Jill Keto - Dont Get Caught with Your Skirt Down: A Practical Girls Recession Guide

The Distraction of Soccer Games, Pedicures, and Perez Hilton

I t was a typical Mondaythe day I haul my two preschool-aged children to their class at the Little Gym, a place where kids enthusiastically flop about on a huge mat, doing something that resembles gymnastics. Their chipper and highly trained instructors allow us mommies to take an hourlong reprieve in the waiting room while they teach the children syrupy-named skills such as donkey kicks, monkey jumps, and bunny ears. The moms love it because it delivers us an hour of sanity and gives us a chance to converse with one another, comparing notes on gripping subjects such as diapers and preschools.

This day was unlike the others, because the topic of conversation moved from soccer equipment to economics. Yes, economics. My ears perked up. This should be interesting, I thought to myself. My husband, Dan, is a total economics geek. He simply will not shut up about it. And when his endless barrage of statistics and theories doesnt make me fall asleep, some of it actually sinks in.

One mommy-girlfriend began to lament about her financial state. Firmly planted in the upper middle class, she and her husband unexpectedly found themselves in a huge pickle. You see, they had moved into a lovely fixer-upper in a very desirable Seattle neighborhood one year earlier but had not yet sold their former home (also in a popular family neighborhood), and they now had not one but two big-time mortgages. They had recently knocked $100,000 off the asking price of the house for sale but still had no takers. She sat doe-eyed, explaining that she and her husband had been caught completely off guard, with absolutely no clue that they might not be able to sell their first home. She said she felt as if they had been sucker-punched by the economy. She was visibly stressed, her glazed expression broadcasting her loss of hope.

I was struck by the sympathy of the other mothers and their total agreement that none of this could have been foreseen. Well, of course they never saw it coming! The women I know are so busy they scarcely have time to floss, much less sort through economic news for nuances of what the financial future might hold. Working, raising kids, running errands, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, providing taxi services, and feeding themselves and their families are all incredibly time-intensive. Add one more task to the already endless list, and these womens sanity would bust at the seams.

The other problem is that economics is, well, unsexy. Its presented in a format thats boring, difficult to comprehend, and clearly geared toward those who possess a penis. It is scarcely funny, entertaining, or hell, even slightly interesting. Womens magazines, gossip rags, and television are designed to fit into a womans lifestylethey provide tasty bits of information in the form of tidy Top 10 lists, two-minute segments, and juicy pictures. Slugging through an entire issue of The Wall Street Journal is about as much fun as a yearlong root canal when compared to what you can learn in just thirty seconds on E!

Sympathy was all the other mothers could offer, as not one of them had a plausible solution to this poor mothers mess. These women, by the way, are intelligent, committed, and well educated. All have at least an undergraduate college education, if not a masters degree, and yet they had not a single suggestion among them. I realized then that theres a serious lack of understanding of basic economics, whats going on in the world today, and financial planning for a weak economyeven among smart people.

My advice to our sucker-punched friend was, Lower your asking price again and market the house yourself heavily on craigslist, on your own website, and with flyers. Do not rely on a real estate agent to do the work for you. Do it yourself and get it done. Dump the house now before its too late.

Too late for what? she asked innocently.

Before real estate prices plummet further and you and your husband end up in a serious cash-flow crunch.

Then one of the other girlfriends chimed in, Oh no, Ive heard the real estate market is picking up. In fact, the experts are saying prices will be back where they were by this summer. And remember, its spring. This is the season when everyone moves. People have to get into a house before the coming school year. Dont worry, your house will sell eventually.

The other mommies nodded in hopeful unison. They, too, had heard that pitch on the news touting the rebound of the local real estate market. I felt pity for these unsuspecting women, buying the medias version of what the economic future held for us instead of knowing the facts and determining their own version.

I definitely have my own theories when it comes to the economy, and they have little to do with what has been on the news. My being married to an expert in practical economic theory means that the U.S. economy is discussed at our dinner table as much as weekend plans and ballet recitals. We debate, question, pare down the copious media information, and filter it to the basics. Dan provides the data, numbers, and theories. My job is to boil down the information into simple terms and concepts, then apply them in a practical way for our family. As a result, weve made some uncommon and occasionally bold moves, such as dumping our tech stocks before the crash, selling our house at the peak of the housing market, buying gold, and learning Mandarin Chinese.

What separates Dan from many of the other economists frequently seen in the news media is that hes not an armchair quarterback. Dans been running his own business for the last thirteen years, and it has survived and thrived during economic cycles. Hes not just talking about this stuffhes doing it and has done it. For Dan, economics is not just theory; its information for life.

When it dawned on me that some of our familys decisions were unusual and perhaps ahead of the curve, I felt strongly that this book needed to be written. I hope that sharing my perspective and putting economics into terms that everyone can understand might help other women to better their own lives.

Women are the target audience for this book for many reasons. First, women make 80% of the buying decisions in all homes. Todays woman is the chief purchasing officer of her household. Second, women in increasing numbers are in charge of every aspect of their family finances, including income and investments. Single women control 100% of their financial decisions. Third, it is my impression that women are frightened by this recession, which is amplified by alarming news reports about economic problems and offering no practi And historically, in times of trouble, a woman is the rock of the family. She gathers her strength and sanity and pulls everyone through the difficult times.

Your money is yours, and there is no better time than a weak economy to take control of it. Even if you find economics boring and irrelevant, its time to understand it and embrace it. And its my hope that this book will help you do exactly thatno boredom included!