As a freshman in college, on my own for the first time, I learned that I had overdrawn my checking account. I had no idea what I’d done wrong, I had no idea how to fix it and I certainly didn’t have the $100 in overdraft fees I was being charged. I begged my dad to close the account for me and just let me start over, promising to “do better.”

He wouldn’t do it. He insisted I go back through my check register, starting from the last date I had successfully reconciled the account to the penny and figure out what went wrong. I was mad and tired spending the rest of the day working through every transaction. As the sun set, surrounded with pages of notes and calculations, I was so relieved to finally figure out where I had made my mistake.

I’m now grateful for that push from my Dad to do the work to solve my problem. If he hadn’t, as much I wanted to “do better,” I wouldn’t have known how to. That experience was pivotal for me, as it was the first time I realized that taking care of my money is up to me. I am the one who needs to understand how I interact with money and manage it – how it’s coming to me, where I need and want to spend it, how I plan to make sure I have enough of it now and in the future. That day, I learned that I need to own my relationship with money.

Today I am a proud CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ®. I work with many women and love learning about their versions of similar realizations. We have great conversations about how to grow in understanding of yourself and money, and the relationship between you. We acknowledge the power it gives to do the hard work in solving money problems and finding answers to financial questions. I support and encourage them to move beyond the “I’ll just do better” mindset I wanted to settle into as a young woman.

In my professional experience, though, for every woman we work with that is fully “invested” in her relationship with money, we easily see two or three others who take a marginal interest. Someone else in their life does the hard work for them. There are many reasons we’d like to see women more engaged with their money. For example, we know finances are a primary cause of stress for women. Women face specific financial planning challenges their male counterparts do not. We have more earning potential and more assets than we’ve ever had before and yet remain measurably less confident in our ability to manage money and make investment decisions than men.

At McKinley Carter we recognized we are uniquely situated to help women “do better” with their money.

We are so proud to announce the launch of “The Savvy – A Society of Women Pursuing Their Ideal Life.” We want to be a resource for women, providing information, tools, and community. We want to empower women with a firm financial foundation and solid relationship with their money.

Last year we spent considerable time researching, discussing, and planning how we could better support the women we serve. We surveyed our female clients and received valuable feedback about their comfort level with money matters, the topics they are most interested to learn about, and their preferences for receiving additional education in the future.

Based on everything we’ve learned, we’re dedicating 2023 to introducing intentional, comfortable, and fun opportunities for women to examine their relationship with money, get questions answered through education and conversation, and build the confidence needed to feel secure with their financial plan.

Watch for emails, virtual content, and live events all designed to help women of all ages pursue their ideal life by “doing better” with money.

We can’t wait to establish and grow our Savvy community with your help!