Peas and Pearls: September 2008

It has been so long since my last post but I hope to get better at staying more current. Last night Melanie Johnson of Athena Wealth Management came to talk to our stay-at-home moms group's "Moms Night Out with a Message." I have been hosting these series with topics that include Taming Tantrums, Healther Food Alternatives for Toddlers, Beyond Birds & Bees, Fall Styles for SAHMs, Self-Care for Moms, Nurturing our Parenting Partnerships, and Mamas & Money: Eliminating our Limiting Beliefs About Money.

In this ecomony, it is easy to feel afraid of our financial futures. As SAHMs, we are already living within a one-income structure and all the emotional "stuff" that comes with it. Melanie spoke to us about examining the financial beliefs we learned in childhood and how to begin to change the thoughts that hold us from feeling wealthy on many levels. Once we acknowledge our current relationship with money, we can choose to act more powerfully.

I really appreciated the openness of the moms who were willing to share about how their mothers and fathers handled money and how some were subconsciously repeating the not-so-benefical behavior. These included shopping trips where purchases were hidden from the spouse, a dad who insisted on controlling all of the family's finances, and a mom who was extremely successful in the corporate world, but handed over all her paychecks at home.

Next, Melanie recommended some ways that we can pass on more positive money messages to our children. From identifying shapes and colors of coins for tots, to ways of dividing that hard-earned babysitting money (10% savings, 10% charity, 10% investing, 70% spending), to how to find ways to buy that expensive toy together, to methods of encouraging delayed gratification, which will lead to prosperity.

Some of the Web sites she recommended for great information are:

http://www.wife.org/ (womens institute for financial education)
http://www.msgen.com/
http://www.prosperity4kids.com/
http://www.kiplinger.com/
http://www.bankrate.com/
http://www.mom.salary.com/ or http://www.salary.com/ (find out your mama salary!)

Jackie, one of the moms who attended has taken the lead in getting us together to form an investment club. I love how she says:

"Some of us are interested in exploring the idea of getting together fairly regularly to talk about investing ideas and ways to make ourselves more aware of finances, monetary goals, and good practices we can teach our children from the beginning, etc. These are just a few ideas. I believe one of the main goals is to be present in a conversation about money so we don't feel unprepared/left out/'dumb'."

For those interested in exploring this topic further, Melanie is co-hosting an event with Dr. Pam Monday, a licensed marriage and family therapist and counselor, for "Secrets of Successful High Earners." It is scheduled for Friday, October 3 from 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at Carmelo's, 504 East 5th Street, Austin, TX 78701. Check out womenandmoneyworkshops.com.

I'll end this post with some photos of Gabriel at my recent soccer games. I've joined the Round Rock Women's Soccer League and play for an over-30 7v7 team called "Just Add Lime." We also play indoors at SoccerZone as the "Purple People Eaters." Playing again at 40 has been a blast!