Vibrant Nation

Financial Planning for Today's Woman

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Kitty O'Keefe's avatarKitty O'Keefe is a financial professional with 30 years' experience in financial management and education for women.



  • Should Janet Yellin be confirmed as fed vice-chair?

    San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellin is Obama's nominee for Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank.  While I'd love to see a woman in this position, why this policy dove may be a perfect short-term answer, and a long term disaster.

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  • Examining Tea Party allegations of higher taxes and increasing debt

    The "Tea Party" movement alleges that the USA is moving toward socialism with higher taxes and increasing levels of public debt. Let's take a look at where the country actually stands with its taxation.

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  • A Party Invitation

    As our nation grinds to a halt under the failure of statesmanship, I refuse to take a side.  You may not characterize me with a word, when doing so will only give me the opportunity to give countless examples of when that word does not accurately describe my position. 

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  • The case for (and against) raising interest rates

    One of the Federal Reserve Bank's most powerful tools is raising short term interest rates. Why they should (and why they shouldn't) do just that now.

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  • The most important financial news you haven't heard

    Health care costs are 17% of our Gross Domestic Product, and growing at 12% per year.  At this rate, in 10 years, health care will be 50% of our GDP.  No health care legislation on the horizon.  The biggest contraction of GDP since the Great Depression just took place, and caused a worldwide recession.  No financial reform legislation on the horizon.  This is the story that may be bigger than either of those.

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  • The economics of what happened last year in plain English

    Most economic news is reported by someone with a vested interest in what you think.  I don't care what you think, but I do care that you get all the information you need to draw your own conclusions.

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  • Mad as Hell About Financial Bailouts? Here's Who Did What.

    In the Catholic school I attended, nuns often kept an entire class after school for the behavior of a few.  In the current economic climate, We the People are likely to do the same for any public official who has responsibility for anything "financial."  In order to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater, here's a list of who is responsible for what, so we don't fire those who may not have misbehaved.

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  • Corporate subsidies, anyone?

    Yesterday, the stock market slid precariously with dire warning about the impediments to profitability we can expect if Obama's limitations on risk-taking by "too big to fail" banks are enacted.  Let's take a look.

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  • Farewell, banker welfare

    A look at why so many women are furious at the amount of bonuses paid to bankers, and what to do about it.

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  • Sizing up the competition

    We're going head to head with stock market pros this year, by comparing the results of buying the S and P 500 Index with that of professional investment strategists. In order to compare track records, let's look at how the strategists did last year. All initial recommendations were taken from Barron's Magazine December 22, 2008 (and changes to portfolios were published as of September 7, 2009, and calculated as of September 30, 2009).

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  • Who's a better investor, you or the pros?

    Last September, I published the 2010 investment advice given by several market professionals and posed the question,"What would earn you the most money? Buying the entire S and P 500 Index or buying just the sectors of that Index that the market pros suggest?"

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  • Four extraordinary financial predictions for the coming decade

    As we leave the year of the "Great Recession" behind, knowing four likely financial outcomes will show us how to position ourselves for financial prosperity in the coming decade.

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  • A radical approach to personal net worth

    This is a re-print of an article I originally published last February, when the markets were near their lows and sentiment was dismal.  Now that a recovery is beginning, we can again pause to reflect on the meaning of the season and revisit what is truly important.

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  • Howard Dean says, "Kill Bill"

    You may love that health care reform in any form may emerging from the Senate.  You may want health care reform, but find so many flaws in this legislation that you hope it doesn't pass.  Why Dr. Dean wants the Bill to die.

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  • Saying goodbye to the "Decade from Hell"

    2010 seems to be a nice place to start thinking more positively about our lives.  Let's clean up the last remnants from this decade, and start anew.  Let's control what we can.

    Let's be more financially responsible.

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  • Can the nation afford it? - part two

    There are two sides to everything. Our previous discussion, that compared the US debtor status with a few less zeroes on the assumption that trillions are not numbers we throw around all that often. Our example showed a woman earning $134,540 per year, who owes $125,000 mortgage and $1871 on her car. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? Sadly, there is no perfect analogy.

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  • Can our nation afford it?

    An enormous amount of discussion about health care, additional troop deployments, extension of unemployment benefits, etc., begins with opponents saying, "We can't afford it."  Let's take a look at our debt, how it compares with other countries, and weigh the pros and cons of policy decisions based on an educated look at our financial circumstances.

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  • A kinder, gentler look at women and their money

    I've edited a financial book for women eight or nine times now, and that process has taught me a few very important things.

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  • Greed and fear

    Buy low, sell high is an investing mantra we all know -- and rarely follow. Here's a simple and effective solution.

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  • Straight talk about deficits and health care reform

    No issue is more politicized than deficit spending. Blame abounds, but little insight is given into the components of our deficit, and what reasonable action must be taken.

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  • Economic Highs and Lows

    After a third quarter that dazzled like a diamond in the pile of coal our economy had been for the prior year and a half, we seem to be standing at a crossroads.  The stock market seems economically cheery, but most of us are not.  What's the best action to take in times like these?

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  • A woman's world economic view

    After having been told that finance books don't sell well with women, I point out that we are over 51% of the population and manage billions of dollars in household finance.

    What we do matters.

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  • The female retirement dilemma

    Issues involved with planning for retirement are different for women than they are for men.  And understanding them can be the difference between comfort and poverty in our old age.

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  • Why inflation is so much worse for women

    Poverty for older women is twice that for older men.  Here are the facts . . . and what we can do about them.

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  • There's a light at the end of the tunnel

    . . . and it isn't the train.

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  • Who can you trust?

    Bernard Madoff defied the odds by returning a consistent 12% annual return to his investors. Stanford Financial assured its clients that they were investing in safe, insured certificates of deposit. WorldCom's balance sheet was remarkable in its ability to grow profitably.

    All were lies.

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  • A grown-up woman's guide to the stock market

    The business news is full of wildly varying opinions from market pundits. Here's some information you need to make the best decisions for you and your money.

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  • What if we had a financial meltdown - and did nothing?

    After the worst recession since the Great Depression, how do you feel about doing absolutely nothing to change the way financial institutions operate (except paying for a bailout)?

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  • Important pricey handbag information

    Gender marketers tell us that we face economic uncertainty by buying pricey leather handbags.  Perhaps they underestimate us.

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  • Happiness is . . .

    "Happiness is," said a song that was popular when I was a girl, "different things to different people."

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