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Create Wealth By Thinking Differently About Your Money
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WomenBloom | DivineCaroline
July 14, 2008
Wealth: abundance of valuable material possessions or resources. —Merriam-Webster Dictionary
While women can be very successful in creating abundance in other parts of our lives, most of us still have a long way to go when it comes to creating that particular abundance called wealth. Some of the reasons for this are external ones and thus harder for us to control. For example, although the wage-earning gulf between men and women has narrowed within the past thirty years, women still don’t earn as much as men. We lose earning traction when we move in and out of the workforce to have children and to take care of parents.
While these external factors undeniably get in the way of women creating wealth, other significant barriers are internal, based on our self-perception. Lois Frankel, author of Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich: 75 Avoidable Mistakes Women Make with Money, points out some of the unconscious psychological barriers that prevent women from becoming wealthy.
Frankel believes there are three main reasons we aren’t creating wealth as we could be: “(1) we don’t envision ourselves getting rich, (2) we are more concerned with playing our social roles in a way that others consider appropriate, and (3) we don’t develop the skills needed to make wise financial decisions.”
With this knowledge in mind, there are three things you can do to start breaking down barriers and start becoming rich.
Think rich!
If you’re not thinking rich, then you’re not engaging in behaviors that contribute to getting rich. Ever heard of the law of attraction? It states, “Whatever we think about, we bring about.” Which is why another maxim, “The rich get richer, while the poor get poorer” also rings true. The rich are focused on where to put their money to generate more wealth, while those of us who are not rich are often focused on our lack of money, instead of how to create wealth with what we have. Borrow a page from men in your thinking (who are, as a whole, a wealthier group than women): men tend be more bold with their money and choose to invest it, whereas women tend to think they don’t know enough about investing wisely, so they save money instead. Instead of looking at your money as something either to spend or to save, look at it as something to invest. This one change in attitude about money can help you overcome years of conditioning!
“Doing good” and “Doing well” are not mutually exclusive
How are women conditioned? We are conditioned at an early age to think of money in terms of relationships. We’re taught to do good rather than well. We’re encouraged to enter service professions such as nursing and teaching. The choices have broadened over the years, but we’re still encouraged to choose a profession where we can do good, not where we can grow rich. Men, on the other hand, are conditioned in behaviors that help them to obtain positions that create individual wealth.
KaraMarie
2 months ago
8 comments
I must agree with other comments that women take a more caring role in the work place, but you have to look at the bigger picture. Does the money make you happy? I finally decided after 15 + years in the same industry to change my career for a big pay cut to raise my family. We must remember status is not everything and that is the biggest thing that americans need to learn. We put WAY to much emphasis on material possessions like huge gas guzzling cars, and names on labels rather than quality and care for our comminities, schools and people!
ingo4646
2 months ago
226 comments
I hate to admit it, but a lot of this applies to me. When I was laid off in April, I was more worried about how the owner of the company was going to get by than I was about how I was going to get by.
mzbrown
2 months ago
374 comments
As a man thinketh in his heart so is he
Mossboss
2 months ago
2 comments
Wealth is more about thinking big,or small. Sometimes you you have to take responsibility for your self and your actions, whatever mountains you are moving take GOD with you and you'll see just how much millionare potential you really have.
JEHOVAH JIREH!!!! GOD WILL PROVIDE , FOR EVER, he's the cause of all my wildest dreams to materialize all out of thin air, I was young , and I was a caretaker of a child with special needs and overwhelmed with bills, and stack of other things I was going throught, you article really inspired me to mentor to young women who are now facing what I had to go through. A long and lonely road but I made it to the top, and so can they.
I am a female music engineer and it is basically a male territory but I've overcome that, and I have made a name for myself and soon to dominate photography, and image consultant, because women really get a bad wrap in the music industry, we are not all video girls, and we do have bigger brains than men, we just have to use them.
BOC
2 months ago
2 comments
What a broad generalization that over looks many points. I, for instance, am successful and wealthy for my age- but some things are just so much more important than money, like my children and family. So I took a pay cut to raise my children in a much better town for them. My father, like many I know, took the approach to care more about wealth than family and as a result I grew up in a city that was unwelcoming to children and I never saw him. Who cares that we had wealth- I would have rather had a dad.
Also, the article points out that women take jobs which help others- which are going good and not doing well. How horrible to insinuate that women shouldn't follow their hearts to help others, but rather follow their pocket book. Why not point out the social dilemmas surrounding the idea that jobs that help people are under paid and viewed as "not doing well". This article is perpetuating a problem and the idea that women need to change and be like men to be "successful." Perhaps men need to change to be more giving instead. Remember that Gaundi was a lawyer could have been very wealthy, but he followed his heart to help humanity instead- how admirable.
AJaneChambers
2 months ago
172 comments
Highlights the importance of teaching our children, and particularly our daughters, about money, finances, investing v. saving, etc. Many of the men v. women statements in the article hold true for my husband and me, but this can change for younger women.
mydove2001
2 months ago
2 comments
Hmm that's an eye opener and now maybe I will change the way I think and do what is right.Ofcourse it's not easy but then " slow and steady wins the race"
lidy17
2 months ago
2 comments
Great article! =)
ChicagoConcierge
2 months ago
10 comments
These are great points that we need applied to paper towels, trivets, kleenex, etc. We tend to forget these attributes and then wonder "why". Keep up the good work!
Maddie
2 months ago
94 comments
Good points! And good suggestions of changes to make. With regard to choosing an investment advisor--this is a toughie. Most investment advisors are paid on commission and the amount of money they earn is based on the particular instrument they convince you to put your money in. So this is a big BUYER BEWARE. Most community colleges offer one or two day seminars which will introduce you to the types of investments that are open to you. It's very good to be a little educated before speaking to any investment advisor. And this is one decision that you want to mull over and comparison shop. Meet with more than one advisor, from different companies, and tell them what the others recommended. You will then learn if there is something about a particular recommendation that makes it undesirable for you. I was pitched investing in annuities. I did my homework and not only are annuities inappropriate for someone who still has years left in the work force, but the commission on selling annuities is about the highest that one can make. Also, what I was not told by the "pitcher" is that if I pulled out of the annuity in the first two years, there was a very expensive penalty. I'd advise people to take a class and find someone who has no vested interest in where you invest plus financial expertise to bounce ideas off of. There is little recourse for a bad investment. Best to all.
Elorraine
2 months ago
740 comments
What a profound article !! It has gotten me re-thinking the matter of wealth creation.
JennH26
3 months ago
30 comments
Thank you for the great article! Lots of good information!
AngelaK
3 months ago
374 comments
Great article. Postive thinking can be crucial to getting what yo want. If you don't believe it no one else will!
Deneen
3 months ago
320 comments
Wow do I love this article...I strongly believe in the law of attraction and it has worked for me this past year...I am constantly thinking that I am wealthy and have plenty of money and that I can take care of all my bills and have lots more...and it is all happening!!