Women Get Advice on Finance
Sunday, March 26, 2006
By D.L. STEPHENSON
dstephenson@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - When it comes to tracking her personal spending, Darlene M. Joaquin of Granby simply does not know where her money goes.

One of almost 500 people who attended yesterday's ninth annual "money conference for women" organized by the state Treasurer's Office, Joaquin has plenty of company.

"I'm a business manager, but ironically my own personal budgeting stinks," said Joaquin who regularly attended talks on social security, savings, investments and other financial topics germane to working women.

The free conference was conducted in Rivers Hall on the campus of Western New England College , where free blood pressure screenings and health information were also available to participants.

For Beverly Ashley of South Hadley , the conference was a way to help "me get a handle on my personal spending."

Like many Americans, both Ashley and Joaquin earn good wages, own their own homes, have sizable disposable incomes, and live relatively comfortably, but they do not seem to see their savings accounts grow.

"I buy a lot of junk," admitted Ashley, who said that catalogue purchases, cosmetics she uses once and then shelves, and bottles of expensive wine are some of her weaknesses. According to Dee Lee, an educator with Harvard Financial Educators, an independent financial education firm, and the day's keynote speaker, Joaquin and Ashley are typical.

Saving money requires discipline, and often people lack the motivation to save when there are so many ways that they can spend money, she said.

But do Americans really need to drive new cars that come with hefty monthly payments? Do they really need bigger homes and expensive time shares in exotic locales?

According to Lee, "People can rationalize anything."

"Seventy percent of people live paycheck to paycheck," she said of wage earners across the economic spectrum.

According to Cynthia L. Gibbons, director of financial education for the state Treasurer's Office, yesterday's conference was geared to all women, but especially to those in their 20s.

Many of those attending work for the commonwealth, and some have attended other fiscal conferences in previous years, Gibbons said.

Although solid financial planning is necessary for both men and women, females face some special challenges.

"Families make up almost half of all of the homeless people in the state, and many of those are headed by women," she noted. In the Boston area, for a mother of two to live without subsidies or public assistance, she must earn $51,284 annually in order to cover health insurance, child care, basic expenses, and rent, according to the "Women and Money" newsletter.