Dollars and Sense
Women, Take Charge of Your Finances
BY David Uffington

EDITORS: "Suze" is CQ

Women have long since broken the glass ceiling in terms of jobs formerly limited to men. But in financial matters, it's often still a man's world.

The statistics for women indicate that 63 percent of women don't do any retirement planning separate from their spouse or partner. Of those who work, 47 percent aren't contributing to a retirement plan. Sixty-one percent of women living alone after age 65 have incomes under $15,000.

In "Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny" (Spiegel & Grau), bestselling financial author Suze Orman has developed the Save Yourself Plan, covering the core foundations of personal finance and security for women.

Orman points out realities: Social Security is going to provide smaller payments in the future. With the growing number of single parent households due to divorce, and the increasing number of women who choose not to marry, more women are responsible for their own money. And probably most significant: Women tend to undervalue themselves and make or charge less for their services.

Orman takes the reader in hand with five steps in the plan, each expected to take one month to cover.

. Taking control of spending and basic savings. Orman starts with the basics for those who need it: reading a bank statement, getting a higher interest rate on savings accounts and taking advantage of automatic deposits to investment accounts.

. Mastering credit cards and FICO credit score. Helpful hints include looking for low-interest cards and understanding the real financial impact of your FICO score.

. Saving for retirement, including an explanation of traditional IRA versus Roth IRA, and how to choose.

. Getting must-have documents in order. Orman covers advance directives, power of attorney, revocable living trust and the safest way to hold title to your home.

. Having appropriate life- and home-insurance coverage. Understand the differences between the types of insurance: variable life, universal life, whole life and term life.

The plan is augmented by a wealth of information from Orman's Web site, www.suzeorman.com, with the book's bonus material accessed via a code found in the book.

If you're not where you want to be financially, "Women & Money" is a powerful tool to get you headed in the right direction.

David Uffington regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Write to him in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL32853-6475 or send e-mail to letters.kfws@hearstsc.com.

(c) 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.