April Founder’s Message

by Pauline Field

April is Financial Literacy Month, which in itself shows its importance, otherwise there would be no need to mark a month in this way.

Several years ago we conducted a focus group among young women who had grown up in foster care and asked them to rank several ideas of programs we were thinking of offering to them. Unanimously, they ranked money management at the top.

Thinking about this past year and how many women lost their jobs or left their jobs to care for their children who were now at home instead of at school, I have read the stories of women who had savings to draw on, and those that did not.

If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you are not living paycheck-to-paycheck as so many women are. At 50/50 Leadership our vision is for half the leaders to be women, including those who self-identify as women. How can a woman think about being a leader when she has to wonder where money for the basics of housing, food and transportation are coming from? Whether she is living independently, is a single mom, or has to live with others to make ends meet, when you are watching every penny, there is not much time or emotional energy to be thinking of much else.

Financial literacy is a critical element in today’s world. Without the knowledge of how to save and to invest in themselves, they are at a disadvantage and it makes it so much harder to get off the hamster wheel of never enough.
Need to up your financial literacy? We will soon be launching Money 101 for women in college and those just starting in their careers, and also Investing 101, which takes the mystique out of the stock market and more.

Register today for the virtual Roundtable on Financial Literacy, Saturday, April 3rd, 10:00 am PDT/1:00 EDT. Save My Seat