Dateline: Wednesday, March 26—At the end of the workday, as the hum of office activity subsided, Bell Investment Advisors’ downtown Oakland office began to fill with a different kind of sound and energy. It was another gathering of The Women’s Roundtable, where a diverse and dynamic mixture of friends, colleagues, clients and professional women come together to share and to learn how to build a financially sound future.
Marivic Hammond, Senior Investment Advisor, presented and led the group discussion. The objective of the evening’s program was to create “FOCUS” in the larger context of one’s financial goals.
Financial stability
Always pay yourself first, be it savings or budgeting for your basic needs.
Objective
Define your objective. What is the financial goal toward which you are aiming? Is it, for example, building cash reserves, saving for a home purchase, or figuring out how to maximize retirement savings?
Clarity and control
With clarity comes empowerment.
Understand your needs,
and ground them with an actionable plan.
Start with simple, easy-to-follow steps.
If the process proves daunting, seek assistance and guidance from your financial advisor. More importantly, celebrate each success along the way.
After separating into small groups, the women shared some successes and challenges surrounding their personal finances.
If you were a fly on the wall, you would have heard…
- A woman, 20+ years into her career, who has put money into a 401(k) every year since her first post-college job. She listened to the advice of older female colleagues at that first job and has consistently and continuously made 401(k) contributions all these years.
- A married woman whose husband controls the spending (and not always in accordance with her wishes), vowing to discuss their differences and find common ground.
- A career coach who did not grow up talking about money, actively engaging in the financial conversation.
Money talks, and so do the women who attend The Women’s Roundtable gatherings. Our next conversation will be on Wednesday, June 25. Will you join us?