The New In Having It All

We live in a unique moment in history when women, for the first time, can decide how they wish to be in the world. Women can choose whether to have children; whether to have a life partner; whether to work inside or outside the home; and where to place their time and energies. We now have role models for nearly any life composite we wish to create. We feel less compelled to conform our livestyle choices to societal expectations. Having it all is a reality for women today. And having it all does not mean doing it all. Rather, it is a new version of having it all, one where you carefully and consciously devise choices and strategies that reflect and enhance your own personal vision of an optimum life.

Our Mission. The mission of The New Having It All is to develop and facilitate strategies to help women in all walks of life optimize work-life balance and fit. We focus on work-life integration because, in our experience, it is the stumbling block that most frequently causes women to feel unsuccessful in their lives.

What Makes Us Unique. There are three things that make The New Having It All unique among the various firms that address work-life balance issues:

1. We work with women in all walks of life, in all stages along the sequencing spectrum. This gives us a vantage point from which to understand the needs and concerns of each stage along the trajectory of women's lives.

2. We have no preconceived agenda for the women with whom we work. Rather, The New Having It All is based upon the premise that every woman must discover for herself what her all will be. Our role is to raise the right questions; develop and demonstrate the best tools; propose alternative courses of action; provide research and analysis; and offer the benefits of our own experiences and the knowledge we have garnered in working with scores of women in similar situations.

3. Our sessions offer a unique blend of motivation, inspiration and personal development on one hand, and hard data, research and analysis, and tangible tools on the other. We are experienced speakers and teachers and connect with our audiences in a way that sends each participant from our sessions with a greater sense of optimism about her ability to define her all--and a practical road map for achievement.

It’s time. It may be way past time, for you to truly, deeply, understand your money, and to make it work for you. Financial literacy is a critical tool on your journey to have it all, to order your life and to provide you some peace of mind. Perhaps the current economic crisis can have a silver lining. If you wince when you see the retirement account statements in the mail, have always wondered if you have a favorable banking arrangement, or question whether yours is the best available credit card, then decide that the time is now to educate yourself about your finances, large and small. Put to rest the nagging sense that you never did “get a handle,” not completely, on the many components that are your financial house, or house of cards. And while you’re at it, decide to educate your daughters, too.

We are not financial experts at The New Having It All, but we recognize that financial literacy is one of the tools women need to have in their navigation kits as they plot and design their optimum lives. Financial knowledge has never before been as essential as it is right now. Whether you currently work outside the home, are considering reentry as your children grow, find yourself on a fast track to workforce reentry due to the current economic changes, or are facing retirement with concern about depleted retirement account assets, you do have power. You may not have the power to turn the behemoth economy around on your own, but you have the power to learn about your money and make sound choices about your financial future.

In Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny, it-financial guru, Suze Orman, gives you a five-month step-by-step, financial education to-do list. Orman begins with a few comforting segments which demonstrate that she understands the various circumstances in which women find themselves relative to their finances--as daughters, wives, mothers, volunteers, or professionals who delegated all matters financial to others. She jettisons the excuses, the blame, the shame and gets down to particulars. Knowledge is power is control, and this book is packed with information and resources to guide you there. Topics include: checking and savings accounts, emergency savings, credit cards and FICO scores, good debt/bad debt, must-have financial affairs documents, and insurance. She gives enough to-do lists to soothe even the most concrete task-oriented soul. She provides candid scripts to help you discuss money with your spouse, your aging parents and your children. You course through the book energized and motivated, for at last someone has shown you how to overcome the void that is your financial literacy.

Don’t stop there. Give your daughter a leg up, so she will never have to experience the anxiety that accompanies lack of control in her financial life. Billed as a teen guide, Jessica Blatt’s The Teen Girl’s Gotta-Have-It Guide to Money: Getting Smart About Making It, Saving It and Spending It, may skew a bit younger, but is a solid start for girls from 10-16 to begin to owning responsibility for their financial lives, with tips on getting first jobs, earning, saving, spending, donating and investing money, as well as an overview of the pitfalls and benefits of credit. Couple this book with a savings bond for the holidays for a young woman you love.

Click here to purchase Women & Money or The Teen Girl’s Gotta-Have-It Guide to Money.