I have been through this more than once.

I have been unexpectedly laid off. I have made a deliberate decision to walk away from a career path that was no longer right for me. And I have built a business from scratch without a guarantee of what the first year would look like financially.

Each time, the thing that made the difference was not courage or optimism, though those help. It was preparation. Having a financial plan that gave me enough runway to make the leap without free-falling.

A career change is one of the most significant financial transitions a woman can make, especially in midlife when the stakes are real and the margin for error feels smaller. But it is absolutely navigable. Here is how I think about it.

Start With Clarity Before You Start With Job Boards

Before you update your resume or start researching new fields, get honest about where you stand financially right now.

This is the Clarity pillar of the Intentional Money Method. You cannot plan a transition withou...

What is Equal Pay Day?

National Equal Pay Day raises awareness of the pay discrepancies between men and women for the same work each year. Equal Pay Day was created by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996. This year, Equal Pay Day will be recognized on Tuesday, March 14.

Equal Pay Day also symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.

In 2022, studies showed that women in the U.S. earned, on average, 82 cents for every dollar earned by men, so a woman must work 15 months to make what a man earns in 12 months. This number varies based on occupation and industry - women in the legal field earn 63 cents, and women in finance and insurance earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.

According to an article in Forbes, women lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime compared to their white male counterparts. For example, one study showed that white women lost $555,360, and black women lost $964,400 over their w...

If you have ever felt nervous about asking for a raise or raising your prices, you are not alone. Many women, even successful and high-achieving women, hesitate to advocate for themselves financially.

Sometimes it is mindset. Sometimes it is fear of rejection. Sometimes it is that voice whispering “Who am I to ask for more?” But here is the truth: your skills, experience, and growth have value. Your compensation should reflect that. Whether you work for a company or run your own business, increasing your income often starts with getting comfortable asking for what you deserve.

Why Asking for More Money Matters

I once worked with a client who transitioned into data analytics without a formal degree in that field. She was talented, highly capable, and significantly underpaid.

She believed she did not deserve the same salary as someone who studied analytics in school. However, I encouraged her to look at the value she was delivering: her expertise grew every year, her skills contribut...

If you want to increase your income and feel confident advocating for yourself financially, your mindset is the very first place to start. While we cannot control everything around us, we do have influence over the most powerful piece of the puzzle: our thoughts, our reactions, and the beliefs that shape how we approach money. When you take ownership of that inner voice, you put yourself in a strong position to attract and earn more.

And it begins with a simple act: asking for what you want.

Kids have this mastered. My kids ask for McDonald’s constantly and they do it with zero hesitation. Even though they hear “no” almost every time, they keep asking. They have not yet learned the fear that so many adults feel around money, rejection, or being seen as “too much.” There is a lot we can learn from that confidence.

Wanting something does not guarantee it will happen. But believing you have agency and actively participating in your money journey opens the door to more opportunities. Yo...

If you’ve ever wondered how to improve your financial situation, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common goals I hear from women in every stage of life.

Whether you’re navigating a career transition, rebuilding after divorce, or simply trying to create more stability and confidence with money, improving your finances often feels both incredibly important and incredibly overwhelming.

The good news? Improving your financial situation doesn’t require perfection, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, it happens through intentional choices, consistent actions, and a commitment to your financial wellness.

In many ways, learning personal finance for women is less about complicated strategies and more about creating sustainable habits that support your life and your values.

Think of it as financial self care. Just like physical health or emotional wellness, your financial well-being improves when you consistently make choices that support your long-term stability and peace of min...

Returning to work after time away from your career is one of the most significant financial transitions a woman can face. And it almost never happens in a vacuum.

Maybe you stepped back to raise children and are now re-entering after a divorce. Maybe your kids have launched and you are ready to rebuild professionally. Maybe a relationship ended and your financial independence is no longer optional. It is urgent.

Whatever brought you here, I want to start by saying something I mean: the time you spent away from traditional employment was not wasted. You built skills. You managed complexity. You made decisions under pressure with real consequences for real people. That counts. And in many ways, it has prepared you for exactly the kind of intentional, values-driven professional life that is possible on the other side of this transition.

The fear is real. So is the opportunity. Here is how to navigate both.

Start With Clarity Before You Start With Resumes

The instinct when returning t...

Here is something I see constantly in my work with women.

She has been in her role for years. She is good at it. She has taken on more responsibility than her job description ever anticipated. And she has not asked for a raise in a very long time, maybe ever, because it feels awkward or presumptuous or like she should just be grateful for what she has.

And the longer she waits, the more it costs her. Not just today. Every year she is underpaid compounds. It affects her bonuses, her retirement contributions, her Social Security calculation, and every raise that builds on that base going forward.

Asking for a raise is not aggressive. It is not arrogant. It is one of the most financially consequential things you can do, especially in midlife when you are in the prime earning years that matter most for building wealth and funding the retirement you actually want.

Here is how to do it.

Start With Clarity: Know What You Are Worth and What You Want

The first pillar of the Intentional Mo...