Creating Financial Abundance with Ms.Money

Don't rent from Budget Car Rental

2011-08-06T11:12:00.001-07:00

Budget Car Rental should change their name to Pricey Car Rental. They charged Ms.Money $100 for being 36 minutes late returning my rental car and part of that time was waiting in line!
Rude and unacceptable customer service!

Business Consultant and Coach (Linked In Profile)

2010-12-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

Current

Business Consultant and Coach at .
Founder and CEO at MsMoney.com
Business Coach and Advisory Board Member at Astia

see all...

Past

Founder and President at Thrive Media (sold to Viacom)
Internet Project Director at Wells Fargo
Founder and President at Tiff.com: Internet Consulting / Fortune 100 Clients

see all...

Recommendations

7 people have recommended Tiffany

Connections

432 connections

Websites

Public Profile

http://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanybassbukow

Tiffany Bass Bukow is a 5-time entrepreneur with a business, marketing and technology background. She provides business coaching and management consulting services to executives in high growth industries.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

ASTIA: From 2000-2010, served as a business consultant to dozens of Astia executives in high growth companies that have raised nearly $1B in funding. Tiffany has also been a business plan screener, venture conference panelist and Advisory Board Member for Astia.

BOLSA CHEIA: In 2010, co-founded Brazilian personal finance company that was chosen as one of the most promising socially conscious business ventures in the world by the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards, McKinsey Consulting and Insead Business School.

HEALTH SERVICES COMPANY: In 2007, created an online platform that matches professional health services with clients who have unique needs. Profitable in 2009.

THRIVE MEDIA: In 2004, founded a socially conscious life affirming TV and radio media company and sold it to Viacom in 2007 for a healthy profit.

WELLS FARGO: In 2001, closed very profitable million dollar Internet consulting deal with top financial institution in less than 30 days and completed on time and within budget.

MSMONEY.COM: In 1999, raised $2.5M in venture money, made $1M in first year of operation and educated over 10M people in 10 years. Obtained lucrative PR after First Lady Hillary appeared at Launch Event because of MsMoney's socially conscious mission.

TIFF.COM: In 1996, started a Website development company that grew from 1 person to 20 in the first year of business after securing contracts with 5 Fortune 100 companies.

Specialties

Business Coach, Management Consultant, Social Entrepreneur, social media, marketing, technology, personal finance, financial services, speaking, writing, design, media, email marketing, business coaching, website design and development.

Business Consultant and Coach

.

Management Consulting industry

January 2000 – Present (11 years)

Coached dozens of entrepreneurs and business executives over the last decade. As a 5-time entrepreneur, understand first-hand the challenges that businesses face and provide creative solutions to help executives prosper in a challenging business world. Whether it is recommending technology solutions to increase income, offering social networking or media strategies to improve the client base, or providing insights into work-life balance, deliver service in a personable and insightful way that leaves clients thriving.

Tiffany has 2 recommendations (2 clients) including:

Founder and CEO

MsMoney.com

Financial Services industry

June 1999 – Present (11 years 7 months)

Hired and managed nearly 100 people and raised millions of dollars in venture money to build #1 Women and Money website that has educated 10 million people in 10 years. Unlike many early dotcom companies, MsMoney.com made over $1M in the first year of operation.

In August of 1999, founded MsMoney and set the goal of having one of the most powerful woman in the world, Hillary Clinton involved. Professional goals also included appearing in favorite news media: Forbes, Fortune, Time Magazine, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. Within just 6 months and with no prior connection to HIllary Clinton, orchestrated her visit to the MsMoney offices for a live TV launch event. Reached PR goals and was profiled in dozens of top news media.

Often called "Ms.Money", because a passionate advocate for financial health. Was a sought after guest by television and radio shows and have appeared in hundreds of articles. Hosted a pilot for a money makeover reality TV show in London called Live Your Life at Half the Price. Was a monthly guest money expert for the live TV show Call for Help; broadcast in 40 million households in 70 countries. Featured in a TV segment on financial tips, called Prescription for Financial Health; broadcast in 250 local news markets and 80 million households. Appeared on ABC News with Peter Jennings, the PBS News hour with Jim Lehrer, PBS's Digital Think, and on CBS News.

Hosted the Sony's Redband Radio Money Talk Show for a year. Wrote a monthly column, about teaching people how to thrive in their lives, which was read by 200,000 newsletter subscribers and also published by ABC News Online reaching millions more. Writings on what it takes to succeed and have it all in life were also published in a book.

www.MsMoney.com

Tiffany has 1 recommendation (1 partner) including:

Jennifer Hill, Vice President, Astia

Business Coach and Advisory Board Member

Astia

Non-Profit; Financial Services industry

1999 – Present (11 years)

MsMoney.com was one of the first three companies incubated by Astia in 1999 (when they served as a physical incubator). Joined the Advisory Board in 2000 and for the last decade have helped Astia devise their business growth strategies.

Screen business plans that entrepreneurs submit as part of Astia's application process. Companies that complete the Astia program and pitch at their Venture Conference, have an astounding 60% funding rate unparalleled in the industry. The latest Astia company just raised $47M in June 2010. Astia companies have raised nearly $1 Billion in capital in the last 5 years.

Coached dozens of Astia entrepreneurs about their business plans, marketing, PR, strategic planning, presentation skills, and networking in order to increase their odds of fundraising success.

Astia is a unique, global not-for-profit organization that provides innovative programs that ensure woman-owned companies gain access to capital, achieve and sustain high-growth, and develop the executive leadership of the founding team. Designed for startups at all stages, the Astia programs are implemented by more than 700 members of the Astia Advisor Network that includes more than 100 former and current CEOs and 125 investors. Astia is an extremely committed community of advisors, investors, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs.

www.Astia.org

Tiffany has 2 recommendations (2 partners) including:

Daniel Dietrich, Co-Founder and COO, Hey, Neighbor!
Barbara Pantuso, Founder and CEO, Hey, Neighbor!

Co-Founder and Chief Strategist

Bolsa Cheia

Public Company; Financial Services industry

January 1995 – Present (16 years)

In January 2010, co-founded Bolsa Cheia with native Brazilian cousin Thereza Bukow. Bolsa Cheia is new type of financial services company in Brazil that utilizes online money management tools and content to help empower women financially. Women in emerging markets, such as Brazil, are desperate for help demystifying the money management process and need online educational content and tools that can simplify their lives and help them plan well.

The company plans to provide a goal setting technology platform that helps women define their personal financial goals and encourages them to include charitable donations and micro-lending in their overall money strategies, so everyone thrives

Bolsa Cheia was a global finalist for a 2010 Prestigious Award for Socially Conscious Start-up Companies and honored at the 2010 Women's Forum in Deauville, France. Out of 600 global applications, only 15 were selected for the Cartier Women's Initiative created in partnership with McKinsey Consulting and Insead Business School.

Founder and President

Thrive Media (sold to Viacom)

Media Production industry

January 2004 – January 2007 (3 years 1 month)

Created, produced, and promoted life-affirming radio and television that inspired people to live fuller and happier lives. Thrive TV was a proposed cable network of positive entertaining programs. Thrive Media was sold to Viacom in 2007 after talks with some of the biggest global media companies in the world.

Disney launched a competitive network in 2009 nearly identical to Thrive TV called the Live Well Network (www.livewellhd.com). It is the first positive TV network to launch in the U.S. The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is next in line and plans to launch 1/1/11.

Formerly www.ThriveMedia.TV
(Archive seen at: http://bit.ly/gMrDFR)

Tiffany has 1 recommendation (1 client) including:

Scott Johnson

Internet Project Director

Wells Fargo

Financial Services industry

August 2001 – March 2002 (8 months)

Hired as an outside consultant to create and build an online educational personal finance resource center for Wells Fargo's 10 million customers. Responsible for managing key elements of their entire website relaunch. Secured and directed a million dollar budget and personally hired and managed the productivity of a staff of 20 people.

Attended and analyzed the Wells Fargo marketing focus groups, reviewed competitor's offerings and designs, implemented new ideas, and hosted the prototyping of the entire new WellsFargo.com website (hundreds of pages) on offsite servers until it was ready to launch globally.

www.WellsFargo.com
(archive version of the 2002 launch can be seen upon request)

Founder and President

Tiff.com: Internet Consulting / Fortune 100 Clients

Information Technology and Services industry

January 1996 – July 2000 (4 years 7 months)

Was an avid computer gamer and loved technology and programming from a young age. Started college as a Computer Engineer and finished with a Business Degree focused on MIS (Management Information Systems) and Marketing. Fresh out of Graduate School with newly minted Master's Degree in Multimedia Instructional Design, founded one of the first Web Site Design and Development Companies and became one of the only women HTML programmers writing code for the Netscape 1.0 Browser. At the time, only 10% of women were even online, so friends affectionately nicknamed me TiffDotcom.

Within just 6 months, and utilizing a lot of sales savvy to close Fortune 100 clients, grew Tiff.com from 1 employee to 20 people profitably. Instead of accepting a lucrative offer to sell Tiff.com, decided to focus key staff on starting new company MsMoney.com, which had greater financial potential.

Tiff.com focused on Internet marketing, technology, website design and development with well known clients; AOL: Worldplay Entertainment, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Lucent, Xerox, Bechtel, The World Bank, Jurika and Voyles (Nvest), Guardian Life Insurance, Wells Fargo, multiple Venture Capital Firms, Foote, Cone and Belding, Brumfield and Etienne, Snyder Communicatons, and dozens of other companies.

www.Tiff.com

Tiffany has 1 recommendation (1 client) including:

Yvonne Jaramillo Ahearn, Esq., REALTOR®

Early Investor and Key Advisor

eWork

Internet industry

June 1998 – June 2000 (2 years 1 month)

Husband, Hans Bukow, founded eWork USA and eWork Scandinavia, which went public in 2008. The idea for eWork came from Tiff.com's experience from 1996-1998 hiring electronic workers (e-workers) around the globe to complete Internet, design and technology projects for Fortune 100 companies.

Tiffany Bass Bukow spoke at the first Internet World in New Delhi, India and in Philippines in 1998 about hiring and managing global e-workers. She also toured technology firms in Bangalore, India long before global technology outsourcing became so prevalent there and across the world.

eWork Scandinavia (a public company):
A $3M investment turned into a $100M IPO in 2008.
http://www.eWork.eu

eWork USA website archive: http://bit.ly/hDpjTe

Business Consultant and Coach

.

“Tiffany's dynamic and personable style together with her extreme savvy on business development (and related topics) is made all the more effective by her absolute dedication to the goals and values of her client company or organization. It is easy for many consultants to apply a "one size fits all" manifesto gleaned from personal experience, but it takes a particularly astute and sensitive one to understand the specific nuances that make a "pitch" more resonant (as in the case of our social cause film) or a business model more enduring.

I have no hesitation endorsing Tiffany for any organization that is seeking to take their business to the next level, or find it's ideal positioning in an increasingly aggressive and daunting marketplace.” December 16, 2010

Top qualities: Personable, Expert

Larry Schlessinger,
hired Tiffany as a Business Consultant in 2010

“Over a period of several months Tiffany worked with me and my team as a business coach and advisor to our film fundraising project, I was and remain impressed with her in so many ways. From her knowledge and ease with money matters, to her personal and caring guidance, professionalism and, characteristically, her enthusiasm and positive attitude.”December 12, 2010

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable

Jack Gescheidt,
hired Tiffany as a Financial Advisor in 2010

Founder and CEO

MsMoney.com

“Tiffany provided excellent tips, techniques, and advice that made an immediate positive impact for my first appearance on MSNBC. In a very short period of time, she made a huge difference. Thank you again, Tiffany!” May 14, 2010

Jennifer Hill, Vice President, Astia
was with another company when working with Tiffany at MsMoney.com

Business Coach and Advisory Board Member

Astia

“Tiffany's knowledge, experience and guidance has made such a positive impact on the progress of our start-up company. Her genuine interest in helping people is obvious and her positive energy seems endless. I consider myself very fortunate to know her.” December 16, 2010

Daniel Dietrich, Co-Founder and COO, Hey, Neighbor!
was with another company when working with Tiffany at Astia

“I met Tiffany when I applied to the Astia program for women-led startups. She was one of the judges and I immediately connected with her. She asked pointed, smart, and tough questions and at the same time, she was also very supportive and encouraging. Since then, she has been an extremely helpful adviser to me and my business partner. She's walked in our shoes as an entrepreneur, she knows the business, she's intuitive and wise, and she's well connected. On top of all that, she's an amazingly nice person and I consider it a stroke of good luck to have crossed paths with her.” December 13, 2010

Barbara Pantuso, Founder and CEO, Hey, Neighbor!
was with another company when working with Tiffany at Astia

Founder and President

Thrive Media (sold to Viacom)

“Tiffany combines her sharp mind with a big heart to offer professional consulting and coaching that makes a difference. I've used her services to help make the Positive Music Association the leader in the emerging new genre of Positive music.” December 13, 2010

Top qualities: Personable, Expert

Scott Johnson,
hired Tiffany as a Business Consultant in 2005

Founder and President

Tiff.com: Internet Consulting / Fortune 100 Clients

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Creative November 10, 2006

Yvonne Jaramillo Ahearn, Esq., REALTOR®,
hired Tiffany as a Business Consultant in 1996, and hired Tiffany more than once

Websites:

Interests:

Women Empowerment, Wealth, Health and Well-Being Education,Technology, Science, Green Tech, Health, Nutrition, Business Consulting & Coaching, Philanthropy, Art, Music, Photography,Creating digital projects, Dancing, Hiking, Music, Reading,Technology, Windsurfing

Groups and Associations:

Throughout her career, Tiffany has been a member of the FWE: Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, BAWFT: Bay Area Women In Film and Television, FAF: Film Arts Foundation, WIT: Women In Technology,and on the Board of the AWICAssociation for Women In Communications. She has also been active with the NAWBO: National Association of Women Business Owners,FWA: Financial Women's Association and on the Advisory Board of Astia., CNBC

Honors and Awards:

Cartier Women's Initiative Awards 20

The Quest for Perfection

2010-11-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

This article offers an amazing insight into women's quest for perfection. After watching Jane Fonda on Oprah say it took her nearly 65 years to figure out she was "good enough", I think it is imperative that we learn this lesson a little earlier!

CNN Article:
The quest for perfection is exhausting and unrelenting, but as hard as we try, we can't turn off the tapes that fill our heads with messages like "Never good enough" and "What will people think?"

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/11/01/give.up.perfection/index.html?hpt=C2

Read it!

And remember ... you are good enough just the way you are.

Planning for the Life You Want

2010-09-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

Are you living the life you want - the life you dreamed of?

If not, what is holding you back?

Most people tell me that their financial resources are holding them back. Women especially feel that a life full of splendor and magnificence is only for the Rich and Famous and that they must have an abundance of money to be happy. Too often then settle for the stifled and mundane instead and figure that is their lot in life. They don’t realize that real abundance comes from peace, joy and freedom and NOT from money. It is the Freedom to do the things you want to do because of your wise financial life planning.

I would guess that everyone at some time has settled for less, when in our hearts we probably knew we could have had so much more. However, we were just too tired of trying or maybe too afraid we would fail to go after what we truly wanted. We let our negativity win. And that is our enormous soul-depleting loss.

In the past, typically out of laziness and not feeling up for a taxing negotiation, I would let my husband make many of the important decisions, such as what the next family vacation was. With only a few weeks off a year, this time away can set the tone of our family life for a long time. By letting go of what I wanted, I ended up with something I absolutely did not want, such as spending 10 years staying with my in-laws at their tiny house in Miami for our vacation (typically for 2-3 weeks at a time). I know, for most of you, I need say no more why this isn't my dream vacation. Yes, we saved a lot of money avoiding hotel costs, though the financial saving benefits were not enough for me to justify it. We could have spent the same amount of money and did something that added a lot less stress and bonded us together as a family.

At the start of this year, I decided I was going to stop settling and absolutely going to get what I WANTED out of life and not just for the little things, such as the family vacation, but also the big things, such as creating a new company and moving to Brazil. My husband is learning to adapt to my new style even though it means he gets less of what he wants. I figure since he spent the last 14 years as captain of the family, it is now my turn to get off the sidelines and dive in for some fun game play and glory.

So far my efforts are paying off! I started a new company with my cousin Thereza this year and it was chosen as a finalist by the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards. Out of 600 global applications, we were one of fifteen companies selected. So now, I am off to Paris for a nearly all expense paid 10 days at one of the nicest hotels in the world so our company Bolsa Cheia can be honored! Now that is a lot closer to my dream vacation than 2 weeks at the in-laws!

In just a few months, once I changed my thinking about how I was going to live my life, everything started to magically line up. I set a vision to have a magnificent vacation and move our family to Brazil. I didn’t let my lack of financial resources hold me back from having these thoughts even though the exact details of how my plan was to be carried out weren’t clear. I just focused on what I LOVE TO DO and what I do well, which is to apply my entrepreneurial skills and fearlessness to create new business opportunities.

As a result, I ended up getting exactly what I wanted in a round-about way. I didn’t create a new company just to get my dream vacation, it just worked out that way. I didn't create a company just so I could move to Brazil, though it appears that is what will happen.

The wonderful point of this story is that YOU can do this too. There is no secret to my success. Create a plan for the life you want and commit to it. Not the life your friends, family or co-workers want for you, but the life YOU want - the LIFE that gets you jumping out of bed every morning eager to begin. Then be sure to solidly hold that vision in your head. Perhaps you might want to even create a vision board and post it on your wall to help remind you of your goals every day. Then summon the creative genius that is lying within all of us waiting for its wake-up call to help you achieve your goals.

Though I didn't do a vision board for my vacation specifically, I have done something similar in the past. When I was 16 years old, I had a picture of a convertible RX7 in my locker in school and then moved it with my to my college wall for 4 years. When I moved to San Francisco 7 years later, I bought my dream car! Though the exclusive car seemed impossibly out of my budget at the time, I never gave up hope. It took me 7 years and an unexpected windfall of money to achieve my goal, but I did it.

The same thing happened when I was looking for an apartment. I stood at the corner of the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and stared a row of flats and said to my girlfriend, "This is where I want to live!" It was NOT close to our price range. Though, 5 years later, I moved into that exact row of Flats I was looking at. Due to the good fortune of rent control when my boyfriend (now my husband) had inherited when he rented the place, we were able to move in at about 2/3rds off the average rental price. Did I let my lack of financial resources hold me back from dreaming of the life I wanted? No, I didn't. Did I actually need abundant money to move in there? No, because of the special situation with rent control.

Amazing things can happen to you the same way if you just open your heat and mind and allow yourself to dream BIG!

I have dozens more stories just like those above that I will share throughout the year. So stay tuned!

Does Your Advice Come From TV?

2010-09-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

Are you an ardent watcher of Oprah and her cadre of experts such as Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Suze Orman and Jean Chatzky? Or is television the last place you would turn to advice? Along with many of my friends, you might not even own a TV, let alone trust it for advice.

I have gone through life-coaching training and the advice from life-coaching experts is NOT to give "advice" in the classical sense. Instead you should steer people in the direction of resources and finding and trusting their own inner wisdom that holds the personal solutions they need. So when I watch "in your face" advice TV that comes so boldly out of Dr. Phil when giving relationship financial advice, or Suze's mouth during her fiscal fitness sessions, my body instinctively cringes. Yet, it is exactly this type of personalities that thrive in TV ratings. Why?

When I was recruited to go to London to host a TV pilot called Live Your Life at Half the Price potentially for BBC, I jumped at the chance. After 10 days of filming, I had a new perspective of TV production "British Style" (think British Tabloids). They didn't really want my personality as is, they wanted me to channel the same type of energy that Suze Orman has and call the subjects naughty (with their money) and they need to get their act together, or else! They wanted a sassy American to come in and shape up their citizens spending and debt habits.

Later on in my career, I was called in to shoot a TV pilot for CNBC for your average investor called Main Street Money. I had a blast with my co-host Mr. Money: aka Mark Rothstein, however, CNBC also wanted me to be someone I really wasn't, with over-the-top Mad Money Jim Kramer-esq antics. I did the best I could making comments and asking pressing money questions to guests such as Mint Founder Aaron Patzer (who I initially thought was a handsome soap opera star on the set to film his next All My Children episode - how funny he was my guest and probably thought I was Mad Money's daughter with my crazy hosting approach.)

In both cases, these shows taught me an important lesson, which was to honor who I really am. If "in-your-face" advice and commentary that appeals to the least common denominator is not my style, then I shouldn't do it. We women need to honor and follow our true calling in life, which will lead us on the shorter path to success. So as an alternative, I created a TV network called Thrive Media and steered clear of "their" way. My way landed me a nice big fat paycheck in the bank. After I sold Thrive Media to Viacom, Disney launched a similar network (Live Well ) and now Oprah is about to launch her network OWN, which I am eager to tune in.

You might be wondering if I get my own advice from TV. I would say no, though I do glean a lot of valuable information from TV, especially Oprah. I file and store it away in my brain and circle back to tune into my own inner wisdom channel for personalized solutions only it can provide.

So if TV isn't your thing, keep in mind Ms.Money has nearly a thousand terrific articles on personal finance education at MsMoney.com.

I hope you click on over.
Tiffany

A Feminine Manifesta

2010-09-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

A Feminine Manifesta
All HAIL to the Goddesses Lily and Karen who have created this spectacular book. Though it is diminiutive in size, it is packed with the knowledge women so desperately need to create more happiness and success in their lives.

Watch the YouTube Video to see a glimse of their sparkling personalities. Though nothing can capture the pure essence of actually spending an afternoon with them. I had the luxury of taking a relaxing lunch talking about how we were on the same path of helping make the world a better place for all Goddesses. Ok, we included some chatting about our men too.

My husband happened to call literally one minute after I was raving about his remarkable balance between the Yang (masculine) and Yin (female) energies that balance all lives. Though he isn't perfect by any means (like the rest of us mortals), he does have a good grasp of many things the book talks about in relationship to men.

The afternoon was full of endless giggles. So much so that I am sure the entire restaurant turned around when I laughed out SO LOUD (that you could have heard me from across the street)when Lily and Karen said they videotaped their entire adventure On the Road to No-Oprah (for her open casting calls in L.A. for her new network). Their on the road to no-where adventure did go no-where particular (besides pure fun) since it didn't lead to a spot on OWN. Which, by the way, I can't wait to see!! And I am wondering where is the Ms.Money show? Isn't Suze about to retire and they need some new young blood?

We had a couple synchronistic moments during our sharing that only a true believer of a magical Universe that aligns up for your wishes could fathom. What is this you are saying Ms.Money? You are talking about the Universe, magic and goddesses? Uh - yes. Well, I am writing this after a nice glass of Shiraz with dinner.

How else do you think I was able to get the First Lady (Hillary at the time), to show up in my office for my company launch if I didn't believe in some sort of divine intervention along the way. When you conceive, and believe, you can achieve - as long as you continue to utilize all your resources and best efforts to make your goals happen in multiple creative ways.

What makes the book especially poignant for me are the segments on how women too often view other women (even their best friends!) as adversaries rather than allies. I could never be where I was today if I thought that was true. During some of my darkest moments where I had trouble believing in myself, it wasn't the men in my life that raised me up, it was the thoughts of my dearest soul sisters and their unfailing love for me that gave me the inspiration to keep going. And though I grew up without sisters, I have filled my life with so many now that I feel empowered enough to actually think that I can make a difference and make the world a better place. After educating 5 million women in the world about money, I certainly have my girl friends to thank and should maybe give myself a little pat on my back for even allowing their love into my life (which apparently for us business orientated women can be quite a challenge).

Ladies, I can not recommend enough that you read this book A Feminine Manifesta and learn what holds you back from living your best life so that you can fine tune your actions and draw in a spectacular new future so full of promise that even you will be awed.

Are You Being Overcharged Too?

2010-09-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Nothing irks me more than knowing I am being overcharged, whether purposely or accidentally. Except for finding out about the mistake too late to fix. We all know that life gets busy and we let things slip through the cracks. One of those things should NOT be reviewing your credit card statements monthly. Or if you are the more diligent type, you might want to do it weekly just to make sure things are in order.

In the past my husband and I both make the mistake of letting this important review task go for a few months and he lost $800 because a surf shop in Brazil charged us twice for the same surf board. I was charged over $500 by Globat for domain name services I told them I didn't want on the phone with their President. In both cases, our credit card company would not resolve the issue, nor would the company.

You think the credit card company is on your side, but actually they aren't. You have to go to extreme lengths, which might be more time than it is worth to have something resolved. I tried to get Mastercard to refund a $500 airplane ticket that I had cancelled on the phone with American and their phone service rep must have forgot to do it. I explained several times to Mastercard that I had made the call, but they sided with American Airlines. The funny thing is that I had re-booked and paid for a new flight as a result of cancelling that first one and they still didn't consider that evidence enough that I cancelled the flight. I probably could have wrote half a dozen more letters and made more phone calls until I pestered them so much that they reversed the charge, however, my time was more valuable at that time in life.

The reason I am writing this blog today isn't about the big ticket items above, it is about the small items. I have to ask myself, if you are only overcharged $1 for something, is it worth waiting 10 extra minutes for customer service to refund you? And if it isn't a $1, then is it $3? What amount of money are you willing to forgo to allow yourself to relax, kick back, ignore the monitor and the check out stand, and fully trust your cashier?

I was at the local grocery store today where it is one of the few places that sell raw milk since Whole Foods discontinued selling it. At this store, I was a little more conscientious than usual shopping since I know it costs 25% more for food there than at Whole Foods, which is already 25% more than your average grocery store. So when I was at the checkout stand and my tiny organic cauliflower rang up at $3.99, I figured that was high. I decided to double check the price on the way out and it was indeed what I thought: $2.99. I made the decision to tell the cashier to refund the difference. However, this seemed like such a big surprise to her that she didn't know what to do. They had to do price check and then I had to wait for her to finish 2 people ringing up their carts, and then she processed my $1. 10 minutes lost. I think 10 minutes of my time is worth more than a $1.

So if you want to avoid waiting for a refund (and wasting that 10 minutes), you might keep a watchful eye on the monitor as you are being rung up; whether it is Target (which is notorious for overcharging), Macy, or your local grocery store. Mistakes happen all too often, and whether you are just catching $1, $10, or even more, every little bit helps as you save for your financial plan so you can live the life you plan.

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I had to add one more comment a few days after the original post because I just noticed on my bank statement that is charged me the same $25 monthly charge twice. I wrote a note to them asking why and they refunded the double charge. So strange! At least I caught it this time.

Nagging Inner Critic

2009-11-20T13:33:00.000-08:00

At the Pachamama luncheon yesterday I met a life and business coach, Francois Levannier, that was truly inspiring.

Francois himself is an exception role model for people who feel they may be held back from reaching their dreams because of a lack of financial resources. Francois didn't that let money (or the lack of it) stop him from his dream of a life of travel. He toured the world, not for 1 year, or even 2 - it was 7 years! Way to go Francois!

I noticed in his blog he makes reference to pop culture and music as a way to bring more light into your lives through self reflection. I often do this too! His blog post on the success of Susan Boyle struck in inner chord within me. No matter how many times I have succeeded in the past, I still have this nagging inner critic that often questions what I am doing!

Here is a snippet from Francois blog below. Read the entire blog here:
http://loveyourlifeandbusiness.blogspot.com/

His website: www.loveyourlifeandbusiness.com/

Why does Susan Boyle touch us so deeply?

The truth is that we all have a bit of Susan Boyle in us. And this is a story about the triumph of our supreme gifts and talents over our nagging inner critic, imagined weaknesses, and perceived insufficiencies.

It is a story about the triumph of Love over Fear.

Characterized in an older language, it is the mythical triumph of Good over Evil.
Being a witness to that triumph fills us with hope and restores our faith.

Susan Boyle is a reflection of the disowned parts of ourselves that aren’t as glamorous and as easy to look at as our shadows or insufficiencies. We’d rather look away to find something shinier outside of ourselves. Yet, when we look at those parts free of judgment and give them a chance to be seen for what they truly are, they reveal surprising gifts and unleash their tremendous potential of Love, Compassion, and Understanding.

As a matter of fact, if you look at ANYTHING in the world with curiosity and without judgment, you will see only Love.

Life Re-Engineering

2009-10-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

I am about to embark on a grand adventure next year and move to Brazil with my family. As you can imagine, I am incredibly excited about all the possibilities. When I tell others about my new life direction, their words say one thing, their emotions say another. Though they verbalize they are thrilled for me, their sense of sadness is poignant. They don't want change. They don't want to lose a friend or consider what that will mean for their life. Certainly I can't picture most of my friends moving across the world because it would be just too frightening for them.

Many people resist change because the fear of the unknown is so debilitating. For me, instead, stagnation is the scary thing. I love a new challenge and can't wait for synchronicity to flow into my life to line up people, places and events to benefit me, just like magic.

An example of synchronicity:

Yesterday, I was thinking about this topic of internal innovation and re-invigorating one's life and 4 separate events all happened within a space of hours to support my thoughts and let me know I was indeed on the right track with my life.

Synchronicity #1

I received an email about an upcoming seminar by FWE&E (an organization I used to belong to) in Silicon Valley:

Your Personal Innovation Brand: Shifting Perspectives in Any Economy

Speakers include two fascinating women you should learn more about:

Dee McCrorey, Chief Risk Guru, Innovation Catalyst and Business Coach of Risktaking for Success LLC and

Patti Wilson, Managing Principal of the Career Company. She is an expert in applying Social Networks to help professionals grow their careers opportunities and consulted with Linkedin on growing the subscriber base.

I finally might have some extra time in Brazil to focus on building my social networks and apply them to my new business objectives. These 2 women are experts at career innovation and I love the fact that Dee calls herself a Chief Risk Guru. That might be a title I could see assigning to myself too.

Synchronicity #2

I attended the Wealthy girl reunion in Sausalito on the waterfront with unusually warm weather at night so we sat outside (quite lovely). A photo is included above with me on the right and Adryenn Ashley on the left. Alicia Dunams is the founder of the Wealthy Girl Summit and an amazing woman you will want to know if you are growing your personal brand or career.

The topic for the event was what women were passionate about in their lives and how many of these women re-engineered their lives to follow their dreams. (Perhaps I may have led the round table conversation a teeny bit in this direction.) For example, one woman was a tax attorney who now is a recyled jewelry designer. One of the participants summed up her life change perfectly: "It was either do what I love, or stay at my corporate job and end up in rehab!". I vote for option 1 any day.

Synchronicity #3

An acquaintance happened to show up at the restaurant for the Wealthy Girl event who lived in Brazil for many years and his brother is a real estate developer now in Rio. His brother just sold a $40M building that day. Hmmm ... what a coincidence! I am putting him in touch with Hans (my husband) for some networking! This person also happens to be going through some career (and possibly personal) innovation too due to the struggling economy.

The last time I saw him was down the street and another event that Alicia Dunams helped organized for a book launch, however it was just a coincidence he was there last night.

Synchronicity #4

I picked up an old 2007 Oprah magazine at home (quite by accident) with a cover story titled: Get a Life Lift! The search for meaning, connection, hope and finding what works for you.

Also within this magazine was a quote from Jack Kornfield and his book After the Ecstasy, The Laundry. I bought this book at his Spirit Rock Retreat Center after an amazing day of meditation and dance and the most stunning spiritual meditation and vision I have ever experienced. It is one of my favorite books.

"We don't know all the reasons that propel us on a spiritual journey, but somehow our life compels us to go. Something in us knows that we are not just here to toil at our work. There is a mysterious pull to remember." Jack Kornfield

Ahhhh ... yes, something mysterious is pulling me to Brazil and I look forward to what lies ahead, good or bad, with an open, mind, heart and spirit and of course a magnificent smile (after all it is Brazil - watch the Brazil Olympics video and you will see why smiling mandatory.) The tag line at the end is:

Live Your Passion

Wow ... wasn't I just talking about that?

I guess that makes it Synchronicity #5

By the way ... I have already lived in Brazil a few months 11 years ago and have visited several times since (even spent 3 weeks there last summer). My husband grew up in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We took a year off for our honeymoon and traveled around the world to 50 cities and 30 countries. Visit www.e-trip.com for photos and stories.

Life is adventure ... start living it!

Organizing Heaven

2009-10-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Something is happening in my life and it is a wonderful blessing. Now that my daughter is 8 months old, healthy and happy (and crawling), and my 7 year old son is thriving, I am able to take a breather and focus on myself for a change.

What is the first thing I have done? GET ORGANIZED! Not just my personal life, but also my professional life too. Hurray for MsMoney.com!

You may notice that my Ms.Money blog has a new look to it. I also reorganized my old blog into categories for easy reference into this new blog. Though some articles are a few years old, the content is timeless because it typically makes no reference to current events. This means they are likely still to be relevant to most people's lives regardless of what is happening in the economy or the world in general.

Take a peek and check them out if you haven't already, you may just find the pearls of wisdom you were looking for. And don't forget to share them with others.

*Personal Insight
*Zen and Money
*Children and Money
*Money Savings Tips
*Health and Money
*Holiday Spending Tips
*Emotions and Money
*Tax Time Tips
*Women And Money
*Personal Finance

I am committing to blog every day now for the next 30 days and aim to share personal insights and news that can help empower you personally and financially!

With love,
Ms.Money

*Personal Insight

2009-10-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Just Trying to Matter

With a Broken Wing She Carries Her Dream

Rolling the Boulder Up The Hill

Feeling Helpless? Then Help Someone.

*Zen and Money

2009-10-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

Gratitude and Abundance - A Daily Practice

Be a River Not a Dam

PosiPalooza Your Way to Wealth

Rainbows and Tears

*Children and Money

2009-10-15T12:03:00.001-07:00

Dangers of Au Pair Care (24 comments)

The High Cost of Au Pair Care (167 comments)

Buying a Home in a Better School District

The Price of Privilege

The Money Mammals

Paying for College Without Going Broke

*Money Savings Tips

2009-10-15T11:58:00.001-07:00

Awake in the Wild ... an Inexpensive Way to Relax...

New Book Exchange Site Saves You Money and Time

Paying for College Without Going Broke

Young, Fabulous & Broke Meets the Budget Fashionista

*Health and Money

2009-10-15T11:57:00.001-07:00

Your Money or Your Health

Live Long and Thrive

Is Organic Food Worth the Price?

emWave Your Way to Peace and Performance

emWave: The Personal Stress Reliever

Elder Care at 25% of the Cost.

$110,000 a Year for a Nursing Home in SF?

Nurses Make More Than Doctors?

*Holiday Spending Tips

2009-10-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

Ease Holiday Stress by Spending Wisely

Regift or Resell Those Unwanted Gifts

Time for Some Stocking Stuffers

Joy in Christmas Renewed

*Emotions and Money

2009-10-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

How Women's Emotions Affect Their Financial Health

Financial Self Sabotage

The True Cost of Happiness

Our Deepest Fear

Help Is Not a Four-Letter Word

*Tax Time Tips

2009-10-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

Should You Prepare Your Own Taxes?

Tax Season is Upon Us Again

What is the Alternative Minimum Tax? Is it FAIR?

*Women And Money

2009-10-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

Retirement Scare: Listen Up Ladies!

Stay-at-Home Moms lose $1 Million

OnRamping for Your Encore

Who Wears the Money Pants in Your Family?

Time Poverty

Ambition - Not a dirty word today.

Reclaiming Ambition as a Virtue for Women

Who is Your Cheerleading Squad?

Rock Stars the Other Gender

Women Wanted as Financial Advisors

Wealthy Girl Summit a Huge Success

*Personal Finance

2009-10-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

Retirement Savings a Challenge for Most

Should the Government Solve Our Debt Crisis For Us?

What Does a Weak Dollar Mean?

4 out of 5 Not Saving Adequately Says Wachovia

Can I Use Regular Gas in My Premium Car?

Marketocracy

Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconvential Places

Salary Calculator

Can You Be Wealthy & an Environmentalist?

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy

Refine Success Vision

2009-10-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

I attended last week the 14th annual Financial Women's Association (FWA) Woman of the Year luncheon that honored Janet Lamkin President of Bank of America California.

It was held at the Sheraton Palace Hotel in San Francisco which I believe has to be one of the most beautiful city hotels I have ever seen. If you have never been, it is worth having lunch in the Garden Court.

Thanks to Financial Planner Michelle Alberda for hosting a table and inviting me to attend. Michelle was a former President of the FWA, master networker, and founder of Skirts Network: SKIRTS was founded to provide a forum for professional women to share ideas, best practices, trials and tribulations so that we can learn and grow together.

I am always inspired at events like this and love attending. In fact in 2005 I covered the FWA's 50th anniversary luncheon with its original founders. I was only one of two press people invited and fully enjoyed the stories the women provided about what corporate life was like for women in the late 50s. After seeing a few episodes of Mad Men, I have trouble imagining how these women rose to the top amidst such strong stereotypes and such a pull to conform to societies needs for women to stay home and nurture the family.

This years FWA luncheon surprised me on several accounts.

1. The event was sold out! In fact they raised 30% more than their fundraising goals. Every non-profit right now probably wants to know their secret for securing donations.

2. FWA has awarded a whopping $1.5M in scholarships to deserving young women attending schools in the Bay Area that are studying financial careers.

3. Half of the scholarship winners were focused on empowering the impoverished financially. Hmmmm ... sounds familiar (like Ms.Money's mission). I better start calling them and offering them the 1,000 evergreen Ms.Money articles for free for their non-profit use. They don't have the 2009 Scholarship winners up yet, so I am going to link to the 2008 winners.

4. That I cried. (I wasn't the only one). Now that I have a daughter (who is 8 months old), I can just imagine how proud I would feel if her video was being shown at this event showcasing her passion for empowering women financially in the world.

5. How much Janet Lamkin has accomplished in her life. Wow! Does she sleep? It is possible, if I never had to sleep, I could accomplish 50% of what she has.

6. That many business women's organizations tend to honor women with heroic achievements who are single and childless. I remember when FWE honored Pat House and the video didn't contain any immediate family members such as children or a husband. And those attending were people like her tennis pro and her massage therapist. I noticed VC Ann Windblad was also at this FWA luncheon and was honored by the FWA in previous years. She also has never been married nor had children.

Come to think of it, Oprah falls into these ranks too. She is the richest women in the world ... isn't she? And one of the hardest working, which would be impossible to achieve by dividing her attention between work and family.

I see a theme happening here. It appears that most (not all because look at Hillary Clinton, Meg Whitman, Barbara Walters, ) of the very successful women in the world have gone solo. This makes sense to me considering what it took me to create MsMoney.com - $3.5M and nearly 100 people I hired and managed in just 2 years. I lived, breathed and ate MsMoney.com. There certainly were not many attention morsels left for anyone else (such as my adoring husband.) Luckily he is an entrepreneur too and understands how much time and commitment it takes to launch a company. I am sure is thankful now I have trekked down a different life path that contains more inner peace and quiet time with the kids.

I knew early that to "have it all", I couldn't have it all at once. Hence, why I wrote a segment for the book:

Inside the Minds: Leading Women

What it Takes for Women to Succeed and Have it All in the 21st Century

I wrote that 10 years ago and it still rings true to me today.

Mint.com $170M sale to Intuit made me think about reviving MsMoney.com and raising more money. Only for a split second before I told myself I was out of my mind. I spent a lot of the original investment dollars in 2000 building out the underlying software for account aggregation that made Mint.com a fledgling success. Mint.com was backed by $32M not $3M like we were. The MsMoney.com business plan required another $20M in investment for marketing dollars to advertise. We obviously never obtained this due to the dotcom implosion, otherwise you would see a very different kind of MsMoney.com now. So, instead, we now focus on education and not financial technology tools because they need much deeper pockets for success.

Recently, a new competitor to MsMoney.com has joined the fray and just raised $1M and wants to enter the financial tools arena too. The company is called LearnVest and is founded by 28 year old Alex Von Tobel. It also focuses on empowering women financially. Alex has just the right combinations of youth, ambition and connections to take LearnVest to market in a Mint.com kind of way. Good luck Alex ... I will be rooting for you. LearnVest is part of the Astia program. MsMoney.com was incubated at Astia 10 years ago and I have been sitting on the Advisory Board for the last 8 years. I spend a considerable amount of time mentoring women entrepreneurs and helping screen hundreds of women owned technology companies that would make good candidates for Venture Capital investment.

Right after I launched MsMoney.com in early 2000 with the First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in our offices for the official ribbon cutting, 7 other competitors launched that aimed to empower women financially. Every one of them ran out of money within a year. I wonder how many new financially empowering companies (whether aimed at women or everyone) will crop up and which ones will bear fruit or end up withering on the vine.

I decided long time again, after nearly a 10 year battle with infertility, that I was going to refine my vision for success. My life would not be summed up by how many Charitable or Corporate Boards I sat on, how many millions of dollars I raised or made, or my business prowess as a big time corporate leader (aka an FWA honoree). I tried all those things and realized in my 30's that the most important thing in life to me was to feel inner peace and joy and to share that love with my two children and husband.

Now that doesn't mean I have stopped being an entrepreneur, or squelched my dreams of having a creative impact on the world through business and philanthropy, it just means I will never be on the stage with Janet Lamkin, because I couldn't possibly do everything she does and still have time for all that precious cuddling and snuggling I get from my family. And when would I ever have time to get to a dance class or the gym? Or a glass of wine with girl friends?

So, no revival for MsMoney.com. I now tell people, that I consider MsMoney.com my philanthropy and it will continue to serve as a beacon of educational light for women, children and families looking to take those first steps to money management and financial success.

Send your moms, daughters, sisters, aunts, girl friends and neighbors over to http://www.blogger.com/www.msmoney.com.

__________

Thanks to the FWA for inspiration on the title of this blog. They are sponsoring an event titled:

The Financial Women's Association Of San Francisco -East Bay

and the Center for the Regional Economy at Saint Mary's College
Presents An Industry Leadership Series Event
"Redefine Your Vision of Success - People, Planet, and Yes, Profit"

Attitude of Abundance

2009-10-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

The news of an economic recovery is slow arriving leaving many of us asking questions what to do next. Though we may see our savings dwindling each day, it doesn't mean our shiny disposition needs to go with it. This is an excellent time to take stock of what is really important to us. Perhaps we will have to forgo the family vacation this year or the new fall wardrobe. Maybe even turn off those premium cable channels! With all this extra time we have at home saving instead of spending, why not delve into our inner lives to tap the wellspring of eternal hope and optimism?

Take a weekend and rummage through the garage, closets and drawers and you are likely to find years of treasures long forgotten. We don't always have to buy something new to feel that we are living abundant lives. Pull out the items you love and display them out in the open to remind yourself what a terrific life you have lived so far and plan to do more in the future.

Cutting back after so many years of living with a steady flow of money can seem depressing, but it doesn't have to me. This extra time you have can be used to develop and cherish good friends, which all know is a free activity and one that nurtures the heart and soul much more complete than a new iphone.

Creating Financial Abundance with Ms.Money

Don't rent from Budget Car Rental

Business Consultant and Coach (Linked In Profile)

Tiffany Bass Bukow

Summary

Specialties

Experience

Recommendations For Tiffany

Business Consultant and Coach

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Founder and CEO

MsMoney.com

Business Coach and Advisory Board Member

Founder and President

Thrive Media (sold to Viacom)

Founder and President

Tiff.com: Internet Consulting / Fortune 100 Clients

Additional Information

The Quest for Perfection

Planning for the Life You Want

Does Your Advice Come From TV?

A Feminine Manifesta

Are You Being Overcharged Too?

Nagging Inner Critic

Life Re-Engineering

Organizing Heaven

*Personal Insight

*Zen and Money

*Children and Money

*Money Savings Tips

*Health and Money

*Holiday Spending Tips

*Emotions and Money

*Tax Time Tips

*Women And Money

*Personal Finance

Refine Success Vision

Attitude of Abundance