The Sweet Potato Queen's
financial plan: fill more socks -- Page 2By
Tamar Alexia Fleishman
• Bankrate.com Bankrate: It seems that many financial advisers
try to make women do without any extras their whole lives, to save for retirement
or burial expenses. You are more of the "eat, drink and be merry" school.
Was it hard to buck the trend of the expert gurus? Jill Connor Browne: No. It's always been about enjoying myself now. I'm not a risk-taker.
I want to put my money in a sock. I had many friends who were much wealthier than
I, suffering the tortures of the damned when the market crashed. I never put any
money in the market, so I never lost a dime! Bankrate: You
live with your mother. Many Americans are facing the care of elderly parents.
Do you have any financial advice or insight? Jill Connor Browne: Mother has lived with me for about seven, eight years. It is my joy,
my pride to be able to take care of her. To have a mother alive is a privilege.
It is the right thing to do. Bankrate: You have recipes
for tasty treats, but not diet food. You were also an aerobics instructor. What
do you think of the multibillion-dollar diet industry? Jill Connor Browne: It's amazing. I thought it was a great industry when I was
teaching aerobics. I wish I still was, I wouldn't be so damned fat! It's simple
arithmetic; you have to take in less. You can't be on the couch all day and eating. Bankrate:
You are a free spirit, creative person. Many creative types bristle at the thought
of taking orders from producers, publishers, editors, etc. Are you given free
rein in your work? Jill Connor Browne: Pretty much.
We took the book to Cancun for the final edit. My editor made no major cuts. There
was only one word changed that I changed back. It's all lagniappe as far as I'm
concerned; I was so poor as an adult. I did not have a poor childhood, but my
marriage left me in massive debt. I was so young and stupid. And, it was too late
for me to take up brain surgery. Bankrate: Why do you
think the South has produced so many great and funny writers? Jill Connor Browne: Daddy always brought up that there are very few circumstances
in life that you can't change. You'd better make fun out of it or make fun of
it. Lord knows, we've had a great deal of opportunities to do that in the South.
Also, the South is so hot! We have the high ceilings and the ceiling fans. You'd
better get still and just talk. Willie Morris said that air conditioning and TV
are the great destroyers of conversation. Bankrate:
Do you manage your own money? Jill Connor Browne: I
do have a business adviser, a bookkeeper and a CPA, but I am a very conservative
investor. I told them, "I want my money in the equivalent of a sock." Tamar
Alexia Fleishman is a lawyer and freelance writer based in Baltimore. | 
