SMITHFIELD – The most important way for women to protect themselves financially during difficult economic times is to save money. Forego those impulsive purchases and save, save, save, urged award-winning journalist and best-selling author Jean Sherman Chatzky during her luncheon address at the 2009 Women’s Summit at Bryant University.
Kati Machtley – who was honored by PBN last year for her role as the summit’s director since 1997 (READ MORE), when she arrived at the school with her husband, Bryant President Ronald K. Machtley – welcomed 950 women from Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts to the daylong conference.
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Besides Chatzky, the 2009 keynote speakers were Mireille Guiliano, president and CEO for 20 years of the champagne company Clicquot Inc.; and U.S. Olympic gymnastic champion Dominique Dawes, a coach, entrepreneur, sports commentator and actress.
Past Women’s Summit guests have included 2008 speaker Geraldine Ferraro, the former New York congresswoman who ran for vice president 25 years ago (READ MORE); and 2007 speaker Tory Johnson, founder and CEO of recruitment service Women For Hire. (READ MORE)
This year’s sold-out conference – the theme of which was “Champions in a Changing Environment” – also included 19 educational workshops and the presentation of the New England Business Person of the Year award to Cheryl Watkins Snead, the president and chief executive officer of supply-chain management company Banneker Industries Inc. in North Smithfield.
In presenting the award, Bryant President Ron Machtley described Snead as “an innovator and pioneer” who was being honored for her business acumen and her work as a mentor to other women in business. (On March 26, the Banneker Industries founder is slated to be honored yet again, this time by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, as one of 14 2009 Women’s Business Enterprise Stars. READ MORE)
Snead – who received a standing ovation today when she went to the stage to receive her award – gave all the credit to her co-workers, whom she called “an incredible team.”
And during her acceptance speech and a separate work session later in the day, she revealed that Banneker is in the process of going global. The company is working to establish a presence in China, Snead said, adding that recent economic changes have resulted in the creation of a middle class of about a half-billion people, with disposable income, “and they don’t want products made in China. They want U.S. products.”
Chatzky also mentioned demographic trends in her own speech, during the summit luncheon today at Bryant’s Chace Wellness Center, although her focus was on why some people are wealthy and some are not.
After spending years researching that question, Chatzky commissioned a survey of more than 5,000 people in preparation for her latest book. What it found, she said, is that the nation can be divided into four broad groups:
• the wealthy, about 3 percent of the U.S. population;
• the financially comfortable, 27 percent;
• those who live paycheck-to-paycheck, more than half of all Americans;
• those who keep falling further in debt, about 15 percent.
The wealthy and the financially comfortable save more than members of the other groups, Chatzky said. “You have the power to make the difference in your own life,” she told the gathering. “You are the only one who can do it.”
She listed eight major contributors to financial success: Being happy and optimistic. Having the resilience to overcome bad situations. Connecting with other people, to collect “social capital.” Finding your passion in life. Developing your intuition. Investing in stock, even amid a downturn (the well-to-do “put together an investment plan and they stick to it,” she said). Practicing gratitude, “an antidote to materialism.” And making saving habitual.
Savings are even more important for women than men, Chatzky said during a one-on-one interview with the Providence Business News, “because of the way our salaries are structured in the United States.” On average, she noted, women earn 81 cents for every dollar men make, and they live an average of seven years longer than men. So in general, a woman will end up retiring with a smaller pension that must be stretched over a longer period of time than a man’s.
“Budgets are the new black,” she said, comparing the recent U.S. shift to discount shopping and higher savings rates with fashion’s eternal favorite color. “All of a sudden, it is hip not to tell people what you spent on something, but what you saved.”
Chatzky, perhaps best known as financial editor of NBC’s “Today Show” and a contributor to “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” also is a motivational speaker, an active blogger, an award-winning newspaper columnist and the author of six books, including “The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper in Even the Toughest Times,” released on Monday.
Bryant University is a business, liberal arts and technology school with more than 3,600 undergraduate and graduate students. It was 59th among U.S. undergraduate business programs, and seventh in New England, in BusinessWeek’s 2009 ranking. To learn more, visit www.bryant.edu. For information about the Women’s Summit 2009 at Bryant University – produced by The Women’s Summit Committee – visit wsummit.bryant.edu.
