Women And Money: Things Your Mother Never Told You About Finances

Women and Money opens with a barrage of alarming statistics: "nearly 75% of the elderly poor are women," "80% of retired women are not eligible for pension benefits," etc. Presented by the PREP Project, a federally funded research project out of Long Island University devoted to educating working women, Women and Money has its heart in the right place, but it comes very close to falling into a common trap. On the one hand, the program is more than convincing about the need for women to take steps early on to ensure their financial security in the future; on the other hand, there's so much information thrown at viewers that they will unquestionably agree at the program's conclusion with the suggestion to seek the help of a "financial planner." The program is divided into six chapters: getting organized, budgeting, understanding the sources of retirement income, investing, insurance for security, and choosing a financial planner. The opening chapter instructs viewers to get their records in order: tax returns and other standard documents, but also money market documents, stocks and bonds, annuities, Keogh and IRA records, etc. (in other words, the program is already contradicting its premise in assuming a pretty financially savvy audience). In the second section on budgeting, the host (who has an annoying case of George Bush hands syndrome-used to punctuate prepositions and major points, alike), informs viewers about the importance of having three savings accounts: one for retirement, one for emergencies, and one for major purchases. Too many viewers are going to say: wake up and smell the economy ...we don't do triple savings accounts in a recession. By the time one gets to end of the tape, and is advised to consider not merely life insurance, but also disability, long term care, and health insurances, there ain't a helluva lot of paycheck left to pay for such extraneous items as food. The bottom line, then, is that this tape is for women who have a considerable amount of money to begin with (which, of course, means that they probably already have a financial advisor and won't need this tape). A really good tape on the subject of women and money would be great; I'm just not convinced that Women and Money is the one. An optional purchase. (Available from: Specialty Video Marketing, 274 Westport Rd., Wilton, CT 06897.)