The Best-In-State Women Wealth Advisors. Plus: Why You Should Enter The Housing Market Now

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If you have a Girl Scout in your life, you likely know that Girl Scout cookie season is well underway. But did you know that the organization expects to sell some 200 million packages of cookies this year—generating sales of close to $1 billion?

I learned this during a recent interview with Wendy Lou, the chief revenue officer of Girl Scouts of the USA. She also told me that the organization’s storied cookie-selling program (which dates back to 1917, the same year that Forbes was founded!) is the “largest girl-led entrepreneurship program in the world,” and more than 50% of women working in corporate America were at one point in the Girl Scouts themselves.

For as good as the cookies are or as big as the sales can get, Lou emphasized that what’s most important about those Thin Mints we’re inhaling is that “it’s a program where girls are learning skills around decision making, business ethics and goal-setting.”

You can watch our full conversation—which also touches on how Lou went from being an investment banker to chief revenue officer of the Girl Scouts—through this link here!

Cheers!

Exclusive Forbes List: The Best-In-State Women Wealth Advisors

A recent study by Fidelity reports that one of women’s “financial superpowers” is that they are more apt to stay the course during market volatility than men. The eighth annual ranking of Forbes/SHOOK Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State features nearly 2,000 women who are doing just that—and managing cumulative assets of over $2.8 trillion. “Volatility is the new normal,” says Beth Scanlan, a Morgan Stanley Private Wealth advisor with $731 million in assets under management. “Be strategic about your wealth and carefully think through your cash flow, but stay open-minded to opportunities,” she advises.

ICYMI: News Of The Week

We’ve been following the rise of Kristin Juszczyk, the designer (and wife of 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk) whose handmade gameday outfits have garnered attention from Simone Biles, Taylor Swift and, finally, the NFL. The league granted her a licensing agreement at the end of January and, during the run-up to Sunday’s big game, Juszczyk debuted her first officially-licensed NFL design: a Super Bowl LVIII puffer vest.

This week, Forbes unveiled the 9th annual Fintech 50, our exclusive list of the fintech startups that continue to innovate, grow and adapt even as the industry suffers layoffs, lower valuations and a collapse in venture capital support. (Funding for fintech startups worldwide fell from a record $141 billion in 2021 to $75 billion in 2022 and $39 billion in 2023.) On this year’s list are 13 newcomers, including Lauren Myrick’s payroll product Found, Shensi Ding’s cloud-based accounting and HR systems service Merge, and Yin Wu’s Pulley, which is using technology to demystify cap tables for founders.

Jenny Cavnar has become the first female primary play-by-play voice in Major League Baseball history. NBC Sports California on Tuesday named Cavnar, 41, the announcer for a majority of the Oakland A’s games. She is a 20-year media veteran with 17 years of experience covering baseball.

According to the latest data from the census American Community Survey, preschool and kindergarten teachers take home $34,569 per year, well below the median $74,150 income in the United States for those with a bachelor’s degree. Why are we talking about that here? Because a whopping 96% of all kindergarten and preschool teachers are women.

The Checklist

1. Give your brain an external harddrive. Or, more simply: start a journaling practice. It can help you process your emotions and dismiss intrusive and/or negative thoughts.

2. Get off the sidelines (of the housing market). According to Barbara Corcoran, the Shark Tank “shark” and founder of the Corcoran Group, a lot of people are waiting for interest rates to come down before they buy a house—but, she says, there’s little sense in waiting. Here’s why.

3. Gear up for tax season. Tax season can be intimidating—especially if you’ve never filed a tax return (or if you’ve blocked out everything you did in prior years). Here’s what you need to know before you file.

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