Financial Perspective - Theda Sandiford

I met Theda Sandiford about 10 years ago when I reached out to her to collaborate on a mobile phone project, since then I have been following her professional career, and today she is Senior Vice President for a major record label. In this key role she leads global consumer marketing and commercial strategies to expand the opportunities for artists signed with the recording studio. She is also an acclaimed mixed media artist. I caught up with Theda to get her thoughts on music, art and financial education.

1-     What is your view on Financial Literacy

“I grew up with a general understanding about money and follow a few golden rules, Spend less than you earn. Buy low, sell high. When you are thinking about buying something ask yourself if you really need it. But I find that as we get older, I have seen that that ladies have bent these rules and often we do this to ensure that others see us in a certain way. How? We start to buy a fancy handbag or jacket stand out in meetings at work. Or buy a bigger house so that we have the ‘perfect’ neighborhood on our CVs. What we tend to forget is that bending of the rules have an impact on our finances. BUT at the same time I believe that we need to sometimes get that hot jacket to rock a meeting, so get one or two amazing pieces and bank the rest. This is a money balancing act that I make often.”

2-     Where do you learn about money?

“A few years ago, when the relationship I was in ended, I had to learn about finances on the fly. I took control of income, expenses and really took action to manage my budget. It’s amazing what you can do when you really need to do it.  The lesson that I learned was that when push comes to shove, I can take control and handle my money. Knowing this is very empowering.”

3-     What is your earliest money memory?

“Ahhh… this is a good question. When I was 5 years old and my aunt gave me a very nice birthday gift, a Louis Vuitton change purse. I recall my parents arguing with my aunt about this gift as they thought that this was extravagant and expensive and said that I was going to lose this expensive bag. Their arguing made me value this gift, and I wanted to prove my parents wrong. I’m stubborn so I took very good care of this purse and I still have that purse today!”

4-     What is your proudest financial achievement?

“People have always said that real estate is a good component in our financial mix. I’ve been lucky to have bought and sold a couple of homes. One of my best investments was a home that I bought in NYC over 20 years ago. Today, we rent out the property and it has become my best investment.”

5-     What is next on your money journey?

“As you know I love my job. And I also have deep passion about mixed media art.  I’ve made my entry into this creative side a few years ago and working on how I can make an investment to help my move forward with my artist dreams.”

To learn more about Theda and her artwork, check her out here – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.