Authors of Financial Books for Women
Joan Perry
Author of A Girl Needs Cash
- What led you to write this book?
I wanted to say things that came from my own very personal point of view that I felt related to other women too. Many of my experiences, results and feelings about money were handicaps to me in my life, and when I turned those around there were stories to tell about how all of us as women can do a better job with the money in our lives. Money is like other forms of energy – i.e. Health and Love – we welcome as much of this good energy as we can manifest.
- What do you feel to be the biggest challenge facing women today when handling their finances?
Most women don’t have cash. Over 50 percent of the population spends more than they earn, and women have taken their credit cards and gone shopping! Our biggest challenge is to value our cash and the potential that it has to be powerful for us. That’s why my book needed to be called “A Girl Needs Cash.”
- How has the atmosphere changed for women investors in the last 10 years?
The biggest change is the advent of the Internet. Women went to work (and learned how to make money) in the 80’s – in the past decade, women have started to ask themselves what to do with their money to create a powerful force for themselves and their futures.
- How will the atmosphere change for women investors in the next 10 years?
I personally hope that more women will take charge of their financial futures, and develop confidence in this part of their lives. After all – if a woman is healthy through age 50, her life expectancy is 93! I don’t know about you but I don’t want to work until I’m 93 – so I’ll need my investments to pay my cash for my living expenses.
- Where did you start your career and how did it lead you to where you are today?
Much of my career was spent as an investment banker working on Wall Street. So it makes it all the more ridiculous that I found that I was asleep in my own financial life – and the tools of my career led me to question why women, including women like me who were working on Wall Street, were not being smart in their own financial lives. Today it is my mission and the mission of my firm, Take Charge Financial!, to develop and put into action the financial thinking that works for women.
- How much money do you need to start investing?
I bought my first stock at age 7 with $12.50. My first purchase was in McDonald’s, my favorite restaurant in the whole world. My grandmother helped me do it. Times have not changed. You can still buy one share of stock, and you can still find stocks trading for $12.50 a share. Today you can also start investing in mutual funds with as little as $50 a month! You don’t need to be rich to be an investor. You just have to start!
- How should a woman get started investing with no investment experience?
With all due respect – I wrote my book “A Girl Needs Cash” – to what I call, load the software in a woman’s brain that will get her on the way to years of investing. My best advice is to pick up a copy of the book and develop your understanding. My book starts with six women naked in a hot tub so it’s fun reading. USA Today said “it’s a winner…and reads like a Judith Krantz novel”.
- If a woman has debt, at what point should she become an investor?
Immediately – and before she pays off her credit card. If you wait to pay off your credit card before you begin investing you are likely never to get started. The goal is to develop a new habit – investing – and to replace the bad habit – debt.
- Have you published any other books before this one? If so, what are they?
No. This is my first book.
- What are your future book writing plans?
We have written another text that will be out shortly.