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Authors of Financial Books
for Women
David Bach
Author of Smart
Women Finish Rich David
Bach is the author of SMART WOMEN FINISH RICH: 7 Steps To Achieving
Financial Security and Funding Your Dreams (Broadway Books, 1999).
He is a Senior Vice President of investments at a major investment
firm and a partner of The Bach Group in Orinda, California, which
manages more than $600 million dollars for individual investors.
In addition to being a full-time financial advisor, David is a
highly regarded educator who has taught retirement planning
courses for the University of California Berkeley Extension, The
Learning Annex, local adult schools, and numerous Fortune
500 corporations. A featured speaker at events around the
world, David has shared the stage with Tony Robbins at his
Wealth Mastery program and regularly speaks at major events
that highlight the importance of women taking control over their
financial futures.
- What led you to write this book?
In 1993 I entered the financial planning business with my father.
He had been a financial advisor for over 25 years and
I started working with a lot of his clients. In the first
few months of being a financial advisor we had a handful
of our male clients die. Week after week I was sitting
in meetings with widows helping them to understand their
financial situation at the worst possible time of their
lives. It came to me that this was a dumb system…helping
widows after a death learn about money was reactive. I
wanted to be proactive, so I designed an investment seminar
just for our women clients!
Everyone told me it was a stupid idea. People said, "women
won't come to an investment seminar." I didn't listen. I sent
out invitations to our women client's and rented a room for
the event that would fit 50. My father said, "you'll be lucky
if 25 women come". Well, 225 RSVP'd to the first event. That
was more people then normally came to our client parties! That
first seminar took place in 1994. Since that time I have done
my seminar called Smart Women Finish Rich hundreds of times
all over the country and tens of thousands of women have come
through the program. My goal with the book Smart Women Finish
Rich is to now coach millions of women how to take control over
their financial lives instead of just thousands. The book is
my seminar now come to life for all to read!
- What do you feel to be the biggest challenge facing women
today when handling their finances?
Getting Started! You can read all the books you want, and take
all the seminars, and subscribe to all the magazines, and search
all the website you want. At some point you have to make a decision
that you want to be rich! You have to decide that from this
day forward living and finishing rich is a priority to you.
Once you do this you have to learn how to "pay yourself first!"
- How has the atmosphere changed for women investors in the
last 10 years?
It's an entirely different world! When I hosted my first seminar
in 1994 for women there were literally no books for women on
investing. No one was even doing seminars for women and investing.
People thought I was crazy. Now there is an enormous attention
be paid to women and money. The reality is that the financial
firms have been asleep at the wheel on this market place.
- How will the atmosphere change for women investors in the
next 10 years?
In the next ten years my prediction is that women will
be investing even more the men are. This is not a fad
or marketing gimmick, it's a necessary reality. Women
need to manage their own money. In the next 20 years you
will be hearing that women control over 70% of the financial
assets in America. This will be due to two major demographic
changes in America. First, many men will die in the next
20 years and their wives will be solely in control of
the family's wealth. Second, women are America's entrepreneur
work force and they will be making as much money as men
going forward if not more.
- Where did you start your career and how did it lead you to
where you are today?
Three years ago I decided that I had to live my life on purpose.
That meant going for my dreams and living by my values.
My top value in life is to make a difference in the world.
I honestly believe that God gives us talents and skills
and we have to use them or we are wasting a great gift.
For whatever reason, I have been driven to educate and
empower women to take charge of their financial lives.
This is truly my life's passion. For me the book Smart
Women Finish Rich is just the beginning of my dream. I
hope to look back in ten years and know that there are
millions of women managing their own money and teaching
their kids how to do this.
- 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?
Read a book like Smart Women Finish Rich and take my Seven
Step system step by step. The first thing I teach is that you
should start investing in your retirement account at work (your
401k plan). 40% of women who have retirement plans at work are
not signed up! Step one, "Sign up".
- If a woman has debt, at what point should she become an investor?
Today! If you focus on your debt all your financial energy
becomes negative. The moment to start investing is now. Even
if its only $50 a month; it means you are doing something positive!
- Have you published any other books before this one? If so,
what are they?
Smart Women Finish Rich is my first book.
- What are your future book writing plans?
Smart Women Finish Rich became a best seller within two weeks
of coming out in January. It is now in its seventh printing
and I'm told it is the number one best selling book written
on the topic of women and money specifically. Because of this
I have been blessed with the opportunity to do more books. I
am just about to start writing my second book which will be
titled Smart Couples Finish Rich. After that I plan to write
Smart Kids Finish Rich.
Please feel free to include anything else about yourself that
you feel would be valuable to our MsMoney.com community members.
I learned how to invest because my grandmother Bach sat me
down at age 7 and explained to me what it meant to invest. My
grandmother Bach was an extraordinary woman that became an investor
55 years ago when women were not investing. She started investing
when she was only earning $10 a week and she didn't own a home.
She became a self-made millionaire by investing. If I can leave
you with one thought it is this; ladies you can do this! But
don't just do it for yourself; learn about money so you can
teach your kids and grandchildren. I was truly blessed that
my grandmother was my financial mentor. More women in America
need to be teaching their kids but first you need to teach yourself.
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