Women and the Road to Financial Freedom
Investing in your personal finance savvy will give you financial security, options and freedom!
Note: This is a longer sidecar story than usual. It’s worth it. There's a strong chance it will change your life.
As a coach for adventurous women, I am often struck by the conflicted role that money matters play in their approach to their career decisions. When guiding women through the job search process and we get to the part about how finances inform where they can accept a position, I hear: “I’m not sure. I’d like to take a position at a small school in Africa, where I believe I and my family can thrive, but I don’t know if we can afford that.” When coaching aspiring leaders toward head of school roles, I hear: “I know I can run a school. I don’t have much experience or confidence around the financial piece though. So I don’t think I qualify.” When helping women navigate tricky leadership situations that a courageous conversation with a supervisor or colleague might help address, I hear some version of: “If it doesn’t go well, I may lose my job. Or things might become so awkward that I feel forced to quit. And I may never get another position. And then I’ll end up in the poor house.” When encouraging women to negotiate salary offers, I hear hesitancy, followed by “I didn’t go into education for the money.” As if money is a bad thing, and wanting more of it something to feel shame about.
Ladies, it’s time to start a healthier relationship with finances.
Let me start with my own personal story around money, self-worth, options and freedom. I remember in my early adult life when, armed with expensive education credentials (that I'd be paying off for years!) and full of passion for making the world a better place, I explained to my wise lawyer father that I was going to pursue a career in the non-profit world - a pursuit that somehow felt virtuous almost precisely because of the non-profit aspect of it. He looked at me with a puzzled expression and said: “What’s wrong with for-profit?” And, after babbling a bit about the corrupting influence of money and evils of capitalism, I found I didn’t have a good answer. Because, as he and I then discussed, there is nothing wrong with the pursuit of profit and the desire for more money in and of itself – especially when that profit and that money is gained or earned in upstanding ways that don’t harm anyone else, can advance our cause, and allow us and those who depend on us to live more fulfilling and rewarding lives.
It wasn’t long after this discussion that I found myself with a job offer from a large company where I’d be doing good things for the world that I could feel proud about, with a salary and compensation package that were well beyond what I had ever imagined I could earn, though reflected my education, experience, and value on the market. And – with a pep talk and good practical advice with a friend with expertise in this area, I negotiated for more! And I got it!
As a result of my changed attitude toward money and my courage in asking for more, I a) felt proud of myself and the value I was bringing to the company, and b) started putting money away into a 401K program, with a generous company match, that allowed me start on the road to financial freedom – which to me means the ability to pursue a career and life where I’m following my passions without feeling beholden or falsely loyal to an institution, particular career trajectory or specific salary, all while building a nest egg that will allow me to rest from earning one day and make continued life decisions without that as a factor.
And still, you know what they say about best laid plans, and about life having other things in mind as we move about our daily schedules. Adventures came along: a lay-off from that large company, a divorce that was costly emotionally as well as financially, a pull toward starting my own entrepreneurial venture that I couldn’t ignore. Those adventures reinforced my desire to be in the driver’s seat as my own boss, the person in charge of my own career and life decisions. That’s been the very best thing for me in many ways – except for that nest egg thing.
So here I am, entering that stage where others in my age bracket are getting ready to retire, and I am still a long way from that possibility. My retirement accounts hit a plateau when I stopped working for ‘The Man.’ I have some debt. My two young adult children are on their own roads to financial independence, though are not there yet. My Sidecar adventures, while bringing me great joy and satisfaction, are yet to bring me into financial security territory, let alone to a place where I can contemplate retirement any time soon. Actually, I don’t think I’ll ever retire, if that means stopping what feeds my soul – coaching women leaders and other adventurers. However, I am seasoned enough to know that life is unpredictable, that my good health and good fortune may not last forever (though I’m picking up some great tips from watching Blue Zones on Netflix), and that at some point I may no longer have the flexibility to jump in my sidecar and head off on adventures as I do now. I’ll be more in nesting mode than exploring mode. And for that I’ll be wanting an actual nest, where I can gaze out my big picture window onto an ever-changing vista (mimicking the thrill of a sidecar ride), putter in my herb garden, finally unpack from duffel bags and boxes the stuff I’ve accumulated in my travels and put them on walls and shelves, in drawers and closets, continue to engage with adventurers via Zoom or whatever virtual vehicle the tech gurus come up with by then, and invite in family, friends and travelers who could use a place to rest for a while, and who will be welcome company.
This is my dream. This is the destination at the end of my road to financial freedom. And this is where Diana Rosberg comes in.
I first met Diana back in 2014, when I was a consultant with Search Associates and Diana and her husband Bengt were in my roster of candidate clients. I recognized early on that she was an exceptional educational leader; her career journey reflects the value she continues to bring to schools around the world, as leader, strategic planning consultant, and accreditation advisor among other roles she plays. What became more apparent to me as I got to know her better as her coach is that 1) she is a fierce advocate for and supporter of women and 2) she is super smart about personal finance, a passion she’s pursued since her early adult life. Diana learned the hard way about the critical role personal finance savvy can play in the choices women have over their lives. Through dogged research, reversing past costly mistakes, and persistent putting-into-practice what she was learning, she is now at a point where she can consider full retirement before she hits her her mid-50s.
This is where serendipity comes in. During a coaching call one day, Diana and I began discussing a colleague of hers who was considering a leadership job offer at another international school, and who came to Diana for her wisdom about the financial aspects of the offer (turns out this happens fairly frequently for Diana). In the conversation that followed, Diana learned that this leader, who was so intelligent and savvy in so many ways, was shooting herself in the foot when it came to her personal finances. She was a single mother who still had student loan debt and hadn’t even begun to put money away into savings or investment vehicles. Diana took this woman under her wing and informally coached her, first of all about how to better evaluate the financial aspects of the job offer, and then how to seize this opportunity to get on a road to a place where her finances would support her career and life decisions rather than limit them. As Diana talked animatedly about the new career and life possibilities that were now ahead for her colleague and the new positive spirit with which she was now approaching her finances, we had a mutual brainstorm: How can we work together to bring this type of personal finance education and coaching to more women leaders out there? How can we help more women get on the road to financial freedom, that place where a specific salary and proscribed professional roadmap are no longer limiting factors in the career and life decisions they make? Where they have confidence in their financial knowledge and resources to act on it?
Inspired and energized, Diana got to work. Over the next few months, in between her various leadership duties, she designed a comprehensive, easy-to-follow, utterly life-changing course called The Adventurous Women’s Road to Financial Freedom, with particular application for a) women - for whom finances are a different landscape than for men, b) internationals – those amongst us who live in one country, may have citizenship and financial accounts in another, and don’t yet know where in the world we may go next.
It's binge-watchable. It’s immediately actionable. It’s both challenging and reassuring. It’s even funny in parts. And it’s now up on Sidecar-U, the online platform I recently launched where women leaders can learn from and with one another in ways that support their professional growth and their personal well-being.
The Adventurous Women’s Road to Financial Freedom – AWRFF for short (say it loud! It sounds like a freedom cry!) – is a wise investment in your future. Consider gifting it to yourself for a holiday present, or nudge a loved one to gift it to you (after all, that loved one will benefit too!). Though your road to financial freedom may be long, you’ll find yourself enjoying scenic lookouts and discovering new wonders early and often through the lessons you learn in this course. Diana offers a gratis module to introduce you to her style and bring you immediate gratification. She also offers a shortened version of the full AWRFF course to get you started on the road with personal finance essentials. The full course goes into greater depth and detail, especially around issues specific to women and to internationals, and is well worth the investment of additional time and funds.
Holding yourself accountable to applying course lessons may be a looming concern. Diana has some ideas and offers to address that, including taking the course with a ‘pod’ of fellow freedom seekers for a special group rate, and/or including personalized coaching with Diana along the way. As Diana wisely counsels, “We’re all in this together, so let’s be in this together.”
Adventurous lives are priceless. They can be sustained with a solid financial plan behind them. You may not be motivated by money, and that’s fine. I just urge you to see money as the huge, turbo-charging asset it can be, and dismiss concerns that wanting more makes you greedy or of questionable moral character. I am willing to wager that you’ll get a lot further in your career and personal life, and have a wider range of options in front of you to follow your dreams, once you get past any squeamishness or insecurity you have about money and allow it to work for you rather than you work for it. The freedom to pursue a life of meaning and pleasure is worth it.
I’ll be applying AWRFF lessons to my life starting today. Let me know if you’d like to join me in an AWRFF pod. We can encourage one another! And one day, when I have that nest I described, we can sit around and be grateful to Diana for guiding us toward this fulfilling life.
Yours in making friends with money,
Bridget
P.S. Upcoming Sidecar-U offerings will include a course on negotiating your leadership offer (taught by moi), which will be a great pairing with AWRFF, and one on international school finance, taught by a sister who's been there and knows what she's talking about. :-)
