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Women and Finance - by Calvin Yeo

Studies have indicated that women are still too passive when it comes to organizing their finances. Here we look at why women should take more control and how to do it.

When it comes to finances, married women in particular are actually highly vulnerable. They do not take enough initiative to do as much for themselves as they should. Instead, they often leave key decisions to their spouses. Surveys indicate that many lack money management skills, have insufficient savings because of disrupted careers, and lack financial security as they age. These factors make women very vulnerable when it comes to personally managing their finances.

A key finding of a recent study by the Tsao Foundation, Citi Singapore and the National University of Singapore was that, in almost all cases surveyed, children’s education seems to have top priority in family expenditure. This can be easily found in the psychology of women when they start to have children. Their emphasis will shift from more personal centric to more children centric in most of their decision making process.

As women spend their whole lives taking care of others, they become disproportionately vulnerable in their old age and might not have the support they need then. Which is why Strategy of Wealth.com has adopted The Wheel of Wealth’s, Wealth System and Concept for mature women to help them manage their finances and money better?

The Wheel of Wealth aims to help middle-aged women become more educated and knowledgeable in making financial decisions and looking for opportunity to save more and steer clear of debt traps and be more knowledgeable when investing and accumulating wealth.

Below are some facts about women, we should or already know.

Women Facts:
·They live longer than men but retire at a younger age. Women usually take time out to become the family’s caregiver thus they need to accumulate more retirement funds over a shorter working life.
·Many aged 45 to 60 spend their productive years as housewives taking care of their families. Thus they are able to make only basic or minimal contributions to the Central Provident Fund. Some have none at all.
·They tend to be conservative in their investments. Women generally prefer less risk, choosing very safe investment instruments such as savings and fixed deposits to grow their wealth. This should be addressed and they should be educated more on risk management and understanding risks.
·They have lesser earning power than men on average. Although in years to come they will breached the gap. But in the meantime they still lagged behind the men in earning power.
·More are getting divorced. This makes it even more important for women to do proper planning for their finances. Issues such as Wealth Distribution may come into their minds during a divorce.
·They tend to suffer more debilitating diseases in old age. Also they tend to suffer a more pro-long illness, which makes it very straining on their finances.

Given these realities, it is imperative that women take charge of their finances as early as possible. Their mentality towards finances should also change and they should adopt a more active approach towards their own and family’s finances.

Calvin Yeo, CFP, MBA, CPT
Wealth & Financial Coach. Www.TheWheelofWealth.com. Calvin is also a speaker and trainer in the area of Wealth and Financial matters. With 17 years of experience in the financial industry, he is also an expert in Entrepreneurship and Business Strategies and is about to publish a book call, "Death of Sales". You can visit it at www.DeathofSales.com.