A Passion for...Finance?

Like many artistically-minded people when the financial aid drones at my school would try (not very hard) to communicate with me about my financial aid, loans, subsidized, non-subsidized, grants, interest, monthly payments, I would usually glaze over trying desperately to understand them and muster some sense out of the words that were tumbling out of their mouths, words that I was pretty sure were English. In the end I, inevitably, would leave the office confused, anxious, and ready for a long nap. I, like so many, tried to play the "I'm an artist and therefore doomed to never understand nor really care about any of what that person was just trying to communicate," card. Finance has always bored me and confused me. It scared me a little because even though I thought I was trying I really just didn't understand what the heck was going on. My mom would always try to get me to write down all my transactions, whether or not I was writing a check, in the hopes that I would keep away from over draft fees and negative balances on my accounts. Needless to say I failed to heed her very good advice.
Recently though I have started to read a book that had been recommended to me by my career development teacher. Many people are aware of the financial wiz and author Suze Orman, she has written many successful books and she even has her own personal finance show. Well, I have been reading the book she wrote specifically for women. "Women and Money" "Owning the power to control your destiny" Now, I looked at this title and thought, "well, that's kinda corny." And believe me having worked in sales and been forced to goodness knows how many conferences that were supposed to motivate and empower me, there are few things I dislike more than "motivational speakers" let alone books. And this book is in some ways a little bit corny but there is method to her corniness. The other night I couldn't sleep and picked it up thinking THIS is sure to knock me out. What ended up happening was I am now kind of excited about taking control over my personal finance. It's a nice thought that I am still young and recently gainfully employed which means I can learn now to save well and make my money work for me; after all, I worked hard to get it. This particular book is really geared towards women which is nice because she really faces facts about how women treat money. Or, as she puts it, what kind of relationship women typically have with their money. Which tends to be a relationship with lots of fear,uncertainty, and neglect. She challenges us women to respect ourselves enough to understand how to take care of ourselves financially, instead of relying on our parents, husbands, boy-friends, brothers, or accountants. Lets face it, any day something could happen to those we rely on. Our parents could pass away, our boy-friends could leave us, or our accountants could be crooks. You just never know and even if you have someone handle your accounts you should at least know enough that you can check and balance your own financial life in order to secure your own financial future and hopefully freedom. Now, I'm not about to quit my job to become an investment banker but I really feel she has some excellent points about how women tend to treat their financial affairs and it has really inspired me to change some of my behaviors and even to put new behaviors into practice. I could go on and on about what she says to do but I really suggest you just go out and either buy a copy for yourself or head down to your neighborhood public library and read this book. It's an easy read and she uses real, easy to understand words not just financial mumbo-jumbo. And she focuses not only on money but how we treat ourselves and how we value ourselves, which in turn dictates how the rest of the world values us. Anyway, I'm not completely done reading it yet but I am pretty excited about this. I hope my recommendation helps you toward a better financial future. Because wealth and happiness is sexy, and sexy is always in style.