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Week of August 21 |
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Friday, August 25, 2006
Cro-Magnon Controversy: All the News
That’s Fit to Offend Women
Newsflash: Male chauvinism still alive and well at major
news organization. Exhibiting a lack of good editorial judgment
startling in its magnitude, yesterday
www.forbes.com posted an article titled “Don’t Marry Career
Women,” written by Michael Noer, executive editor, News, at the
financial news and lifestyle Web site. The article, which was
briefly removed by the powers that be after an Internet uproar and
later returned with a counterpoint,
“Don’t Marry a Lazy Man,” written by a female staffer,
states in part that “recent studies have found professional women
are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat, less likely
to have children, and, if they do have kids, they are more likely to
be unhappy about it.”
For the record, Noer defines professional
women (or, as he calls them, “career girls”) as earning more than
$30,000. According to a Wikipedia entry, he is also the author of
"The Economics of Prostitution," also published on Forbes.com
(and since removed), “where, in describing a study, he wrote: ‘But
the implication remains that wives and whores are—if not exactly
like Coke and Pepsi—something akin to champagne and beer. The same
sort of thing’.”
What kind of Cro-Magnon organization would find such a piece fit for
publication? Forbes' lack of news judgment and sensitivity is all the more
amazing when you consider that one of the world’s most enlightened
men, Bono, recently purchased a 40 percent stake in the company. U2,
Bono? It’s just this sort of attitude that makes me even more
convinced that women need a business and finance magazine written
for (and by) them.
I’ll be back on Monday with an easy way to save money on
your mortgage interest payments.
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow |
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Thursday, August 24, 2006
Free Textbooks & Some Clear-Eyed
Advice for Starry-Eyed Brides
Last month, I wrote about the “Financial Rules for Living
Together.” Those rules don’t just pertain to young women starting
out in life. Many older women face the question “to wed or not to
wed?” and don’t know where to begin to consider the financial
consequences of walking down the aisle. Whether you’re divorced or
never married, and considering getting hitched to the man of your
dreams, first read financial planner Elizabeth Lewin’s advice to a
divorced 50-something woman who wondered,
“Does It Make Financial Sense to Marry Again?”
Then take the time to download the
May/June ‘03 issue of MAKING
BREAD, in which Patricia Schiff Estess offers more
clear-eyed advice for those considering remarriage, “Know What
You’re Saying ‘I Do’ to: Love and Marriage Often Come with Strings
Attached the Second (or Third) Time Around.”
College students spend an average $900 per year, on top of rising
tuition costs, for their textbooks. Returning students, take heart:
a company called Freeload Press (www.freeloadpress.com)
has just announced 100 free downloadable textbook titles for fall
2006. Sponsorship of the titles (translation: advertising) allows
them to distribute these books without charge in what they call
their “liberating the textbook” initiative, “so that students from
all financial backgrounds can use these important learning tools.”
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow |
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Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Health Care Companies Ill-Disposed to
This Doc
On
the radar screen: a new Michael Moore documentary scheduled for
release in 2007, called “Sicko,” already has pharmaceutical and
health-insurance companies sweating bullets. According to
Ad Age,
many companies in the industry have instructed their employees not
to talk to Academy award-winner Moore, fearing that he’ll take a
less than balanced view of their industry.
Says
the director, whose 2004 film “Fahrenheit 9/11” set the documentary
record for box-office earnings, "I don't think the country needs a
movie that tells you that HMO’s and the pharmaceutical companies
suck. Everybody knows that. I'd like to show you some things you
don't know. So stay tuned for where this movie has led me. I think
you might enjoy it." According to Moore, all of the people profiled
in his film who had bad experiences with the health-care system
ended up getting “free health care… There has been a 100 percent
success rate of the people we're filming getting whatever they need
from the HMO’s, pharmaceutical companies, whatever."
For the rest of us who are ill-prepared
to deal with medical emergencies when they occur, one solution is
becoming increasingly popular: Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s).
Unfortunately, they are a decidedly middle-class solution.
Translation: you need to have money to be able to afford to take
advantage of them. HSA’s do not represent the answer for most of the
45 million uninsured people in this country. Learn about the pros
and cons of Health Savings Accounts at
www.msainfo.net or
http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/features/archives/2004/02/hsa.html
The short version: though expensive up
front, they do guarantee 100 percent coverage after you meet your
deductible; they offer significant tax advantages; and the money you
save in such an account not used to cover medical expenses can be
used for other health-related needs, including paying the premiums
for all-important long term care insurance. Does that make them a
boon for the insurance industry? Probably. That doesn’t mean we
shouldn’t use them to our advantage.
Maybe Michael Moore will tackle the insurance industry next. No,
wait—the energy industry, with its record-setting profits this year,
needs looking into first! One thing is clear: documentarian Moore
will be a busy man for a long time to come.
For
now, though, he’s concentrating on producing “a comedy about 45
million people with no health care in the richest country on Earth."
Read more about and from Moore at
www.michaelmoore.com.
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow |
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Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Role Model Roles
In the hot, sweaty, late August days of summer, when I
was working in the city, if I’d hit a severe case of writer’s block,
I’d sneak off (with my boss’s permission) to the cool, dark comfort
of a movie theater, seeking inspiration. Remembering that today got
me thinking about some favorite financial darlings of the silver
screen—roles that speak the truth about women and their
relationships with money. Here’s a short list of my favorites:
Under the Tuscan Sun:
This comforting 2003 chick flick, in which a divorcee (Diane Lane) finds friends, hope, sex,
love and a beautiful villa in a foreign land, proves that life can
be very good after a breakup. Interesting side note: it’s the woman
in this marital split who pays the alimony.
The First
Wives Club: One of the first chick flicks to hit the silver
screen, this 1996 film features Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane
Keaton wreaking revenge on their ex-husbands who’ve left them for
younger women. Their motto: “Don’t get mad. Get everything!” They
use the proceeds to set up a woman’s shelter.
Alfie: Millions
of woman cheered when, in the perfect male-female role reversal in
the 2004 remake of this film about a habitual womanizer, Susan
Sarandon rejected Jude Law for another man because, as she
explained, “He’s younger than you are.”
Impromptu:
1991 film about the life of 19th century French writer
George Sand (played by Judy Davis), who took a man’s name to publish
her novels (as did the British George Eliot in the same era), and
often wore men’s clothes so that she could walk about more freely,
gathering material for her books.
Nine to Five:
1980 screwball comedy with a heart of gold, taking on issues of
workplace equality with deadly accuracy. Starring the inimitable
Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda as office warriors—and
Dabney Coleman as the chauvinistic boss who just doesn’t get it,
until he gets what he deserves.
In Her Shoes:
Another chick flick, but underlying the
fluff in this 2005 film is the fun of watching the irresponsible
20-something played by Cameron Diaz turn into a very successful
personal-shopping entrepreneur with the encouragement of her
grandmother (Shirley MacLaine).
The Devil Wears Prada:
Much has been written about how realistic this
2006 portrayal of the fashion-magazine business is, but Meryl Streep
as dragon lady Miranda Priestly (loosely based on Vogue’s
editor-in-chief Anna Wintour) gives us a three-dimensional portrayal
of a woman who’s climbed the ladder and knows how to fight to stay
on top. Her protégé’s decision to leave the corridors of monied
Conde Nast for more idealistic, low-rent journalism struck me as
shortsighted at best. Where, after
all, would she have the most resources to do her best work?
Pride and Prejudice:
Whether you’re watching the latest version, starring Kiera Knightley,
or the 1940 version, starring Greer Garson, or any in between, this
entertainment based on the Jane Austen classic, is a bracing
reminder of how far we’ve come from the days when women truly did
depend on the men in their lives for their financial security.
Have you seen any movies worth spending some dough on
lately? Tell us about them.
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow |
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Monday, August 21, 2006
Worried
About Retirement? Six Catch-Up Moves to Make NOW
If
we’re lucky, every once in a while we get a wake-up call that
changes our lives. I had one recently when I realized how little I’d
saved for my eventual retirement (I hope) a long time from now. I
love my work—but not so much that I want to keep doing it for the
rest of my life. Someday I’d like to travel, among other things. I
doubt I’m alone in my procrastination. Below are six catch-up moves
that might benefit us all. If you do just one or two, you’ll be
doing yourself a BIG favor.
1.
Spend less and save more: I know it sounds obvious, but,
unfortunately, there aren’t any magic solutions, any more than there
are any surefire anti-aging potions. Make your saving easier on
yourself by making it automatic. Set up a direct deposit to your
savings account every payday, if you haven’t done so already. If you
have—great! Now double the amount you put in.
2. Free up money to save by paying down your credit-card
debt.
If you have to, get a weekend job so you can pay down those bills.
Stash the money you free up after the cards are paid off into an IRA
or other tax-deferred account, so you can start earning interest,
instead of paying it.
3. Max out your tax-deferred retirement savings plan at
work.
If
you have a 401(k) and you’re not saving the maximum, you’re giving
away free money three ways: first, you may be passing up matching
contributions from your employer; second, you’re losing the value of
the tax deferral; and third, you’re passing up all the compound
interest that money might be earning. The second two apply as well
to any self-employed retirement account, such as a SEP-IRA or Keogh
account. Don’t make the mistake too many women make: cashing out
their 401(k) to use for family expenses or emergencies when they
leave one job and go to another. You need the financial security
that money will give you later on.
4. Get “bullish” on stocks and diversify your portfolio.
Consult a financial planner to make sure you’ve got the best
mix of stocks, bonds and other financial options for your age and
income bracket. Don’t be shy about investing aggressively in the
market. They don’t call investing in the stock market “saving on
steroids’ for nothing.
5. Make sure you’re taking advantage of ALL your tax
breaks.
Traditional IRA’s, education IRAs, health care flexible spending
accounts, and heath savings account (which also provide a
tax-deferred means of paying for long term care) all offer tax
advantages. Use them or lose them.
6.
Downsize to an empty-nest residence and invest the profit in your
nest egg. If you own a home, check what you might be able to get
for it now and how much real estate values are expected to rise in
your area. Now rather than later may be the best time to sell,
downsize to a smaller, cheaper home, and invest the profit
aggressively in your nest egg.
Bottom line:
Make your money work as hard as possible for you—you worked hard to
earn it!
Prosper & enjoy,
Gail Harlow |
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If you like the blog, you’ll love the book.
For more savvy
finance advice, buy
“Making Bread: The
Ultimate Financial Guide for Women Who Need Dough,”
by Gail Harlow and Elizabeth Lewin, available on
Amazon.com and at your local bookstore |
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