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4 Takeaways from 3 Renowned Personal Finance Experts

Money Smart Week podcast series episode numbers

We share four takeaways from our podcast interview series with three renowned personal finance experts. This show is made possible by FinancialFreedomTool.com.

This is our wrap up show for Money Smart Week, a national public awareness campaign coordinated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, to help individuals and families better manage their personal finances.

To participate this year, we put together a special podcast series, featuring tips from three world-famous personal finance experts from their newest book:

On The BIGG Success Show today, we shared three of our favorite moments from the series, as well as our key takeaway from each of the authors and the BIGG overall takeaway. Here’s a summary of that discussion…

Favorite BIGG Moments

Remember math class? Our favorite moment with Erin was when she compared math class to investing. And it doesn’t have anything to do with numbers! Here’s Erin:
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Jean Chatzky on Women with Money

Money Smart Week Guest on BIGG Success Jean Chatzky

NBC’s TODAY show financial expert Jean Chatzky joins us to talk about her new book, Women with Money. This show is made possible by FinancialFreedomTool.com.

Today’s show is part of our special podcast series for Money Smart Week – coordinated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to help individuals and families better manage their personal finances. Learn more at MoneySmartWeek.org.

Today, on The BIGG Success Show, we were thrilled to talk with Jean Chatsky. She’s NBC’s TODAY Show financial expert, the owner of HerMoney Media at HerMoney.com, co-host of the HerMoney podcast, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author, and the list goes on.

Jean joins us today to talk about her latest book, Women with Money: The Judgment- Free Guide to Creating the Joyful, Less Stressed, Purposeful (and, Yes, Rich) Life You Deserve*. Here’s a summary of our discussion…

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The Mommy Wars and Life On Your Own Terms

women and life on their own terms | BIGG SuccessA media frenzy occurred recently when Democratic consultant Hilary Rosen said on a news network that that Ann Romney, wife of Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, never had to work to pay the bills and should not be her husband’s advisor on women and the economy.

Listen to this post. Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast. (Duration 8:50)

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She was responding to a statement Mitt had made on the campaign trail about women telling Ann that economic issues are the ones they care about most. Rosen said: “His wife has actually never worked a day in her life.” She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing.”

After the backlash, Rosen apologized: “As a mom I know that raising children is the hardest job there is. As a pundit, I know my words were poorly chosen.”

Since BIGG Success is life on your own terms, we wanted to take on this subject and some of the arguments surrounding it.

Mitt is rich

It’s true that life on your own terms will have its limitations based on your circumstances. But what are you doing today to help you get to where you want to be? Maybe you can’t get exactly where you want, but how close can you get?

We don’t have complete control over what happens to us in life. A marriage falls apart. Your position at work is cut. Your health takes a turn for the worse. A career choice doesn’t pan out.

You can be angry at those who have what you don’t, but that’s not going to help you! What will help is to adapt and transform your vision.

She’s never had to work to pay the bills

We have chosen to work together here at BIGG Success. It is a partnership that helps us live life on our own terms. In both of our cases, our parents decided as a team that dad would work and mom would stay at home. That was life on their own terms. We know couples who have kids and both work. Like we’ve always said…if it works for you it works! And it takes work to make it work.

She can’t relate to working women

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Mary-Lynn FosterMy mom worked her tail off at home. Cooking, cleaning, being our “chauffeur”, taking care of the bills.

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George KruegerMom was the CFO and COO of the household…if not the CEO. Come to think of it, maybe my dad was just labor!

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Mary-Lynn FosterI chose to have a career outside of the home. But I could certainly still relate to my mom. I admire the sacrifices she made to live life on her own terms.

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Regardless of the decisions each of us make, there are commonalities that we all share.

Religious pressure and feminism

There are religions that encourage women to put family first. There were even societal pressures for a long time that did the same. Ultimately, a woman has to decide for herself what she wants.

The women’s movement of the 1960’s and 70’s sought and achieved equal rights and opportunities for women in their economic activities, in their personal lives, and in politics.

Women today can choose their direction in life. So why on earth would a woman insult and discount another woman for the choice she made? Doesn’t this contradict what the movement was all about?

The 2-g’s in BIGG stands for “goal-getters”. Goal-getters don’t let jealousy get the best of them. Goal-getters adapt when obstacles get in the way. Goal-getters surround themselves with people who can help them achieve their goals. Goal-getters don’t insult those who’ve walked a different path. Goal-getters learn from everyone’s experiences. Goal-getters are empowered by choice. Goal-getters don’t let anyone tell them what their terms should be. That’s BIGG Success.

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Women Entrepreneurs and the Problem with a Safety Net

women entrepreneur succeed BIGG with no safety netWe saw a great post on BNET a while back. It was by Margaret Heffernan, author of a great book Women on Top. She talked about entrepreneurs and risk.

When writing her book, she conducted a study and found:

  • women generally start their businesses with less money
  • they have a higher success rate
  • their firms are more profitable
  • they create more jobs

What is their secret?

She notes that “the most successful had taken huge risks.”

What did they have on the line?
Savings? Check.
Houses? Check.
Retirement accounts? Check.

Did they have a product? No.
Customers? No.

Most importantly, she points out that they had no safety net.

This reminds us of something one of our friends once told us.

He started out in the corporate world. He was receiving promotions and pay increases.

So his employer was disappointed when he told them he was going to leave to start his own business. They told him he could come back at any time.

That’s where the story gets interesting. He told us that whenever things got tough, he always remembered what they said.

And it almost kept him from succeeding!

So he mentally threw their offer away. He told himself he had no other options. He had to make it. He had to win. He had to be a BIGG success.

Now he’s a millionaire many times over, in part, because he wouldn’t turn back. He wouldn’t lose. Because he couldn’t afford to.

A safety net can keep you from reaching BIGG success. Do you have a safety net?

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Believing is Seeing – Part 2

Complete Guide to Vision Boards Christine Kane

Today on The Bigg Success Show, we continued chatting with Christine Kane about vision boards. Last time, Christine shared how vision boards helped her make a u-turn in her career. Now she teaches others how to use them through her retreats and coaching programs. Let’s get back to the conversation  to learn the 3 types of vision boards.

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