It's Rising Time!. Kim Kiyosaki

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      The headline read: “Eddie Murphy’s ex-wife is broke!”

      A 2010 news story reported that Nicole Murphy received a $15-million divorce settlement from Eddie Murphy in 2006. She opted for that one-time payment instead of monthly installments. In less than four years, she spent the entire $15 million and still has a few outstanding bills to pay. She now owes $846,000 to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), $600,000 to a law firm, and $60,000 to a landscaping company. She was forced to put her home (on which she owes $5 million) up for sale. She not only spent the $15 million, but accumulated at least another $6.5 million in bad debt.

      So what’s her financial plan now? The story stated: “Nicole Murphy is engaged to former NFL football great, TV commentator, and celebrity Michael Strahan.”

      It seems Nicole clearly does have a plan, but her plan has nothing to do with taking financial matters into her own hands. Rather, she will depend upon her next Prince Charming.

      Nicole is young, gorgeous, and well connected in celebrity-ville. I’m sure she will be just fine. The toll it may take on her personal self-esteem and the example she is setting for young women throughout the world is another issue. I’ll leave it at that.

      Granted, I am an outsider looking in. Yet, as an outsider, this story illustrates to me some common choices many women make, such as:

       • A man is my financial plan.

       • I choose to be financially ignorant. Maybe if I ignore it, the problem will go away.

       • I’ll take what appears to be the easy road today, although it can very likely become the hard road in the future.

      Nicole’s story also reveals another truth: If you don’t know where to put your money, it will be gone. Nicole had a lot of money but, because she did not know where to put it to create a secure financial life for herself, she lost it. She not only lost it, but she ended up in even more bad debt.

       Money Does Not Equal Money Smarts

      Whether you have a lot of money or a little money, one fact remains: If you don’t know what to do with the money you have, it will be gone.

      Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s famous sidekick on The Tonight Show for many years, was a perfect example. Mr. McMahon made millions of dollars throughout his lifetime. He was an icon of American television—a bright, charismatic, respected, and well-liked gentleman. But just because a person has a lot of money doesn’t mean they know much about money.

       If you don’t know where to put your money, it will be gone.

      Towards the end of his life, Mr. McMahon faced foreclosure of his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home and owed American Express $747,000. Those were only two of his many financial troubles.

      How could that happen? Mr. McMahon put it quite succinctly when he said, “I made a lot of money, but you can also spend a lot of money.” His was a simple case of overspending. Well, maybe not so simple… when you’re talking about millions!

      The stories of Nicole Murphy and Ed McMahon illustrate that having a lot of money does not ensure that you are financially independent—or even financially secure, for that matter.

       Women and Money Today

      Today women rank “financial issues” as the number-one most pressing concern in their lives—more pressing than family, health, or time.

      We women know we need to do something, so why don’t we?

      What holds women back from getting actively involved in building their financially secure future? A 2010 study found these top three reasons:

       1. Women have little knowledge about money and investing.

       2. Women find the subject of finances too complicated, confusing, and overwhelming.

       3. Women say they have no time to devote to their financial life because of children, job or career, and daily obligations. (Yes, we women are pros at putting everyone else first and ourselves last.)

      It’s not difficult to see why women place money at the top of their worry list. The facts regarding women and money, especially as we get older, are downright scary.

       1. Women are poorer in retirement than men.

       • Women are twice as likely to live their retirement years in poverty.

       • In the United States, an alarming 87% of the elderly living in poverty are women.

       • Even more surprising is that the majority of these women now in poverty were not poor when their husbands were alive.

       • Here’s an interesting twist: A woman might go through the couple’s nest egg paying for the healthcare costs of her ailing partner and deplete the financial resources she needs for the rest of her life.

       • Not only do women live longer than men today, but women often marry older men. That means many women will be widows who will have to support themselves for 15-20 years.

       2. Women are poorer in divorce than men.

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