Do women have different relationships with money than men? Very definitely, yes, says entrepreneur and business coach Meriflor Toneatto.

"For women, money is an emotional currency, tied to our sense of self-worth and confidence, which can lead us to financial pitfalls that ultimately limits what we pursue in life," says Toneatto, a certified business and life coach, and author of "Money, Manifestation & Miracles: 8 Principles for Transforming Women's Relationship with Money," (www.moneymanifestationandmiracles.com).

A woman's emotional relationship with money directly impacts her overall level of satisfaction in life - or lack of it, Toneatto says.

"Wealth isn't just about money; it's about the quality of a woman's overall life," she says. "Greater awareness of how you feel about your life can yield helpful insights regarding your relationship with money, which can immediately change for the better."

There are a number of ways to start doing that. Toneatto reviews eight of them:

•  Give yourself permission. For better or worse, women tend to seek support or permission for significant life decisions. Skip a step and give yourself permission. It's important to have an open mind and heart as you proceed with financial self-improvement, which includes being grateful for who you are right now, warts and all, for arriving at this moment in your life.

•  Be honest. Total honesty is the best way to get to the root of your feelings, beliefs and attitudes about money. Women often keep secrets about our true feelings, especially regarding money.

•  Put yourself first. Commit to taking care of yourself and putting your needs at the top of your priority list. Think of it as "self-full" rather than "selfish." When you love yourself, you'll experience positive changes that will benefit those around you; you will operate better. "Self-fullness" may include scheduling uninterrupted time alone for reflection, reading, meditation, physical training and other ways to get in touch with your emotions.

•  Start a money journal. Consider keeping a gratitude journal and, taking it a steep further, a financial journal. What you focus on will grow, so focus on being grateful about money and you'll start to see positive changes in your life.

•  Practice forgiveness. A key way to move beyond your emotional obstacles with money is to let them go and forgive. Practicing forgiveness is a powerful way to remove what's standing between you and having more money in your life.

•  Feel prosperous and rich now. Prosperity and wealth is a state of mind. It's essential that you don't feel poor because that brings your thoughts toward poverty. Your goal is to take stock of what you have now, embellish it with gratitude, and enjoy the return.

•  Pay attention to synchronicities. As you begin to work on transforming your relationship with money, pay attention to what comes back to you as a result of your intention. Be aware of coincidences, synchronicities and opportunities that come your way. This may include new clients at unexpected places, hearing references to new books or even a mentor, or the possibility that you're at the right place at the right time.

•  Celebrate the big and small - have fun! We always notice the big things in life, but we tend to overlook the little steps we took to get there. They all count! And, take heart in your journey - an adventure of self-discovery, love, courage and possibility. This is at the heart of true, lifelong self-improvement.

"Just like other crucial life factors, such as health and spiritual well-being, a healthy financial relationship is a lifelong commitment, and what I detail here is just the beginning," she says. "Maintaining the right money mindset will require further guidance for some women."

About Meriflor Toneatto

Meriflor Toneatto is the founder and CEO of Power With Soul, a company dedicated to empowering female entrepreneurs and professionals by helping them transform their relationship with money. The author of "Money, Manifestation & Miracles: 8 Principles for Transforming Women's Relationship with Money," (www.moneymanifestationandmiracles.com), Toneatto holds a bachelor's degree in public administration and management and graduate certifications in personal, professional and financial coaching. A former corporate executive, she is a recipient of the Amethyst Award for Excellence and Outstanding Achievement from the government of Ontario, Canada.

Encourages statewide replication of Joliet Community College program 

JOLIET – Sept. 9, 2014. Lt. Governor Sheila Simon today celebrated a new partnership between Joliet Junior College (JJC) and the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters that will help boost career readiness. Simon encouraged colleges around Illinois to consider similar partnerships in order to better prepare students to enter the workforce.

"This cooperative arrangement brings together the best of skills training by the carpenters and academic training by JJC," said Simon. "Combining these training programs provide a way for the carpenters union to be recognized for their training, and for individual carpenters to expand their opportunities. And the state is a winner as well, gaining a more able workforce."

Joliet Junior College president Dr. Debra S. Daniels and Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters President Frank Libby hosted the event at JJC Tuesday thanking Lt. Governor Simon for her support of the newly-launched program.

"Partnerships with community organizations, businesses, and other educational institutions are central to our mission," Joliet Junior College President Daniels said. "They are a valuable way to connect individuals with opportunities. This partnership truly exemplifies that."

"On behalf of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters, I sincerely thank Lt. Governor Simon for her longstanding commitment and dedication to the carpenters," said President Libby. "She has helped to provide an opportunity to many individuals who may never have even dreamed of being able to attend college, let alone earn a degree."

Apprentices or journeymen now have a number of options available through JJC to translate their on-the-job training into college credits and certificates. Options include an associate's degree in general studies that incorporates apprenticeship program completion and on-the-job training, with 20 hours of JJC course credits. JJC also offers several construction management certificates that count on-the-job proficiency toward completion.

Several Illinois colleges, including City Colleges of Chicago, Triton College, the College of DuPage, the College of Lake County and Waubonsee Community College, have either begun similar programs or are currently in talks to launch them. JJC has had about 90 applicants this year.

Applicants have a wide variety of previously earned credits under their belts, from architects looking for career changes, to students with 160 college credits but no degree.

Previously, Simon visited the state's 48 community colleges and 12 public universities to see how the schools are working to improve completion rates and workforce development, and gather ideas on how the state can help schools overcome barriers to completion goals.

As the chair of the Joint Educational Leadership Committee, Simon is working to increase the proportion of working-age adults in Illinois with meaningful college degrees or certificates to 60 percent by 2025.

The summer's headlines grew increasingly shocking:

• Malaysia Airlines Passenger Jet Shot Down Over Ukraine

• Israel Steps Up Airstrikes as Gaza Buries Dead

• U.S. Warplanes Strike ISIS in Iraq

The violence and instability, along with worries about the Federal Reserve ending its market-bolstering stimulus and raising interest rates, precipitated a negative return in July for the Dow Jones Industrial average, the first decline in 2014. Should you be taking steps to protect your portfolio?

If the recent geopolitical events have made you uneasy about the possible effects on your portfolio, now might be a good time to evaluate the real risks you are taking, says wealth management expert Chris Snyder, co-founder with Haitham "Hutch" Ashoo of Pillar Wealth Management, LLC, www.pillarwm.com. (Get their white paper, Intelligent Investing: Making Smart Investing Decisions In Today's Volatile Market, at the website.)

"You have to allocate your assets to avoid Undue Risk which will help protect your portfolio through  the inevitable wars, natural disasters, recessions and depressions that will occur," Ashoo says.  "That's right - not if, will. A well-diversified portfolio provides peace of mind."

Snyder and Ashoo offer these tips for weathering today's troubles - and those to come in the years ahead:

•  Ensure your portfolio is diversified.
Modern Portfolio Theory, developed by Nobel Prize-winner Harry Markowitz, tells us that 90 percent of the return in your portfolio is based on the allocation of stocks, bonds and cash, Snyder says.

"The percentages you allocate between these asset classes is far more important than timing the market or chasing around for the best manager, hedge fund, gold/commodities, dividend paying stocks or whatever Wall Street's next pitch is," he says.

•  Steer clear of active portfolio management.
Trying to outperform the markets involves active trading, which can have great impacts on your portfolio's net return. With active management normally comes high management fees and high portfolio turnover, which lead to higher taxes and transaction costs, potentially leaving Wall Street and the IRS the biggest winners!

"World-class investment management must rise above the noise from Wall Street and day to day news headline," Ashoo says.

• Never make financial decisions based on emotion.

Individual investors tend to buy and sell based on the emotions: greed and fear. When the markets are up, they tend to buy, hoping to catch a piece of the rise, yet when markets are losing, fear sets in and investors sell. Investing with emotion often leaves investors wondering why they are overweight in growth investments before a market drop and subsequently why they were out of the market when it recovered.

"Be sure that you and your investment advisers are qualified to understand and test the volatility and risk consequences your portfolio faces before the next big bad event happens " Snyder says.

About Chris Snyder and Haitham "Hutch" Ashoo

Chris Snyder and Haitham "Hutch" Ashoo are co-founders of Pillar Wealth Management LLC, (www.pillarwm.com), of Walnut Creek, Calif., specializing in customized wealth management advice to affluent families. Their unique five-step consultative process for new clients ensures they have a deep understanding of clients' goals. With a combined 51 years of experience, they are the authors of numerous published works, have addressed thousands of investors nationwide, and have been interviewed on radio shows across the country.

ALLEN, Tex.– KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, will build and occupy a light-manufacturing facility in AllenPlace and will add 80 new positions to the facility, the company and Allen Economic Development Corporation announced today. KONE will expand its current competence by adding a light manufacturing facility to its operations in North America. In May, KONE announced it would be the lead tenant for the $26 million first phase of AllenPlace, and since, has committed to another 121,852 square feet for a light-manufacturing facility in the office park.

KONE now has plans to occupy nearly a quarter of the master-planned, 22.5-acre, 700,000 square-foot, five-building Class A office park being developed by Houston-based Sentinel Capital, LLC, in partnership with Centra Partners, LLC and Triad Real Estate. In addition to the light manufacturing and test facility, KONE will lease office space totaling more than 169,000 square feet at AllenPlace, east of North Central Expressway between West Bethany and West McDermott Drives. The Allen Economic Development Corporation has worked in partnership with Sentinel on the project, assisting with both the real estate transaction and KONE`s expansion.

KONE expects Sentinel Capital to break ground in the next few months and KONE will have most of the positions in place by the end of next year, according to Ron Bagwill, vice president of Supply Operations for KONE Americas. Bagwill said some employees will relocate from a facility that has been operating in Torreon, Mexico, while other positions will be new. He said growth and proximity to U.S. and Canadian suppliers and customers were the key factors contributing to the decision to centralize sourcing, engineering and testing in Allen. The company said it will maintain its operations in Torreon, Mexico, with particular focus on manufacturing the core components of its elevator products, the elevator cars and doors.

"We will be customizing the elevator controls closer to where they are installed in the U.S. and Canada," he said. "Our centralized location in Allen will simplify logistics, enhance quality and speed delivery."

"KONE`s commitment to Allen and AllenPlace firmly anchors our vision for this office park, and they will serve as an important physical and symbolic landmark for what Allen means to corporate business," said Dan Bowman, Allen Economic Development Corporation Executive Director and CEO.

While construction is underway, KONE continues to occupy office space in Allen Central Park and a testing facility in nearby McKinney. KONE is expected to take occupancy in the first half of 2015, according to Greg Nelson of Sentinel Capital. The AllenPlace complex is being designed by the architecture firm Goulas + Associates, Inc.

Ben Appleby, formerly with Houston-based PM Realty Group, represented Sentinel Capital on the KONE transaction and now handles all leasing for AllenPlace.

"This public-private collaboration should speak volumes about our intent and commitment to be a corporate home for growing and developing businesses," said Allen Mayor Stephen Terrell.

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ABOUT KONE

KONE is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. KONE's objective is to offer the best People Flow® experience by developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move smoothly, safely, comfortably and without waiting in buildings in an increasingly urbanizing environment. KONE provides industry- leading elevators, escalators, automatic building doors and integrated solutions to enhance the People Flow in and between buildings. KONE's services cover the entire lifetime of a building, from the design phase to maintenance, repairs and modernization solutions. In 2013, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 6.9 billion and at the end of the year over 43,000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd in Finland. http://www.kone.us