Be careful who you give your email and cell phone number to you. I recently read how a woman ended up in court suing her neighbor for impersonating her online which resulted in identity theft, SPAM and more! She ended up spending hours alerting credit reporting agencies, asking for fraud alerts to be posted, getting a police report and eventually having to shut down her e-mail account and get a new cell phone number. The message here is simple: Be more protective of your personal information. You just never know!

Take control of how you use energy and save money. With fuel costs rising, we need to do what we can to conserve energy this fall and winter. It is not too early to start. Here are some tips to help you do your own energy audit.

1. Improve your gas mileage. Keep current with car maintenance, try to keep your speed on the road at 55 miles per hour, which is known to conserve fuel, and if you do a lot of driving, consider an energy efficient automobile or a hybrid for the best gas mileage.

2. Save money at home. Reset your thermostat to 65 degrees in the winter months when you are not at home or while asleep.

3. Weatherize your home. Check heating filters now, caulk around windows that leak air, weather strip any doors, use less water, repair leaky faucets and insulate your hot water heater and pipes.

4. Use cooler water when washing clothes (use cold-water detergents), turn off lights in any room you are not using. Put outside lights on an automatic timer.

Common sense approaches with little effort that will help you save money and conserve resources.

1. If you send personalized bulk-emails from outlook, check out emailtemplates.com
Email Templates helps to create customized messages that are instantly availability from a pull-down menu in outlook. Great for a business that sends volumes of email.

2. For sending big files, check out yousendit.com. This is a virtual drop box for sending and receiving attachments of up to 2GB. Most e-mail systems will not allow you to send files larger than a few megabytes. Yousendit.com solves this problem and it works like a charm. I have sent manuals through them with no problem!

Check out my new internet radio show, Wise Women Radio! Each week, I will provide entertaining and informative interviews with women who have changed their destinies through their own efforts. Listeners will learn the real secrets from women just like you, who have leveraged their skills to achieve dreams! Join me every Tuesday from 10-11 a.m. PST and discover the radio show that helps you tap into the power to achieve your dreams!

For all the folks with cell phones. (This should be printed and kept in your car, purse, and wallet. Good information to have with you.) There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST: Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND: Have you locked your keys in the car?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other ‘remote’ for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor’s Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!’

THIRD: Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370#. Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.

FOURTH: How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: *#06#. A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won’t get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can’t use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

And Finally….

FIFTH: Free Directory Service for Cells
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don’t have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800)FREE411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now. This is the kind of information people don’t mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.

Last week as I was flying across the country, I sat next to a man working on his computer. He was an older, dignified gentleman who walked on board with a cane and a computer.

As they were serving our drinks we got to talking. The man manages a sales force for a computer company. This was his first trip back….from retirement. He is 72 years old. Here is his story.

Michael retired two years ago as a CFO for another company. He played golf. He and his wife traveled the world until he broke his hip. It was while he was recovering from hip replacement surgery that his wife asked Michael, “When will you go back to work?”

He does not need the money. Michael started to think about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. It was not golf, gardening or panning for gold. He said, “Look at Grandma Moses. She started painting at age 77 and continued until her death at the age of 101!”

Michael realized he missed the rush of doing the deal. He loves being out with people and having those “power” lunches. He realized that living a happy and fulfilled life is a goal. Retirement may be one way of doing that, but there are many others.

He called some of his connections from his past life and found this management position with the computer company.

“I feel like I have been reborn,” Michael said and it showed. It looked like he was truly enjoying himself.

Michael’s parting words were cute and relevant for those out there who want to work till the day they die. “People should not retire just because society tells them to. Sure, it is great for some, but I gotta a lot of love and livin to do.” And with that, he went back to work!

There is a message here for all of us. We should be in charge of our own destiny, our own financial, physical and emotional well being. It is up to you and me as individuals to achieve the dreams we set out for ourselves. No one else is responsible for our future but us. When we can determine our fate as to what we want to do with the rest of our lives, it makes the planning much easier and life more enjoyable!

Back to school is right around the corner. With the economy what it is, everyone is looking for a sale. However, be aware of those signs you see in the windows, “Buy one, get one free; lowest price ever; Sale; Limited time only” (you get the idea). They are not always what they appear to be. Retailers are struggling. They will use incentives to get us in the door. Watch out for advertising schemes that give you an emotional pull. Better yet, buy just what you need, not because it is on sale. If it is on sale, great, but by buying what you need, not what the retailer says you need, will save you money in the long run.

Not since the depression have so many people had homes worth less than what they paid for. In these times, trying to get a property re-financed, has become close to impossible. I have listed a few sites for those of you who need a hand.

Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance: www.foreclosurelegalassistance.org

U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. Offers HUD approved counseling agencies. www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/nrhcl.cfm

NeighborWorks America: www.nw.org

National Community Reinvestment Coalition. www.ncrc.org

Mortgage Bankers Association. www.homeloanlearningcenter.com

I encourage women who need these services to get in touch with these providers today!

As empathic as we women are, it is sometimes difficult to deal with when faced with a loved one who is struggling with cancer or another terminal illness. Sometimes there just isn’t anything correct to say to someone who is reeling from a terrible disease.

We need to realize that not everyone wants the same support. My mother was diagnosed with cancer last year. She did not want people calling her and discussing her situation. She only wanted to talk to her girls. My friend recently passed away from colon cancer. She wanted everyone around her and their strength helped her fight valiantly for four years until the cancer finally won.

Take the lead from the person who is struggling. If she wants to talk, then listen. Don’t be afraid of emotions. Being there, listening and being supportive helps the person more than you realize. That, my friends, are what we are about….being there for one another!

Not that long ago your credit score was the key to getting a loan. Now it appears lenders are looking at other factors such as rent and utility payments to determine whether a potential borrower will make good on their loans. The result: lenders can tap into the more than the estimated 50 million Americans, including many immigrants, young adults and seniors with little or no credit history as well as evaluate the credit-worthiness of all populations. Does this make borrowing money easier? No, it makes it more of a science for the lender and helps them not rely on just one method to determine their loan analysis.

Keep this in mind next time you pay your rent or mortgage–every on-time payment helps!

A recent survey from Wachovia Bank shows we women must start to take control of our financial future NOW. The third annual fitness survey of 2008 along with Richard Day research and the U.S. census bureau show that only 30% of women track and manage retirement assets compared to 58% of men. 17% of women make investment decisions compared to 49% of men. Why? What are we afraid of?

I want to challenge everyone who is reading this blog to start today and get control of your financial life. I am not a financial guru. I am someone who has won and lost with investing but is still in total control of my finances and has a financial retirement plan. You’ve got to start somewhere. If it is just a little seed money, grow that seed corn because no one else will!

I am challenging you not to be dependent on your husband or partner or your children or anyone else! Please, listen to Lisa….if I can do, this so can you!!! Not sure where to start? Email me and I can suggest some publications or people to help you get started. Today, we celebrate Independence Day. But are we truly independent? Think about it!

Have a happy 4th!