The theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is “Choose to Challenge”, and there is no better time than to challenge your thinking and management around money.
1. IF YOU DON’T CONTROL YOUR OWN MONEY, YOU DON’T CONTROL YOUR OWN LIFE
Women can no longer pass the buck when it comes to their financial future, since they earn less, save less and live longer. We still, however, abdicate our money decisions to other people. Women cannot be secure, be independent, unless they understand what’s going on with their money. That means grasping the basics of budgeting and cash-flow management, as well as how to adequately save for retirement.
2. MONEY IS WOMEN’S NO 1 SOURCE OF STRESS
Taking action, like saving and investing, is the number 1 driver of our confidence in achieving our future goals.
3. MONEY IS MORE THAN JUST MONEY
It’s our future, our ability to quit the job we hate, our dreams for our children, the positive way we can impact the world around us, the ability to leave relationships that no longer work for us, the businesses we want to start, the trip around the world we want to take.
4. CLOSING THE GENDER INVESTING GAP
Women don’t always earn less than men, but studies have shown that women invest less than men. As such, some women lose as much money over their lives from this gender investing gap as the gender pay gap.
Women are less likely to hold shares. Of all the assets controlled by women, 71% is in cash — aka not invested. When you leave your savings in cash, you may miss out on market gains that could be earned over time, and even worse — inflation lessens your purchasing power. This is the precursor to the gender investing gap.
5. YOUR NEED TO ACHIEVE OVERALL WELLNESS
Physical, emotional and spiritual wellness are all important. Financial wellness is as important, maybe even more important, as it can assist in reaching these other types of wellness, but we talk about it much less.
Money is our no 1 source of stress, so financial wellness can form the foundation for these other types of wellness.
