[TejasMama]

I agree with IntSet..this is primarily a purse forum, so the primary topic isn't on money. Money is a complicated topic to discuss and there are a lot of emotions tied up in it. I believe that men and women have different approaches and expectations regarding money at times. My DH and I handle this jointly and discuss our investments, retirement and college funds on a regular basis (FYI--Friday wansn't a good day!). I also think that more people may get savvier with the economy being more troublesome; it might encourage them to take more of an interest.

Money and investing are important topics and are well worth the time taken to understand. BTW, I've seen some amazingly insightful advice regarding investing, debet, etc. here on the forum. We've got some very smart women in our midst!

[TropicalGal]

Wow what an interesting thread to read! Thank you for starting it. I agree that tpf is an unusual audience of a)mostly young people and b) fashion conscious, spending people with obsessions. Heck, I'm shocked at my own handbag collection --and mine is downright modest compared with what other ladies spend and own.

So the audience of tpf is not interested for the most part in the money forum. Until they get in trouble. It is amazing all the bag bans..and yet they still keep buying bags and their credit card debt is huge.

I agree with Suze Orman who says, we learn everything in college, but never take a course in personal finance. Your attitude towards money determines so much about the quality of your life.

Unfortunately, women "wake up" and start saving in their IRA's way too late, or wait to get married to think about the future. Money is something you should be aware of your whole life.

I have some nice handbags..but I also really like Money Talks forum, as an antidote and reality check to all the wild obessesive buying that's going on out there.

[daluu]

i absolutely agree that this purse forum will primarily be about purses. but my point is that even research outside of the purse forum (other community threads, articles, real life examples/conversations) and such, it seems as if in general, women are less informed about their money and how to invest it. i guess i'm just wondering why? i know for myself, i didn't get "taught" about it through my girlfriends or family. my parents are first generation immigrants so they always put their money in the bank so that's that and my girlfriends....i've already hinted that many are waiting for their prince charming to take care of them. in this situation, where should i go to learn about investing and how to make my money work for me?

i absolutely agree with you tropicalgal. the money forum is my reality check to my bag obsession too. and like many, i come to the purse forum to read up and obsess about bags. it's this newfound goal of owning a house on my own that has given me a new obsession to research about.

thank you ladies for your comments. i just watched "sex and the city" movie last night with some girlfriends and i think it's really SEXY that as a woman, i can be financially independent. i don't place all my chips anymore on the idea that my prince charming will gallop through with a bigger stash of cash than mine to take care of me. the fairytale side of me is still enamored by that thought, but my practical side knows that if my prince charming is stuck somewhere and won't surface anytime soon, then this princess better have enough money somewhere to buy food and possibly buy her castle while she waits

[socalgem]

I don't think it has anything to do with gender. I can buy a house alone or I can buy one with my hubby. We are both pretty good with finances.

My hubby likes to shop for nice things just as much as I do.

We are lucky to both have very good careers where we can enjoy the things we like, which most of the time aren't cheap things.

Saving should be something everyone does, regardless of their sex.

[daluu]

^^absolutely. both genders should save and invest. i guess i just don't hear men say that they are waiting for a woman to get married to before they save and pay off their debt but sadly, i hear women say this a lot. again, these are generalizations because not every single woman is the same so please everybody, don't take any offense. i was just putting out a loud thought in writing.

i'm getting suze orman's book

[lvpiggy]

Originally Posted by daluu

i absolutely agree that this purse forum will primarily be about purses. but my point is that even research outside of the purse forum (other community threads, articles, real life examples/conversations) and such, it seems as if in general, women are less informed about their money and how to invest it. i guess i'm just wondering why? i know for myself, i didn't get "taught" about it through my girlfriends or family. my parents are first generation immigrants so they always put their money in the bank so that's that and my girlfriends....i've already hinted that many are waiting for their prince charming to take care of them. in this situation, where should i go to learn about investing and how to make my money work for me?

i absolutely agree with you tropicalgal. the money forum is my reality check to my bag obsession too. and like many, i come to the purse forum to read up and obsess about bags. it's this newfound goal of owning a house on my own that has given me a new obsession to research about.

thank you ladies for your comments. i just watched "sex and the city" movie last night with some girlfriends and i think it's really SEXY that as a woman, i can be financially independent. i don't place all my chips anymore on the idea that my prince charming will gallop through with a bigger stash of cash than mine to take care of me. the fairytale side of me is still enamored by that thought, but my practical side knows that if my prince charming is stuck somewhere and won't surface anytime soon, then this princess better have enough money somewhere to buy food and possibly buy her castle while she waits

ITA! my best friend and i were just having this discussion . . . we both had mothers who raised us to be able to stand on our own 2 feet. her parents divorced, and my father passed away when i was 12, so our mothers always taught us never to rely on anyone else because you never know what life may bring.

[Vegas Long Legs]

I think this is a great thread. We all come from different upbringings so our views are just different, not wrong.
Daluu I too have heard women say my future DH will save me financially. Maybe not on here but IRL.
LV piggy - you were very lucky to have a mother like this!

[MonkeyGirl]

not necessarily... my dad spends WAY more than my mom on just about everything except clothes.

[may3545]

I am definitely very interested in finance and money, but that's because I had a lot of student debt and worked hard to get out of it. Some credit card debt, but that wasn't too bad. I was taught to never owe anybody anything and never to rely on others financially-- so I got out of debt fast and am pretty independent with my finances. I live w/ my boyfriend and both our incomes pay for rent, groceries, needs. Both our goals are to save money to invest in a house. My problem is still the spontaneous urge to splurge, so he's doing great w/ savings while I'm still just "all right" at it.

Anywhoo, I am completely focused and serious about financials with a lil glitch in my inhibition now and then =) This is a purse forum, so I realize spending too much time in this money subforum may guilt is out of the wonderful pleasures discussed in the other sections.

[kjoyiss]

I don't think women are less concerned about money. Most people probably found TPF by interest of purses. I know I stayed on LV forum for a good year before I even ventured out into other forums.

I was looking up other money blogs (Single Ma, etc.) way before I found TPF Money talks. However there aren't many women talking about money. From what it seems, TPF is a group of women addicted to purses (or shoes). However, there are many women here that are more on the dot about saving and not being in debt to obtain their purses. The main reason everyone is on TPF is because of its name The Purse Forum. (Not money forum).

[LadyLinda]

I think it's wonderful that young women today are more financially independent and aware than I was. When I was growing up, men were expected to support families. Women's income just "helped." I was top of my class, National Honor Society, and when my guidance counselor at H.S. told me to take typing classes and apply to a "business school," he didn't mean Wharton's. He meant secretarial college, which was what women did then. Women weren't encouraged to talk about things like finances and saving for themselves; we were treated as if our incomes were subsidiary to those of our (actual or eventual) husbands, and it was easy for young women to simply go along with this mindset.

Some of that kind of thinking still takes place, by the way. It might start in the home, or be promoted nonverbally through images seen on TV. Few women financiers are celebrities, after all. For some reason, it's still unseemly for a woman to pronounce herself ambitious, or to be inquisitive about her own benefits and income. I once heard a Human Resources person exclaim about one young woman who had inquired about a lateral promotion, "All she cares about is the money!" Well, of course. Would that comment have been made of a man? Not many men would take a lateral promotion with no raise at all without complaint. So there's still a double standard, and lots of women don't like to rock the boat when they're in the boat. It's the "I'm lucky to be in the boat" mentality.

I was a dependent housewife for the early part of my life and learned the hard way that leaving my financial future in the hands of someone else wasn't a good move. I became much smarter in my 40s. Understanding money isn't difficult when a girl puts her mind to it, and the results are well worth the effort. Having her own money and knowing how to put it to work is the most liberating thing a woman can do. Having my own money made it possible for me to find an equal partner in my romantic life, and help my children and others on my own terms.

If women are less concerned about finances, it's a mistake. That's why a forum like this is so helpful, for those who interested enough, or desperate enough, to ask questions.

[lolitakali]

Great thread!

I think it is not because we are "less concerned" about money, but many of us needs to be "better educated" at it. It is also known that women tend to "escape" into their own "fantasy world" (for love & money alike) than men tend to (most men are more "realistic" & "logical").

Simply just check the romance section (tailored just for women).

[uafly1]

I work, I own a home and I am 100% responsible for myself. If I don't manage my money who will?
I've actually had fun learning about investing and cutting costs so I could invest more. If the economy were different, I do not believe I would savings as much as I am now. It could also be I gotten to age where I make plenty of money and I did not like that feeling of living paycheck to paycheck.

[jbelle]

I think women get a bad rap for 'not being good with money' aka blowing it all on shoes and handbags (guilty!). I thought in my early 20s it was kind of normal for a girl to be a little flightly with her finances, to delay 'growing up.' But when I got to my late 20s, with more debt than I should have had and too many purses, I had a turnaround and decided I wanted to be 'good with money.' So the obsession with purses has waned while a new obsession with financial blogs has started. I don't love purses and pretty things less, but I need to plan for my future, beyond what to wear this weekend.

[LaurelLee123]

With my circle of friends, we are all money savvy - we do the budgets, we manage investments and understand the taxes. But I think that comes from the fact that we all met in either college or graduate school and so we are ambitious career women and value the ability to be totally independent.

However, when I visit with the inlaws, a lot of whom are from the country and farming communities, the women don't know anything about money - not even the basics! They still believe that you marry men to find someone to support you financially. Which is fine when it works out. I guess my mom taught me that life is full of surprises and sometimes the men in your life can turn out to be cheaters, losers, abusers or die unexpectedly. Then what? A woman should always be able to stand on her own.