Watching Your Wallet: Dow Janes helping women gain financial control

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- On a mission to help women gain financial control, Dow Janes offers classes and resources to build strong money habits and confidence.

"My friends wanted me to teach them about investing, so I started a living room meet-up where I would gather a group of girlfriends in my living room and I would teach them about investing," says Dow Janes Co-founder, Britt Williams Baker.

Taking into account the unique experiences of women, Dow Janes became a way for women to build wealth for themselves.

At the helm -- co-founders Baker and Laurie-Anne King.

"Most of our audience is a little bit older because there isn't this pressure to pay attention to your finances until you actually know how bad it is," Baker said.

Britt says starting is as simple as paying attention to your income and expenses.

"People think that it's actually easier to get by without actually knowing the truth because if they don't look at the numbers, then they don't have to face reality, and there's so much stress that it causes when you don't know what's going on," Baker said.

At Dow Janes, they encourage a weekly money ritual where you spend an hour each week looking at your finances.

"That can be anything from checking the balance in your bank accounts, reviewing your credit card transactions, seeing where you spent money and when you have that clarity, that visibility, knowing where your money is going, you can start to get so much more organized and feel comfortable knowing where things are going," Baker said.

She says it's as simple as asking questions if you're not running the books in your family.

When it comes to investing, you don't need a lot to get started.

Britt says once you've built up your emergency savings, you can start investing as little as $100.

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