The “Dow Janes”

They call themselves the "Dow Janes."

I discovered the "Janes" in a recent article of The Washington Post. Launched by Harvard Business School graduate Britt Williams Baker, the group was designed as a financial literacy program for the growing legion of women in need of investment counsel. Tens of thousands are now enrolled in the available on-line courses, a recognition that women and money actually do belong in the same sentence.

I was still a young girl when my father first introduced me to the world of banking. One Saturday he took me, clutching my $30 in babysitting earnings, to our local Savings and Loan branch. The teller swapped my crumpled bills for a passbook savings log. Cracking the binding, I saw the purple-inked stamp she had made in the deposit column. The euphoria was instantaneous.

Discussions about compound interest, credit card debt, retirement accounts, and investment strategies soon followed. I was encouraged to take charge of my financial life as I would anything else. 

Who knew that $30 would be the best investment I'd ever make?

"The number one problem in today's generation and economy is the lack of financial literacy." - Alan Greenspan (former chairman of the Federal Reserve)