It抯 easy to get bogged down by the details梞aking a couple thousand more dollars each year, keeping an eye on investments and accounts, paying those bills梑ut here, Dr. Lois Frankel makes it simple. In her 20 years coaching and consulting individuals and large companies on finding professional success, she抯 narrowed down finding your financial happiness to seven straightforward steps.

1. Have a bank account of your own. Borrowing from the Virginia Woolf classic, A Room of One抯 Own, every woman should have money that is hers alone. More and more couples are going this route. It doesn抰 mean you should put every penny you make into your own account or that all investments should be individual ones. It means there is no good reason for not having at least one investment that is yours alone in addition to a joint one to pay the household expenses.

Never allow joint investments or property to be held under anything other than both names. Even if your partner gives you 100 good reasons why it should be held differently, the risks far outweigh any potential advantage should there be a death or divorce.

2. Lose the notion that doing good and doing well are mutually exclusive. Too many women believe that the only way they can make a contribution to society is to live like Mother Teresa. There抯 no crime in making money while you serve others.

3. Create time boundaries. There抯 a saying: Work expands to fill the time available. Be clear about the amount of time you can spend with your patients, clients or customers and still be able to make money. Providing superior service does not mean giving away your time and resources. It抯 not the amount of time spent that matters, it抯 the quality of the time you give that makes the difference. If your appointment is for 30 minutes, then stick with it. Not only does it keep you on schedule so that you can see the maximum number of people possible in a day, it lets all those people you serve know that you抮e equally concerned about their time and not keeping them waiting.