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Girls' Guide to Big Bucks

Susannah Blake Goodman on GirlsJust Want to Have Funds

Elizabeth Michaelson

When Susannah BlakeGoodman asked her father(a.k.a. Adam Smith ofAdam Smith's MoneyWorld ) a simple question,she had no idea where theanswer would lead her.The 35-year-old authorrecalls: "I had asked, 'Whatis shorting a stock?' Whenhe answered, it wasn't inEnglish!" Financial jargonmade his responseincomprehensible. Thisbegan a quest for down-to-earth financial informationthat would lead to GirlsJust Want To Have Funds:How To Spruce Up YourMoney Life and Invest Likea Pro .

As a consumer bankingexpert at the WashingtonD.C.-based Public Citizenadvocacy group, Goodmanwasn't the financial gurushe is today. But after shegot the gist of her father'sexplanation, Goodman wasinspired to share hernewfound knowledge with

justWant to

HaveFUNDS

Girls Just Want toHave Funds

by Susannah BlakeGoodman

"There's lots ofreasons I could

list about why it'sso important forwomen to have a

book like this:women still makeseventy cents on

the dollar, womentake time off than

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others. She left her job inJanuary 1997,and bySeptember she was readyto write a book on financialplanning for theuninitiated. Although sheenlisted her father as co-author, "he kept pushing itoff onto me," Goodmanlaughs. And by the timeshe had an outline,Goodman realized thatwhat she had thought of asa summer project wasgoing to take a lot moretime—two-and-a-halfyears, in fact.

Human ResourcesShouldn't Run YourRetirement

Goodman's basic tenet isthat financial planning canbe easy: "What mostpeople should do is prettysimple: they need to max _out their retirement plansand start a Roth IRA. But there's a whole lot of fearthat gets in the way." The backbone of theretirement plan is the 401K (or 403B), whichGoodman describes as a shield provided byemployers: "You decide what goes inside that shield.What they (employers) usually do is offer a list ofmutual funds that you can choose from," she says."It's hard, because we're not taught this stuff, andsuddenly people who haven't had a financialeducation are being asked to plan their financialfuture."

take time off thanwork to raise a

family, so they'veput less away in aretirement plan,

and then they livelonger, so they

have the need tohave the money.

Of the elderlypoor people inthis country,

seventy percentare women."

—Susannah BlakeGoodman

Writers UniversityEditorialPublicityProduct ReviewsCreative NonfictionFiction & PoetryEducation

News & ArticleSearch

To wit, "You get a new job, and when you go intoyour human resources person she says, 'Here's yourretirement plan stuff, pick a mutual fund and canyou get it to me by Friday.' Literally, that's whathappens all over the placelThe human resourcesperson isn't qualified to assess your situation," shestresses. "So people take that stuff home and theycall their dad or whomever and they just ask. Itprobably should be a bit more organized-this is ourmoney we're talking about here!"

Finance-speak puts many people off, according toGoodman: "Everything about money isunderstandable, and they [finance professionals]speak in this jargon that makes it seem much morecomplicated than it is. It doesn't have to be asabstract as Wall Street makes it seem."

Roth IRAs Over Dinner

Much of the book is based on the advice Goodman

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herself gave: "Basically this book is modeled afterconversations I've had with my girlfriends. I cannottell you the number of times I've gone out to dinnerwith friends of mine, and when I would tell themwhat I was working on they would say, 'You know,my dad wants me to put money in a Roth IRA.' I'vesat there with table napkins, I've drawn pictures andI've drilled it into their heads: 'You can understandthis! This is not rocket science! It's a newvocabulary, you just learn the vocabulary, the newset of concepts.'" Goodman giggles: "I've alwayssaid there's nothing more boring than somebody ona mission, but the truth is, it was my mission!"

More soberly, she continues, "There's lots of reasonsI could list why it's so important for women to havea book like this: women still make seventy cents onthe dollar, women take time off than work to raise afamily, so they've put less away in a retirementplan, and then they live longer, so they have theneed to have the money. Of the elderly poor peoplein this country, seventy percent are women." Butthere were more immediate reasons, too: "Womenkeep saying to me, 'I don't get it. It's hard, I'mafraid.' I'll say, 'Don't be afraid. We've just ordereddessert. By the time dessert comes, I'll tell you whata Roth IRA is.'"

"Do you think it's a good idea to have both a 401Kand a Roth IRA?" I ask, a little unsure about theetiquette of pumping an interview subject forfinancial advice. "Absolutely!" says Goodman, andshe tells me where I can do this for just $50 amonth.

Humorous Financial Planning

Goodman's prose is chatty and deliberately light: atone point, she compares junk bonds to musicianboyfriends. Does this reinforce the notion of womenas well, frivolous? Goodman has no qualms: "Itmakes it fun and memorable. You know it's startingto sink in a little when you can use analogies."

Goodman's point is that not only is financial planningeasy, it's necessary in a way that it wasn't ageneration ago, when women weren't expected toknow much about retirement portfolios: "You haveto plan for yourself. And that's okay. What we needto do is educate ourselves."

Goodman lives in Alexandria, Virginia and currentlyplans to teach financial workshops. She isenthusiastic about her new career: "I can have agreat time and reach a broader number of people—Ithink with all that training in advocacy, I'm used tothinking more global." Before we say goodbye, sheadmonishes me: "Your assignment is to go open upa Roth IRA and put it ina money market mutual fund!"

Elizabeth Michaelson is a writer l iv ing in New York

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