Anita Fowler - Living a Rich Life as a Stay-at-Home Mom: How to Build a Secure Financial Foundation for You and Your Children

How to Build a Secure Financial Foundation for Youand Your Children

By Anita Fowler & Karen Jensen

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Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2015 by Anita Fowler & KarenJensen.

All rights reserved. Except for the use in anyreview, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or inpart in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means isforbidden without the express permission of the author.

This publication is designed to provide accurate andauthoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered.It is sold with the understanding that authors and publisher arenot engaged in legal or accounting services. If legal or otherexpert assistance is required, the services of a competentprofessional should be sought.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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DEDICATION

Dedicated to our mother who stayed at home with herfive children for nearly thirty years, devoting her life to thesuccess of her children.

And to our father who taught us by example what itmeans to be honest, hard working, and a responsible steward offinances.

We love you both. Thank you for teaching us,sacrificing for us, and loving us.

Example isnt another way to teach, it is theonly way to teach.
Albert Einstein

A conversation describing an event that tookplace at a Target store, fall of 2013:

Anita: Karen, you have to hear whatjust happened.

Karen: What?

Anita: I was in Target today and whenI went to checkout I got behind a lady who was buying tons ofstuff. The lady looked really nervous and her teenage daughterlooked embarrassed. I couldnt help but notice that she had fourpieces of cut up credit card in her hand. She asked the cashier,Can you please type in the numbers of my credit card? I know thatit works because I just used this at a different store.

Karen: Really?

Anita: Serious. The cashier didnt even stopto look up and said, Im not sure. I may have to get my managerover here to do it. Ive never done that before. Why cant you justswipe it? She said that she cut it up so she wouldnt use it. Thenshe looked at me as if she wanted me to join the conversation. Ididnt know what to say so I just smiled. Her daughter had her armsfolded tightly in front of her and turned away from me. It wasawkward.

Karen: Oh man, so did the card gothrough?

Anita: Well, I guess the total was more thanshe was expecting. It was over $200 so she searched around forsomething to take away and decided on a Tupperware container pack.She had the cashier remove it and try to charge the card. She keptsaying, My husband is going to kill me, and was fidgeting aroundin her Gucci purse. Then she started telling me she had that cardstashed in the freezer, and promised her husband shed never use itexcept in emergencies. She even asked, 'But this counts as anemergency right?

Karen: In the freezer? What? What didyou say to her?

Anita: Well, I looked at her stuffand it all seemed like non-essentials. There was no food, justclothes and home dcor stuff. So I just smiled and nodded.

Karen: Thats a little awkward.

Anita: Yeah, it was especiallyawkward for her daughter. I looked at her face and it began to turnred. She kept saying things like, Mom, you dont need this stuff.Lets just go. I felt really bad for her.

Karen: I feel bad for her too. Thatsterrible.

Anita: I imagine her parents willprobably fight about this.

Karen: Probably. Thats sad. So didthe card go through?

Anita: Well, it took a couple tries.I think the third time the card finally went through. As soon as itdid her daughter took off. She quickly packed up her cart andchased after her.

Karen: Wow. Thats pretty crazy. Itsounds like that lady could use some financial help.

Anita: For sure. I wanted to tell herabout my blog but I was worried about embarrassing her even more.The cashier was impressed that I saved over $100 on my total withcoupons, and I told her that I really wished I could help the ladywith the cut up credit card learn how to do this. The cashier justnodded her head and muttered She needs it.

Karen: What she really needs is tolearn how to manage her money.

Anita: Its true. But if you thinkabout it, she probably hasnt had very many opportunities to learn.All throughout junior high, high school, and even college I neverhad any classes on money management. If you dont take a specificcourse on it (which I dont think most students do), you just dontlearn it. The only place most people learn to handle money is intheir home.

Karen: Im just glad mom and dadtaught us how to manage money.

Anita: Yeah, its pretty incrediblethat mom and dad and grandma and grandpa started out theirmarriages with nothing and are now very wealthy. They taught uswell. I just wish there were a way for us to help other motherslearn what they taught us.

Preface by Anita and Karen, January 2015:

Shortly after this event we started thinkingabout how we could best help mothers overcome financial struggles.We suspected that money is a sore spot for many families so wedecided to conduct a womens financial survey. Most of the commentsand answers from the survey saddened us.

Many women expressed anxiety over alwaystrying to stretch their paycheck out until next payday. A vastmajority do not know how to budget, and even the word makes themcringe. Many of them feel like they need to increase theirfinancial contribution to the family, but at the same time do allof the work that comes along with raising their children.

Many mothers feel their own wants are ALWAYSput on hold because diapers, groceries, piano lessons, and amillion other needs take precedence. A few even mentioned they wereworried about their marriage because of the contention caused bymoney problems.

This is not a peaceful way to live life. Ashumans we yearn for security. Yet many people live lives full offinancial anxiety or downright stress.

We know how difficult living on amodest income is in this economy. We face similar circumstances andcan relate to many of these mothers. But because we have had aunique financial education (being raised and taught by verysuccessful money managers), we have been able to stay out of debt(besides our mortgages), set aside savings, and enjoy financialpeace.

As we saw so many common distressing concernsfrom thousands of mothers, we decided to write a book. We wanted itto be an easy to read, comprehensive, financial guide for mothers,specifically Stay-at-Home Mothers, because that is what we are.

Thus, we have worked for over a year toinclude the best advice and resources we could while also trying tomake it fun, easy to understand, and useful.

We do want to make it very clear thatalthough money can do much good in the world, money in and ofitself does not create a truly rich life. Benjamin Franklin taughtus this great principle: Money has never made man happy, nor willit, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The moreof it one has the more one wants.

Our families are able to have a home, heat ahome, put food on the table, etc. because we have money. We wereable to get degrees because of the money we each worked and savedfor ourselves. Money can and does do many great things. But theobsession and love of money does not bring happiness. The Bibleteaches us that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim6:10). Financial peace is a requirement to living well, yet theall-consuming love of money can destroy us.