{"product_id":"make-money-not-excuses-isbn-9780307341532","title":"Make Money, Not Excuses","description":"Get Rich, Don't Bitch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eToday, more than ever before, wealth is something every woman has the power to create. Yet Jean Chatzky constantly hears all the excuses why women can’t and don’t master their money. Now, she reveals the secrets and the strategies she created to take control of her own money–strategies through which she gained her “money confidence.” It’s time for you to find yours!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eMake Money, Not Excuses\u003c\/i\u003e Jean shares these valuable lessons:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• Where to start\u003cbr\u003e• How to get over your “I’m not smart enough to deal with money” feelings\u003cbr\u003e• Why being a “good-enough investor” will make more money for you in\u003cbr\u003e   the long-term (while trying to be a “great investor” will drive you crazy)\u003cbr\u003e• How (and where) to save your money\u003cbr\u003e• Why women make better investors––and higher returns––than men\u003cbr\u003e• How to track where you’re overspending\u003cbr\u003e• How to pay off your debt\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJean is unsurpassed in her ability to explain money and investing in simple, straightforward ways. Here she breaks down the scariest parts of dealing with money–from investing in stocks to saving for your retirement–and makes them practical, easy, empowering, and, yes, even enjoyable. This is your road map to real wealth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Chatzky writes like the smart, candid best friend you wish you had.”\u003cbr\u003e–NewsweekPraise for Jean's Work:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Simply brilliant.” —Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of \u003ci\u003eRich Dad, Poor Dad\u003c\/i\u003eJean Chatzky is the editor at large for \u003ci\u003eMoney\u003c\/i\u003e magazine and is the financial editor for NBC’s \u003ci\u003eToday show\u003c\/i\u003e. She is a columnist for \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, the \u003ci\u003eDaily News\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eTravel + Leisure\u003c\/i\u003e. She is also the host of an upcoming PBS weekly series, \u003ci\u003eJean Chatzky’s Your Money\u003c\/i\u003e, and the author of four books, including the bestseller \u003ci\u003ePay It Down!  \u003c\/i\u003e$$$$$$$$$$$CHAPTER 1$$$$$$$$$$$\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I Don’t Know Where to Begin”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e      Don’t Bitch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Getting Over the Unknown\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I am one of the fortunate people who really like what they do for a  living. One of the main reasons I enjoy my work is that it takes me out  into the world. About once a month I travel to far-flung places such as  Phoenix (Arizona), Pasadena (California), Fort Worth (Texas), or Fort  Wayne (Indiana) to talk to groups of people—often groups of women—about  money.  My favorite part of these journeys isn’t the half-hour or so prepared  speech I get to give. It’s the question-and-answer session that comes  after.  Some of the questions are always regional (“Is now a good time to buy a  house in this market?” or “What do you think of the future of the big  national corporate conglomerate that just happens to be based three miles  down the road?”). But others are so wide-ranging I can count on them being  raised whether I’m holding court in Detroit, Duluth, or Des Moines.  Someone generally wants to know: “What’s the best way to choose a  financial adviser?” Someone else typically asks: “Should I be buying  long-term-care insurance for me or my parents?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    But the question I get asked more than any other—the one I get asked every  single time—is the following. It’s never first. In fact, it’s often last .  . . as if the person speaking waited until the moderator said, “We have  time for only three more.” It usually comes out of the mouth of someone  who feels a little silly asking it—who prefaces her question with an  apology to me and the rest of the audience for being “so basic.” And it  goes like this:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I don’t even know where to start. I mean, really. I feel like I know so  little about my money that I don’t even know where to begin. Can you point  me to a book or a magazine or a website or something that can get me going?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Sometimes, the floodgates really open, and the questioner ends with the  complete truth, confession-style: “I’m tired of feeling like a total idiot  about my money.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I have to admit, the person who asks this question immediately becomes my  favorite person in any crowd. Not just because she dug deep and was honest  about wanting help. But because now that she’s revealed that she’s looking  for help, I can do something for her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As I collected—via e-mail—letters and excuses from women around the  country about why they don’t take a more active role managing their money,  this feeling of total inadequacy popped up again and again. From young  women, older women, women with college and graduate degrees, women in the  workforce, stay-at-home moms . . . in other words, from all types of  women, in all parts of the country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    This one, from Rebecca, a stay-at-home mom, is typical:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    For anything else in my life, I would get on the Internet, read some  articles, talk to some people I know, and make a decision. But I’m  paralyzed when it comes to money. I don’t even know where to start.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Jennifer, a publicist, put it even more succinctly:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I don’t know where to begin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    This Is Where You Begin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You’re in the right place: This is where you start. In this chapter, I’m  going to give you a set of tools you can rely on to make any financial  decision, to sound brilliant defending why you’re making it, and to  quickly get on the road to a richer life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    But first, let’s explore why you can’t get started with your money.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Rebecca put it really well when she said: “For anything else in my life, I  would get on the Internet, read some articles, talk to some people I know,  and make a decision.” That, in a nutshell, is how women make nearly every  large, important decision. We do our homework using the resources at our  fingertips—the Internet, newspapers, and magazines. We tend to be  consensus builders so we gather the opinions of the people we trust most:  our mothers, sisters, and girlfriends. We take our time readying a case we  could defend in the toughest of courts, and then (only then) do we pull  the trigger.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Most of the time, as we’ve learned through experience, that sort of  decision making works fine. Say you’re an East Coaster trying to plan a  vacation for your family of five. You know you want to go to the beach in  December. So you hop on the Internet and go to a site like weather.com.  You learn that at that time of year Florida’s weather is inconsistent but  the Caribbean can be counted on for sun. Your spouse wants a direct  flight, so that eliminates a few of the smaller islands. You both want a  short flight, so you focus in on Puerto Rico. Next you surf to  tripadvisor.com to see what people are recommending as kid-friendly places  to stay. You narrow your search to a Westin and a Hyatt. Finally, you talk  to your friends who have been to Puerto Rico, settle on a hotel, book  flights, and emerge confident you’ll have a great vacation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    And that’s, as I said, a fairly large, important, expensive decision. You  make smaller decisions with confidence every single day. Paper or plastic?  Grey’s Anatomy or Law and Order? Coke, Pepsi, or—what the heck—Fresca? You  blow through them as though they’re absolutely nothing. If, occasionally,  you hit a stumbling block—heels or flats? pants or a skirt?—a little trial  and error (or a call to a close friend) does the trick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Why are you able to make these decisions—large and small—with such aplomb?  Because you’ve learned, over the course of your life, that for you there  are right and wrong answers. Fresca gets drunk in your house; Pepsi sits  in the pantry. Grey’s Dr. McDreamy does more for you then Law’s  not-so-dreamy detectives. Unless you’re fighting a spouse over the remote,  there’s no argument. One is better. One is right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Yet in the world of money—particularly in the world of investing—there are  few right answers. Which stock is the best one to buy? Which mutual fund  will rise the fastest? People may claim to know (just turn on CNBC and  you’ll see a dozen of them within an hour), but no one really does. That  makes it tough to get to the starting line, particularly for women.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    We like to know the outcome before we make any decision. That’s why we not  only cook from recipes but prefer that those recipes come from Julia or  Martha or Rachael because we’ve learned that we can trust them. We may  loooove Tom Hanks as much as we love our spouses, but we’re willing to  spend $10.50 for a ticket to his latest picture only after we’ve read a  handful of uncontested reviews. Everything from the books we select for  our book clubs to the doctors we see for our children gets sliced and  diced and picked apart and commented on before we step up to the plate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    And women not only need more information but need it to be broken down  into small, digestible pieces. Along the way, if we’re not convinced of a  particular piece, we stop and ask for help—we’d prefer it from trusted  sources. (Figuring out how to get good help is such a conundrum for women  that I deal with that matter specifically in Chapter 9.) Not surprisingly,  it takes women longer than men to make most decisions. Not just about  money, about everything. Men don’t need to know the answer before they  tackle the question. They tend to say, “Gimme the facts, gimme the  figures, gimme the logic and the rationale, and let me build a machine.”  It’s very much a left-brain approach. They work from start to finish, from  left to right, from point A to point B. If they like Denzel Washington,  knowing that Denzel Washington is in a new movie is enough to make them  buy a ticket. If the end result isn’t totally to their liking, they either  fiddle with the decision to make it more acceptable or—more likely—figure  out a way to defend it, convincing everyone around them (and themselves in  the process) that the outcome was precisely the result they had in mind  all along.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    And there are other complicating factors:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    •The world of money has its own vocabulary. Don’t worry, I define  terms—in English—beginning on page 251.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    •The world of money is shrouded in secrecy. Some progress has been made,  but talking about financial things—how much credit card debt you’re  carrying, the size of your student loans—just isn’t polite. If the number  is too high, friends will think you’re bragging. If it’s too low, they’ll  think you’re asking for a handout. Nobody wins.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    •The world of money involves higher stakes than picking a movie to see on  date night. When you’re deciding whether to contribute to a 401(k) and how  to invest the money you’re contributing, whether to refinance the  mortgage, whether to accept a new job, whether to buy life insurance, or  whom to name as guardian for your kids in your will, money decisions tend  to be important, potentially life-changing decisions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    And there are no right answers. Of course you’re stuck.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The Power of “Good Enough”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The logical next question is: How do you get unstuck? Step one is getting  yourself to acknowledge—no, more than that—to really believe, that in this  particular area of your life, you do not have to be right. Yes, you heard  me correctly. You don’t have to be right. Not only that:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You don’t have to be perfect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You don’t have to be the best.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You don’t have to be at the top of some class.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You don’t have to be the smartest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You don’t have to be the winner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You don’t have to prove yourself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You don’t have to do better than your neighbors or your parents or your  siblings or your friends.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Instead:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You have to be good enough.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    And you have to believe that good enough is just fine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    What does that mean in real terms? It means your investments don’t have to  do better than the market as a whole or better than other people’s  investments. They simply have to do well enough to meet your goals. It  means you don’t have to save more or spend more or make more than   anyone else. It means you have to negotiate these areas of your life well  enough to secure your happiness and make yourself comfortable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You do not have to justify your financial life. Not to the markets. Not to  your friends. Not to your relatives. And, most certainly, not to the men  in your life who may not understand how you can sit there, perfectly  satisfied with your “good enough” portfolio, without reaching for the  stars. (Try not to blame them. It’s in their DNA, just as not taking so  many risks that you can’t sleep at night is in yours.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I know this sounds foreign. We live in a world where relativity is key to  our sense of inner peace. It’s not enough to be thin or smart or funny.  You have to be thinner or smarter or funnier than someone else. The  problem is, in the world of money this kind of measuring up won’t make you  rich. It will make you poor. Why? Because it will entice you to behave in  one of two ways, neither of them any good for your wallet. Either you will  go overboard in your quest for wealth, taking risks that are both  unnecessary and unwise (Amazon at $400, anyone?). Or you will become so  convinced of your inability to be richer than the next guy or gal that,  once again, you will become stuck.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The truly great thing about “good enough”—and the reason it is so   powerful—is that it allows you to get to the starting line in a way that  waiting for the ultimate, best possible result does not. Take an example  that you may have faced dozens of times in the past couple of years:  refinancing your mortgage. Say you’re sitting with a $200,000 30-year  fixed-rate home loan at 63\/4 percent. Rates have fallen to 6 percent.  Refinancing now would save you $98 a month—the difference in your $1,297  monthly payment and the $1,199 new one. But some “experts” have been  quoted in the paper saying they see rates falling to 5 percent, maybe even  lower. Do you refinance now? Or do you wait?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    If you’re expecting the best possible ultimate result, you are stuck. What  if tomorrow rates fall farther? Then you’ll be kicking yourself, won’t you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    But if you’re a believer in the power of “good enough,” you forge ahead.  And then—guess what? Starting tomorrow, you pay nearly $100 less a month.  Over the life of your loan, that means you’ll save $35,314 in interest  alone. If you put the money you’re saving into an IRA or other account  where it can grow tax-free, at the end of those thirty years you’ll have a  fat $147,126 in addition to your paid-off house.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Map to a Million\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    How much more money could you save if you made the little changes I’m  going to suggest to you throughout this book? How much richer could you  be? I want you to see the answers in straightforward numerical terms. I  want you to see the actual dollars—and in some cases cents. So throughout  the chapter I’ve sprinkled lots of little Maps to a Million. Unless  otherwise noted, I’ve calculated returns at 8 percent and assumed that the  savings invested were tax-deferred. Follow the actual steps and you’ll see  the wealth start to add up. Then, starting on page 241, you can see  exactly how fast   incorporating a few of these steps into your life really does add up to a   million—or more!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Refinance a $275,000 mortgage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Prior rate:63\/4 percent\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Monthly payment:$1,783\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    New rate: 6 percent\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Monthly payment: $1,648\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Annual savings: $1,620\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    10-year savings: $24,997\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    20-year savings: $80,182\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    30-year savings: $202,674\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e      If the rates fall to 5 percent—or lower—as the “expert” predicted, you can  always refinance again. But what if rates don’t fall that far? What if the  “expert”—because in this world of no right answers even “experts” can be  off-base—got it wrong? In the world of ultimate perfection, you would  lose. But in the world of “good enough,” you still would come out a winner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Who Are You Doing This For? You!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    My aim is to make you feel like a winner. I want to make you feel better  about yourself and your life. But in order to do that, I need your help.  The unfortunate truth is that taking control of your financial life won’t  work until, like a good diet, you are doing it for yourself. You may be  able to lose five pounds for your husband or your doctor. But you’ll keep  them off only if you’re doing it for yourself. You can buy a book on money  management because it makes your partner happy to see you walking into the  business section of your local bookstore. But you’ll read it and follow  its advice only if you’re doing it for yourself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Sound selfish? It’s the furthest thing from selfish. Becoming financially  self-sufficient is like giving a huge gift to the people you love. It  means you will not be a burden to your parents or your children. If you  are in a committed relationship, having a handle on your own money makes  you a full partner rather than an associate. (And no, having more than  enough money to live on doesn’t mean you don’t have to take the reins. Do  you think your grown children relish the thought of taking over your  checkbook because you never learned how to pay bills during your long  marriage? Think again.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    You are taking control of your money because doing so will make you feel  happier and smarter, more confident, more content, and more useful. Having  a little extra money in your wallet will not make you feel more satisfied  with your life. What you do with the extra money will do that. Having  better control of that money, however, will make a huge difference in how  you view yourself and your place in the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The folks at Real Simple magazine did a study in which they asked women to  describe in a word or two what they’d need to feel successful. Here is  what the respondents said:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Happiness80%\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Peace of mind75%\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Fulfillment71%\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Self-confidence71%\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Freedom70%\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Balance70%\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Learning to manage your own money can help you achieve about every one of  those line items. For JoAnn, who is 68 and retired, it did precisely that.  Here is her story:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    During my growing-up years, there was very little money to manage. At the  age of 10, I asked my parents to give me the money that they would have  spent on my clothes and allow me to do my own purchasing. I was unhappy  with the things my mother bought for me in a very low-end department store  in Detroit. I felt that I could do a better job. I found I could buy three  semi-attractive outfits instead of the six cheaper ones that my mother  purchased. Each year, I added a few better things and even managed to snag  a much-lusted-after cashmere sweater on sale. I was very proud.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Lack of money continued into my married years, this time accompanied by  bill collectors. It was a time of minimum payments on credit cards and  trying to meet the needs of the children. And it was very depressing and  stressful for the whole family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I took a minimum-wage job when the youngest child went to kindergarten.  The job had health benefits and a pension to make up for the low salary.  My husband felt that every cent I earned was needed to reduce our debt and  run our family. I made a decision on my own, however, and signed up at  work to purchase a $25.00 U.S. Savings Bond every two weeks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Each time I was promoted or received a raise, I invested most of that  money in more and higher-denomination bonds. Over the years, I quietly  accumulated the unimaginable (to me) sum of $100,000. My husband and I  managed, through both of our jobs, to resolve our money problems and  shortages. Today, the bonds are untouched in a safety deposit box for use  in case of an unexpected major expense or   a future big surprise for the kids! It was a difficult time for me, and I  never want to be poor again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    In recent years, I have left most of the money management to my husband. I  am knowledgeable about my life-time pension, I know when the Social  Security checks are direct-deposited, and I know where our money is  invested. And I also know I could carry on financially in the future if I  had to.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Can you imagine: $100,000-plus on $25 twice a month. Yet JoAnn did it.  How? By taking control of her life. By taking control and starting to save  even when her husband thought the money would be better spent in other  ways. By doing what she knew was the right thing for herself, her future,  and her kids. And how did managing her own money make JoAnn feel? “Very  proud,” she said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    JoAnn had every right to feel proud. And you can feel that way, too.Every Woman's Guide to Getting Really, Really Rich","brand":"Crown Currency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304708722917,"sku":"NP9780307341532","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780307341532.jpg?v=1767732146","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/make-money-not-excuses-isbn-9780307341532","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}