“Women are more aware of the tradeoffs and asking themselves, ‘Can I be a powerful professional and a good mom? ’ Many think that’s in direct conflict, so trying to grow your income sounds like you’re not prioritizing your family. The lessons are to ‘make sure to usecoupons and not buy full price.’ But when men talk about money, it’s about growing their career and takingrisks. By selecting continue, you will be taken to a website that is not affiliated with Merrill and may offer a different privacy policy and level of security. Merrill is not responsible for and does not endorse, guarantee or monitor content, availability, viewpoints, products or services that are offered or expressed on other websites. This information should not be construed as investment advice and is subject to change.
Your plan needs to be effective, and a partnership with a trustworthy financial planner can help you get there. An experienced advisor can assist with quantifying goals, crafting a plan for reaching them, and even reducing risk through appropriate investment choices and insurance. They have concerns that “they’re usually trying to sell you something,” and “don’t like the high pressure sales tactics.” Working with a qualified financial planner, however, can really help get your finances on the right track. They key is to find a planner you feel comfortable with and know what questions to ask.
Read more about first steps to investing here.
In 2023, the Retirement Wealth Academy found that approximately two-thirds of all the people registered for in-person retirement and financial education workshops were female. Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more – straight to your e-mail. Without a portion of your paycheck going out the door each month to pay interest on your loans, you’re able to cover your normal expenses more easily and, hopefully, have some money left over. Initially, facing your financial situation can be difficult, but creating a debt payoff strategy will help you plan and motivate you to become debt-free. More than anything else you do, reducing your debt to zero is how you attain true financial freedom. Your first step should be to pay down your highest-interest debt, then gradually tackle the rest.
Compared to their male counterparts, women have about 30% less saved by the time they retire, according to a separate report by TIAA. If we all planned our financial lives under the assumption of staying single, I wonder if we might be better off — regardless of how our respective love lives unfold. Once your long-term goals are established, incorporate smaller steps to help with achieving them. When you complete a goal, you should feel a sense of accomplishment. That’s why setting smaller, incremental goals will lead to “small victories” that can dampen anxiety and help you maintain a positive outlook.
This includes reputable industry sources, select financial publications, credible nonprofits, official government reports, court records and interviews with qualified experts. Interestingly, while whiskey was one of the worst luxury performers last year (3%), over a 10-year period, whiskey had the highest investment return, with prices increasing 373%.
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It’s likely you’re already doing some things that would be included in a plan, such as saving for retirement. Regardless of your marital status, you can open your own retirement accounts at any time. Workplaces typically have an employer-sponsored retirement savings account, such as a 401(k) plan. It may seem daunting, but you can improve your financial literacy and build a solid retirement plan. To help you get started, we spoke with several female financial experts who shared a few valuable tips for retirement planning. Saving for retirement as a woman means accounting for factors that don’t typically influence a man’s retirement plan.
Career interruptions also can cause women to lose out on potential raises and reduce how much they’ll collect from Social Security. When you earn less, you have less to save—and the natural inclination is to guard it by choosing investments that are more conservative. Over the long haul, conservative investments tend to have lower growth potential.
