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| Uncommon Sense | 7 women get naked, financially
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Consider this the 'before' picture. One intrepid columnist and her flock of 'money chicks' expose their money fears and foibles at the start of a quest to shape up their finances.
By MP Dunleavey
Editor's note: Columnist MP Dunleavey and six other women have come together online to strip away the myths surrounding money, lay bare their assets and liberate themselves from debt. Follow their quest for financial fabulousness every second Monday in Dunleavey's column on MSN Money.
Would you tell the world what you earn? How much debt you have? The exact amount in your investment accounts?
Hell, no. You probably wouldn't reveal that much to your best friend.
Nonetheless, a few months ago my editor suggested that I gather a group of women who would be willing to talk about their money issues -- and have me write about them.
That seemed like a great idea -- until he let me know (at the last minute, if you want to know the truth) that he wanted these women to not only use their real names, but real numbers.
Including me.
Part 2: Unloading big financial commitments
Follow along as one of these women realizes shes in over her head financially. Read the next article in this series: "Climb out of your financial black hole."
Shattering the cone of financial silence
I had a cold, dry taste in my mouth when I contacted the women with this new development. I felt like I was asking them to strip naked in front of me and potentially millions of readers.
Money today is the equivalent of bare flesh in the Victorian era. You can hint at it, whisper about it, speculate wildly about it -- but for God's sake, keep it hidden!
But to my surprise, of those who had committed to the group, all but one agreed to extreme financial self-exposure.
Related news and commentary on MSN Money
So what could I do but, shivering, step out of my comfortable columnist duds to be as naked as they are. ("Fear Factor" has nothing on this group. Snakes? Needles? Try broadcasting your income on the Internet.)
Why we hide our financial selves
For me, the reasons I was willing to bare all were:
- I think the reason out-of-control materialism and ballooning consumer debt are ruining our culture is that, on some level, we're all afraid to take a long hard look at ourselves and our money.
- I didn't want my fellow money chicks to think I'm a big wuss.
And as I asked each woman to explain why she was willing to expose the truth about her finances, I was amazed by the answers.
"I was raised that talking about money was inappropriate and rude," says Brice, 36, of New York City and a contributing editor to various decorating magazines. Unfortunately, she adds, "The only thing I did learn about money growing up was that you didn't talk about it -- and that's part of why I'm in the financial situation I'm in today."
The benefits of financial honesty
Like all of the women in the group, Brice has some financial issues she'd like to get on top of -- a monthly freelance income that fluctuates between zero and $9,000 (as freelance incomes do), about $10,000 in school and consumer debt, and a strong desire to become a better money manager for both present and future goals. She hopes to save for a down payment on a home and learn how to invest.
Most important, however, like the other women in the group, Brice believes that keeping financial truths under lock and key only perpetuates denial and prevents people from making true financial progress: "I was reading an article by Suze Orman, and she said that if you want to change your (money) habits, you have to put everything on the table. You have to admit the truth about where you're at."
Beth, 37, who works for the federal Bureau of Land Management in Oregon, couldn't agree more. Her parents had a good income, she says, but they never managed their money well. As a result, money was always a stressful topic, fraught with confusion in her family. "Nobody ever talked about what was really going on," she recalls.
Now, Beth, also the mother of a 16-month-old, is all about putting it out there. "Partly that's my personality. If you ask me what I think about something, I'll tell you." But mainly she doesn't see any benefit to hiding the financial facts.
In fact, Beth fearlessly sent me a complete financial dossier -- everything from her household income ($53,000) to her federal retirement account ($43,000) to the balance in her checking account ($500), her husband's remaining grad school loan ($8,500) and their credit-card debt ($6,000).
Growing up financially
For some women, like Kinnera, 27, who works for a not-for-profit in New York, financial self-disclosure is tied to becoming a financial grown-up. In grad school a few years ago, "everyone was getting credit cards, and they told me it was a good idea." So she got seven.
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