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In this week’s Ten Money Questions, we speak with Carol Lin, a name and face that many will recognize as a former CNN news anchor and ABC News correspondent. Carol recently launched www.CarolLinReporting.com, inspired by her personal experience of losing her husband Will to a rare form of cancer in 2003, and her Mother's ongoing battle with lymphoma. The site, which will provide cancer patients, their families, and caregivers with answers they may not find on traditional networks, is part of a larger project that will be an operating system to enable cancer patients and their families to find immediate solutions to the most pressing problems in their daily lives. Carol gets personal below on this new labor of love, motherhood, career and community and how it all relates to money.
1. When a family member is diagnosed with cancer, how do finances play a role in coping with the news, accessing information and seeking treatment?
It’s a fact that people who can get to a cancer center that treats the most number of cases of their type of cancer, will double or triple their odds of surviving. Most people cannot afford to travel beyond their local treatment center. So finances can play a major role in surviving cancer simply because of the challenge of getting to the right doctors with the most experience. One of the goals of my next project is to create a grant system to help families travel to Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Excellence.
2. How will your cancer projects eliminate some of this stress?
Right now, you can go to www.CarolLinReporting.com where the reporting and story telling is centered on solutions, being pro-active and being informed. There are lots of stories out there about the ravages of disease -- www.CarolLinReporting wants to take that a step further and say, okay, what’s the wisdom out there that helps people take charge!
We’re very close to being able to give more details about my upcoming “Project C”. Heh heh. That’s our nickname for the larger online forum I will soon be launching. I can tell you this: Our project addresses the most immediate logistical and personal needs of a cancer patient and family. There’s the whole issue of organizing your social network to dive in and keep all the relevant daily life stuff on track. We can’t control the cancer, but there are many, many things a cancer patient and family can take control of. “Project C”--nickname again! is about empowering them with the information, tools and resources to kick... well, you-know-what, before, during and after treatment!
3. What is your most significant memory about money?
Knowing that I didn’t have it, but I could earn it, if I created a service: washing cars, walking dogs, baby-sitting, working at the local shoe store. No one was handing out $20 bills. I had to make an honest living.
4. What is your worst habit around finances?
Rationalizing an emotional purchase. “I deserve that new pair of shoes”. “I’ll have that rug forever, so it's worth the price!”
5. Did you ever wonder if motherhood might curb your professional opportunities? What are some of the challenges you experience as a single, working mother of a young child?
I never thought motherhood would curb my opportunities, but a lot of friends did. They knew my passion for traveling internationally for big breaking news stories was not exactly compatible with raising a kid. I did have totally unrealistic expectations that I could still leave for the Middle East for six weeks and it would be no big deal. Ha!
Children are not a to-do list. The challenge is to be honest with myself and realize that I am responsible for my happiness, but I am also accountable to someone else. But, then, it’s really like any other committed relationship: it’s not all about me. The biggest challenge is to let go of the fantasy career and the fantasy of motherhood. Neither are realistic or satisfying. I work more intensely and don’t waste time. I carve out time in the day when the blackberry is in the drawer and I’m totally committed to my family. I discipline myself to know that watching an hour of CSI is not a good idea if I need to get a few more emails out to finish out my day!
6. Journalists typically struggle with earning a suitable living early in their careers. Did you ever feel like a starving artist when you were just starting
