Who Run the World- Girls! A Case For Women And Investing.

Women make up the majority of the workforce today, they earn 60% of University degrees in USA and Europe and make majority of the spending decisions in the home.  With this impressive statistics, it is unfortunate that women have generally shied from investing.  Alot of women  have expressed being uncomfortable with investing because of several reasons, one is that they feel that they just don’t have the know-how and are terrified of making decisions in a field they are unsure about.  Also traditional gender roles usually lead to women not fully taking advantage of investing.  Even though women make most of the bill paying decisions in the home, men tend to make the decisions regarding investing and large ticket items.

It is critical for women to become more involved in investing now more than ever.  Here are some of reasons why more women should invest.

Control

It is important for women to take control of their investing because, majority of women are solely responsible for their living expenses, the number is actually 53%.  Right now according to the 2011 census there are 53% of women who are unmarried in America, that includes single women, divorced and widowed, these women are pay their own bills, they are responsible for their healthcare and possibly the healthcare of dependents.

Assuming 47% of women above the age of 18 are married, which includes women who are separated from their husbands or have an absent spouse, 50% of these marriages will end up in divorce at some point in their lives.

If 80% of women over the age of 18 are going to be single, either choosing to be single or through, divorce and widowhood and will need money to cover their living expenses, food and medicine, why should such critical financial decisions  that will determine the quality of life be left to their spouses or significant others?  Just for self preservation purposes alone, Investing for your future should not be anyone’s responsibility but your own.

Earning Power

Women are paid 13-23% than the male colleagues in the same position.  As unfair as it may be, it is the reality now.  That means women over the course of their working career make significantly less than men and therefore invest less for retirement and have less social security benefits.  Why is this significant? Less money Invested now means less money to live on later, when it will be harder to make an income.

Expenses

Women live longer than men; both my grandmothers outlived my grandfathers.  My grandmother on my father’s side outlived my grandfather by 24yrs and chose not to remarry.  On average women live 5 years longer than men, that means, women need to save more money than men because they live longer and therefore have more expenses.  For those that are married, most women end up caring for their husbands last years, where their healthcare costs can actually make a huge dent in the family’s savings due to very expensive long term care situations.

The bottom line is a lot of women are completely unaware of what it is going to cost to live in the future.  With better healthcare we are looking at long retirements,  however, only 41% of women contribute to their 401 k.  We are going to need more money to live on in the future and need to make up for it with aggressive saving and Investing.  There is plenty of literature on investing and plenty of access to good advice from financial advisers   So many women in my office always say “I didn't know” when they finally face the reality of their finances.  Let that not be an excuse anymore.


Photography Credit: Google Images