20 Secrets to Money and Independence: A Guide to Independence, Economic Empowerment, and Self-Awareness - Hardcover

Godfrey, Joline

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312262795 ISBN 13: 9780312262792

Publisher: Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press, 2000

Synopsis

How to be a glam grrl with money in the bank, the heart of a lion, and the passion to make your dreams come true. . .

Loving one's weirdness (which Godfrey calls the fingerprint of the soul), getting loud (without apology), using money to exercise voice (while defying materialism), asking forgiveness (when permission has been skirted), are just a few of the secrets which open the door to the indie grrl's real life.

Not your standard how-to book, Godfrey uses the lives of REAL indie women to uncover secrets that make them memorable and individual. At the heart of Godfrey's stories are instructions that help Y-Gen femmes find their voice, get and use money for their own visions and dreams, and help them gain comfort inside their own unique skins. Independent women, according to Godfrey, are not "lone wolves" but are independent while in the middle of love, friendship, and family.

Geeks and girlygirls, surferchicks and soccerjocks, prom queens and poets, wild things and intellects-all femmes en route to claiming their own womanself will find the $ecrets divulged herein, of use on their journey. And added to the fun and function of the book are activities and events that readers can use to go deeper-either on-line or in real time.

The founder of Independent Means, Inc., a company which produces such programs as Camp $tart-Up (a summer business program for Y-Gen women) and The DollarDiva's MoneyFair, as well as products like Hot Company( and Women Who Dare(, Godfrey's ideas emerge from her deep experience and work with the independent women whose daring and original management of their own lives are changing the very nature of the work/life conundrum.

About this title

About the Author:

Joline Godfrey is the founder of Independent Means Inc., providing programs and products for the Y-Generation's financial empowerment. She is also the author of Our Wildest Dreams: Women Making Money, Having Fun, and Doing Good, as well as No More Frogs to Kiss: 99 Ways to Give Economic Power to Girls. She lives in Ojai, California, where she hikes, lives with a zencat, and practices the secrets she writes about.

From Publishers Weekly:

A guide to managing money and life for the "Gen Y woman" (ages 12-24) is a good idea, but Godfrey's contribution doesn't successfully blend the different elements it introduces. The principlesAor, as they are annoyingly labeled throughout the text, "$ecrets"Aare about creating a good attitude: "Accept Yourself," "Uncover Yourself," "Grow Your Money-Self," "Get Out of Yourself" and "Take Care of Yourself." Transmitting the message that if a young woman learns about herself and finds her voice, she will eventually be successful in her professional life, Godfrey's recommendations (girls should read the business section of the newspaper, learn about investing, create a budget and eventually contribute to charitable organizations) are empowering. Unfortunately, her didactic tone and lack of focus mars the delivery of this commonsense advice. Encouraging women to "manage your money as carefully as you manage your love life," Godfrey suggests ways that young women can exploit their friends (organize a vacation with several girls, overcharge them and profit from the trip; arrange "power lunches"). She also offers an unwieldy array of contradictory truisms: she admonishes girls to fight crass materialism, yet also to aim to be wealthy enough to buy whatever they desire; they should create a large, diverse community of friends, she says, yet shouldn't worry about being considered weird or unpopular. While the idea of being one of Godfrey's "DollarDivas" is appealing, her directives may be emotionally perplexing to the "indie girls" she seeks to reach.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0312262795
• ISBN 13: 9780312262792
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 242