This is a particularly difficult time for teens whose families have been hit hard with the economic changes. Why especially hard for teens? This is a time when teens want to break away from their families more and turn to the peer group. Yet if the family is in crisis, it becomes very hard to break away just when everyone needs to pull together. So the changes work against the developmental task of the teen years. It is also possible that being with the peer group would involve money that is no longer available .To go out to eat or on field trips or other youth activities requires money that...

We are in the middle of a stressful time in our country’s history. The election is pending; home values are sliding; Wall Street is a roller coaster and jobs are ending. This is a frightening time even for those who are not in an immediate crisis. The basic tools of stress management work just as well on money stress as they do on other kinds of stress. Many people mistakenly believe that money stress can only be reduced by money itself.

Stress management involves simple acts that reduce anxiety: breathing slowly and thoughtfully, sitting and meditating, going for a walk, spending...

One of the difficulties with the current times is the amount of anxiety generated by both the news and our social conversations. We are in a period of upsetting changes and uncertainty.In everyday talk, it is easy to see and hear how fearful most people are about the changes in our government, our financial systems and our businesses. In the midst of these stresses it is difficult to stay calm and understand that getting upset and anxious is unlikely to be of any benefit to us or to the people we love. In fact, it is likely that without realizing it we will take our own stresses out on our families...

If you are one of the many Americans currently facing a downward turn in your lifestyle, you may be concerned about the impact on your children. Whether the changes are due to the high costs of living, a job or business loss or an unsustainable mortgage, your life and therefore your children’s lives will be changing. Recent research in the field of behavioral economics tells us that losses are twice as painful as gains are pleasurable. Learning how to cope with loss is a major life skill and challenge and your children will be watching to see how you handle it. This is how they will learn...

Because springtime is coming and many people feel a burst of energy with the increase in sunlight, it seemed like a good time to discuss some of the normal cycles that many people experience. When you are feeling a burst of energy , starting new projects, coming up with new ideas and generally moving out into the world, you are in what is called the expansive mode. This is the cycle that feels good as you expand out from your typical ways of being in the world. It is possible to get a little scattered as you take on a number of new things or make changes in your life. Although this cycle has...

It is important to be able to talk openly with your children about money and the money in the family. Sometimes the only time children hear the word is in the context of conflict, as when parents are arguing or they are being denied a treat. Having open talks begins to break the money taboo and teaches them that this an acceptable subject for a conversation, not just for an argument.

The concepts important to teach include how to spend wisely, how to save, how to invest and to accept that there are others in the world who have a different amount of money, both more and less than they...

After a review of the research on women and mathematical and technical skills, I have affirmed my theory that women learn best in small same-sex groups that are cooperative and encouraging of verbal connection. Most women enjoy sharing and communicating personal material and enjoy analyzing and understanding emotions and relationships. The emotive-relationship area of skill development is one that girls have been trained for beginning in the early preschool years, based on extensive observation of same sex play groups over years. This is the way that women learn difficult or anxiety-arousing...

The number of women owned businesses continues to increase. The Small Business Association estimates that women-owned businesses account for 28 percent of private businesses. While women are gaining in ownership numbers, the revenues they produce account for only 18% of the small business revenues….a big drop from the ownership numbers. In fact it looks as though in the most typical business for women is a sole proprietership in a service business with income of less than 50,000. Many of these women are married and running and running their businesses from home. More than half of the start-ups...

Underearning is a particularly insidious difficulty for women. As I began my journey with money I wanted to teach women because I felt especially proud of building my business, living within my income and learning to invest. Little did I realize until I began to read the literature that I was an underearner. Over the years I had often been soft on setting my fees, billing for missed appointments and late cancellations. I just really did not like the face to face discussions and possible confrontations over money issues.Not until I joined a group of other professionals did I make a serious committment...

I have noticed a huge increase in the number of Gen X and Y bloggers who are blogging to get out of debt. Here are just a few of the sites I have visited in the past week:

www.lazymandmoney.com
www.mymint.com
www.stopbuyingcrap.com
www.poorerthanyou.com
www.bostongalsopenwallet.com
www.bloggingawaydebt.com

The last one also connects you to ncnnetwork.com where you can set up a chart to show and tell...