Women & Wealth

Are You Really Playing Full Out? It Matters…A lot!

Which game are you playing? It’s an important question I learned from interviewing successful women.

They taught me that, in the world of work, you are either playing The Underearning Game or The High Earning Game. There’s a big difference between the two.

The Underearning Game is called Not To Lose. The goal is to stay safe, look good, and be comfortable. There’s only one rule—avoid anything that feels uncomfortable or scary.

The High Earning game is called To Win. The goal is to go as far as you can with all that you got, and when you fall down, you get back up and keep going. The only rule here—play Full Out.

Problem is, sometimes it’s hard to tell which game you’re actually playing. There are times when I swear I’m giving my all. Then later it hits me—I was fooling myself. I really wasn’t playing a true Full Out.

How the Spiritual Factors into Financial Success

Let’s talk about the Higher Work of Wealth—something I believe is missing when we talk about financial success.

The financial media focuses almost exclusively on the Outer Work of Wealthlearning the practical facts, like understanding the difference between a stock and a bond or how to diversify your retirement account.

Granted, we’re seeing more articles, even books exploring the Inner Work of Wealthovercoming internal blocks, negative attitudes and limiting beliefs we have about Wealth.

But discussions of the Higher Work of Wealth are rare. Though it’s certainly a hot topic in my online community, The Wealth Connection.   I believe for most women, the real motivation to create wealth–what keeps us going when resistance rears its ugly head—is not amassing more money.

It’s the spiritual factor–what we can do with our money once we have it. How we can use it to help others and become more of who we’re born to be, doing what we’re here on earth to do.

The Secrets to Wealth Building…Revealed At Last!

“What are the secrets to being wealthy?” she asked, a tinge of desperation in her voice. “I feel like rich people know these secrets that I never learned.”

She was right. There are Secrets to Creating Wealth. And I understood her frustration. I struggled with this same question for years, never getting a satisfactory answer.

 It took me forever to figure those secrets out. And when I did, my financial proficiency (not to mention my self-confidence) skyrocketed.

The truth is, very few people actually understand how to become a Wealth Builder. Everyone, however,  knows how to be a Consumer.

The Hidden Danger of Higher Earnings

I noticed a disturbing theme in my conversations with successful women. I call it the Illusion of Affluence. Whopping wages can be deceptive and dangerous.

I see it repeatedly: High earners spending too much, saving too little, or plowing all profits back into their business. Their ample earnings gives them the appearance, but not the security, of affluence.

Even if they can easily make a bundle whenever they want, high earners are as vulnerable to hard times and sudden change as anyone else.

Absolutely, women making big money are to be applauded. But the real measure of success isn’t what comes to you…it’s what stays with you (i.e. your net worth—the sum total of what you own minus the sum total of what you owe). 

I Really Truly Want To…But I’m So Damn Scared!

You’re ready. It’s time to open your own business, ask for a promotion or set stronger boundaries. You truly want to take the next step.

But you can’t. Fear, like a colossal boulder, stands in your way.

Of course you’re afraid. Fear is a normal, inevitable, reaction any time you leave the comfort of the familiar and venture into the unknown.

The goal, here, is not to eliminate fear. Because you can’t. The goal is to act in spite of it. I love how writer Ray Bradbury put it.

“Just jump off the cliff and build your wings on the way down,” he said, adding, “If you’re too cautious, you’ll miss life.”

There’s no way around it.  If you want success, there’s only one path: feel the fear, endure the discomfort, observe the resistance, and go for it anyway.

But hear this! You don’t have to do it alone. The best antidote to fear, for us women, is surrounding yourself with a supportive community.

As high earner Karen Page once told me: “Success is a social activity. You can’t do it alone. You just can’t.”  Amen to that!!

It’s precisely why I created my virtual community—The Wealth Connection—for financially aspiring women.

If you’re looking for a safe, welcoming place to talk openly, intimately, deeply about money, receive personal coaching from me, and encouragement, support & inspiration from the others, you can learn more HERE.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how a supportive community (of lack of one) has impacted you. Leave me a comment below.

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Joint vs Separate Accounts

If you’re married, or about to be, I have a question for you. Do you have money in your own name?

Even if you’re blissfully in love with each other, even if (s)he’s filthy rich or a financial genius, it’s critical to have your own economic identity–a bank account and credit card in your own name.

In part, it’s a matter of self-protection. If anything happens to your Prince(ss) Charming, you could be in big trouble.

Oh, the horror stories I’ve heard from women who couldn’t get credit or had all kinds of legal problems after losing a spouse through death or divorce because everything was listed under their spouse’s name.

Feeling Stuck? Ask Yourself This Compelling Question

I’ve been feeling stuck for a while now. Like I need to make a change, do something different, but what?

This feeling started about 5 years ago. I lost interest in my work, which took me by surprise. I loved what I did, but suddenly my heart wasn’t in it. I kept wondering: what else can I do?

I had no desire to change careers. I definitely wasn’t ready to retire. So I decided to write another book. The research was fun. The writing was challenging but fascinating. The book, Rewire for Wealth,  published last year, has done quite well.

And yet, here I am—still restless…still dissatisfied…still feeling stuck. This time, there’s no book in me.  So I’ve been praying hard: God, show me what to do!

Power is Scary. Let’s Change That!

I’ve long known that women’s difficulties with money have little to do with money per se and everything to do with their fear of power.

In a 2012 study, “Women and the Paradox of Power,” 38% of respondents said they’d rather be well-liked than powerful. As if the two were mutually exclusive.

Our confusion around power should come as no surprise. Historically, girls haven’t been groomed, expected, or encouraged to be successful, powerful adults.

If anything, we were raised to be the power behind the throne, often punished for even aspiring higher.

I’m convinced, beneath our dislike of or discomfort with power, lurks a deeper, more ominous concern—the dire consequences we might suffer if we become truly powerful.

Financial Success as a Spiritual Practice

Are you having trouble making more money or managing it wisely? Is financial lack a constant source of stress and pain? Consider this.

What if you stopped approaching finance as a purely practical process and started treating it as a spiritual practice?

What if, along with learning the practical facts, you focused on developing a deep sense of trust in the inexplicable forces of the Universe, along with learning the practical facts?

In my experience, the moment you inject faith into finances, the instant you invite the Divine into your relationship with the ‘almighty dollar,’ your experience with money grows deeper, richer, and more meaningful. Everything changes.

Financial success becomes a transformational journey, a personal healing, a sacred initiation, empowering you to become all you’re meant to be and to do what you’re put on this planet to do.

Have the Headlines Got You Spooked?

Let me introduce you to Huson’s Law of a Lousy Economy. It goes like this: no matter how tough times are, there’ll always be people who are prospering. Why not you?

I discovered this law after I wrote Secrets of Six-Figure Womenat the height of the dot com boom. But when the bubble finally burst, I called each woman back to see how they were faring

Even as the economy was tanking, many of their careers were thriving. They were finding new jobs, negotiating raises, winning promotions, doubling (even tripling) their client base, making more money than ever before.

“Just because it’s a down time,” said a woman whose coaching business was up 40 percent, “You don’t have to go down with it. There’s lots of opportunity. You’ve just got to find it.”

Meet Barbara Huson

When a devastating financial crisis rocked her world, Barbara Huson knew she had to get smart about money… and she did. Now, she wants to empower every women to take charge of their money and take charge of their lives! She’s doing just that with her best-selling books, life changing retreats and private financial coaching.

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