Women's Resources

Select a topic below to visit a section of the resource list:

• General Financial Planning

• Women and Money

• Budgeting and Expense Management

• Children/Family and Money

• Couples and Money

• College Savings

• Credit Issues

• Women in the Workplace

• Investing

• Women and Retirement

• Widowhood

• Estate Planning

General Financial Planning

New York Times - Money Through the Ages - For each stage of life, this site looks at how Americans are coping with their financial circumstances and offers the counsel of financial advisors who are in that particular life stage. Also offers an interactive checklist to help users achieve financial security at each life stage.

www.MyMoney.gov - Established by the US Financial Literacy and Education Commission, this website is a comprehensive government clearinghouse of financial education, literacy programs, and tools offered through various government agencies.

National Endowment for Financial Education - The website of the private, not-for-profit NEFE provides financial literacy tools and materials, as well as information on partnering efforts with other organizations committed to the financial education of Americans.

www.LetsMakeAPlan.org - The consumer website of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, the credentialing organization for CFPs. The site provides information on the importance of financial planning, and a search function to find a CFP® professional. It also links to a video series on Lifelong Financial Strategies, presented by Eleanor Blayney, CFP®, Consumer Advocate for CFP Board.

Women and Money

National Program on Women and Aging - This website provides links to financial resources for women, including sites where you will find financial calculators.

www.DirectionsForWomen.com - Website dedicated to the financial empowerment, education, and unique planning issues of women, and to the advisors seeking to serve them.

Women's Worth: Finding Your Financial Confidence - a book by Eleanor Blayney, CFP®. Offers basic financial planning advice, with the emphasis on the ways this advice needs to take into account the special circumstances of women.

Creating Wealth from the Inside Out  - audiobook and workbook by Kathleen Burns Kingsbury, 2011.

On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance  - by Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar, 2007.

The Secret Currency of Love: The Unabashed Truth about Women, Money, and Relationships - by Hilary Black, 2009.

Money Shy to Money Sure: A Woman's Road Map to Financial Well-Being  - by Olivia Mellan and Sherry Christie, 2001.

Money: A Memoir - Women, Emotions, and Cash  - by Liz Perle, 2006.

Money Rules - A Personal Financial Guide for Women - an online course taught by Manisha Thakor, Harvard MBA and Chartered Financial Analyst on personal finance for women.

Lost and Found: Unexpected Revelations about Food and Money - by Geneen Roth, 2011. Bonnie Damron - website of Dr. Bonnie Damron, LCSW, with interesting blogs on identifying your inner "money story."

www.MoneyClubs.com - Under the umbrella of the Women's Institute for Financial Education, this website provides guidelines for creating women's financial clubs, and suggests agendas for discussion of money basics and financial planning strategies.

Budgeting and Expense Management

Quicken - a commercial software company that offers free or paid subscription services to enable users to track their banking and investment accounts, to create and track budgets, and to manage their expenses and credit cards. Click on "Help Me Choose" to determine which product is best suited to user needs.

Mint.com - Mint is a popular virtual file cabinet for consolidating and updating all your financial information. Each time you log on, the banking, credit card and investment accounts you have entered on Mint are updated, to give you an updated report on your net worth and cash flow status. Based on your account transactions, Mint will alert you to possible savings you can realize by switching to other financial providers or services.

LawDepot.com - an online legal contract with an option for compiling your balance sheet in a format commonly required by banks, lenders, and investors (click on "Personal Financial Statement" under the "Sales, Loans, & Transactions" tab).

Overcoming Overspending: A Winning Plan for Spenders and their Partners - by Olivia Mellan and Sherry Cristie, 1995.

Home Budget Workbook: A Straightforward Guide to Create and Maintain a Practical Budget - by Eleanor Blayney, 2010.

Children/Family and Money

Debt-Proof Your Kids: An Interesting Thing Happened on the Way to Getting a Financially Confident Life ... My Kids Got One Too - by Mary Hunt, 1998.

What Kids Really Want that Money Can't Buy - by Betsy Taylor, 2003. As Executive Director of the Center for a New American Dream, Taylor's mandate is to shift Americans away from rampant consumerism.

It Pays to Talk: How to Have the Essential Conversations with Your Family about Money and Investing - by Carrie Schwab-Pomeranze and Charles Schwab, 2003.

www.DianaChambers.com - Diana Chambers specializes in communication among family members about money. Available as a resource on her website is the article "Children and Money: How Can We Guide Them?" 2008.

www.LendFriend.me - Offers a free management program for loans between family members or friends, and partners with Pay-Pal to allow loan repayments through the website. This service works to put personal loans on a formal, and thereby more successful, footing by providing sample loan documents, loan terms, and loan reports.

Couples and Money

Money Harmony: Resolving Money Conflicts in Your Life and Relationships - by Olivia Mellan, 1995. Excellent book on resolving money issues between partners. Readers can also go to this site to take a free online quiz to determine their "money personality."

Get Financially Naked: How to Talk Money with Your Honey - by Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar, 2009.

Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples - by Harville Hendrix, revised 2009.

College Savings

www.SavingForCollege.com - THE authoritative website on 529 plans and saving for college. Offers information by state on the type of plans offered and features of these plans. User can compare different state plans, get information on financial aid, and find a financial advisor who specializes in education planning.

Credit Issues

www/AnnualCreditReport.com - Established by the three major credit agencies, this is the only official site for obtaining a free credit report from each agency annually, as mandated by law. Do not be distracted by other offers for ╥free╙ reports: often these are teasers for other reports and services for which you will pay a monthly charge.

www.CreditKarma.com - Makes available for free your credit scores (not to be confused with your credit report). Enables users to model the effect of certain credit actions (such as opening a new credit card account, or making payments on a card after the due date) on their credit score.

www.NFCC.org - Website for the non-profit National Foundation for Credit Counseling. - For those with debt problems, this is the first place to go to find an accredited credit counselor in their area. Avoid commercial for-profit credit counseling or consolidators where the fees can be high, and the value dubious.

Women in the Workplace

www.Catalyst.org - Catalyst is an organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for women in the workplace and promoting gender equality in business.

www.WomensMedia.com - A website rich with articles, recommended books, and blogs about business women. One focus of the site is on the issue of pay inequality for women, and how they can negotiate promotions and pay raises more successfully.

Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide - by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, 2003.

The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued - by Ann Crittenden, 2001.

Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success - by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, 2009.

Investing

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing - by Benjamin Graham, 1994, revised 2003. An accessible classic.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street - by Burton G. Malkiel, first published 1973, updated 2011.

Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor - by John C. Bogle, 1994.

Winning the Loser's Game: Timeless Strategies for Successful Investing - by Charles E. Ellis, 2009..

www.Investopedia.com - Popular investment education website providing a comprehensive glossary to investment terms and phrases, and a stock simulator to set up a mock portfolio and track your success (or lack thereof) in buying and selling individual stocks.

www.Morningstar.com - The preeminent source for mutual fund data. Morningstar also features information on ETFs and individual stocks, and offers two membership levels: one free, and a premium subscription that allow in-depth research on investment options and provides tools for portfolio management.

Women and Retirement

Department of Labor - "Women and Retirement Savings" - a print-ready article looking at the retirement savings gap for women. Recommends ways to make the best use of employer-sponsored plans, social security benefits, and personal savings.

www.WiserWomen.org - Website for the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement. Looks at the special threats to women╒s retirement security (such as divorce, longevity, and caregiving). Targeted to low or moderate-income populations and provides a portal to other government, association, and advocacy sites.

My time: Making the Most of the Bonus Decades After 50 - by Abigail Trafford, 2003.

www.TheTransitionNetwork.com - A national community of women over age 50 to provide support for the transition from one career to another in the later phases of life.

www.NORCblueprint - Provides a community action guide to developing a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, which allows seniors to stay in their own homes and still receive special services and assistance.

www.ElderLawAnswers.com - Includes information about Medicaid planning, Medicare and patient rights at nursing homes. Also provides a list of elder-law attorneys nationwide.

Widowhood

Moving Forward on Your Own: A Financial Guidebook for Widows - by Kathleen Rehl, PhD, CFP®.

On Your Own: A Widow's Passage to Emotional and Financial Well-Being, - by Alexandra Armstrong and Mary Donahue, 2006.

Estate Planning

Estate Planning Smarts: A Practical User-Friendly Action-Oriented Guide - by Deborah Jacobs, 2009.

Smart Women Protect Their Assets: Essential Information for Every Woman about Wills, Trusts, and More - by Wynne Whitman, 2009.

www.CaringInfo.com - Website for Caring Connections, a consumer education program run by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization to help individuals dealing with end-of-life issues.

www.HumaneSociety.org - Provides a factsheet on how to include your pet in your estate plans, to ensure that your pet is provided for in the event of your death.