Alice Finn - Smart Women Love Money: 5 Simple, Life-Changing Rules of Investing

Alice Finn is CEO of Powerhouse Assets LLC, a registered investment adviser firm. The information presented by the author and the publisher is for information and educational purposes only. It should not be considered specific investment advice, does not take into consideration your specific situation, and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any securities or investment strategies. Additionally, no legal or tax advice is being offered. If legal or tax advice is needed a qualified professional should be engaged. Investments involve risk and are not guaranteed. This book contains information that might be dated and is intended only to educate and entertain. Any links or websites referred to are for informational purposes only. Websites not associated with the author are unaffiliated sources of information and the author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided by these websites. Be sure to consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein.

65 Bleecker Street

New York, NY 10012

Copyright 2017 by Alice Finn

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Regan Arts Subsidiary Rights Department, 65 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012.

First Regan Arts hardcover edition, April 2017

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016955002

ISBN 978-1-68245-003-1

ISBN 978-1-6824-5004-8 (eBook)

Names and identifying details of some of the people and events portrayed in this book have been changed.

Interior design by Nancy Singer

Cover design by Richard Ljoenes

This book is dedicated to the people in my life who make everything worthwhileI love them more than anything.

Love.

We all know what love feels like. When you love people, you love having them around. You take pleasure in nourishing them and watching them grow and thrive. You are committed to them and their well-being, and you want them to achieve their full potential. In a word, you treasure them.

Take a moment and think about all that you love in your life. You love your partner or spouse, your children if you have them, your closest family members and friendsmaybe even a pet. You might even say you love certain things , such as the beach where you and your family spent the summer when you were a child, or a favorite hobby, such as painting or running marathons. Perhaps youd even say you love your job.

While the feelings you have may be a little different for each of these people and things, you know you love them because you consider them priorities in your life. You carve out time in your schedule to spend with them because you know the time and energy you invest in them will bring about great returns in the form of happiness, stability, growth, and health.

Now, take a moment to consider: when was the last time you felt this way about money? If youre like most women I know, the answer is probably Never.

When I was brainstorming a title for this book, someone proposed Smart Women Love Money and, Ill admit, I cringed a bit. Even as someone who works with money for a living, who helps clients invest their assets precisely so they can have more money in the future, I was fully aware of the emotions most women have when it comes to money. In contrast to the phrase smart men love money, which seems like a neutral, self-evident statement, saying smart women love money evokes a different reaction. Women might like moneythey like getting a raise or a bonus, saving money by bargain hunting, and having some extra cash set aside for a rainy daybut few, if any, women I know would say they love money.

And when it comes to investing and managing money, many women experience emotions much closer to hate or fear. They think they arent good at math; they dont understand the investment industry and therefore worry theyll get taken advantage of if they get involved; they think its boring or that, by showing an interest in money, others will consider them shallow or greedy.

After all, when we think about women who love money, two images usually spring to mind: the vapid gold digger in pursuit of a rich husband, and the ruthless, unfeeling corporate villain who sacrifices personal relationships in exchange for more, more, more. These stereotypes (and make no mistake, they are stereotypes) are completely one-dimensional: women who have sacrificed the truly important things in life in exchange for the almighty dollar. In our minds, women who love money only love money; there is no room in their lives for anything else.

I didnt want my would-be readers to think this was a book about becoming a money-hungry clich or that I was saying women werent smart for valuing relationships, morals, or any other nonfinancial aspect of our lives over the unbridled pursuit of monetary gain. I didnt want women to be turned off by a phrase they found unfeminine, impersonal, or just downright tacky.

But then I had an epiphany. I wanted to write a book about investingsaving, monitoring, and caring for your money in a way that will help it grow over timethat would empower women to make better, savvier, more informed decisions about their financial futures. My hope is that, by reading this book, you will gain the tools you need to retire comfortably, provide for your family well into old age (and even after youre gone), and achieve any goals in the meantime that might currently seem like pipe dreams. In other words, I wanted to write a book about making money a priority in your lifenot at the expense of everything you hold dear but in support of it. And isnt that what love is?

I wrote this book because I wanted to share with women just how easy (and exciting) it can be when you understand how to invest your money wisely. Given all the chatter, hype, and sometimes panic that surround the world of investing, its no surprise that women (who have not been socialized to care about money) are wary about dipping their toes into what they see as uncharted waters. But I will show that investing does not need to be complicated or so fraught with emotion. Once you understand the basic rules (which I present as my Five Fundamentals), investing is a relatively painless process that will provide you the resources you will need to thrive not just today but well into the future.

But I also wrote this book because I do want you to learn to love money, not for its own sake but because when you care for and nurture it, you are really caring for and nurturing yourself and the things that are most important to you. Smart women love money because they realize, consciously or subconsciously, that most of us will be solely responsible for our own finances at some point in our lives. They know that even if they work hard and save, any money that isnt earning a return will eventually be depleted (in amount and overall value) due to inflation and myriad future events they cannot predict. They know that even if they are happily married, gainfully employed, and have a supportive network of family and friends, they might not always be able to rely on others to bail them out in case of an emergency. They know, therefore, that it makes sense for them to want to understand how best to oversee the management of their own money, to be responsible for their own investment portfolios, and to be engaged in ensuring their own financial security.

Most women are smart when it comes to the day-to-day decisions about how to earn, spend, and save money. We hunt for the best consumer deals and save up for big expenses such as a family vacation or a down payment on a house. Many of us are even working to close the gender wage gap by negotiating higher salaries on par with what our male counterparts earn.