Money is different to everyone. Someone might have 100,000 and it’s enough, and to someone else that $100,000 might not be enough. Do you want to leave a legacy? Do you have enough to live on when you actually retire? Do you know when you actually can retire? Do you know your housing expenses, insurances, etc.?

These are questions that need to be asked before you retire. Planning is essential to a great retirement. I can tell you that I’ve worked with many women who, by age 40, have zero money for retirement, which means that when you realize this error, or if life just happened, then your money and your plan must work harder to achieve your goals.

Time is your best asset when saving for retirement. The earlier you save in life, the more opportunity you’ll have to have your money grow. Your money can weather the peaks and valleys of the market if you are invested in the stock markets. If you start when you are older, you might not be able to weather the market storms that can wreak havoc on your finances in 2008. Currently, the older employees are working in retail stores, working part time to make up what they had lost. Is this what you want?

One misconception is that the average women thinks they can just take a big chunk of their paycheck to give to a financial planner to let them do what they want with it. In defense of some planners, they will have your best interest in mind, however, know that your future is your responsibility and you must be aware and keep track of your money. If you are just blowing money on stuff, then you will never get ahead. Having lots of stuff is never going to be the best investment for the future. You will either sell or it, discount it or give it away. Looking at your daily spending habits on coffee, soda, buying lunches out, these expenses can be reduced and those monies can be put toward savings.

There is an estimated women owning business. A report from Straight facts says 13.8% of women are poor in the U.S. vs 11.1 are business owners. Over the age of 75, 13% of women are poor vs 6% of men.

Managing your expenses is a big part of planning for retirement. Mastering this and living below your means will help you gain in the long run. The smallest pebble can lead to a big mountain. The secret is to start now. If you have no savings, then take 10% of what your net check is and sock it away into a savings account to start to build enough to cover 3 months of your expenses. This will help you feel safer and more secure if anything would happen. Then if you can put aside a little more toward investing, this would be even better. If you really don’t know what you are doing with finances and managing any of your income, we are having a class at Indulge Salon in January that you can sign up for. We have done a series of money management training for our staff that you can join for FREE. We are not just about haircutting and hair coloring, but we are also cheerleaders for you to have a better life.

On January 21st – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., we are hosting Hope from Santander Bank to start the series on Financial Planning. Learning to manage your income and expenses. She will be doing a series of these classes for our new employees and you are invited. She will review your credit score to help you understand the power of a good credit score and help you learn how to start saving money. This class is FREE and we welcome you to our trainings at Indulge Salon, 970 S. George St., York, PA 17403 located across from the York Hospital. Call 717.846.4424 (add link to South George Street location)

One of our stylists who attended the series of financial planning have really benefited from this and are well on their way to a great financial future.

Meet Laura. She came on board with us in November as a front desk coordinator. She has had her cosmetologist license for 5 years now and is ready to learn the Indulge way of French haircutting and coloring. She has experience with clipper cutting, foil highlighting, and dimensional highlighting as you can see in her photos.

Previously, she has worked in a Haircuttery with a good team but has the desire to really escalate her career here at Indulge Salon at our East York location. She enjoys working with medium length hair men’s haircutting, barbering, and highlighting with multi-colors. If you are interested in meeting Lauren, she works Thursday – Saturday. Phone 717.718.4465. Her haircuts start at 35.00 for new clients.

If you are like the rest of us, we are now making plans for our New Year’s resolutions. Here are the most popular:

1. Lose 10 lbs
2. Workout at the gym
3. Hire a trainer
4. Save money
5. Find a new man/woman or manage what you have
6. Travel

Every year, we say the same thing and 2% will actually achieve their goals, 5% will almost get there, 15% will get ½ way to their goals, and the rest will just talk about it with an attempt and have give up by the third month.

At Indulge Salon, we have a tradition to do a VISION BOARD. My entire team gets together to share their dreams and goals for 2015. The theory is proven because 95% of my staff achieves their goals when they do this activity. Grab some magazines and cut out the pictures that best represent what you want in your life. If it’s a new love, choose a photo that represents a happy smiling couple then cut it out and paste it on a big poster board. If the board is a bit big for you, choose a journal page to paste on. Cut and paste, no matter what the cost is of the items you choose. Jewels, cars, house, kids if you want them, a new clothing line you want to design, the new kitchen that you’ve always wanted, etc. You get the idea.

Spiritual can be represented by a church or whatever you find such as

Sample of a vision board.
Bible or group meetings.
Financial is always fun to have the dollars bills pasted onto your board. You can write out how much you want to make or save this year. Using markers is fun.

Relationship photos of doing fun things together, cooking together, cooking classes, and traveling together, having children together, etc.

Education can be represented by attending advanced trainings in a location that would interest you.
I suggest you try this then hang it up where you will walk by it every day to remind you of where you are headed for the future. Good luck!