Create a Money Miracle

By all accounts, Barbara Stanny is accomplished and successful—practically a superwoman. Her resume includes many years as a business journalist, a Master’s degree in psychology and several acclaimed books on financial self-improvement. Seeing her now, and knowing she’s the daughter of the “R” in H&R Block, it’s almost incomprehensible that she was ever in dire financial straits.

Stanny was raised to rely on men—first her father and then her husband—to manage her money. Ignorance of basic financial information and too much trust in an outdated value system resulted in an embarrassing incident in 1986 when she abruptly learned she lacked the funds to make a $60 withdrawal. Her husband, also a stockbroker and financial planner, had depleted her inheritance with poor investments. The subsequent divorce left her with a tax bill that would go beyond financially ruinous for most people.

The moral of the story is that ignorance is not bliss, and what you don’t know can hurt you. But you can also recover! Stanny’s experience led to financial enlightenment and her first book, Prince Charming Isn’t Coming. The groundbreaking volume served as a wakeup call for many, the kicker being, of course, that financial stability and abundance can only come for each of us, woman or man, when we take ownership of our personal power.
In Stanny’s most recent release, Sacred Success: A Course in Financial Miracles (BenBella), she makes a significant point: Once you master money management, you may find it doesn’t necessarily buy happiness. We knew that, but here the key is learning how to use money as a tool—treat it as sacred and be aware it is the means to a richer, more spiritual existence, rather than an end.

“What motivates women to become better educated and more money savvy is the higher work, the spiritual aspect of what can be done with more discretionary income,” Stanny says. “Ultimately, having an abundance of money allows us to do what we passionately want to do during our time on this planet, to go for greatness in a meaningful way rather than thinking small.”

Sacred? Spiritual? While these words are often not positively associated with wealth or cold hard cash, Stanny says that money can be both when its ultimate meaning and purpose are properly interpreted and used for both our own personal well-being and the greater good of the world.

“I define a ‘powerful woman’ as somebody who knows who she is, who knows what she wants, and expresses it in the world unapologetically,” says Stanny. “I want women to understand that when you bring together the sacred and your personal definition of faith into finances, it makes your life journey so much deeper, richer and more meaningful.”

There are three “prongs” in the creation of financial success, she explains: outer work, inner work and higher work. The outer work involves learning about such things as stocks and bonds, opening an IRA and negotiating the right salary.

“The inner work is about refocusing the attitudes about yourself and money that keep you stuck in a rut,” she says. “The higher work is about putting what extra money you have toward causes, charities and people you’re passionate about. I would like to [see a world where] people make too much and give away what they don’t need.”

In other words, if we first learn how to earn, save wisely and stay out of debt, we can get a surplus. In turn, we not only have the freedom to afford to do things we enjoy, but also to donate to causes and people we believe in, and help to bring about change. Stanny quotes Mother Teresa to drive her point home: “It takes a checkbook to change the world.”

We Still Have a Long Way to Go, Baby

Shockingly by today’s standards, prior to the 1970s women were financially dependent on the men around them to co-sign for credit cards and loans, even if they had a college degree and a steady paycheck. It was only 40 years ago that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 finally allowed women to apply for credit without a man’s co-signature.

Though we’ve come a long way, we still have a long way to go, evidenced by the results from a 2012 study by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that women still pay a half-point higher interest rate than men.

“Even if some women are not looking for security through a relationship with a man, they still have the belief that a certain something, be it a job or an inheritance, for example, will come along,” says Stanny. “Money is a very easy thing to ignore until you don’t have it anymore. Research shows that it takes a crisis, such as losing a job or a spouse, or being on the brink of retirement for women to get really serious about money.”

Whether it is losing weight or making more money, Stanny insists change can only come from a willingness to move outside your comfort zone. The number one requirement is to be willing to do what you think you cannot do.

The New Plan A

Stanny suggests gradual steps to make the process less overwhelming. She also guarantees that if you set time aside everyday to do these steps every day for four months, you will be amazed at the differences:

1. Read something about money every day, even just the headlines for the newspaper’s business section.

“When you stand in line at the supermarket, read Money magazine instead of People,” Stanny implores. “Even if it is before you go to bed every night, read one paragraph of a business non-fiction book, or a few sentences in a book on negotiation. Becoming smarter about money is a matter of familiarizing yourself with the current trends and jargon—everything that scares us—and making it no more difficult than reading a cereal box.”

2. Have a conversation about money with somebody who knows more about money and finance than you.

“While we moan and grown about our situations, we don’t talk openly about money,” Stanny points out. “One brilliant thing many women are doing now to remedy this is to form study groups and money-themed book clubs. Talk to others, whether it is a buddy or a larger organized group. Ask successful people what they did to acquire their wealth and learn about the financial world, and what advice they have for you.”

3. Every month, save money. Always set something aside from whatever you take in to save money automatically.

“One way is to have money automatically transferred from your paycheck or your checking account into your savings account,” she advises. “You need to build an emergency fund because what frequently sends people into debt is when they have unexpected emergencies and don’t have the money to cover it. As you build up this fund, seek out people to advise you on investing. Take your 401K or other retirement account more seriously, small amounts for this every month as well.”

Though Stanny acknowledges that some women prefer a simple way of life, she hopes to push us all toward financial stability. No matter the woman’s lifestyle, she argues, once she has enough money, she has the tool to carve out a meaningful and gratifying life.