The Difference Reader Profile: Jackie

Name: Jackie

Occupation: Clinical consultant/pharmacist (current position is in pharmaceutical sales)

Personal life: Married for 20 years with three teenagers: a 16-year-old son and 14-year-old twin girls

Biggest financial concerns: Trying to balance saving for retirement with being able to support three children in college, while trying to get the entire family to be on the same page with me financially and still being able to plan for our immediate future. I enjoy forecasting our expenditures and sticking to a plan; my husband enjoys living and spending for today. We usually meet  somewhere in the middle. 

I also want to teach our kids the importance of saving, spending and sharing their wealth so that when they are adults, they will truly understand how to use money in a productive way and not let money use them or that they just become consumers.

Lessons learned from The Difference: I learned that I do share many of the characteristics of those in the wealthy and financially comfortable group, so to me that gives me hope that I am not that far off the mark. I also learned that those individuals that are wealthy had so many other positive things in their lives other than financial wealth—they had a wealth of people and rituals in their lives that enriched their well-being.

Favorite chapter from The Difference: My favorite chapter was Chapter 3, mainly because it reaffirmed my belief that being smart academically does not always translate into overall success. And again, this chapter gave me hope that being "average" is a good place to be. I continue to read everything financial that I can, because when you know better you will do better. I really liked reading the personal stories at the end of each chapter. The stories detailed specifically what those families did in practical terms, which in turn made me feel that those things are achievable.