Cindy Couyoumjian - The Rise of Women and Wealth: Our Fight for Freedom, Equality, and Control of Our Financial Future

PRAISE FOR
THE RISE OF WOMEN AND WEALTH

Cindy Couyoumjian has done a superb job of explaining the history of women in society. She gives women the confidence to learn about investing and take charge of their finances.

MAUREEN MALOOF, founder, Uniforms for Hope

This book represents a paradigm shift of opportunity as a tidal wave of positive change coming our way! Cindy is a guiding light forging a global pathway of awareness for women toward their financial wealth and freedom.

JODI ANN LOVULLO, sales, Super Color Digital

The Rise of Women and Wealth is an impassioned, insightful, and plausible rendering of both the past and current situation women and men find themselves in. Cindy Couyoumjian lays out a balanced approach to this situation that respects both our rational and intuitive capacities. And she speaks to and invites our higher spiritual nature to engage in a cooperative effort to create a preferred future for the benefit of all.

DONNA MARIE SCHEIFLER, M.A.,
mentor for women in transition in midlife and beyond,

www.yourtimetoblossom.com

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher and author are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. Nothing herein shall create an attorney-client relationship, and nothing herein shall constitute legal advice or a solicitation to offer legal advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press

Austin, Texas

www.gbgpress.com

Copyright 2022 Cindy Couyoumjian

All rights reserved.

Thank you for purchasing an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright law. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder.

Distributed by Greenleaf Book Group

For ordering information or special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Greenleaf Book Group at PO Box 91869, Austin, TX 78709, 512.891.6100.

Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group

Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group with Vince Giuseffi

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

Print ISBN: 978-1-62634-943-8

eBook ISBN: 978-1-62634-944-5

Audiobook ISBN: 978-1-62634-945-2

Part of the Tree Neutral program, which offsets the number of trees consumed in the production and printing of this book by taking proactive steps, such as planting trees in direct proportion to the number of trees used: www.treeneutral.com

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

This book is dedicated to all women of every race and color, past and present, who fought against the tyranny of patriarchy. It is the indominable spirit of women who dared greatly by transforming their vulnerabilities into the enduring spiritual affirmation of sisterhood.

Whatever contribution I make, however modest, to the ideals of gender equality, justice, compassion, and the shared responsibility of uplifting our humanity is due to the fact that I stand today on the shoulders of the giants who came before me.

The book Redefining Financial Literacy: Unlocking the Hidden Forces of Your Financial Future by Cindy Couyoumjian, ranked by Amazon.com for the week of 3/29/21 as an Amazon #1 New Release in Financial Services and as an Amazon Bestseller in Public Finance (#20), an Amazon Bestseller in Financial Services (#25), an Amazon Bestseller in Investing Portfolio Management (#47), and an Amazon Bestseller in Financial Services Industry (#50).

(Source: Amazon.com, Inc.)

The book Redefining Financial Literacy: Unlocking the Hidden Forces of Your Financial Future by Cindy Couyoumjian, ranked by the Wall Street Journal for the week ending 1/10/21 as #8 in Bestselling Books in the Hardcover Business category.

(Source: the Wall Street Journal with data from NPD BookScan)

Disclosure: Cindy Couyoumjian is a Registered Representative offering securities and advisory services through Independent Financial Group LLC (IFG), a Registered Investment Adviser. Member FINRA/SIPC. Cinergy Financial, Greenleaf Book Group, R. F. Georgy, Sam Ofman, and IFG are unaffiliated.

One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.

SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR

In April of 1910, President Theodore Roosevelt went hunting in Central Africa and toured Northern Africa and Europe, where he gave speeches in Cairo, Berlin, Naples, and Oxford. On April 23, he traveled to Paris, where he gave a speech called Citizenship in a Republic, which would later be remembered as The Man in the Arena. There were more than 2,000 people in attendance that day. He closed his speech with an inspirational message that is worth quoting in full.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds;

Roosevelts powerful words can only be understood in the context of the era in which they were spoken. To reveal the power and sense of urgency of what it means to strive valiantly for all of humanity, we need to transpose the gender.

Imagine for a moment if we refashion Roosevelts rallying cry on behalf of women: We must celebrate the women whose faces are marred by struggle, doubt, sweat, humiliation, and the indignities of transmitted trauma. We must give credit to the women who strived valiantly, who erred, who came up short again and again, who engaged, who turned their vulnerabilities into punctuated moments of historical change. We must look in awe at the women who actually strive to do the deeds; who embrace passion and devotion; who embrace the triumphs of hard-fought achievements, where failure is accepted as part of that inexorable movement to dare greatly. It is this idea of daring greatlyof being immersed in the momentthat will define how women shape and define their own financial destiny.

Women today are standing on the precipice of unprecedented financial change. Currently, women control more than $10 trillion, or about a third, of total U.S. household financial assets, and that could jump to $30 trillion by the end of the decade. It seems that women are on the verge of economic breakthroughs, but the map that will guide us toward financial freedom has yet to be written.

Despite these promising numbers, problems remain. Men still dominate the financial planning sector. Women who work in the industry, as well as those who seek financial help, believe their gender is a key factor in the disrespect and condescension they have often experienced and the poor financial advice they have received. What we have today is a disconnect between a promising future where women will be the financial decision makers and the skewed reality of women being intimidated by a male-dominated financial world. To reconcile this glaring contradiction, we need to be reminded of Roosevelts Man in the Arena speech. Today, it is the woman who is in the arena, fighting valiantly and daring greatly to challenge, and overcome, the male-dominated world of finance.