Excuses, Excuses: 3 Reasons Why Women in Business Are Still Broke

Excuses, excuses.  There are reasons why you're still broke. Do you treat money with the respect it deserves? Perhaps you ignore your money (or should I say the balance in your checking account) except when you need to buy that pair of shoes on sale. Or, you live from pay-check to pay check, hoping you’ll make it to the end of the month, but never quite sure. Anxiety provoking? Yes. On one side of the money coin are those that aren't making enough money and struggle. But, I hear from women all the time on the other side of the NO Respect coin. They make plenty of money, but don’t know where it goes or feel out of control because they're not managing it well.

First Excuse: Not saving enough. This is the #1 suggestion in Money Magazine’s July 2012 article “101 Ways to Build Wealth” – instead of 10% of your pay, start saving 15% - boosts your pre-retirement income from 57% to 69% and that’s huge. Retirement comes faster than you can imagine!

Excuse #2:  Women Spend on Piddly Things: Women spend on beauty products, shoes, purses – things that don’t last and don’t add real value to their wealth. LearnVest says “spending on a vacation or a clothing item that revolutionizes your wardrobe are totally worthwhile and prioritize your spending.”    *hyperlink and hyperlink back to one of my blogs)

Excuse #3:  It's My Parents Fault: Yes, our parents spending, saving or earning habits affect how we feel and think about money. Are you frugal to the point it hurts? Or are you an avoider like your mom was? Or a bit of a tyrant with others as your dad could be around bill paying time?  Becoming aware of how our parents money habits affects ours starts the process of unhooking and reclaiming our own responsible relationship with our money. Are you ready to give up your excuses? Money is not important for the paper or coin it is – it’s important for the choices it gives us. Do you ever look in the mirror and wonder: What are the steps to going from broke to respectful with my money?  

The Secret Language of Money

If you've been reading this blog you know I've been expanding my study of the subject of "money" this year. We need to know how to manage our money beyond the nuts and bolts of budgets and retirement planning. Do you know why you have trouble getting past certain life long money patterns? To understand what's drives the bus of your challenging money behavior here's a story from "The Secret Language of Money" by David Kreuger MD.  Two anthropologists went to two separate yet identical ape colonies to live and observe for a year. After the anthropologists finished their year they compared notes. One had been accepted and assimilated into the colony, the other never was. They couldn't understand why - until one anthropologist admitted he had kept a gun with him. He never used it or showed it, but at some level, he knew it was there. The gun kept him from fully committing - it was his out.

Now, how does the anthropologists hidden gun relate to the story we make up and play out with money. Dr. Kreuger says our money stories are "the subconscious tale you tell yourself about who you are, what money means to you and what it says about you. Our money story isn't only about money. It's about everything." (Kreuger)

What does your money story say about you? Ask yourselves these questions:  1) What's the greatest annual income I can reasonably expect to earn?  $_____   2) What is the greatest annual income my money story will allow me to have?  $_____   Until you become aware of the story that lives underneath the way you operate with money, nothing will really change. Oh, you can create a budget, or tinker with affirmations, but I know from experience that until there's a deep inner shift created with awareness and new behaviors and practiced over time, your money story can't really change.