We are all feeling the crunch of the economic crisis and honestly it's pretty depressing at this point. It's caused me to think lots about my money, saving, spending, and my future. I've spent time and energy planning of 401Ks and IRAs, and I don't even know if these things even exist when I retire. I'm putting money into this magical fund that is supposed to grow over time (depending on the economy) and should take care of me when I want to stop working or when I reach age 65. This is a lot of faith in the system and a lot of money that I'm putting towards it. Treasury bills are now in the negative, meaning that instead of you getting paid interest to put your money in the Treasury, YOU have to pay THEM Look at that Madoff situation...all these old folks lost their life savings.
I foolishly expected that the "American dream" was something I would wake up to. You go to school, get your degrees, work every day and handle your business; thus you're supposed to be able to afford a house, a marriage and kids (if you so desire), clothes, plasma TVs...whatever you want because you did what was expected. Now that I think about it, maybe that is the crux of the problem. Society is rebelling against itself. The system is broken! And I feel like I'm breaking right along with it.
Another reason I've got money on my mind is that Venus is in my sign, Aquarius, right now (and through the end of the month), which is best known as the planet of love, but is also the planet of money. I didn't really see the connection between the two concepts until I was up flipping channels and came across Suze Orman's special, "Women and Money." Thank Goddess for public television. Donate.
I love watching Suze Orman. She is no nonsense, and has this innate ability to help people connect to themselves through their money issues. She often talks a lot about the connection between self-esteem and money since apparently your relationship with money says a lot about your relationship with yourself. I can see it in action personally and socially. Think about the phrase "retail therapy". You feel shitty about something/anything and the antidote is to go spend money you don't have for a material item that will temporarily make you feel better about yourself (until you get the bill or look at your account. And with our credit-driven culture, it's easy to just go shopping and rack up bills instead of dealing with the problem at hand. We buy "stuff" to fill voids within us.
So Ms. Orman laid out these 8 things that women need to find in their lives to obtain financial freedom. I think these are things that women, and all of us, need to have to live in balance (that's number 2)...so that all things (love, money, career, family, health) can fall into place.
1) Harmony
When you find harmony within, you will feel...
2) Balance
The goal is to stabilize so you can move forward with...
3) Courage
It's the bravery to face reality and truly take care of self.
4) Generosity
Often women are generous to others before they care for themselves. But when we are taking care of ourselves, we find...
5) Happiness
When we are happy, we want to clear that cutter leading to...
6) Cleaniness
Clearing the clutter (mentally and physically) helps us appreciate our...
7) Beauty
She actually said verbatim that "we are goddesses." I was sold.
8) Wisdom
When we feel beautiful all over, we know our worth and power. We can make the right choices for us.
These are my rough interpretations but make sense in my life. Since I can't control Wall Street, stocks, Treasury bills, bonds and all that abstract shit; I'm going to concentrate on something I can attempt to understand: myself.
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