Use the guidlelines below to score the questions you answers on the preceding page.
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SELF-ASSESSMENT SCORE SHEET
Step 1. Record your True or False responses from the questionnaire in the numbered spaces below.
Step 2. Add down the number of True responses you have in each category.
Step 3. Add your scores on the bottom line across for a total score.
INTERPRETATION
Circle your two highest scores on the bottom line.These are the two areas in which you are most comfortable acting in ways that contribute to your financial well-being.
Circle your two lowest scores on the bottom line. These are the two areas in which you have the most difficulty breaking free from stereotypically feminine behaviors. Each column represents a corresponding chapter in this book. You might want to go directly to the chapters where you scored lowest, to read more about how you can address these financial development areas.
If your total score is
0-21 You’d better get moving if you ever want to lead a financially independent life. At this rate you’re going to be poor or be dependent on others for the rest of your life.
22-34 You’ve made a good start, but you’re nowhere near the finish line. Focus on those areas where you still have difficulty with becoming financially independent. You’ll find that small changes pay big dividends.
35-42 If you’re not already financially independent, you’re doing a great job of getting there. Continue what you’re doing and use this book to find some strategies for getting there even sooner.
Now, complete each of the following sentences. Don’t take too much time thinking about or stewing over the statement. Whatever comes to mind initially will be as valid as something you may think of later on.
1. I’m not rich because ______________________________.
2. And that’s because ______________________________.
3. Being rich would make me feel ____________________.
4. When it comes to rich people, my parents always told me ________________.
5. If I focused on getting rich, it would make my partner/ spouse feel ____________.
6. A rich woman is one who ________________.
7. What keeps me from taking more risks to get rich is ___________.
8. When it comes to handling money, I ________________.
9. I feel money is _______________________.
10. A rich woman strikes me as ________________________.
ANALYZING YOUR RESPONSES
Now go back and analyze each of your responses from both inventories. You may find overlapping themes or even contradictory ones. In the case of the latter, it could mean that you have gotten conflicting messages or that you disagree with the messages you received. In either case, it’s not a bad thing. It’s all grist for the mill. What is important is that you take time to think about your feelings and thoughts about getting rich and replace them with more realistic ones or ones that better reflect where you are now in your life. Here are some questions for you to consider:
* What are the themes that appear across my responses?
* Why do some of my responses seem contradictory?
* What are the messages playing in my head that I have to tape over if I want to be rich?
* What is the single most important thing I can do to be as rich as I would like to be?
* What current spending, saving, or investing habits do I need to stop?
* What current spending, saving, or investing habits do I need to start?
* What current spending, saving, or investing habits should I continue with some modifications?
The following table illuminates some of the biggest differences between how women and men deal with money. Perhaps you’ll see some of your own foibles in here.
MEN, WOMEN, and MONEY
| MEN | WOMEN |
| Invest | Save |
| Are socialized to learn about how to invest and make money grow | Are socialized to save money—“just in case” they have to take care of themselves |
| Use money to “keep score” | Use money to “take care of” others |
| Buy what they need | Buy what they want |
| Use money to prepare for the future | Use money to create a lifestyle in the present |
| Take investment risks | Are cautious about investing |
| Spend money on themselves | Spend money on those they care about |
| Ask for what they want | Ask for what they think they deserve |
| View money objectively | View money in terms of relationships |
| Learn how to be effective investors | Expect others to know more than they do |
| Gravitate toward high-paying jobs | Gravitate toward the helping professions |
| Advocate for themselves during trying financial times | Want to be fair during trying financial times |
VISIONING YOUR FUTURE
I’m a big believer in vision. I don’t see it as something magical, but rather as providing me with a focus to help me achieve my goals. When I first started my own consulting practice, after having been employed for many years by a Fortune 10 corporation, I was filled with fear and anxiety about my prospects for success. I could hear the voices of friends and family who were telling me it was a foolish move and one I would later regret. Then I realized it was their anxiety I was experiencing, not my own. I’m an intelligent woman, and I wouldn’t make a decision that would in any way jeopardize my well-being. But I’m also a risk taker—something that many of the people giving me advice were not. So I adopted NASA Mission Control’s famous line, “Failure is not an option,” as the mantra to help support my vision. And that mantra guides my actions to this day. There may have been missteps along the way, but failure was really never an option for me. And it doesn’t have to be for you either.
About ten years ago a friend of mine told me she was going to focus on being financially independent. Her mantra became, “Poor no more in ’94.” I can still hear her saying it. And that mantra guided all her actions. She saved enough to buy a house. She went back to school so she could get a better job. She didn’t become rich in one year, but she did put herself on the path to living a more abundant life. So what’s your financial vision going to be?
Take a moment to think about it. Write it down. Put it in the affirmative and present tense. Some examples:
“I am acquiring all the wealth I need to live a happy and secure life.”
“I am creating abundance so that I may live free of the constraints of others.”
“I am rich, not only in health, friends, and family but in my financial portfolio as well.”
If you can envision it, describe it, and write it down, you are more likely to make related decisions that will lead you to its becoming a truth. One of my very favorite passages is from the German philosopher Johann Goethe:
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy,
The chance to draw back,
Always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative and creation,
There is one elementary truth
The ignorance of which kills countless ideas
And endless plans:
That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
Raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance,
Which no one could have dreamed would come their way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can,
Begin.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Begin it now.
Take a moment to commit to your financial vision by writing it here:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Write this vision on small slips of paper and put one on your bathroom mirror, in your wallet, with your checkbook, and tape one to your credit card (you’ll notice that “credit card” is singular, not plural, which I will get to later). You need to see this vision before you spend money or make other financial decisions.
And while we’re on the subject of envisioning your wealth, let me tell you one more story about the importance of actually visioning your future. For many years when I visited New York City for business or pleasure, I would walk by the Today show studio in the evening, pause, and look inside at the empty set. As I stood there, I would picture myself on the set being interviewed. I envisioned myself as comfortable and confident. So when the call came to actually appear on the show to talk about Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, I was delighted but not exactly surprised. I had envisioned the moment just as I had envisioned having a successful business.
There are many more stories I could share with you of how positive visualization changed my life and the lives of others, but what I really want you to know is that you and you alone create your future. Dreaming it and envisioning it are part of that creation. If you aren’t as rich as you want to be, my guess is that (for whatever reasons) you haven’t focused on it or envisioned it as a part of your life. All I ask is that you give it a try. Turn your internal worries about money into a focus on wealth. Then follow the coaching tips in this book.
MYTHS AND MESSAGES ABOUT WOMEN AND WEALTH
The media have the power to shape our reality. From television to movies to glossy fashion magazines, a woman’s self-image too often depends on what the media tell her she’s supposed to be. Girlfriend, you have got to get over this hurdle if you want to be rich. If you were to be the media’s ideal representation of the perfect woman, you would be thin, blond, and twenty-five. Kind of like the women on Sex and the City. The only stock you would own would be a “stockpile” of Manolo Blahnik shoes! Now, how many of us can say we’re all that? Get real. Your ability to be rich is partially dependent on your ability to see the fallacy in the myths and messages we get about money. Here are ten myths and messages you need to exorcise:
1. It’s just as easy to marry a rich man as it is a poor man. That may sound good in theory, but the fact remains that with about half of all marriages ending in divorce it’s unlikely that it will help you. Marrying rich may appear to be a blessing, but it’s not something you can count on. And keep in mind, there are a lot more poor men than wealthy ones.
2. You don’t need to focus on getting a good education in preparation for a high-paying job, because your salary will only be a second income. A woman in one of my Nice Girl workshops said her father told her, “College is just an expensive way to find a husband.” Countless women we spoke with said this was a message they received when they were growing up, and they were sorry they listened to it. In some cases it was because they married and later divorced, because they never married at all, or because they became single moms.
3. Women just aren’t good with numbers—and that includes money. How many of us grew up with it being acceptable (and expected) that we wouldn’t do well in math because we were girls? That myth becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Recent research shows that girls and boys are equally equipped to be successful in math but that girls experience more anxiety around it. One teenage girl reported, “I thought I would be considered less than feminine if I excelled in math.”
4. You’ll make a man feel impotent if you earn more money than he does. It’s true that this phenomenon can create tension in households and on the dating scene, but it doesn’t have to. Having frank discussions about money, budgets, and other financial matters can go a long way in reducing hidden feelings and resentment when it comes to a woman earning more than a man . . . or having more earning power.
5. Money can’t buy you happiness. Of course, money doesn’t buy happiness. And neither does poverty. It’s not wealth or poverty that makes you happy or unhappy, it’s how you live your life. Money simply gives you choices that you might not otherwise have. You may recall an old line from Sophie Tucker: “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor; believe me, honey, rich is better.” Of course, it’s better. If you’re not happy being rich, it isn’t because you’re rich . . . it’s because you’ve got unresolved problems to work out. At least money can buy you a good therapist.
6. If you have too much money, you’ll be thought of as a “rich bitch.” I’ve certainly known rich bitches, but I’ve known many more poor ones. If you’re a bitch with money, you’re a bitch without money. There are many women who are generous in their commitment to philanthropic causes, but we don’t talk about them as often as we do the more astringent ones. The term is often applied more out of jealousy than reality.
7. It’s better to do good than to do well. This was the one that prevented me from accumulating wealth earlier in life. I thought it was more important to be of value to society than to get rich. I’m here to tell you, they are not mutually exclusive. You can do good and do well simultaneously. It’s called living your values. There are many ways to make a contribution to society and get rich—and none of them include taking low-paying, female ghetto jobs. If women showed more interest in accumulating wealth, and were advocates for acquiring it, there wouldn’t be female ghettos in the workplace.
8. It’s unladylike for a woman to talk about money. Explain to me how talking about money is even remotely related to one’s femininity. If you stop to think about it, it’s not talking about money that bothers people, it’s being smart that troubles them. Because knowledge and money are power and women aren’t supposed to be powerful, it makes logical sense that women can’t talk about money. Right? Wrong.
9. Work hard and the money will follow. This myth is true for both women and men, but women take it to the extreme. They’re so busy working hard that they totally forget about getting rich. If they really thought about it, they would take some of the time they spend working hard and put that energy into managing their careers better—so they could earn more money!
10. Men are smarter than women when it comes to money. Guess what? There is no known “money gene” that men possess and women are born without. Countless stories that we heard from women involved them trusting men with their finances, only to discover the men lost, wasted, or stole their money. Remember, Columbus would never have made it to America if Queen Isabella hadn’t financed the trip.
And you wonder why we have such a conflicted relationship with money? These are not messages that most men hear when growing up or as adults. These are messages we reserve for the exclusive domain of women and girls. And if you think it’s any better in 2005 than it was in 1965, think again. Even though women receive strong positive messages about the importance of saving, not spending beyond their means, avoiding credit card debt, and being financially independent, they are also still faced with the myths and messages listed above. If you doubt it’s true, then how would you explain the continued wage differential, differences in earned wealth, and the fact that the great majority of people who live in poverty worldwide are women and children?
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK (OR, GETTING OFF THE DIME)
Just as there isn’t only one thing that prevents you from getting the corner office, there isn’t just one thing that you’re currently doing or not doing that is keeping you from getting rich. Some of what you read here is going to seem like common sense. You’re going to say to yourself, “I already know that.” Well, if you already know it, why aren’t you rich? Because getting rich is about combining a mind-set with the actions you need to take to get there. That’s why the following seven chapters focus not only on how you think but also on what you have to do. How you think determines how you act. So before you dismiss a particular mistake or coaching tip as “obvious,” take a moment to think about why you make the mistake or why you’re not engaging in the behavior suggested.
Personalize the words in this book. It’s what makes this book unlike others on financial planning. It’s not just a list of things to do; it’s also about what you think and how you feel. You don’t have to engage in every coaching tip suggested in this book to get rich. If you commit to doing just one-tenth of them, you will be well on the path to taking control of your financial future.
Chapters 2 to 8 describe key elements essential for financial success. Each corresponds directly with one of the columns on the Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich Self-Assessment. I suggest that you go first to the sections that most closely correlate with your lowest responses on the assessment. This is where you will find the most help related to understanding your unique reasons for avoiding financial independence and tips for how to change those behaviors. Once you’re done reading these sections, don’t tell yourself you’re going to do everything suggested in the coaching tips. That would set you up to fail. Instead, as you go along, check the coaching suggestions to which you can commit and take the time to write these behaviors on the Action Plan contained at the very end of the book.
As Goethe said, “the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.” The universe rewards action. You will find that when you commit to being financially independent—however you define it—you will look differently at the world, your relationship with money, and the behaviors that contribute to (or hinder you from) getting rich. “Nice girls” don’t get rich because they focus more on the needs of others than on their own needs and avoid taking the steps required to become truly independent. You won’t get rich by being a “nice girl,” but you can by becoming an adult woman—and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
ACTION PLAN Whatever you can do or dream you can, Begin. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now. —JOHANN GOETHE
Copyright © 2005 by Lois P. Frankel, PhD
