THE ROAD TO FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT BY ELEANOR COLEMAN, PRINCIPAL, THE FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT GROUP
In honour of International Women's Day I thought I would take some time to focus on the financial needs and milestones that most of us, as women, face. Being a woman is sometimes overwhelming. With the pressure to be the perfect role model/mum/partner/career woman while remaining calm and sane. It can be hard to find the time to think too far into the future or prioritise our own needs. When faced with a massive to-do list, spanning work, family, personal, and the ever-expanding “miscellaneous-yetvital” tasks it is incredibly easy for “sorting out my/our finances” to drop further and further out of mind. The thought of investing, saving for retirement, filling in forms and developing concrete financial goals often gets lost in the minutia of day-to-day life. When it comes to financial decisions throughout our lives, women tend to face more challenges than men. We live longer, are paid less, take more career breaks to care for family. We don’t have the time or resources to make mistakes and therefore miss out on opportunities. Women also have a longer life expectancy and therefore longer retirement and higher potential need for the expenses of old age care. Therefore, it is vital to have a properly thought out and executed plan to make sure that they can afford to live the life they want on their own terms. The last few years, starting with the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the Great Resignation, has triggered a dramatic impact on the way we live and work. It is interesting to note, since the onset of Covid-19 the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) found that more than 2.3 million women have left the labour force in the US alone, compared to 1.8 million men. It has also triggered a lot of reflection as to how we spend our time and money and how both can be used more efficiently to lead to greater happiness in our lives. Women need to be financially savvy and independent now more than ever and empower themselves make sound financial decisions today which will determine their own future. As Michelle Obama once said, “there is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish”. This no doubt rings true, but it is just a matter of women having more confidence in their own skills and judgement. Women must also be willing to take the steering wheel in making their own financial decisions and to build a solid financial plan that evolves with all of our everchanging lifestyles. 05
