It’s that time of the year when we should take time to salute the Women in our lives. Its 8th March again the International Women’s day and this is where I will narrate you an interesting conversation, I recently had with a school teacher. She grew nostalgic and at the same time lamented over the fact that she was not able to invest and save well. She said “in older times her mother and grandmothers were extremely prudent savers. They knew how to stick to their basics of savings money and they exactly knew how to carefully keep things and thus they exhibited highest quality of keeping emergency funds.”
It was quite interesting when she mentioned she was as vulnerable, as naïve, as gullible as a man would be yet in changing times like this, they are unable to take money related matters in their hands! Why it is so? Perhaps the answer is simple – they not asking too many questions. They have perhaps a lesser say, or if I put it in more simpler terms, they are just less exposed to this investment world.
In today’s world where everything around us is changing faster but when it comes to the investment world women’s participation is pretty low. If one asks me how can investing help the women – I would say it would give them financial independence.
A financial empowerment is really important for them? But then how can one gain this empowerment since a long time, a house wife would be involved primarily in money matter related matter to household expenses. More than men, women have a greater need to think hard and actively manage their finances. Unfortunately, they are less likely to consider investment as a priority.
Financially literate individuals do better at budgeting, saving money, controlling spending handling debt, participating in financial markets, planning for retirement and successfully accumulating wealth and I suppose these are possibly one of the many such reasons why women are not aware of the finance.On the other hand there is social pressure that may not enable them to hear about or participate in investment related discussions. I would also blame the complex financial products that are designed in such a manner that women shy away from taking investment decisions in to their hands perhaps and they leave it to their partners to assess and take the risk.
The question still remains as to how should one get started? – The idea of procrastinating the investment decision should be done away with. They should start anyhow and the time is now, if you feel confused – start with an RD in the bank or a conservative hybrid mutual fund. Start inculcating the discipline in your life and move towards financial empowerment that can-do wonders to your life. The financial framework that one has to follow is to estimate and create an emergency fund, then have a medical insurance plan intact as not having a plan can derail all your investment in times to come. Create your own time buckets and compartmentalize your goals in to a short term, medium term and long-term horizon. Just choose one equity fund even if it is not highly rated since I have even seen many women delaying and trying to find excuses that they would start with the best of the funds! Learn to resist the temptation to spend the money, and start with a small sum. Do not underestimate the power of compounding as it will work really well if you start early even if the amount is as little as 1,000 per month. So, let’s get started towards a journey of financial empowerment and once again Happy Women’s Day. 😊
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