Carol Moretti (seated) and Lisa Deane

In my living room sat an architect, a CPA, a healthcare executive, a innovation consultant, a marketing and branding expert, a retired attorney, a writer for the Huffington Post, a clutter coach, an interior designer, a home staging specialist, a jewelry designer, a technical writer, and a newspaper columnist. We were joined by an IT manager, a freelance interactive producer, an owner of a cooking-party company, an owner of a company specializing in culinary health education for kids, a development director, a yoga instructor, a marketing consultant, a personal fashion stylist, a trade marketing manager and a business student. All women. All interesting and accomplished.

Women are as diverse as any other group of people in their career choices and in their lifestyles. But women also share distinct attributes: They are great communicators, relationship builders and nurturers. They also share unique financial planning needs. For example, many women are concerned that they will be old and poor and alone. Look at these facts:

• Eighty percent of American women will find themselves the sole keepers of their personal finances at some point during their lives, However, most of those women feel financially insecure, despite controlling more wealth, having more education and being more involved in financial decisions.
• Women still make less than men make in similar occupations.
• Women’s careers are often interrupted by family needs, such as childcare and eldercare, which limits their opportunity for income and retirement savings growth.
• Many women fear losing everything and becoming bag ladies (and it doesn’t seem to matter how much money they have or make).
• Two-thirds of women over age 65 rely on Social Security as their primary source of income. Consequently, women are twice as likely as men to live out their golden years at or below poverty levels.

In my living room, we nibbled bites of grilled salmon covered in sesame seeds, ginger chicken, and artichoke frittata while sipping champagne cocktails. Everyone listened attentively to presentations on serious topics such as the 2010 tax relief act and the new healthcare law, but also to fun topics such as the top ten wardrobe essentials and how to save money on your wardrobe. In between speakers, we women did what we are great at: connected, made new friends and perhaps got a business lead or two.

About Cathy Curtis
Cathy Curtis, the writer of this blog and owner of Curtis Financial Planning, specializes in the finances of women, their families and their businesses. You can find out more about her on her website www.curtisfinancialplanning.com and follow her on Twitter @curtisfinancial, on Facebook Women and Money and on LinkedIn Women and Money.

When did dining-out, facials, manicures, pedicures, personal trainers, pricey haircuts, books, magazines, CD’s, I-Phones and expensive annual vacations become necessities? How did we get here?

This fee-only financial planner contemplates this question as client after client comes in with cash flow issues — agonizing over credit card statements, wondering how they can keep up with an avalanche of bills.

As a first step in my financial planning process, I ask clients to complete a detailed cash flow worksheet. This is followed by a meeting to review this document line by line.

This exercise is as exhilarating as it is agonizing  – clients are relieved to finally be doing something around financial planning, but terrified that the end result will be deprivation.  Everyone has his or her own “can’t give this up” list.

I’ve learned to remain neutral as a client explains to me why they can’t possibly cut out their $400 a month Amazon habit or can’t postpone the $4,000 vacation for a couple of years. Really? Are you sure?

Lately, there are more and more cash flow challenged clients at my door, and of course, it’s the economy.  No longer is cash-out refinancing an option as house values plummet and equity lines of credit disappear or decrease. And, to make matters more difficult, credit card companies are lowering limits and raising interest rates. Brokerage balances are also down.

Some state employees are seeing pay cuts as high as 8 %. The self-employed and free-lancers lament incomes that have been slashed in half over the last year.

A spouse loses a job, two incomes are now one because of divorce, or unemployment — benefits have run out and there’s no job in sight. Not exactly a pretty picture.

All of a sudden, people have to live within their means, and for many, this is the first time they’ve had to watch what they spend and they’re not finding it easy to cut back.

As a financial planner I can assure you – our incomes are finite, there’s just no way around that fact. I remind clients that recessions and hard economic times don’t last forever. The good times will roll again, but in the meantime, this is a good opportunity to really tap into what makes us most happy and to learn to live within our means and make it stick.

Living within your means doesn’t mean that you have to cut out all pleasure. Think of living within your means as good practice for your retirement years when you live off the money you save now. Think of it as living a sustainable lifestyle.

Here’s a few spending tips for the person who doesn’t want to feel deprived:

1. Suspend spending on those items you can do yourself:  manicures, pedicures,  highlights, gym workouts. Or, cut back on frequency.

2. Don’t buy things you can borrow or trade  (books, magazines, cd’s).

3.  Avoid temptation – stay away from your favorite shops and toss out the catalogues unopened.

4.  Stop subscriptions to things you aren’t reading: newspapers, magazines, online and offline.

4.  Eat really well at home.

5.  Bring delicious food to work for lunch.

7.  Buy entertainment a la carte instead of via subscription: movies, theatre, and music events.

8.  Hold onto things longer – your cell phone, computer, car, and oven.

9.  Ramp down the luxury a bit – buy less expensive wines, eat at moderately priced restaurants.

10. Postpone the big vacation for a few years; enjoy smaller trips to great places.

I’d love to hear from you. What are your favorite money saving tips?