Musings & Amusings

Can’t say I was a fan of Leaning In so loved Lucy Kellaway’s comments (didn’t read the whole book I confess):

Stop leaning in at once. It isn’t a comfortable position to adopt, and I’m not at all surprised to hear that after 18 months you are suffering in body and soul. Forget Sheryl Sandberg and try my three easy rules for leaning out which I have been perfecting for the past quarter of a century.

1. Never ever go to any evening events for work unless you think they would be a) enjoyable, b) useful in a specific way, or c) not going would do you harm. In my experience so few things fall into any of the categories; it means only turning up to things once or twice a year. This has the advantage that when you do present yourself you are such a novelty that everyone will want to talk to you. It’s called scarcity value. Choke off the supply of yourself, and watch the price go up.

2. Try to work out what you are measured on. If you are a fund manager, presumably you are measured on whether you make any money for your clients. This isn’t directly related to the amount of time you spend, so do it as well as you can — and then go home.

3. Stop caring quite so much. That doesn’t mean performing worse, it means worrying less. This is one of the main advantages of having children. They are a reminder that work only matters up to a point. Most mothers get this wrong by feeling full of guilt — when they are in one sphere they look over their shoulders worrying about what they aren’t doing in the other.

Source: Financial Times

Read More

Everyday Money

Setting Aside Shame and Blame in Financial Decisions

Shame fails at changing behaviour, it can also trigger the very mistakes we’re trying to avoid. Shame is something we internalise, and we capture it with a statement like, “I’m a bad person.” With guilt, we focus on the action and say, “I made a mistake. That’s really dumb.” In other words, we make shame about us, but guilt is about the event.

Think about the last money conversation you may have had with a spouse or partner. Imagine there was a financial “event,” and with the benefit of hindsight, you label that event a mistake. What happens next has probably happened to all of us at least once. One or both of you may have shamed and blamed the other for the mistake. One couple I know experienced such an event, and I have watched them shame and blame each other for the last decade. 

So to help you stick to the rule, I want you grab a hat and a Sharpie. No, really. Grab an actual hat and a Sharpie. Maybe one of those trucker hats with an oversize crown. Then, across the front, write, “No shame. No blame.” Every time you talk about money, wear your hat.

Source: NY Times

Read More

Who's Counting?

8 Ways Women's Lives Have Changed For The Better Since 2005

1. More women have access to higher quality health care.
2. Women's representation in politics is higher than it's ever been.
3. Same sex marriage is legal
4. Women’s equality in the workplace has improved – along with our ability to fight for it.
5. The entertainment industry finally started to recognise that women are consumers of pop culture, want to see our experiences represented, and are pretty good at telling those stories for ourselves.
6. Young, single women caught up to their male peers in some professions.
7. We see more and more women at the top of their fields, actively paving the way for the next generation.
8. Women's voices and experiences are better represented in the media - especially online - bringing new weight to the term "lady blog."

Read More

Finance & Investments

The key component of personal finance is financial planning, which is a dynamic process that requires regular monitoring and reevaluation. In general, it involves five steps:

1. Assessment: A person's financial situation is assessed by compiling simplified versions of financial statements including balance sheets and income statements. A personal balance sheet lists the values of personal assets (e.g., car, house, clothes, stocks, bank account), along with personal liabilities (e.g., credit card debt, bank loan, mortgage). A personal income statement lists personal income and expenses.
2. Goal setting: Having multiple goals is common, including a mix of short- and long-term goals. For example, a long-term goal would be to "retire at age 65 with a personal net worth of $1,000,000," while a short-term goal would be to "save up for a new computer in the next month." Setting financial goals helps to direct financial planning. Goal setting is done with an objective to meet specific financial requirements.
3. Plan creation: The financial plan details how to accomplish the goals. It could include, for example, reducing unnecessary expenses, increasing the employment income, or investing in the stock market.
4. Execution: Execution of a financial plan often requires discipline and perseverance. Many people obtain assistance from professionals such as accountants, financial planners, investment advisers, and lawyers.
5. Monitoring and reassessment: As time passes, the financial plan is monitored for possible adjustments or reassessments.

Areas of focus
The six key areas of personal financial planning are:
1. Financial position
2. Adequate protection
3. Tax planning
4. Investment and accumulation goals
5. Retirement planning
6. Estate planning

Yes, I know I’ve written about this before but it is always worth repeating. More on this topic in “Girls Just Want to Have Fund$,” “Money, Money, Money Ain’t it Funny” and “Smart Money” available now as ebooks.

Read More

Who's Counting?

Why Swedish men take so much paternity leave

ALONG with its Nordic neighbours, Sweden features near the top of most gender-equality rankings. The World Economic Forum rates it as having one of the narrowest gender gaps in the world. But Sweden is not only a good place to be a woman: it also appears to be an idyll for new dads. Close to 90% of Swedish fathers take paternity leave.

 

Forty years ago Sweden became the first country in the world to introduce a gender-neutral paid parental-leave allowance. But the policy was hardly a hit with dads: in the scheme's first year men took only 0.5% of all paid parental leave. Today they take a quarter of it. One reason is that the scheme has become more generous, with the number of paid leave days for the first child being bumped up from 180 to 480. But it has also been tweaked to encourage a more equal sharing of the allowance. In 1995 the first so-called "daddy month" was introduced. Under this reform, families in which each parent took at least one month of leave received an additional month to add to their total allowance. The policy was expanded in 2002 so that if the mother and father each took at least two months' leave, the family would get two extra months. Policies similar to the Swedish "daddy months" have been introduced in other countries. Germany amended its parental-leave scheme in 2007 along Swedish lines.

Since Swedish men started to take more responsibility for child rearing, women have seen both their incomes and levels of self-reported happiness increase. Paying dads to change nappies and hang out at playgrounds, in other words, seems to benefit the whole family.

Source: The Economist

Read More

Why?

Club rules keep women out of the network

A week ago Lady Judge, the newly appointed chairman of the Institute of Directors, held an unusual party. 

The room at the London club’s grand headquarters in Pall Mall was filled with the great and the good(ish): over champagne and canapés, the UK home secretary and the head of the Royal Mail hobnobbed with a former Lord Mayor of London and other senior figures in business and politics. Nothing out of the ordinary, one might think. London’s establishment loves to get together, and gatherings such as this do much to oil the wheels of power. 

But what was almost unprecedented for an occasion of this sort was that the room was entirely full of women.

Those at the Garrick Club opposed to women members have come up with a range of explanations for why they do not want to share their space, some more feeble than others. Among the lamest is the excuse put forward by several that the Garrick provides a welcome respite for men who otherwise could not resist showing off to impress women — “an innate male characteristic”, as one told The Independent, “whether you are a bird or an animal”. Pity the men who are forced to exhaust themselves with such displays.

Source: Financial Times

Read More