Single Steps Strategies Turns 10!

We can hardly contain our excitement — ten years of empowering women! And what better way to celebrate than with so many of our friends and supporters, toasting to another decade and raising money for Dress for Success Pittsburgh.

We had a beautiful evening for a party, and the grounds at Metamorpohsis were in full bloom. Thanks to all who attended–it was wonderful sharing stories and laughs, recalling fond memories and planning for what is ahead. And a special thanks to the donors who made our Dress for Success basket raffle possible: Anytime Fitness; Bistro 19; The Children’s Museum; Edwina Kaikai, Mary Kay; First Commonwealth Bank; The Musuneggi Financial Group; and The Warhol.

When Christopher and I started Single Steps Strategies in 2003, we had high hopes and expectations. But what has happened in the last decade exceeded even our loftiest goals.

The idea for Single Steps came from my experiences with other women. I’ve been in the financial business over 35 years, and even early on I consistently met women who were facing life-changing situations—marriage, divorce, widowhood; raising a family, often as a single mom; losing a job; retirement—but they didn’t have the resources they needed to get through those situations. I believed that if we could give women access to those resources—knowledge, tools, strategies, support—they would have a much better chance of succeeding in the face of whatever life put in their way.

To us it seemed clear that resources started with education. And since our industry is finance, that was a natural starting point for us. So we began hosting workshops that would help women to learn more about managing their money and encourage them to do so independently of any partner. At Single Steps Strategies we love men—we really do!—but we feel strongly that every woman, whether she is single, married, divorced or otherwise, needs to know how to handle her finances. And then we started to look for other experts and organizations to partner with, helping to host and promote their workshops and share their information, and this broadened our scope well beyond finance.

Fast forward to 2014, and we’ve now done hundreds of workshops like “Move it or Lose It,” “We Have to Stop Meeting Like This”; “Shameless Self Promotion,” “When Love Hurts,” “How Are You Wired?” “The Humpty-Dumpty Syndrome,” “Re-entering the Workforce: What Do I Want, How Do I Get There?” and “Couples Financial Therapy”—and of course our signature Women Who Wine events. The list goes on and on.

We are very proud of the progress we’ve made, and helping Single Steps Strategies to blossom and grow has been a genuine labor of love. But we’re not settling down just yet. Now we’re looking ahead to the next decade, and we think it’s going to be even brighter than the last. We’ve launched our brand new website, and we hope you love the fresh design and exciting new features as much as we do. And because we want to reach more women with more great information and tools, we are now active on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn!

Here’s to the next ten years of empowering women!

For the full Birthday Party Photo Gallery, click here.

Can You Afford to Grow Old?

A Personal Note from Mary Grace Musuneggi

Did you ever think you would ask yourself that question? But we hear it all the time. It usually comes after, “Can I afford to retire?”

Should I? Could I? What happens if I didn’t plan? What doesn’t happen if I did? Where do I begin? When should I start?

These questions abound as our clients move into pre-retirement…the senior years. And whether or not they take the time to get the answers, the questions don’t simply disappear. If you don’t get the answers, someone else certainly will have to deal with the questions someday: Your spouse. Your children. Your caretaker.

Or the default option will be to let the government handle it all for you; as they take your assets as payment for doing the work that you should have done.

Over the last year we have begun a program we call The Family Legacy Initiative; encouraging our clients to address the issues of aging as well as “Having the Talk” with family members who will at some point need to be part of the process. Estate Planning, Final Expense/Pre-planning, Long Term Care planning, Medicare Planning, Gifting, Asset Protection, are just a few of the concerns that should be addressed.

None of this is the “fun” stuff. But once the questions are answered then the fun stuff of enjoying the senior years can begin. The planning will be done. The questions will be answered. The kids will know what to do and they will be on board. The kids will know what you expect of them and what the costs will be. The financial worries will be addressed. The plans will be made the way you want them to be. The questions won’t remain to haunt you and your family day after day. The unanswered questions will not pop up every time there is an illness or a family dilemma.

Sometimes we hear people say that their answer to all the questions is that they simply will rely on their spouse to care for them, or more often, that they will rely on their children. But some studies show that if you are currently over age 65, you have almost a 70% chance of requiring long term care services and financial and medical support. And although most children are glad to help when they can, many of them are not prepared to financially, physically or emotionally to take on the responsibility of aging parents.

So how to begin? Because there is so much mis-information about issues of aging; and because even the government changes the rules for seniors and for estate planning periodically, the first thing to do is educate yourself about the basics.

Join us at our upcoming workshops:

Tuesday, August 26 – The Cost of Aging

Michael Baker – Target Insurance Services of PA

Thursday, September 25 – The Greatest Gift – Pre-Planning

Patrick McGowan, Conroy Funeral Home

Tuesday, October 14 – What is Estate Planning And Why Should You Do It?

Tracy Zihmer, Feldstein, Grinberg, Lang & McKee

These can be a good start to Having the Family Talk. So parents, bring your children; children bring your parents.

Attendees will be eligible to receive a complimentary Long Term Care Analysis and an Estate Planning Review.

Mary Grace Musuneggi

Founder and Executive Director

July 2014

Choices

A Personal Note from Mary Grace Musuneggi

I read this quote some time ago and it immediately made me laugh. But then after some more serious thought, I realized how true it really is. When I look back at times where I made mistakes, or found life confusing, or felt my world was turned upside down, in many ways those moments were the result of having a choice and not making the right one.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to have dinner with Jack Canfield, motivational speaker and author. He is best known as the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. During a discussion of his books, he expressed his belief that wherever we are in life it is because of the choices we made. And wherever we go from here will be the result of the choices we make going forward. We can’t do anything about the choices we have already made, except learn from the bad ones and applaud the good ones.

Now you may be thinking that some choices were made for you. Someone else made the decision. But in those times you made the choice to accept the decisions that were made for you. Or you think that some things in your life happened that were totally out of your control. These are things that have normally happened by chance or accident. It’s just life. Car accident; illness; death of a spouse; loss of a job. But there is still a choice. Not in what
is happening; but how you respond to the happening.

There are stories in the news every day of people who have experienced horrific life changes and have risen above the problem to lead amazing lives. All because of the choice they made in response to their experience; all because of the choice they made to accept the challenge.

Thankfully most of us will never face these kind of ordeals; and our choices are more of the day to day, how to get through the day, kind of things. We can make the choice to live each day like Winnie the Pooh, or like his friend, Eyeore.

Winnie the Pooh was my son’s favorite character when he was a child, and Winnie the Pooh is one of my heroes. Pooh knows what will make him happy, and he pursues it with passion. When he goes in search of honey, he makes the choice not to be diverted by anything that gets in his way—not bees, not blustery days, not getting stuck in a tree. No matter what life brings, he is persistent, single-minded, and chooses to make the best of every day.
n the other hand, Pooh has a donkey friend named Eeyore, who makes the choice to spend his days worrying, complaining, doubting, and insisting that nothing good will ever happen.

At the end of the day, Pooh is reveling in a pot of honey, while Eeyore has had the kind of day he had made the choice to have.

If we make the choice to be an Eeyore, we can choose to worry about everything, complain that we will never have what we need, blame others for our plight in life, and pronounce at every turn that life has treated us unfairly. If we do decide to do that, then it really all does come down to the fact that there is a reason for everything. And the reason is, “sometimes we acted stupid and made bad choices.”

Mary Grace Musuneggi

Founder and Executive Director