I was recently asked by a women in her 40’s how she could “get her financial sh*t together”. She’d just suffered a bad breakup and realized she was basically starting all over with no idea of what she was going to do for money in the next year, let alone thinking ahead to retirement (which she was picturing may involve cat food).
She told me she had some money in a retirement fund, a bit of consumer debt, she didn’t own her own home and she was happy that Covid was disguising the fact that she couldn’t afford a fancy vacation with her girlfriends.
Cat food? Retirement? No Vacation? YIKES, I thought. I gotta help a girlfriend out!
The term Finanical Feminism is gaining traction these days as we all start to think about financial equality. I truly believe that women, people of colour, those with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community have suffered too long with inequality, being paid less and not being promoted to leadership roles or having access to funding to start their own companies for far too long. So, let’s unpack why Financial Feminism, and equality for ALL, are important (although I’ll stick with gender for now).
Women currently earn far less than men. They may or may not have access to maternity/childcare leave benefits but we all know that taking time away from work further impacts most working women who then play catch up. Now let’s consider women who don’t work outside the home (for a variety of reasons) or who don’t have access to their own money. Let’s think about single mothers who are just trying to keep it together financially while keeping their families together. Then we layer on this age old societal crap that “nice girls don’t talk about money”.
It’s got to stop! Women have got to feel empowered to take responsibility for their own financial well being. They have to take the time to learn (read books, listen to podcasts, take courses) to understand the balance sheet of their own lives! They need to understand their expenses and their income. They need to make a plan to bring in more than goes out. They need to understand how to control both sides and how to build savings so they can sleep at night!
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If you are in your 20’s and reading this, congratulations! You are ahead of the curve. You have time on your side. Start saving and compounding interest will work its magic. Don’t ever turn over control of your finances or let someone else’s dreams be funded before yours.
If you are in your 30’s, you are busy! Likely you are building a business, a career and/or a family….maybe all 3 at the same time. It’s more important than ever that you keep in mind where you are headed because your Why is the only thing that will get you through some of the crazy days you face! You may need to spend some money on additional help to ensure you are living a life that is sustainable. That’s OK! You may by single, married or not sure. One thing you must be sure of is that whatever status you are, you choose it. Every day. Don’t let lack of money make you stay if it shouldn’t. And most of all, be kind to yourself. These days will pass quickly.
In your 40’s? You either likely feel like you are getting it figured out or wondering how the heck you ended up here when you were 18 just yesterday! Hopefully you’ve got a pretty good handle on who you are and what you want your days to look like. You may have reached a few milestones in life, you may be thrilled with your success or you may be wondering where it all went wrong. BUT if you haven’t got your finanical sh*t together by now, you can’t wait another day! You are a grown woman and it’s time your balance sheet reflected that (both in the sense of your net worth and your life worth).
Women in their 50’s often find financial setbacks to be most scary. Whether related to marriage breakdown, job loss or business failure, it’s not easy to be starting over when you feel retirement is coming up so quicky. You have incredible opportunities for reinvention and sharing your experience. And if you are not in control of your finances then yes, put down whatever you are doing and let’s talk! You likely have a bit of money that you should be leveraging to ensure the best possible returns. It is truly time to grab that bull by the horns and make some smart decisions. I recently spoke with a woman in her 50’s who has lived in Canada about 10 years, started over after fleeing everything and has done well taking care of her emotional health and basic needs while building up some equity on her home. When I opened her eyes to some passive investing techniques that could generate cash flow, the dam opened. This women DESERVES whatever we can squeeze out of the hard work she has put in to restart her life. She is ready to take control!
And for those of you who have the privilege of living into your retirement, I hope you continue to practice Financial Feminism by paying attention to the money, by watching your retirement funds, by continuing to learn and grow so that advisors can’t steer you wrong! Make it a game to see how much you can earn with those savings. And enjoy every day!
Ladies - we all deserve to be raging Financial Feminists. We owe it to each other and to those who love us to know the where, how and why of our finances. Only when we have that, can we truly ensure that the balance sheet of our life is offering us the opportunity to live freely of worries, to live in the prosperity of joy and to have the confidence to live our best lives knowing we are financially secure! Feminists unite!
~db
