Women’s Character Towards Investing.

One of the striking things about investing is that it’s integrally gender-neutral!

Both genders (female and male) should know that once you buy a stock, bond, mutual fund or any other asset, the truth that it climbs or falls in value has nothing to do with whether you’re a man or a woman!

In that sense, investing exhibits a pretty fair playing field compared with the rest of society.

In my view, women (and men for that matter) would be better served by an approach to investing that emphasizes life stages and not gender.

Today, women’s financial needs aren’t immensely unique, nor is the knowhow they need to look after them. So for the sake of all women who understand a thing or two about investing, let’s stop pretending there is a really special need.

Women are well-suited as investors, since they shop well, understand value and infrequently attempt anything without first getting directions and understanding the ramifications.

On the other hand, do women really have special investing needs?

Now the answer to that question is simply …

Yes!

Many if not all women spend their prime earning years working in the home, making them the losers under the current retirement and Social Security systems of any country on the globe.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)

They face numerous challenges men never even have to think about.

Women live longer, their careers are unremarkably interrupted by family needs, and many of them tend to be less knowledgeable and more conservative about investing.

Or even worse, some women who don’t apprehend investing could be prime targets for unethical sales-people.

Let’s look at their biological clock.

It’s a fact with valid indepth research:

Women live five to ten years longer than men!

The average age for a woman to be widowed is 55 today. In fact, most widows now living in poverty were not poor before their husbands died.

Given this biological fact a woman needs a much bigger “nest egg,” yet there are many things that get in her way. Think of their lives:

• They move in and out of the workforce to raise a family.
• They discover that they need to move for their husband’s career, placing their own careers in jeopardy.

What do these obstructions do to a woman’s financial future? Well the average woman will spend many years away from the workforce, while a man spends a lot less years away. This all adds up to retirement gains/ benefits that will equal only to a part of her male counterparts.

Even though they need bigger “nest eggs,” many women tend to be more conservative investors.

In fact the majority of the elderly poor are women!

Because of all of the above, women ought to be investing differently. They must revaluate their personal goals, understand their risk tolerance levels, and assess their time horizon for when they will need the money.

Once that’s done, it’s time to attain all that they can to make wise investment decisions, and start investing as people who are afraid to take risks, or as people who plan to leave the workforce for a few years, or as people who deliberated that their spouses would be there to help support them in their old age but aren’t.

What then can they do to improve their chances of living a financially healthy life?

1. Women ought to start saving as soon as possible and often for their retirement.
2. They should not be afraid of making investment mistakes (it’s normal)… They must learn from them!
3. They have to take some sort of risk in their portfolio, but continue to do that carefully with good research to back up their choices.
4. Finally, they must upthrust and take full charge of their own financial future because out of 100% of men, 22% of them do it for their women (wives) if I may say before they pass on!