Guest Post 1 of 4: Journalist walks the financial talk.

Chefs never cook at home, they say. Likewise, you might not want to look closely at the personal finances of financial journalists, my media acquaintances suggest. I sit accused as one who knew what derivatives were before anyone had heard of them but who has never balanced my checkbook.

I never bounced a check, either, have savings, great credit, no debt, yada, yada, to borrow the parlance of my adopted hometown.

Still, I’m pretty sure I could benefit from what financial adviser Galia Gichon calls “weight watchers for your money.” The latest of her Simply Money courses – tailored particularly to women, those who earn least and live longest – took place at ING DIRECT’s Café on Third Ave. in New York City .

The 12-week program initially evokes for me a 12-step program. Women check in on their financial slips or progress within the past week, echo each other’s fears about not earning enough and their hopes of financial empowerment. One declared herself no longer “vague” about her finances. Others told of charging more for their services. Another discovered a 100-point discrepancy in her credit score, as reported by different credit bureaus – the lower score being attributed to an unreturned library book, which, she said, “I never even borrowed.”

Gichon interjected, “that’s the difference between a 5.5% interest rate and a 7.5% interest rate on a loan.” These were some of the results from the homework assigned in week one, when participants were asked to set a 12-week financial goal and to enlist a financial buddy to make weekly progress toward it.

In this, the second week, the emphasis is on setting a weekly budget for discretionary spending, having first (hopefully) whittled one’s fixed expenses and directed portions of remaining income to both an emergency cash stash and a retirement fund.

The exercise reminds me that tax will be due on unemployment payments and whatever freelancing I get, since my recent layoff. So, “financial expert,” your true cash flow is less than you thought. Yes, it’s back to school time!

The night ended with a fun exercise in which the group is asked to subdivide into groups that share a particular relationship to money. Of the options below, no one chose E or B (bar Gichon, party of one) and most were in the C, D middle ground. Gichon assured us that will change by week 12.

—Orla O’Sullivan is a New York-based journalist whose work has been widely published in business and consumer media on both sides of the Atlantic.

Galia Gichon’s & MP Dunleavey’s Financial Personality Types

Tell us what your relationship with money reminds you of:
a)    My ex-boyfriend. I’m always struggling and never win.
b)    A close friend – fun, interesting, sometimes challenging, always rewarding.
c)    An old college roommate: I know she’s out there, no idea what she’s doing, not much contact
d)    A crush: I think about it all the time, I want to get closer, but I’m not sure how!
e)    My mom/sister/aunt—we argue all the time and seem to have nothing in common.

Tags: Credit, Debt, Savings, Women