity if you wish, say the Clinton Presidential Library for those who find the man distasteful, or the athletic fund of your alma mater’s archrival. ”
This seems like a wonderful book for a book club!
Miriam