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B y all accounts, Barbara Stanny is accomplished and successful—practically a superwoman. Her resume includes many years as a business journalist, a Master's degree in psychology and several acclaimed books on fi nancial self-improvement. Seeing her now, and knowing she's the daughter of the "R" in H&R Block, it's almost incomprehensible that she was ever in dire fi nancial straits. Stanny was raised to rely on men—fi rst her father and then her husband—to manage her money. Ignorance of basic fi nancial information and too much trust in an outdated value system resulted in an embarrassing incident in 1986 when she abruptly learned she lacked the funds to make a $60 withdrawal. Her husband, also a stockbroker and fi nancial planner, had depleted her inheritance with poor investments. e subsequent divorce le her with a tax bill that would go beyond fi nancially ruinous for most people. e moral of the story is that ignorance is not , and what you don't know can hurt you. But you can also recover! Stanny's experience led to fi nancial enlightenment and her fi rst book, Prince Charming Isn't Coming. e groundbreaking volume served as a wakeup call for many, the kicker being, of course, that fi nancial stability and abundance can only come for each of us, woman or man, when we take ownership of our personal power. In Stanny's most recent release, Sacred Success: A Course in Financial Miracles (BenBella), she makes a signifi cant point: Once you master money management, you may fi nd it doesn't necessarily buy happiness. We knew that, but here the key is learning how to use money as a tool—treat it as sacred and be aware it is the means to a richer, more spiritual existence, rather than an end. "What motivates women to become better educated and more money savvy is the higher work, the spiritual aspect of what can be done with more discretionary income," Stanny says. "Ultimately, having an abundance of money allows us to do what we passionately want to do during our time on this planet, to go for greatness in a meaningful way rather than thinking small." Sacred? Spiritual? While these words are o en not positively associated with wealth or a wad of bills, Stanny says that money can be both when its ultimate meaning and purpose are properly interpreted and used for both our own personal well-being and the greater good of the world. "I defi ne a 'powerful woman' as somebody who knows who she is, who knows what she wants, and expresses it in the world unapologetically," says Stanny. "I want women to understand that when by Elyse Glickman How to get rich and why you might want to, from fi nancial advisor Barbara Stanny Create a Money Miracle ~ ~ 20 wholelifetimesmagazine.com