January is Financial Planning Month

For the last few years, ever since we turned on the news to find out we were heading into the “second great depression”, money seems to be everywhere. People are losing it, governments are giving it away, schools want more of it.  It’s a discouraging scene as I begin my way to beef up my own bank accounts, and I know I’m not alone. I get asked often what its like being a young woman just starting to make it on her own, right when the rest of the world seems to be falling apart. I always reply with a quote from an unlikely source, Bob Dylan “when you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” My main fiscal responsibilities (feeding myself, splitting a rent bill with my generous boyfriend, and supplying wine for the weekends) pale in comparison to those with women with student debt, four hungry mouths and a monster of a mortgage to feed. Because of this, I am a lucky one. We at YWiB are lucky, all of us. We live in a time where, yes there is financial stress, but it’s fashionable to be a penny-pinching Recessionista. It’s cool to be frugal and hip to be cheap. With hero’s like Smart Cookies blazing the way and support from our fellow YWiB members, we can find a fulfilling job and watch our saving account steadily grow. Together we can start money groups and discuss personal finance tips catered just to young women. We can halt our gym memberships, go for jogs around the seawall and bring Catey Hill's Shoo Jimmy Choo, The Modern Girls Guide to Spending Less and Saving More to the beach. And we are going to save our hard earned cash because we are smart enough too.

We know that in this uncertain world we have to have a safety net, money to fund living expenses for up to nine months.  We know we’ll live longer, change careers more often and that those daily $5 lattes really do add up. And we also know debt, although paralyzing isn’t permanent, and that it’s okay to ask for help ( Smart Cookies and Women's Institute for Financial Education are great places to start ).

For you YWiB members that have great money saving tips, are open for more or are just getting started planning your financial life come chat with us on ….. …