September 2023

Did you know that there are a quintillion water molecules in a snowflake? * A quintillion is a 1 (one) with eighteen zeros behind it! That’s a lot!

The rest of this has absolutely nothing to do with snowflakes, but it does have to do with numbers. Knowing numbers and teaching numbers to the up-and-coming generation of girls and women. You’ve probably heard me get on this soapbox before, but why is it that, generally speaking, women discredit themselves when it comes to math, numbers and in particular finances? We need to change that, and that change comes with the young women we have around us.

Women control more than half of this country’s money and wealth. In other words, we are kind of in charge here, we just aren’t always stepping up to the plate. In addition, when it comes to our finances, we have often gotten into the habit of allowing someone else be in charge. Sometimes it is a son or nephew, sometimes a spouse or father. Regardless of who that is, what can we do to take back the reins?

My opinion is, that we engage the next generation. There is a whole new group of young women coming of age who are ready to take charge. My niece (well, great-niece, if I’m being specific) is starting her first year at the University of Michigan (U of M) this fall. If there is one young lady that is motivated to change the world, it would be her. She is smart and ready to learn, and one of many young women we need to take under our wings. We need to educate these young women to make sure they know how to budget and spend responsibly, save for now and for the future, and give where they see appropriate.

Do you have a young woman in your life? For our purposes here, a young woman can be any woman younger than you. We all have wisdom and life experiences we can share. What could we have done better? Should we have had that emergency fund started before we left for college? Did we start our 401k or IRA savings as soon as we had income or a job? If we weren’t working, did we understand our household budget and how to save and spend sensibly?

Society doesn’t prepare us for most of these things. If we were lucky, maybe we took some type of class in school that taught us how to balance a checkbook. I did not. I had to figure it out on my own. In fact, I think the back of my first bank statement explained what to do. Let’s fill in the gaps for those who don’t know what we have learned. I want to hear about that one young woman you can help mentor. Share your story of success with me and then, ask her to pay it forward when the time is right. Together we can close the gap and to make sure, if your young mentee is investing, have her reach out to us to make sure she is on track.

* https://www.snexplores.org/article/how-snowflakemade#:~:text=1.,or%20one%20quintillion%20water%20molecules.