Winners of the 31st annual ABJ Women in Business Awards were unveiled Aug. 22, including Black Barn Financial Managing Partner, Kacie Swartz.

There’s something powerful that happens when women from different walks of life come together to take charge of their finances. Sara Glakas, an investment advisor and organizer of Austin Women’s Investing Group on Meetup, joins Keep Connected with group member Caitlin Meredith to discuss the value of financial planning in a community setting.

Women on the Verge of a Financial Breakthrough is a podcast for women who want to plan their financial futures, but need to first learn more. In weekly episodes, Caitlin, the dummy, asks Sara, the expert, very basic questions about decoding the mysterious vocabulary and ideas used in financial planning and investing.

Traditional financial channels, women say, have often been blind to their needs. Meetup groups and other organizations are filling a void. The New York Times spoke with our founder, Sara Glakas, about the challenges women investors face.

Real Simple spoke with Sara Glakas about her work with the Austin Women’s Investing Group. “It’s a safe space to ask questions,” says Sara Glakas, one of the founders of the group, as well as the founder of investment advisory firm Black Barn Financial. “A lot of people don’t talk about money. Here [at the investing group] you can ask questions and get one, two, three people answering them.”

Austin Woman Magazine spoke with Sara Glakas about her passion for working with women investors and how her first job as a legal assistant in a family law firm showed her that financial education is a women’s issue.