likely than married women to have an income that is under the poverty line.
• In the United States, in 2000, the average income for a middle-aged, divorced woman is only $11,000 per year.
Here is a shocking study that made my jaw drop. This article is from the Saturday Star newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa, dated January 19, 2008.
They may promise to have and to hold for richer and for poorer; but wives seem most interested in the richer part. In a study of married men and women in Britain, 59% of wives said they would divorce immediately if their future economic security was assured.
Almost 60% of the women surveyed said they would leave their marriage if they could afford it!
A similar study was done in Sweden where 37% of women stated they would divorce if they had the money to take care of themselves. Not as high as in Britain, but still a big number. It’s pretty clear that women, money, and marriage are closely related.
3. Women, on average, are financially unprepared.
• 58% of female baby boomers have less than $10,000 in retirement plans.
• 33% of women investors admitted they avoid making financial decisions out of fear of making a mistake.
• Women tend to own investments and securities with a very low rate of return.
• Women are three times more likely than men to NOT know what types of investments offer the best returns.
According to the research of authors Christopher Hayes and Kate Kelly, “Women’s decision-making tends to be based on security and concern for others. Their decision-making tends to be directed toward gaining enough money to get by rather than to get rich. This desire for security also means that most of their decisions favor ‘safe’ investments rather than those that might return more.”
What It Really Takes
I won’t go on and on about the horrific state of affairs so many women fall into when it comes to their financial lives, especially as they get older. I’m assuming that you have already made your decision to move forward in improving your financial life and achieving your financial dreams. You should not need to be convinced on why this is important. You know it’s important to you. (Do, however, please share these statistics with women who might be unaware.)
So what does it really take to have your financial dreams come true? Do you remember from the study what things hold women back?
• Lack of knowledge
• Too much overwhelming information
• No time
The reality is that any woman can acquire the knowledge. Any woman can sift through the information to find what she needs. It starts with learning the vocabulary of money and investing. Just learning the definitions of financial words will greatly increase your knowledge on the subject.
And the issue of no time? What if your house were on fire? Would you say, “Sorry. I don’t have time to put out the flames.”? No, you would immediately stop whatever you were doing and take action. Your burning house becomes your number-one priority. Unfortunately, too many women do not make their financial lives a priority until their financial house is on fire, which, in most cases, is too late.
I have no doubt that these women gave truthful answers in this survey, yet, are these the things that are really holding women back? Are these really the causes?
I believe there are two major missing pieces in the puzzle that explain what’s really holding women back from aspiring, acquiring the knowledge, and then applying that knowledge.
The first missing piece of the puzzle is financial education. The reason there is so much confusion around the term “financial education” is because most people do not have a clear definition of what it is.
The word “education” comes from the word “educe” which means “to draw out, to develop.” Education is a process of discovery. It is not a process of sitting silently in your chair, memorizing, and then regurgitating what you’ve read and heard from the teacher. That falls under the definition of “brainwash: to impose beliefs on somebody or to condition somebody to behave differently.”
True education is meant to draw out the information so that students learn through their own discovery process. The traditional education system will often tell you the answer such as: “The burner on the stove is hot. Don’t touch it.” True education is when you see the burner for the first time, and you’re curious. You walk to it and touch it. You get burned. Where is the greater learning? True education is discovering things for yourself. And sometimes the process is painful.
What about financial education? The school system will bring a banker into a classroom of 10-year-olds to explain how they can open a bank account. Or they bring a stockbroker into a high school to explain stocks and mutual funds while handing out their business cards and encouraging the teens to open a trading account. This is not education. This is a sales pitch.
Financial education is discovering where you are and what you have financially and then determining where you want to go. The key word is you. Everyone’s financial situation is different. I hear financial “experts” declare to everyone, “You should not have more that 15 percent of your portfolio in gold.” How in the world do they know what’s best for every individual? Or “Pay off the mortgage on your primary residence.” That may be good advice for one person, but bad advice for someone else. You have to find out what you need and want when it comes to your money and your financial future. Then seek out the knowledge that will get you there.
But what kind of knowledge should you look for, and where do you find it? In school, we usually don’t have much of a choice about whom we will listen to. The information comes from classroom teachers, already pre-selected. But outside of school, we do have a choice of what teachers we want to listen to. We can choose our mentors, our advisers, our coaches, our “teachers.” Most of my teachers don’t even realize they are teachers. They are simply passing on their experience and real-world knowledge to me.
This freedom to choose also brings with it a certain level of confusion, at least in the beginning. That’s because there is no one place, such as a physical school building, that has all the information and knowledge you need to become financially independent. You will have to search for it.
And where should you search? In books, seminars, meetings, and investment clubs. In online research, videos, and chats. In discussions with experts in their fields—people who are doing what you want to do. In finding mentors and coaches who can guide you through your process and in networking with other investors. These are just a few places to look. Nothing can replace this kind of financial education. It is a step that cannot be bypassed or delegated to someone else. This is a must-do, because the rewards are so worth it.
Lorraine Stylianou of London, England, shares her story of the value she got from her own financial education.
I am the breadwinner for my family with two small children under five years old. I had just started working a second job to pay for my newly acquired mortgage on a family home in North London, a very modest three-bedroom terraced family house. However, I had little time to spend with my children since I worked over 40 hours a week in a full-time job and then worked every weekend in a self-employed administrative role.
