| 7 lies we (and 1 that women) tell ourselves about money |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|08:39 am] |
7 lies we tell ourselves about money | I Will Teach You To Be Rich.
I like the "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" blog, for several reasons:
- It defines "rich" as the balance between financial independence and lifestyle freedom that works for you
- It's competently and clearly written, and well-organized
- It focuses on non-sensationalist tips that really work, changing things you can actually control, making decisions that will improve your whole life (not just your pocketbook), and being conscious of your problems and "Knowing Thyself" as essential steps towards forging financial solutions.
And if you were only ever going to read one post on finance, or on that blog, I would probably recommend the "7 Lies We Tell Ourselves" one. Not only does it list seven fantastic "Know Thyself" jumping-off points, but by reading them in in this format, you should learn what it is that you need to focus on about finances, whether it's planning or investing or working on behavioral fixes. That method — to pin down what your individual weakness is, and address it realistically — is the fastest way *I* can think of to effect good change.
I have one complaint about the article, however: In Tip #1, they discuss negotiating for a salary.
Negotiating a salary is a good idea, and it's a good idea to learn how exactly to do it, because it can make you a lot of money without changing anything else about what you're doing, and how to do it is not really obvious to most people. So not only am I glad Ramit mentions it in this article; I think his including a video with detailed instructions for negotiating a salary is a great lagniappe.
However, as a former financial counselor and a frugal person, I've seen videos and other instructions of this type quite often, and this one makes one of the common mistakes that makes me go yyyrrrrrggggggghhhhAAAAAAAAAYOUIDIOTS! and foam rabidly all over my keyboard. (It's not pretty.)
The mistake?
The woman in the video (and it is almost always a woman who says this, even when the material isn't explicitly aimed at women) just has to point out that women make less money than men, and that women are not very good negotiators ("by nature" is assumed even if not said) and often aren't shown how to do it…so obviously, you know, that leads to the completely logical conclusion that if women were better negotiators, we wouldn't have such a problem with wage disparity.
::FACEPALM::
Of course, it's no accident that the woman in this video is younger than me, recently graduated from Stanford and got 60K/yr at her last, poorly-negotiated job. So if I, or someone else, were to say to her, "YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. LET'S TELL ALL THE WOMEN WHO WORK AT WAL-MART TO NEGOTIATE BETTER SALARIES, AND MAYBE WAL-MART WILL AGREE TO PAY THEM THE SAME AS MEN," I'm sure she would be genuinely shocked to ponder that, for the vast majority of women, being fresh out of Stanford and needing to pull better than 60K out of your next round of "recruiter" interviews is not, in fact, the main problem.
(Note: It may be that Ramit's audience for his blog is simply this group, of very-upper-middle-class rather-clueless young-ish people…but he doesn't explicitly narrow his advice to them, or say anything to that effect that I'm aware of. And for the most part, I think his advice is very good no matter where you are on the economic treadmill.)
I'm not saying that salary-negotiating advice would not be useful to lower-income women, not at all. But be serious — if most women in this country tried "negotiating" a salary at the kind of jobs they work (which are more often low-wage or crappy to begin with), they simply wouldn't get hired. It's actually been shown quite clearly that just demanding wage parity can get you fired.
Now, if MOST of the women in this country suddenly demanded parity, that would probably change something — I imagine we're too much of the workforce now, for society to tolerate a general strike. But we have families to feed, too; and one stereotype that is correct is that most women would rather suffer some indignity or lack than put their childrens' food supply in danger. So Wal-Mart can probably rest easy on that one.
The next woman in a hundred-dollar suit to tell me that "if we were better negotiators…" though, is getting foamed on. Ugh!
Originally published at *Transcendental *Logic. You can comment here or there. |
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| (I don't have a "NATURE!" icon) |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|03:00 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | science | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | Pleased | ] |
Dear (customer)
Thank you for your Nature Publishing Group order.
Your order ID number is: [number]
Your EC number will grant you temporary, but immediate, online access to this journal while your order is processed. You will receive your authorised subscription number once your order has been processed.
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Hee!! ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) en_ki is awesome. |
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| Green Chile Party |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|08:19 pm] |
Just weighing interest - the last one was a huge success. I haven't had this much green chile in years - it's time for potato soup, casseroles, enchiladas, ice cream?
Lovers of spicy food, tell me, would you be interested in dinner in the nearish future? Think early to mid-January - weekend night. |
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| Success! |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|05:33 pm] |
Today we got Important Shopping done. Yay!
We also went for a walk in the (mostly) beautiful woods and slid around on partially frozen pond-sized puddles through drifting mists. What a lovely day! I love looking into the tiny motionless worlds that the ice captures - the waxy oak leaves are encased in glass and bubbles which the sunlight turns silver like mercury. Some of the captured plants are still green and alive, and the trees crack through the surface as if in a display of strength. The centers of the pond sag slowly, forming little ice bowls with dendritic cracks all about their tops, and the ghostly mists appear thick at a distance, but disappear upon arrival, like rainbows. Best of all, the day was warm and inviting, though wet and gray.
Alas, I forgot the camera.
...but then we came home and cleaned the basement (omg it's clean!), so, come rain or shine tomorrow, I will be able to get work done on my project (maybe even finish it!!).
Yay! |
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| Ready! |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|08:00 am] |
...the only thing that's stopping me from finishing up that project is: The Weather.
I have my paints, i have my respirator, i have a strong desire to get it done.
What i don't have is a nice dry place I can fill with atomized paint particles.
auuughh.
I think I'm going to have to suck it up and stick a fan in the basement window. ...unless anyone has some shop space they can lend me..? :D Maybe I can haul my stuff to school and paint in a fume hood. That would be kinda awesome. Hmmmm.. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 25th, 2009|04:28 pm] |
Since I thrive in chaos, this post is going to read very ironic. But let me give you a little history into my interests as a child. It will make sense later.
In fifth grade my class read, I Am Regina by Sally Keehn, a brief synopses:
"A first-person narrative based on the true story of a young woman held by Indians from 1755-1763, related with all the impact of a hard-hitting documentary. Entering an impoverished Indian village, ten-year-old Regina has difficulty forgetting the murders of her father and brother, which she had witnessed. Gradually memories fade, and she truly becomes Tskinnak, no longer remembering even her beloved mother's face. Her days are filled with minding Quetit, a younger captive entrusted to her care; with providing for the needs of her household; and with worrying about the future. It becomes apparent that the Indians, for whom she cares a great deal, are being betrayed in their relations with the white men. When the American army frees the captives and arranges for them to rejoin their birth families, Tskinnak regrets deserting the tough old woman who has raised her. The images of the white women rejoining their families, many of whom are now strangers, are memorable. Regina/Tskinnak's story is a dramatic one, while the portrayal of the Indians' fate is simply told; the combination makes wonderful reading. Readers will hardly realize how much they're learning in the pleasure of the story. --Susan F. Marcus, Pollard Middle School, Needham, MA"
I remember reading the book and feeling like I was Native American. I still feel it.
Now that I'm an 'adult' I need to start learning more about how I can take care of myself and others. I'm not a parent, but I may become one. I don't want any 'odd shifts' in the world, even if they're not your stereotypical visions of catastrophy, to knock me down because I have no clue in how to survive without a supermarket and a plastic card.
I need to adapt to a non-city world with soil and prey. Watching Man Vs. Wild or Survivor Man on Discovery doesn't count. I need to get my hands dirty. Get over the fear of killing another animal. Learn how to grow beans and grain and herbs. How to collect fresh water and store it. How to heal without modern medicines. How to build shelter, even permanent shelter.
How many people know how to do all these things, especially the feeling and knowledge of building your own home? I want that feeling. I don't want to be stuck in a house that was designed by non-creative contractors who will never know what it is like to live in their own creation. A creation they have probably built a thousand times over.
I know a woman by the name of Carrie. She lives in Windowrock, Arizona. She inherited a large plot of land by her mother, who was the female chief of her tribe. Carrie built her own house on this land. She told me that I could visit her anytime. I may take up her offer if I feel she is the best person to teach me how to build my own.
As for chaos. I love it. I wouldn't mind seeing the 'end of the world' no matter how violent and destructive. But if I can survive it and carry on, I will. I don't want to become a scavenger who walks in fear and lives everyday as if it's my last. |
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| Happy whatever! |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|05:55 pm] |
tonight I'm eating a PBJ for dinner and playing Super Metroid.
Tomorrow, Christmas with the en_ki family.
Life is good, and I am feeling even more thankful for it than usual.
I hope you all are also having a lovely evening and holiday. I wish you warmth in your hearts and homes.
Cheers. |
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| Great American Stew Challenge! |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|02:30 pm] |
Neither American nor Great!
Today shall be stew day. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, please refer to this entry. Based on the awesome and incredible list of suggestions I have received from my faithful cooking comrades, I'm thinking I may end up with two separate stews! It's going to be excellent!
At this point, I have no idea what exactly I'll end up with from this exciting experiment in learning to cook new things, but I'm excited about it. Naturally, I intend to tell you all what I did. And then a week from now I'll tell you whether it was good enough that thine_eyes ate it.
Anyhoo... that is all I really have to report today. It's XMAS eve, and I'm sitting around trying to figure out how I'll make stew to pass the time until my brother-in-law gets in at midnight. Then we will drive to Farmington either in the middle of the night or tomorrow morning (depending on the weather and the potential for black ice). |
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| What an odd b-day greeting... |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|09:10 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
From an elgrillador, who may or may not be a real person...but the greeting included an invisible link to a data mining site (which was rendered visible in the email notification of the comment).
I'm not a web or connectivity geek, or anything...not sure what it all meant, but in the end decided that it would be best to delete the thing altogether - it's fishiness was raised by the fact that the greeting was commented to a very old post, with non-personal stuff (as are spam comments, usually). Has anyone else experienced this kind of oddness? |
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| To Arms! To Arms! |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|02:19 pm] |
Ok, people. I need your help with something.
As many of you know, lotuschild03 has just left for a three-week-long trip to other states. The point being he has left behind many tasty veggies that I'm not familiar with using to cook. I'm thinking I will make a stew, but I'm not sure what else to throw in there to make it taste good. So I'm asking for your input here, since I know many of you cook very tasty concoctions.
The veggies I'm no good at include:
leeks
brussel sprouts
Additional veggies in stock include:
Yellow onions
Corn
Peas
Celery
Parsley
Broccoli
There is also some chicken and sausages in the fridge/freezer as an FYI.
I am willing to buy additional items to put in the stew.
The whole issue is that I'm worried I'm gonna put all this stuff in a pot with some other stuff and it's gonna taste awful. I don't wanna waste food, so help a sistah out, eh? |
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