"After experiencing a marriage break up ten years ago, I found myself needing some good sensible financial advice. Sheryl was fortunately recommended to me and immediately had me look at my budget needs-immediate and future money requirements.
I have found Sheryl to have an extensive
knowledge of the markets and possess a passion in an industry which she seems
to find incredibly exciting.
If you, like me, find the finance world hard to get your head around, then
talk to Sheryl with her down to earth approach and appealing sense of humour."
L Williamson
Christchurch
"We all know about the need to save money but to take the initial step of actioning this can be easy to put aside as daily tasks take over. We all seek professional advice for many parts of our life but often find it not an option when managing our money for financial security later in life. A financial advisor who had qualifications was my choice.
After reading the regular financial feature in The Press 20 years ago I knew I had finally found a person that could help me with my financial security plans. Sheryl Sutherland was the author.
During the different stages of my financial management plans Sheryl has kept regular contact, offering well researched and considered advice tailored to suit my needs, by using a variety of short and long term plans with sustained financial growth.
Sheryl is a professional. Displays the highest integrity and while brisk and forthright knows that her plans are meant for you. She has continued to update her qualifications over the years and is extensively read on current and future monetary and world wide forecasts.
Sheryl maintains a personal interest in her clients and ensures the investments realise gains with well backed and secure financial providers.
After 18 years as my
financial Advisor I would recommend Sheryl Sutherland to all age groups keen
to achieve financial security."
Jennifer A. Henderson
School Teacher (Retired 35 years)
Small Business Owner (25 years)
"Sheryl was introduced
to me at a
S & C Dickel
Australia
"Sheryl gave me total confidence from the moment I walked through her door, despite the fact that I had literally no money or future plans at that time. I had recently read about her in both a newspaper and magazine article and had the impression she genuinely cared about women. I was extremely vulnerable and desperate for good advice at that time of my life.
Her empathetic attitude, obvious expertise
and down to earth solid advice, gave me the confidence to take control of my
own financial future.
Albeit, it very small steps, I’m now on my way to that goal. I have since
introduced my daughter to her services and encouraged every woman I care about,
to do the same. How I really wished someone had done the same for me when I was
20, BUT as Sheryl reassured me, it’s never too late to get started."
J Banks
"I like most, are very quick to complain about a service but do not take the time to complement good service. I would like to take the opportunity to do the latter.
After reading Sheryl’s book, Girls Just Want to Have Fund$, I decided I would look further into investing the money I had sitting in a savings account. I found Sheryl very easy to talk with and could tell straight away the experience and knowledge she had. I felt reassured that my needs were being tailored to and was not pressured in to any decisions I was not completely comfortable with.
I’ve heard of people making their fortune from investment returns and was advised that investments make both gains and losses so was happily surprised when my investments gained returns within the first 7 days. I have since seen good first quarter gains in all my investments.
I would whole heartedly recommend speaking with Sheryl to all women looking at investing. Sheryl has set up an inviting office with big soft chairs and lovely floor rugs which added to the feeling of ease I had when making my investment decisions."
J
Brisbane
"I have been a client of Sheryl Sutherland's for a number of years now - started off small and tentatively but with Sheryl's encouragement, my savings and confidence grew rapidly. As well, I also received an education about investments with her warm friendly style - couple this with a steely approach to the best deals, and you have a winner.
I highly recommend Women's Financial Strategies to anyone who is looking for quality advice and expertise on the best investment opportunities (and she has a really wicked shoe collection - check 'em out!!)"
R Waddams
Christchurch
SPEAKING TESTIMONIALS
"I heard Sheryl at the EMA Conference
last year. She has a wealth of knowledge in the area of finances and
articulates well.
In a day when woman need to be financially savvy Sheryl puts it in a way that
is easy to understand, and challenges us to act."
Allie Mooney APS
Personality Plus
Comments from EMA Conference 2006
• Very Knowledgeable
• Will go and buy book
• Very engaging
• Excellent advice
• Well researched
• Excellent and valuable information
• Very good presentation
• Great! Would have like more time with her
GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUND$ BOOK TESTIMONIALS
“I meet many women investors who tell
me they want practical, non-technical information to get them started in their
savings and investment plans. Girls Just Want to Have Fund$ is an easy-to-read
introduction to personal finance, and could be just the catalyst you need to
get started.”
“If you don’t know where you are
going, it’s nigh on impossible to plan your future. This applies to many
aspects of life and most certainly to your financial situation. Contained within: the keys to your financial empowerment.
Sheryl manages to get the right balance of attitude and gentle prodding to push
you in the right direction. Knowledge is power, so turn the page and get
going.”
Suzy Clarkson, Prime TV Newsreader
“Sheryl Sutherland has hit the nail on
the head with a book pitched intelligently at women who desire financial empowerment.
It demystified investment jargon and motivated me to take that first step of
booking an appointment with an independent advisor. Her book is a long overdue
handy tool that reinforces the ‘onwards and upwards’ adage for
women. I’ll be recommending it to
my friends.”
Suzy Clarkson, Prime TV Newsreader.
“This book gives everyone the opportunity
to sit down with Sheryl Sutherland and receive an afternoon of financial wit
and wisdom. Hear why so many women have difficulties with money, and be amazed.
Read, in Sheryl’s hilarious and inimitable style, just what you can
do about it.”
Jenny Phillips best-selling
author of Business Energy and Your New Millenium.
MONEY,
MONEY, MONEY AIN'T IT FUNNY BOOK REVIEW
Business books are generally amongst the least convincing of literary
assets. The genre seems bloated with "try hards",
preachers and smart alecs
who write as though they never falter in the commercial world. Worse, the two
ultimate criticisms are generally bang on - if these people had found any
serious secrets they wouldn't be telling the world and, if they were seriously
useful performers they wouldn't be writing books.
Perhaps worst of breed are the DIY investment and personal finance books.
Cost of production must be low - there are so many of them. At least 75%
feature the words "millionaire", "easy",
"simple", "quick", "in no time", or "for
beginners" in the title.
The styles are as clichéd as the titles. The formula, especially as
adapted to
1. There is a panic and a crisis
and very shortly you will not know what has hit you. You and millions like you.
Essentially, your incurable profligacy has led to this, and, cumulatively as a
nation we are all doomed for the same reason; and,
2. Furthermore because you will be
old and incompetent (as you have demonstrated already) it will be tough. Certainly tougher for you than me your competent, rich author.
So that's good for several chapters, then we have a few standard
solutions which are equally illuminating:
3. Here are a couple of dozen ways
to be more of a miser involving the remains of toothpaste tubes, very short
showers and holidays with your in laws; coupled with,
4. Here is a list of things you
can stop doing right now, places you need never visit again plus a series of
minor household assets you can sell immediately on Trademe.
Right - you are feeling better already? Absolutely.
Here then is the plan. And at this point it typically becomes genuinely
pitiful as we learn that some people have made money out of their house (true
but we knew that), car ports add value to residential property (ditto),
compound interest on savings is "rilly, rilly powerful" (just like sulphuric
acid is if you have some), how to be careful picking your advisor because some
get commission on products they sell and may be biased (Get away), share prices
for good companies often go up so make sure you pick the right ones (if only)
but watch it because shares are dangerous especially for someone like you (so
is electricity).
In short pretty much what the Americans refer to as
a "hill of beans".
Amongst the shelves and shelves of this dross a genuine stand out is
The book takes a different tack.
The reason is that the author has been reading, studying and trawling the
best brains in economics, psychology and sociology, putting it together with
her long work experience in the field and distilling the results into language
and examples which we can recognise, learn from and do
something about.
Sutherland takes on that toughest of tasks - translating theory into
useful practice - and shows how the newly emerging discipline of behavioural economics explains a good deal that went
unexplained before and how to apply that to our investing. This is far more
than simple efficient market bashing (the majority of which is wrong or
unsupported by evidence) by dispossessed security analysts and brokers. Much of
it is close to home.
She has a great chapter on probability and chance with a table which
shows us the actual chances of that $6.00 lucky dip winning over a life time of
purchases, the odds on nailing Big Wednesday, the chances of being in a road
accident and the like - so that we get some insight into the slippery territory
of risk.
Why is this useful? Because human behaviour involves pervasive oddities
like becoming attached to certain things (hoarding - the endowment effect)
which makes us cash up winning investments and hang on to losers in the hope
they will turn around, because whether we are presented with a glass half full
or half empty (framing effect) distorts our judgment about good and bad risks
and because worrying about spilt milk and what might have been (sunk costs)
stops us moving on and accepting that making mistakes is the best way to learn.
Especially useful too, is Sutherland's approach to risk which stresses
that being too risk averse (and say abandonning
equities) is as calamitous a mistake as betting the entire ranch on commodity
futures. Much of what she advocates
boils down to taking a measured approach which draws on thinking rather than kneejerk reactions.
The lessons about portfolio theory should be taken to heart. The value
here is the stress placed on how people actually behave - concealing from their
advisors some of their assets for example, or trying to mentally pigeon hole some assets. I notice this tendency frequently and the
all time
There is no promise of easy riches here. But neither is this a visit to
the Head Mistresses Office. Instead there are sound explanations, a rational
approach to making investment decisions, pointers about how to think, steps to
take to be more measured in making decisions, ways to fight overwhelming
tendencies and a sharp grip on reality.
My favourite is her letter from a client asking for an idea to earn a riskless 10% - if you don't mind - with the priceless
epilogue "P.S. I don't like risk. P.P.S. I don't
want to pay commissions." If the book helps reduce the number of such
requests then my sometimes faltering but nonetheless genuine belief in the
value of education would be somewhat vindicated.
By Jacquie Taylor
Why do some people have money and not others? Is it through inheritance, or
earning mega bucks for some esoteric talent? Or being parsimonious and darning
your own socks? Do some people have an innate ability, or is it a matter of
attitude and calculation?
The book has helpful guidelines and strategies for handling financial relationships,
case studies and checklists that will help you analyse your response to money
and improve your financial future. Sutherland’s goal is to help you
handle your finances with a greater sense of ease and awareness.
Money, Money, Money Ain’t it funny...How to Wire your Brain for Wealth.
By Sheryl Sutherland
Published boy Shoal Bay
RRP $29.99
Money, Money. Money, Ain’t it Funny - How to Wire your Brain for Wealth.
By Sheryl Sutherland
Shoal Bay Books
Long Acre Press ($29.99)