Manisha Thakor is on a mission to help American women learn how to live their lives from a position of financial strength. Manisha’s financial literacy advocacy work has been featured in national publications such as: The New York Times, BusinessWeek, US News & World Report, Glamour, Real Simple, and Women’s Day. Manisha’s national TV appearances include CNN, CNBC, and NBC Nightly News. In addition to blogging about personal finance for The Huffington Post, Manisha is a bi-monthly contributor to the NPR show "51% – The Women’s Perspective," monthly columnist for Military.com, and periodic web contributor for NOW on PBS. Prior to this Manisha spent 15 years working in the financial services industry as an analyst, portfolio manager, and client service executive. Manisha received her BA from Wellesley College in 1992, her MBA from Harvard Business School in 1997 and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. Manisha and her husband split their time between Houston, TX and Santa Fe, NM. To learn more about Manisha, visit her website, www.ManishaThakor.com.

Blog Entries by Manisha Thakor

What Happy Working Mothers Know

Posted October 14, 2009 | 09:25 PM (EST)


Newly released Census data has once again brought the question of women, work, happiness and the issue of "opting-out" into the limelight. Given my focus on personal finance for women, I wanted to dig into this a little deeper. So I spoke with Cathy Greenberg, who along with Barrett...

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What's Your Money Personality?

Posted October 2, 2009 | 08:09 PM (EST)


If there's one thing we've all learned the hard way over the past two years, it's the degree to which money affects every one of us on a daily basis. I recently had the chance to speak with Dr. Kathleen Gurney, Ph.D., the CEO of Financial Psychology Corporation, author of...

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5 Items Will Consume 50% of Your Income - Are You Prepared?

9 Comments | Posted September 15, 2009 | 04:01 PM (EST)


In these recessionary times, financial tips are flowing fast and furious about how to save money and stick to a budget. Facing a sea of information many people are asking, "Where do I start?" For most of us, five areas of spending will consume over 50% of the money...

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Forget Mad Men, It's Time for Mad Women

9 Comments | Posted August 14, 2009 | 08:53 PM (EST)


American society is systematically encouraging women to give up financial control.

Now that we have your attention, let us share the evidence...

Exhibit A: The Princess Problem - you are what you get

USA Today Contributor Laura Vanderkam recently wrote a must-read Op-Ed entitled "The Princess Problem." The crux...

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How High is Too High for the Cost of Higher Education?

11 Comments | Posted July 2, 2009 | 05:00 PM (EST)


Once upon a time there was a nice clean line between "bad debt" and "good debt." Bad debt was money you borrowed for expendable items (think: clothes and consumer electronics). Good debt was money you borrowed for assets that would go up in value over time (think: housing and education)....

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Financially Outed -- Supreme Court Style

3 Comments | Posted June 13, 2009 | 01:58 PM (EST)


"It was a shock to me to see that her assets were as small as they were, just given the way that she always was so unstinting with everyone."

So said a former law clerk of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's routine financial statement disclosure....

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The Return of The Real American Dream

1 Comments | Posted April 30, 2009 | 08:00 PM (EST)


In a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece, Paul Krugman, the noted Economist, Nobel Prize Winner & Princeton Professor said, "...these days America is looking like the Bernie Madoff of economies; for many years it was held in respect, even awe, but it turns out to have been a...

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Held Hostage -- By Your House

Posted February 21, 2009 | 03:01 PM (EST)


The Obama administration has put forth an ambitious $75 billion plan to right the sinking ship that is the US housing market. With nearly 1 in 10 American mortgages either delinquent or in foreclosure, such a plan comes none too soon. According to the widely quoted Case-Shiller index...

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What Obama-nomics Means for Your Wallet

Posted January 25, 2009 | 12:06 AM (EST)


That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.... Starting today, we must pick...

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Is Your Debt Naughty or Nice?

Posted December 15, 2008 | 11:45 AM (EST)


A reporter's recent query left us grinning ear-to-ear with holiday cheer: Has the dividing line between "good debt" and "bad debt" changed in today's rocky economy?

The short answer is no. What has shifted - as indicated by the very nature of this question - is people's willingness to...

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Lasting Homeowner Help? Try (Financial) Fishing Lessons

Posted December 5, 2008 | 04:22 PM (EST)


The American Dream has turned into The American Scream.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, a record 1 in 10 borrowers in the US were either delinquent or in foreclosure at the end of the third quarter of 2008. Given this data point was tallied before the massive wave...

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Stressed About Money? Save, Baby, Save...

Posted November 22, 2008 | 02:50 PM (EST)


Are you stressed about money? If so, you are not alone.

According to a recent American Psychological Association survey a whopping 80% of Americans say the economy is causing them to feel stress, up from 66% back in April. Declining GDP, rising unemployment, the nefarious specter of deflation...

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