The Economy

I just had lunch with PINK’s finance editor, Mary Claire Allvine, who, as a certified financial planner at Brownson, Rehmus & Foxworth Inc., is working nonstop to help shore up individuals’ crumbling financial situations. While it’s a time of anxiety, she’s excited about the good things women are learning: such as taking stock of what we’re spending, for example, and addressing the “creep” (all those extra little things we’ve started buying just because we can).

She’s also excited about the fact that friends who no longer go on spendthrift shopping sprees are influencing other friends to follow suit. Allvine is hoping that a domino effect will help every woman get her financial house in order. The growing global financial crisis also offers a catalyst for our culture to think about what we value – and what “success” really means. Is it about paper with the faces of dead presidents, or is success defined by something more internal?

By Cynthia Good